Food for Thought ~ A Little Bit of Everything

 

If you want to keep up with me between blog posts, I’m now on Instagram as mthopeheidi. As always, you can also follow me on Facebook, where I share links and more in “real time.” (I am also on Pinterest, but not as often.)

 

Parenting, Money, and Good Habits

:: 15 Poverty Habits Parents Teach Their Children @ Rich Habits. This post could generate some interesting conversation. His statistics are fascinating. I think we have to remember that correlation does not imply causation, though, and I think that some of the statistics may be effect rather than cause. It’s important to note that this post does not address systemic concerns surrounding poverty nor should we consider monetary wealth as the single indicator of a rich life. His “success habits,” however, aren’t all directly related to money and could help lead a person to a rich life, regardless of income. Most of them involve taking care of what you do have: physical health, time, relationships, character, and mind.

“Wealthy people do certain things every single day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good daily success habits that they learned from their parents.”

Parenting and Nature

:: Let Kids Run Wild in the Woods @ Slate

“Taking home small souvenirs of the woods is just the beginning of things kids can’t do in nature. In many parks and other public lands, kids are told by rangers, parents, or teachers not to leave the trail, not to climb rocks or trees, not to whack trees with sticks, not to build forts or lean-tos, not to dig holes, not to move rocks from one place to another within the park, not to yell or even talk too loudly. Are we having fun yet?”

 

Movies

:: It's All In Your Head: Director Pete Docter Gets Emotional In 'Inside Out' @ npr. I’m looking forward to seeing this movie!

On trying to recruit Mindy Kaling, who wound up voicing Disgust:

"I turned around, because I was pitching kind of some visuals on the computer, and she's crying ... she really responded emotionally, and she said, 'Sorry, I just think it's really beautiful that you guys are making a story that tells kids that it's difficult to grow up and it's OK to be sad about it.' We were like, 'Quick! Write that down.' Because that was really what we were trying to say."

 

Around the World and Close to Home

:: #BringBackOurGirls: Meet Some of the Survivors From the Boko Haram Chibok Kidnapping @ Cosmopolitan [I can’t believe I’m linking to a Cosmo article.] These girls are finishing their high school education at the Christian boarding school in a little town in Oregon that my great grandfather founded. My grandmother taught there for years and years. My Dad (and siblings) attended the school. A couple uncles have taught there, and my Aunt Judi and Uncle Phil are there now. You can see my grandmother’s house behind the girls in the last picture. I spent some beautiful days of my childhood wandering the town and the grounds of the school. I am so happy for these girls that they are able to be there.

 

The Internet

The Bad

:: The Comedian vs. The Smart Phone @ The Imaginative Conservative

“Kids are by nature mean. Smart phones make them meaner. Why? They can’t see the faces and experience the reactions of those they diss. Their “humor” is more cruelly fun than it might otherwise be, because it’s unchastened by empathy. Smart phones work against the emotion that evolutionary psychologists say we need to moderate our selfish struggle for status.

“…And an insightful comedian today reminds us that nobody with eyes to see really believes that kids or the rest of us are getting less mean. These might be the toughest times ever not to be smart and pretty.”

:: Internet Outrage, Public Shaming and Modern-Day Pharisees @ Relevant Magazine

“There are many forms of online shaming: The angry blog, the critical tweet, the vicious comment on Facebook. Whatever the method—people try to hurt people. Sometimes the shaming escalates into a mob, a faux-community that latches on to the negative verdict and piles on. Under the pretense of righteous indignation, the mob licks its chops as it goes about demonizing, diminishing and destroying its target.”

:: The Shaming of Izzy Laxamana @ Slate

"The Internet has enabled the schoolyard bully to crash a family dinner, the parental tyrant to stalk his child through the school halls, and the school administrator to punish a girl for the things she does when she leaves the campus... Digital villagers are no longer relegated to the sidelines; online, everybody gets a gavel."

The Good

:: Washington Valedictorian's Secret Instagram Reveals Tear-Jerking Thoughts on Classmates @ Yahoo News

 

A friend asked if I ever just wanted to quit the internet.

I feel like quitting the internet as often as I feel like quitting everything else involving humanity, including parenting. [wink] But I've come to the conclusion that I need to be the best human I can be wherever I am, and that includes the internet. I've seen so much encouragement, intelligence, and kindness on the internet (FB in particular) as well, and I want to contribute to that if I can (even though I am far from perfect).

You have the power to make the world a better, kinder place, friends. Wherever you are--work, school, community, internet--be the best human you can be.

Like the kid in the article above.

And like this guy:

:: Australian blood donor's 'golden arm' has saved lives of 2 million babies @ KPTV

 

Math

:: 12 Useful Math Hacks That They Didn’t Teach You In School @ Today Christian. There are some interesting ones here!

 

Literature and Stories

[You didn’t think I’d skip this topic, did you?]

:: What Etgar Keret Learned From His Father About Storytelling And Survival @ npr. I love, LOVE this article. Go read it all!

"My father was very charismatic and a very good storyteller but he couldn't invent anything so he would tell me stories about things that had just happened. And these stories would be amazing and there was sometimes violence in them, many extreme things, but at the same time, they were full of love for mankind and even the people who would do those extreme things, you would still understand them and like them. The protagonist in those stories, they would always be prostitutes and mafia guys and drunk people.

“…Those stories, for me, were always the model for the function of stories and storytelling in our lives — the idea is that you kind of look reality straight in the face, it doesn't matter how ugly it is, and you try to find humanity in it, you try to find beauty in it, you try to find hope in it. So you can't beautify it, but at the same time, you should find these tiny things that you know that would make sometimes very violent and unhappy occasions still human and emotional.”

:: A Decadent Hell Hole: The Dystopia of “A Handmaid’s Tale” @ The Imaginative Conservative. I read this book a year or two ago. It was fascinating and chilling!

:: Preparing Students to Think about Modern Literature @ Center for Lit

“Joyce’s novel offers a great opportunity to talk about the purpose and nature of literature, as well as the project of the early 20^th century modernists. At CenterForLit we believe that all great literature is worth reading, even when we disagree with the worldview of the author. It is through reading opposing viewpoints that we come to have compassion for other worldviews, while being strengthened in our own. And there is always the slightest chance that the author we don’t agree with has noticed something true about the world, which can then be magnified and deepened with real Truth.”