Fashion Board--Penske . . . forever!

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
My sister was there yesterday! Her report (via e-mail) She didn't give enough detail to identify if the above is her work.

Your sister was here and going to the State Fair and you didn't have her contact me? For shame!

I thought the Miracle of Birth exhibit was way cool. Sex ed for the little city kids.** They have bleachers for people to sit and watch and also have it on TV screens.

**The Fugee Dad told me that when I was in second grade, the teacher called home to say that a graphic description of a calf being born was perhaps not appropriate for Show & Tell.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by tmdiva

Anyway, my dad's response to the whole group was "She sounds like a great teacher. I hope the ACLU doesn't get wind of this." This is not the first time he's made a comment of this variety. Is there any way for me to respond without compounding his rudeness with my own? Would something like "Yes, because as we all know, children's civil rights are violated when they are encouraged to be contributing members of their families and society" work, or is that too subtle (and therefore likely to be seen as agreeing with his underlying, baseless point)? Or should I just give up, ignore it and figure there's no hope?

tm

Hmm. Your dad's words seem relatively tame (but I do not have your context or history, so that is just my impression). My policy is to just let it go when it comes to parents. But I have an extremely hands-off relationship with my parents. Yours may be different.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Worse. A Billy Joel lyric.

Oh. I don't want clever conversation.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by TexLex
I can appreciate crop art, but a word to the wise: do not store crop art in your closet.

What if you live in a corn palace?

[patentparanyc]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Oh. I don't want clever conversation.

what about a bottle of red, a bottle of white?

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by patentparanyc
How is teaching them to be polite and productive a violation of their civil rights? I'm not following here.

That's kind of her point -- apparently, tmdiva's father is a Not Fan of the ACLU, and seems to think that anything traditional going on at school will be opposed by those Commie Bastards who took God out of the classroom, and replaced Him with touchy-feely Wiccan socialistic nonsense, like New Math, "winter concert" instead of Christmas Play, and don't even get me started on the "whole language" reading fiasco instead of sounding words out.

And, tmd, no, he won't get the point. I have an uncle who's the same way. He'll tell you about an ACLU lawsuit Paul Harvey talked about, or some court order mentioned in Reader's Digest a few years ago.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Worse. A Billy Joel lyric.

You had a Dom Perignon in your hand and a spoon in your nose?

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Fugee
Your sister was here and going to the State Fair and you didn't have her contact me? For shame!

I thought the Miracle of Birth exhibit was way cool. Sex ed for the little city kids.** They have bleachers for people to sit and watch and also have it on TV screens.

**The Fugee Dad told me that when I was in second grade, the teacher called home to say that a graphic description of a calf being born was perhaps not appropriate for Show & Tell.

I didn't know! Well, I knew she was going to Minnesota, but she said "for Labor Day." Since she can telecommute from pretty much anywhere, hers is an expansive view of the word "holiday." If you troll hipster cafes for the next few days, she'll be the one with dyed black hair, a potato tattooed to her arm, working on a Mac, and drinking lots of coffee. Easy to spot.

We partially grew up on a ranch, so I don't think it was the actual witnessing of a birth that threw her off, but that it was such a spectator event.

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
What if you live in a corn palace?

Buy in bulk.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by tmdiva
The local library is having an adult spelling bee. Anyone wanna sign up with me? Ollie? See, I'm still harboring resentment over my participation in the state spelling contest when I was in high school, when my chances for victory were demolished by the repeated mispronunciation of a word by the celebrity word-reader, a local news anchor (who apparently is *still* the celebrity word-reader, lo these 20+ years later).

The other thing is an etiquette question. My sister recently sent out an e-mail to the whole family, telling how much she loves her daughter's new third-grade teacher, who is SUPER strict. Every day she has the kids shake her hand as they are leaving the room and say, "Thank you for teaching me today." Last weekend she gave them a homework assignment of doing a household chore that they don't normally do. Awesome.

Anyway, my dad's response to the whole group was "She sounds like a great teacher. I hope the ACLU doesn't get wind of this." This is not the first time he's made a comment of this variety. Is there any way for me to respond without compounding his rudeness with my own? Would something like "Yes, because as we all know, children's civil rights are violated when they are encouraged to be contributing members of their families and society" work, or is that too subtle (and therefore likely to be seen as agreeing with his underlying, baseless point)? Or should I just give up, ignore it and figure there's no hope?

tm

Let the old crank ramble. You're not going to change his mind or win an argument with him. Arguing with a parent is worse than arguing with your wife, which is utterly fucking useless.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by tmdiva
The local library is having an adult spelling bee. Anyone wanna sign up with me? Ollie? See, I'm still harboring resentment over my participation in the state spelling contest when I was in high school, when my chances for victory were demolished by the repeated mispronunciation of a word by the celebrity word-reader, a local news anchor (who apparently is *still* the celebrity word-reader, lo these 20+ years later).

The other thing is an etiquette question. My sister recently sent out an e-mail to the whole family, telling how much she loves her daughter's new third-grade teacher, who is SUPER strict. Every day she has the kids shake her hand as they are leaving the room and say, "Thank you for teaching me today." Last weekend she gave them a homework assignment of doing a household chore that they don't normally do. Awesome.

Anyway, my dad's response to the whole group was "She sounds like a great teacher. I hope the ACLU doesn't get wind of this." This is not the first time he's made a comment of this variety. Is there any way for me to respond without compounding his rudeness with my own? Would something like "Yes, because as we all know, children's civil rights are violated when they are encouraged to be contributing members of their families and society" work, or is that too subtle (and therefore likely to be seen as agreeing with his underlying, baseless point)? Or should I just give up, ignore it and figure there's no hope?

tm

You could sue him.


But seriously -- unless this was directed at you, or someone in particular (someone who the family knows is very involved with the ACLU), I wouldn't bother. There's no hope.

If it is directed at someone in particular, the most I would do is a private conversation with him, to tell him nicely that those comments are no appreciated.

Though if it were my dad, I wouldn't bother even under those circumstances, as this sort of comment is a 2 on his rudeness scale.

[patentparanyc]

Originally posted by Not Bob
That's kind of her point -- apparently, tmdiva's father is a Not Fan of the ACLU, and seems to think that anything traditional going on at school will be opposed by those Commie Bastards who took God out of the classroom, and replaced Him with touchy-feely Wiccan socialistic nonsense, like New Math, "winter concert" instead of Christmas Play, and don't even get me started on the "whole language" reading fiasco instead of sounding words out.

And, tmd, no, he won't get the point. I have an uncle who's the same way. He'll tell you about an ACLU lawsuit Paul Harvey talked about, or some court order mentioned in Reader's Digest a few years ago.

so he feels it has all gone down the crapper into following the druid rhythyms/ cycle of life in the classroom? we recently had a convo here about circadian rhythyms as well. is that a violation of my civil rights as well?

[tmdiva]

Originally posted by Not Bob
That's kind of her point -- apparently, tmdiva's father is a Not Fan of the ACLU, and seems to think that anything traditional going on at school will be opposed by those Commie Bastards who took God out of the classroom, and replaced Him with touchy-feely Wiccan socialistic nonsense, like New Math, "winter concert" instead of Christmas Play, and don't even get me started on the "whole language" reading fiasco instead of sounding words out.

And, tmd, no, he won't get the point. I have an uncle who's the same way. He'll tell you about an ACLU lawsuit Paul Harvey talked about, or some court order mentioned in Reader's Digest a few years ago.

Aw, NB, I knew I could count on you to be understanding. And yeah, Gwink, I think you would need more context to know why it bothered me so much. On a trip earlier this year to visit my parents, my dad told of how my mom's sister had been appalled at my dad's shiny, new and GINORMOUS gun safe, and said something about how she'd been brainwashed by the gun control people. It's not just that he's conservative, it's that on certain topics he turns into this complete freak incapable of rational discussion, angry and bitter and sarcastic and mean. My sister and I have both tried to get him to stop, at least in front of the kids (he's pretty scary when he gets going), but he interprets our efforts as personal attacks. Ugh.

tm

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by tmdiva
Aw, NB, I knew I could count on you to be understanding. And yeah, Gwink, I think you would need more context to know why it bothered me so much. On a trip earlier this year to visit my parents, my dad told of how my mom's sister had been appalled at my dad's shiny, new and GINORMOUS gun safe, and said something about how she'd been brainwashed by the gun control people. It's not just that he's conservative, it's that on certain topics he turns into this complete freak incapable of rational discussion, angry and bitter and sarcastic and mean. My sister and I have both tried to get him to stop, at least in front of the kids (he's pretty scary when he gets going), but he interprets our efforts as personal attacks. Ugh.

tm

My personal experience: If you wait long enough, dad gets a little senile and that softens those edges out. He may even start going on rants that run in the opposite directly, ideology-wise. It's sad to watch, but it makes visits to the parents less aggravating.

[patentparanyc]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
My personal experience: If you wait long enough, dad gets a little senile and that softens those edges out. He may even start going on rants that run in the opposite directly, ideology-wise. It's sad to watch, but it makes visits to the parents less aggravating.

..and less shrew like, which you see, irritates sidd.