This per The Economist: In 1970 more than half of blind American schoolchildren could read Braille. Now, only about 10% can. and Only a quarter of blind Americans of working age actually have jobs, and it is surely no coincidence that almost all of them can read Braille. With respect to first item, The Economist attributes this to mainstreaming, teaching blind children alongside sighted children, without any pull-out time for instruction in Braille.  One could imagine that a further reason... Read more

Here’s a paragraph or two that’s not yet thought out or sourced (go read CNN), but my way of asking for reader comments: There are superficial, or maybe even substantial, similarities between teens running off to join ISIS after being enticed by recruiting materials online, and this kid deciding, after reading the news online through the lens of racist groups, to start a “race war” (though there’s a certain “small bit of good news” that he felt as if he... Read more

A while ago I drafted a post that went something like this: We say this over and over again:  “diversity makes us stronger,” and we celebrate the mixture of cultures in this, the Land of Immigrants, and we tell ourselves that the different points of view that all these immigrants bring, makes our country more vital, energetic, creative, forward-thinking, and poised to succeed in the 21st century, bounding past stagnating monocultural countries. But what if we’re wrong? What if the... Read more

Here’s an article in the WSJ that was being shared on twitter the other day:  “Obama Wants to Pick the Clintons’ Neighbors; The administration is forcing low-income housing into wealthy enclaves, whether or not anyone wants it” The key points: For the past six years, HUD has been hounding Westchester about building more low-income housing in places like Chappaqua. Federal officials have vowed to “hold people’s feet to the fire” and make an example of the county. “We’re clearly messaging other... Read more

Backstory:  my 12-year old son broke his arm on Tuesday. We had a follow-up doctor’s appointment yesterday, at which they removed and re-applied the cast (OK, technically it’s a splint, not a cast) because the first was too tight.  Then today we saw a pediatric specialist to confirm (big sigh of relief) that he doesn’t need surgery, or, at least, at this point it appears that way.  We’ll have a further appointment next week, then another one in a further... Read more

Well, it started as a fairly routine summer day around here:  the oldest left for his summer school (enrichment) class, and I dropped the middle son off at sailing camp and the youngest at his day camp, spent a few minutes blogging, and had just settled into work when I got the call: “Mrs. ——–, your [12 year old] son just fell.  It looks like he dislocated his elbow.  You’d better pick him up; do you want us to call... Read more

OK, yes, that’s a rhetorical question. Because it’s fairly obvious why this matters. A generation — no, make that two generations ago, at least, by now — light-skinned black people strove to “pass for white” for the advantages it offered:  more job opportunities, the ability to live in a desirable neighborhood, etc.. Now it’s been reversed:  Dolezal is coming under fire for her charade, not for the charade itself (would it make national news if it was learned that an... Read more

The CDC definition of maternal  mortality is much more expansive than the rest of the world. Why? Because they’re a bunch of go-it-alone cowboys, who reject the value of consistent measurement internationally, thinking they know better? Or because they intentionally choose to overstate the problem, the better to acquire more funds for their projects? Here’s the context: Earlier today, a Scientific American article popped up in my twitter feed, as linked to by, well, I’m not sure any longer:  “Has... Read more

“Why do you remain Catholic, when so many are leaving?” That’s the question that many here at the Patheos Catholic channel and elsewhere have been answering lately. I gave you my answer a couple weeks ago, that is, that I felt that, in the course of being received into the Church at Easter Vigil, that I had made a commitment, and that deciding, for instance, that it was too much work to get the kids and myself, or even just... Read more

So last month, there were a few articles floating around Patheos about various bishops in the United States announcing that they were “restoring the order” of the sacraments, by moving confirmation ahead of reception of First Eucharist, and, in the case of Denver, as reported here, having both of these occur in third grade. The objective?  The concern, so far as I understand it, is that in having confirmation in eighth grade, as a sort of capstone to religious ed... Read more