Lice, Ice, Bitches & Barf (LIBB)

Dear Trek, My 8 year old daughter needs a bigger bike and since her last bike was a Trek and you're based in WI (we live here too), I wanted to give you our business. However, the se descriptions of your boys' and girls' bikes are, perhaps inadvertently, sexist and off-putting. In your description of boys' bikes you write "But Trek also makes bikes specifically for boys, with the color schemes and frame geometry designed to spark a lifetime love of the ride." For girls you write "But Trek also makes bikes specifically for girls, with extra attention to the design and construction details that make riding especially fun for your little lady." Your messaging suggests boys are encouraged to forge a love of physical activity and embrace a healthy lifestyle, but girls are supposed to be "ladylike." Perhaps you don't realize how constraining that is. Are "ladies" allowed to be active, assertive, ambitious, and adventurous, or are th...

The girls and I were just a little excited that M’s city council term was finally over on Tuesday!! The girls decided to dress fancy and chose my clothes and accessories. Not pictured, the array of chocolate J put together for him, the beer I picked up in the most contactless way possible, dinner delivered from a local restaurant, K checking on him as he was banished to the deck while the preparations took place. J declared it “annual dad day” because the word “annual” sounded good even  though she didn’t know what it meant. There’s a reason volunteers and the civically engaged tend to be older and retired, from what I’ve observed. 1-3 evening meetings every week for 3.5 yrs. Most were 2-4 hrs each. Many were the first Mon of the month type ones, but there were lots of additional ones that came up with a week’s or few days’ notice. Society benefits from a variety of perspectives and the service of younger people and those with young families, but this configuration ...

It was better. I think we ended the day as friends. But I got a lot less work done. Right about the time relations became contentious I suggested we go outside. We went for a walk along a path and pond about a block from our house. We brought crayons and paper with to do rubbings of the different textures we found. After some grumbling at the beginning, we spent about 1.5 hours total exploring.       And this is the finished art project:

Don't ask.

I don't feel like a good parent under good circumstances, but circumstances require me to be a parent, professor, 2nd grade teacher and pre-K teacher for the foreseeable future. Here are some of the wholesome things we've done so far. Monday we did this scavenger hunt. Some of the proof of what we found from the list:     We also did a whole bunch of sidewalk art.   something that smells good   "Work" lasted about 5 minutes

It seems every day brings a fresh limitation in the name of public health. Every day I think I've adjusted and then suddenly, something new is imposed and the adjustment starts all over again. Faculty were told to prepare for online teaching while students enjoyed an extended spring break.Two people in my dept didn't even know how to post a syllabus in the learning management system (LMS). Of them, one has a 10 yr old daughter approaching her second month of hospitalization for something related to her digestive system. It's life-threatening in that she can't hold food or water down so if she went home they would have no way to feed her. She was finally discharged this week and everyone around her has to be uber careful because her immune system is so compromised. At least COVID-19 leveled the playing field a bit and everyone is supposed to stay away from each other, not just her. In order to help these colleagues and my department as a whole, as chair I had to asse...