"This is my late Veterans' Day / PC dislike / I love America but every country has its problems" Post

Living in a foreign country sure makes me glad that I'm an American with certain unalienable rights.
When I think about all the men and women who have fought to make and keep our country free, I'm incredibly overwhelmed with thankfulness and pride. I want to believe that not one has died or been injured in vain.

I try to keep up with the news from my native land as much as possible. I watch the news on TV almost every night. I check out foxnews.com and knwa.com and other news sights frequently. Some of the news that comes across, though, is disturbing. It seems to me that so many basic rights are being snatched away, especially from students, in order to be "politically correct." I asked google to "define: political correctness." Here is an example of one of their definitions:

• Politically Correct claims to be non-offensive speech for all people It is lies, deceptions, or slanted opinion designed to hide the truth and morality. A better name would be Truthfully Deceptive.
  stobie.home.sprynet.com/work/oxymorons.htm

In one school in California, a boy who flew the American on his bicycle in honor of his Veteran grandfather, was asked to remove it because "the Stars and Stripes could spur racial tensions on campus." (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/12/school-reverses-course-ordering-student-remove-flag-bike/) He was later allowed to put it back up after many parents and locals were outraged.



A school in Chicago was honoring "Ally Week," where students could show their support of gay students and rally together to promote anti-gay bullying, which has been a problem in schools all over the country.  A couple of boys wore t-shirts that said "straight pride" and quoted a bible verse. Some students were offended and school administrators had the boys remove the bible verse. The next day a couple more boys did the same thing and they were asked to completely cover their "straight pride" t-shirts. The school has since agreed to host a forum in order to work out what should be done in these types of situations, because according to one administrator "“The important thing is, even if someone is on the opposite side, you need to respect their opinion.”  (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/12/chicago-high-school-uses-straight-pride-shirts-rights-education/?test=latestnews)


It seems to me that the majority of mainstream society is overly concerned with not offending the minorities of mainstream society, while the minorities of mainstream society have every right to offend and be offended by the majority. I don't understand it!


Bryn has a real life example of this type of double standard I feel is upheld in our country. She is taking a class this semester called Anatomy of Human Sexuality. She always comes home with the most interesting stories. In her class there are people both gay and straight, men and women, young and older, married and single, with and without kids, black and white and brown and every other color out there, so it is a diverse learning environment. Last Wednesday when she got out of class she came to pick me up from work, absolutely steaming. She had gotten into a debate with a self proclaimed young man who was gay. Apparently, he is often overly vocal and often pushy when it comes to their class discussions. The teacher had posed the question "should homosexuality be presented as an acceptable lifestyle to publish elementary and middle school children?" No one said anything for a few minutes, which Bryn said was pretty unusual. Then she spoke up. "No, it should not be...I do not want my children to be taught that homosexuality is ok, especially from such a young age. When you are in middle school and elementary, you are beginning your path to self-discovery and sexuality. That kind of lesson plan could be extremely harmful to children, especially those who are already attention seeking or self destructive." Well this guy flipped out on her. He said that homosexuality was the future and basically called her small minded for not realizing that. But she stood up for her point. I'm very proud of her for that. If she had called him small minded for his opinion, I think he would have gone even crazier on her. 


I'll leave you with the First Amendment from the Constitution of the United States of America:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The point of the that amendment is to ensure freedom of speech for everyone, the "offensive" majority and "offended" minority alike. 

Mittwoch Menü

Starting a new thing on this here blog and that is Mittwoch Menü, or Wednesday's Menu! Instead of writing paragraphs about my Wednesday, I'll just make a little menu (list) so you can get a "taste" of my day!

That pun is for you Auntie!

So here goes nothing!

7:30 a.m.
veggie scrambler and Canadian bacon
day one no carbs
LIBRARY!
Work
Ribs
Blog

and later...

Phone Home
Bed early (ish!)

And if you feel that you can't go on

In the light you will find the road

Led Zeppelin

Riding the Train to Work

Yesterday I rode the train to work again. Since I had already taken the train by myself to the Staatsgalerie, I felt comfortable about going solo. I hopped on the train and realized immediately that something was different about the car I was riding in. For one, the seats were bigger and comfier, but there was also rails everywhere, sort of like in a handicap bathroom, ya know? So I thought that it was possible that I was riding in the handicap car, but there were no signs anywhere that made me think that...so I just got to work writing a few post cards when this lady with bright red (dyed) hair and a tight little mouth who began yelling at me in German and showing me a badge of some sort. I asked her if she spoke English and she began repeating the word "ticket, ticket, ticket!" So I showed her my ticket. It was the wrong type of ticket!! "Come wis Me," she ordered. So I went! She kept lecturing me in German, but I had no idea what she was saying. Then she pointed at a big number 1 painted on the wall. Thank goodness there was a nice young woman that motioned for me to sit down next to her. I plopped down in the seat and asked her if she spoke English. She did and asked for my ticket. Then she explained to me that I had been sitting in First Class when I had paid for a coach ticket. Who'dve thunk that there'd be a first class section of an inter city train?! Obviously, not this clueless American!

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

On Saturday, I headed downtown via train to explore the Staatsgalerie, an art museum. It was amazing! 42 rooms of masterpieces. The first room I walked into was Abstraction - Figuration by Neo Rauch, a German national who's work is haunting, but I just couldn't look at them long enough. Another artist that caught my eye was Max Beckmann, another German artist. He lived and worked during the expressionist movement, but his "expressions" are quite different from those of Monet, Manet, and that lot.

Beckmann's Girl with Banjo and Mask

Surrealism and the work of Salvador Dali, among others, was another of my favorite rooms. I think what I like about surrealism is the attention paid to intricate details and the "surreal" subject matters that are often very complex.

Salvador Dali

Then I got to the Picasso rooms. And Oh My Gosh! I love Picasso. I wish I could marry Picasso! (Actually, I've read he was quite the womanizer and plus he's dead...so maybe not) The Staatsgalerie has a wonderful Picasso collection. One website claimed that it was one of the largest in Europe. I'm not sure about that, but it was wonderful. 

The great thing about Saturday was that even though I had a great afternoon, I barely got through half of the museum! And since Saturdays are free admitance, I have a feeling I'll be spending many more lovely afternoons there.

Fall Market

Here in Echterdinger, we have a famer's market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Yesterday (Thursday), I woke up and looked out my window.
What do you think I saw?
A market.

At first I was confused.
"Did I get my days mixed up? Is today Wednesday?"
I knew I wasn't that mixed up!
So I asked Carolyn, out in house expert on Echterdinger.
(And boy are we lucky to have her!!)

"Its the fall market...like a craft market!"

So of course I went and walked around and checked it out!

There was a tea stand.

And a spice stand.

There were jewelry stands.

There were also stands with HUGE underwear hung up.

There were rolls and rolls of cloth.

Very pretty cloth.

There was this stand of fur merchandise.

Poor little fluffy fox tails.

And deliciously warm looking sheep's wool slippers!

There was also lots of candy stands. 

And sausage stands.

And beer stands.

Typical Germany.

Sami, if you are reading this, I got a part of your Christmas present! 

Longer Post Later

So this is what we did today!!

http://www.sensapolis.de/en/infos

Pretty dang fun!

Woooooo Pig Soooooie!

So today I wore a Razorback shirt to work.
What a great conversation starter!

First, I met a man who's wife went to the U of A.
"Are you from Fayetteville?" he asked me.
"I sure am!" I drawled (a little extra on purpose, of course!)
"Don't tell me ANYTHING about the game! We haven't watched it yet!"
"Oh, me either! I'm so far behind these days!"

Then some guy asked me if I was a razorback.
"Yupp," I replied, not looking up.
"Well, at least your in the SEC," he said.
Then I noticed he was wearing an Alabama sweatshirt.
"Everyone always gives the SEC crap, but we could beat all of 'em," he said, "And no matter how much we fight among ourselves, we'll stick together when it comes to anyone else!"
Bonding moment.

At the end of my shift I was stalking bread, minding my own business.
"Nice Shirt!" some dude said!
"Oh thanks, are you a fan?"
"HELL YEAH! I'm from Little Rock! I LOVE the Hogs!"

It was a great night of work!
I think I might wear a Razorback shirt at least once a week!