At home? Not so much with the priorities or accomplishing or organization. I am a bad wife/mother (by organizational standards, of course — I adore & take care of my family appropriately) & an even worse housekeeper. I was reading the time/productivity book we’re going through at work this weekend & thinking about all this. Thinking maybe I need to create a dashboard for home stuff. And I thought about it. And I thought about it a little more. And it dawned on me that I’m so abysmally organized at home because I spend my 40 work hours so ridiculously well organized & prioritized & hyper-functional, that by the time I get home, I’m all productived out. Try as I might, I can’t muster a whole lot of additional energy to move at anyone else’s pace but my own, to the occasional annoyance of my family’s. The important stuff gets done. Sometimes by someone who is too impatient for me to get around to it in my own time, though I would eventually work around to it.

My own time. Those three words are really problematic. As a wife/mother, “my own time” is supposed to be sublimated into taking care of the hearth. I fail at this miserably. And even worse, I have trouble feeling any substantial guilt about it. That said, while I’m selfish & don’t get shit around the house done in any sort of efficient or organized way, I’m not very good at using the ‘my own time’ that I squander doing actual nice things for myself. I spend a lot of time on the internet. My own [cyber]space, of sorts. Friday night I’m going to the spa with JB. This qualifies as something nice for myself. Something nice for myself would also be learning how to take vacation. No. I really don’t have any idea how to “do” vacation. It’s a fairly alien concept to me & it confuses me & I end up squandering time off in a similar way to my weekends.

I recognize that these things are largely a symptom of an imbalance that requires correcting, but I’m uncertain how to bring balance. I can’t very well become less productive, organized, prioritized, at work…

And that’s about enough thinking along those lines tonight. I’m going to go practice guitar and look at my email and eventually wend my way to bed.

Hopefully our timid big guy will find some intestinal fortitude in the near future (like tomorrow at breakfast) and come running to the sound of a little girl’s or little girls’ voice/s trying to make kitty food noises. On the upside, of all the cats we’ve had, he’s probably the most competent at getting by outside. He’s likely a good hunter having been feral until he & his litter were trapped (though terribly out of practice other than play, but he’s a fierce feather catcher). He’s not likely to approach humans or allow them to approach him so it’s not so likely he’ll be mooching & working the neighbors. Unless he’s trying them on for size…

Bleah. Not a good way to end what was more or less a very nice weekend. Really puts a damper on things.

TimTheCat airing out teh harbls.

From TimTheCat

M1 went with her friend to see The Music Man last night. Her friend’s brother was in it. Big excitement for M1 frequently translates into big tummy aches. So I was up the better part of the night trying to be comforting and saying a lot of, ‘yes, I know you don’t feel well. I’m so sorry. I know it sucks. Yes, I know your tummy hurts. (wash, rinse, repeat)’.

I have no wit or wisdom to pass on today (ok, I never have wisdom).

xoxo.

After we were done at the aquarium, we walked down the piers for lunch and then on the way back to the car, we could no longer withstand the call of the pirate store & went in. I finally have my big ol’ (3×5) jolly roger flag, M1 got a pirate necklace, and all because M2 wanted a pirate rubber ducky… Heh. Arrrrrg!

Two new galleries up:

• One of fall & P’s folk’s visit, and

• The aquarium adventure.

Why I’m the luckiest mom:

• M1 brought home two pages of math and the note at the top from her teacher said “Wow! Excellent work, M1!” because every last math question was correct.

• M2 smeared her finger across my glasses last night and for the first time ever said, “Gllllaaasssessss!”
• M1 really seems to love M2, even if she does get annoyed with her sometimes.
• M2 really seems to love M1, even if she does push her sister’s buttons sometimes.
• M1 is an awfully sweet kid.
• So is M2.

Sigh. I really need to get back to that homework…

I sent in my ballot eight days ago. Since then it’s just been crossing my fingers & trying not to hyperventilate. Is it bad when an avowed atheist catches herself praying in the shower? I don’t even know who I was praying to… < sigh >

Have sudden overwhelming desire to be reading Jeanette Winterson somewhere high on a peaceful island cliff in a warm balmy summer evening breeze.

If I’m going to dream, I may as well dream big.
Sigh.

NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has reached a settlement in its federal lawsuit against the U. S. Department of Education for illegally suspending a group of female students and requiring them to submit gynecological records as a condition for reinstatement.

U.S. Department Of Education Agrees to Changes to Protect Students’ Reproductive Health Privacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has reached a settlement in its federal lawsuit against the U. S. Department of Education for illegally suspending a group of female students and requiring them to submit gynecological records as a condition for reinstatement.

“The NYCLU will take steps to ensure the student population understands that the Department of Education policy prohibits such actions in the future,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “We will get that message out.”

According to the NYCLU lawsuit, a group of 13- and 14-year old students at Intermediate School 164 in Washington Heights were singled out by school officials after allegedly skipping school on a Friday to attend a “hooky party.” When they returned to school, they were pulled from their classes, interrogated and told that they could return to class only if they got documented gynecological examinations and tests for pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. The NYCLU represented five of the girls in a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York against two school administrators, the DOE and the City of New York.

Under the terms of the agreement, school officials are barred from demanding that students undergo or reveal the results of pregnancy, STD and HIV testing and may not exclude students for being pregnant, HIV-positive or having an STD. The DOE will also ensure that all middle school and high school principals and guidance counselors, among others, receive training on the new policy in the coming months and will submit a progress report by August 2004. In addition, the DOE agreed to remove references to the incident, including doctors’ notes containing confidential test results, from each student’s school record.

One of the teenage plaintiffs in the case, “Susan Roe,” expressed relief about the settlement. “I’m really glad that they’re changing the rules and training the principals so they know what the rules are. It’s really good because it means that other kids aren’t going to have to go through the same thing I did and feel bad like I did. It was so embarrassing and made me feel small.” (Roe and the other teenage clients in the case remain anonymous to protect their privacy.)

The mother of another teen plaintiff, “Jane Doe,” added: “Before, because these rules weren’t clear to principals, my daughter and my family had to go through a humiliating and traumatic experience, a very painful incident that I will never forget.”

While praising the agreement, the NYCLU expressed concern that there are no assurances that the administrators named in the lawsuit will not repeat their actions at I.S. 164. Both not only continue to work there but also have been promoted — and neither has apologized to any of the students.

“We are also deeply concerned that the DOE isn’t doing enough to ensure that
students at this school know their rights and can protect themselves,” Lieberman said. Pamphlets detailing the privacy and educational rights of students where their reproductive health is concerned will be provided to every junior and high school guidance office and school-based health center, but the pamphlets will be distributed to students only upon request, even at I.S. 164, where the original incident took place.

But, Lieberman, emphasized, the settlement is a victory for the courageous students who stepped forward to defend their rights.

© American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004