Here's all the gang- camping up at Duck Creek.
Left to right: Jordan, Tiffany, Mike, Paul, Troy, Sabrina, Bill and Me.
Cookie gets worn out camping!!
I am the mother of 8, a "yours-mine-and-ours" family. It's awesome! We all love being together when we can. We missed Matt during this vacation- he was on a mission for the LDS Church in Portland, Oregon.
I enjoy scoping out the stars with my binnoculars, walking my Black Lab- Cookie around the park, going to movies with Bill, and playing games with my teenagers.
I love my job as a Braille Instructor Assistant for the Utah schools for the Deaf and the Blind- teaching the blind and visually impaired children of Washington County. They are the bravest, smartest, most awesome kids around!
Wow!! I think that is so neat that you are a braille instructor. I've always thought it would be neat to know how to do that... :)
ReplyDeleteI am interested in what led you the field of a braille instructor. It is a subject most people never think to study. What was your journey in getting there?
ReplyDeleteIn reading Stephanie Coontz' short story about life in the 1950's, I found myself making comparisons to my own upbringing in the 60's and 70's by parents who were a product of the '50's. Much of her ideology rings true with me.
ReplyDeleteCoontz stated that the 1950's was a time of recovery for a Post-Depression/Post-War America... a healing time for families.
I liked the author's references to the sit coms of the '50's, showing American families how to act, think, and do. I remember watching Father Knows Best, and Leave it to Beaver as a child, and having conversations about the "moral of the story" with my parents. They were used in my home as a spring board to discussions of various moral topics.
Coontz discussed how many people had time in the '50's to bowl, play bridge, and attend PTA meetings and activities. This story brought me to a remembrance of my mom and dad going out in fancy formal wear, down to the gold shoes on my mother's feet. They did go to some real serious formal events. Today, my husband and I are lucky to have time to grab an ice cream once in a while at the local Maverik! Life is very much more hectic I believe, in our day.
The story also mentioned how white families saw much more of the improvements the 1950's had to offer. Many Blacks and Latinos were not finding housing in the suburbs. This was still apparent in the 60's and early '70's in my middle class suburban neighborhood. Only one African -American in my Elementary and Jr. High school for years.
There are so many other things I could comment on about this reading. I did like it,it brought back some memories of things I have not thought of in years!
I really enjoyed reading Judy Aulette's piece from her book, "Changing American Families." Coming from an upper- middle class white neighborhood, I never realized what was going on in any other neighborhoods! I feel her thoughts on families relocating for their jobs today was accurate. My husband and I moved three times in 20 years because of job situations, compared to my parents still living in the same house for 44 years!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the section on "The Flats", and the five factors that affected the African Americans that lived there. It reminds me of Hilary Clinton's comment, "It takes a village to raise a child"(or something to that effect). "Swapping" services, food, clothes, or whatever the needs are sounds like a great way to lift one another's burden as a whole.
I also gained a different perspective on Mexican immigrants and the talents the men gained as they came to America, and learned how to cook for themselves. I felt their pride and feelings of accomplishment when I read how they shared this new talent with their wives. I did not know that Mexican men and cooking was not in their culture.
Overall, I really liked this peice.