Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sitting On My Porch Part Twenty Three

I have been waiting all day to come home and watch the Sweet 16 tonight and see if my tournament bracket still had life. Then someone reminded that today was Wednesday. Not only am I not watching games, there are still two work days left. I want to sleep late so bad.


President Obama has a huge budget and apparently my grandchildren are going to be paying off the deficit caused by it. That’s going to suck but if everything goes according to plan at least they will have a quality education, a car that gets 40 miles per gallon on solar power and affordable healthcare. We have a deficit now and all we have to show for it is Saddam Hussein’s execution and some corporate bailouts.


Whenever a brother gets arrested in a high profile case in this area you can usually depend on several days of follow-up stories just so the public knows how crazy he is. Someone got arrested for stealing a truck full of waste from a major company and dumping it into a sewer drain and that story just disappeared. Can anyone explain that?


If there are any people around the country who are looking for a place to stash away some cash during the recession I would advice you to deposit it into the City of New Orleans bank account and tell them it’s for housing or parks and recreation. That money will sit there for years. There’s a high chance that even the people in charge of the money won’t know it’s there until you ask for it back.


Our local television special investigators should all be working for the FBI. They find out everything. And why does it seem like their reporting is the only way to get our local leaders to show any passion for anything besides fussing with one another?


Who in the hell is Tammy Bruce? What makes her qualified to call Michelle Obama trash and is America the only country where insignificant people can say disrespectful things about other people and gain fame?


I am making an official prediction that someone is going to put something on Twitter at the wrong time in the wrong situation and the whole social networking phenomenon is going to come crashing down. The next step from Twitter is a website where all you have to post is one word entries like “Happy” and “Sad” with the emoticon to go with it. This level of laziness will cause people to abandon every other site. I just gave someone my million dollar idea.


I volunteered to read to kindergartners on Fridays. I am not really doing it for my baby because she does a great job at making herself look good. I am doing it because the truth of the matter is there are some boys in her class without a dad around or not involved with the school work. I know the teachers and their moms are probably doing their best but I want them to see an actually example of a grown man that looks like them reading and having fun doing it. It sounds small but that’s a big deal living where we live. Sometimes positive reinforcement can be that simple. I don’t mind reading Dr. Seuss for a few minutes to get that point across.


In honor of my new reading adventure I would like to dedicate Children’s Story by the great Slick Rick. If the kids look bored when I start reading I will just start rapping this song. Well, maybe not this one. I know a few Blues Clues numbers I can add some soul to.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cliff:

I am proud of you. You are doing a good thing of going to school to read to the children. How many parents read to their children at home? I'll bet there is a very few these days. They claim they don't have time. How many minutes does it take to read a story to a child? It creates quality time spent with the child and it also helps the child to listen and understand what you are reading about. You and your siblings were read to a lot when you all were children. Don't put the rap in it if they get bored. Try some examples of some cartoons that you have watched. Use something or someone they can relate to. They get enough rap at home.

Love and peace,

Mama

Leigh C. said...

Bless you for doing the readings, Cliff. The kids'll love you.

Pistolette said...

The next step from Twitter is a website where all you have to post is one word entries like “Happy” and “Sad” with the emoticon to go with it. This level of laziness will cause people to abandon every other site. I just gave someone my million dollar idea.

Haha! Did you see the movie Wall-e or Idiocracy? Apparently we're not the only ones who think the future will be dominated by the lazies.

Anonymous said...

You rock, Cliff! Thank you for taking the time to read to these kids and your reasons for doing it. Your Mama SHOULD be proud, she's raised an intelligent, unselfish man.

I used to read so much Dr. Seuss to my daughter (now 20) that I knew some of the stories by heart (my favorite: The Lorax, great lessons to be learned).

Susanna Powers said...

The kids at school appreciate being read to, and being paid attention to. The younger they are, the more natural they are. I volunteer to pay attention to newborns, and it's not as a surrogate of an absent parent-- just as myself, a member of their tribe who loves them, and even newborns totally appreciate it. thanks, sp

Anita said...

I'm glad you've decided to do this, Cliff. It's important.

As food for thought about some things boys learn, here's a letter one man wrote:
http://lrwebb.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/open-letter-to-chris-brown/

Bayou Belle said...

I want to personally thank you Cliff for being such a good role model in an area that strongly needs them! It takes affecting just one kids life . . . just one. You know that ;-)