Milestones: My Son is Swimming!

My son was scared of the waves at the Pacific Ocean beaches when we visited those when he was 1 and 2 years old. And he's been wary of the water ever since. At my family's cottage, he's always loved riding in the speedboat, but was never big on playing in the water until this summer. He still was nowhere close to swimming.

We stayed one night at a motel while in Michigan, to visit with close friends. He loved using my goggles in the pool. A family friend then bought him his own facemask. His new school, Homeschool By the Bay, will be held in a home that has access to a pool. School starts next week, but he's been going there for the past few weeks since I started back to work. He's suddenly swimming like wild! I showed him how to use his arms more effectively and the next day he told me I had sort of taught him to swim. :^)

The other day he showed me his summersaults in the water. He decided to try a back summersault. At first, it just wouldn't work. A minute later, he had it. Two minutes later, he was doing three in a row. And his handstands in the water are pretty good. He can only swim about 10 feet so far, but I won't be surprised if he's swimming the length of the pool in a few weeks. (Or maybe it will take a few years, like all the other big advances... I never can predict.)

Amazing how fast they learn, when they're ready!

Woo Hoo! My Poem Got Published (on another blog...) ;^)

Awhile back, while a bunch of us math folks were talking about math poems, I posted my poem, Desire In a Math Class, here on my more personal blog. That math poetry project eventually ended up with me meeting (just through email) JoAnne Growney, who co-edited Strange Attractors, and publishes math-related poems on her blog, Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics.

Today she published my poem on her blog. I am honored! Years ago I tried, to no avail, to get my favorite poem, Tree Spirit, published. Some day I'll work at it again, and get that one into a book. For now, I'm delighted that one of my poems has finally been published, even if it is online and not in a book.

War Is Criminal: The Money Side

The war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan have both been against civilian populations. (Neither has a government fighting us back.) That's the most criminal aspect of our government's conduct. But here's another criminal aspect. Nathan Yau at Flowing Data shows a graph of the way money in Development Fund for Iraq was spent.

Seems to me this is grounds for prosecution.

I'd like to see some graphs showing how far that money would go (both here and in Iraq) if well-spent.

Rachel Maddow Show

I just got a link (from Dina, at The Line) to Rachel Maddow's commencement speech at Smith College in May. It impressed me so much, I thought I'd check out her news show. Wow! She is doing what I've wished for years the news would do - giving good background history to help viewers understand the issues.

My close friend Linda got a TV about a year ago, just so she could watch the Rachel Maddow show.  She joked about how cute Rachel was, and it didn't occur to me to dig deeper. So now I can tell Linda, I'm finally watching it too - online. (No TV in this house, but lately that doesn't seem to make a difference.)

Same Sex Marriage: A Very Good Court Ruling

You may live in a state where you can marry your same sex partner, but that doesn't allow you to claim her (or him) as your spouse on your 1040. The federal government has not moved forward yet on this. So couples in Massachusetts have sued the federal government. They recently won in U.S. district court.

Here's the Slate article.

Celebrating Breaking the Gender Rules

I used to identify as bi, and I said then that I was attracted to women with short hair and men with long hair, people with a sparkle in their eye. I've always liked people who bend gender.

Pilar did a post on “My Sins Against Gender-Stereotypes”, in response to a challenge from a blog friend of hers. I can't call it a sin, though, so I'm going to call it "Celebrating Breaking the Gender Rules".

Here's what I do that breaks the rules:

1. Let my chin hairs grow! At 53, I've got quite a few. Each semester, I carefully cut them off with scissors before my first class, so I won't scare my students. Then I let them grow. Right now they're longer than they've ever been, due to my sabbatical year.
2. Wear men's pants when they fit better (often), and men's fitted button downs (European fit) to fit my long arms.
3. Neglect my clothes.
4. Speak my mind.
5. Love math.
6. Hate shopping.
7. Eat what I want.
8. I don't cook much. (Which is why I love Three Stone Hearth for allowing me to eat healthy food.)

I'm sure there's more. I'm probably less aware of gender rules than most folks.  ;^)

Anyone care to join this party?

Learning Is Such a Natural Thing

I don't worry much about my son's learning. I trust that being around me and my incessant reading and thinking will be enough to help him move forward in most ways. I do regret that I'm not more musical - he'd blossom with a musical adult quietly mentoring his amazing musicality.

We're at my family's cottage and my brother left his iphone out for everyone to play with. My son has found two different hangman games. He's getting a great spelling lesson from his play, and I'm tickled.

Maria (who may be the only one reading this blog regularly) talked about believing in 'strong guidance'. I like her way of looking at these things, but I think I'm more laissez faire.