Newfangled Dad

  It has been said that history repeats itself. This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes.  -Theodor Reik  Author's note: This blog has been in hiberation for quite awhile. Since 2011, nearly 400,000 people have stopped by for whatever reason to read about parenting, endurance sports, transportation issues, etc.. I've been privately journaling with a fountain pen since the start of the year and find it's wonderful for brief mood-cataloging, but it's much harder to tease out longer and more complicated thoughts. So I'm dusting off the old "publication" button. In the midst of the swirling chaos that is the early days of the second Trump administration, I wanted to offer a brief analysis--critique--that I'm not seeing in the common dialogue. After all, I do have a degree in this topic. It only seems right that I put it to use.  I've had a couple of encounters since the Inauguration where I've directly confronted Trump supporters over fa...

Most of us are familiar with this quote. It's featured in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The translated version on the wall there says:  "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me." What I'm guessing most readers don't know about this confessional from Martin Niemöller is that he himself was a Nazi.  Niemöller was born in Prussia in 1892 and began his career as a U-boat officer in the Imperial Navy of the German Empire. He sank 55,000 tons of Allied ships and was eventually awarded the Iron Cross for his accomplishments. Coming home after World War I, he got married, became a Lutheran pastor, and was a paramilitary commander helping put down t...

Today's song is "Buddy Holly" by Weezer. This is how we picture the song. Can you follow the lines with the song? This is what we heard:  "Buddy Holly" is a jazzy rock song with a little bit of blues in it. It's a very active song and suddenly starts and suddenly stops. The original song lyrics were about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. It's a buzzy song with a lot of electronic sounds. This is how I drew the picture:  I draw according to what I heard. It starts off smooth and then goes up and down, bumpy, and back and forth and back and forth. 

It's been awhile and the blog has been sitting, collecting dust. But it's back for a special project! Starting in 2018, I did a photo collection with my daughter where she showed a new facial expression of the day. It was fun and she ended up receiving a book of the 65 photos as a gift for her 8th birthday recently. Now, her older brother (9) wants a creative activity with dad and we came up with what you see launching today. I've had the idea for awhile that it would be fun to listen to some of the best music ever recorded and get the reaction of kids who have never heard it. He had the idea to add artwork. Please enjoy as we explore Rolling Stone' s list starting today with #500. #500 "Shop Around"

Today's song is "Shop Around" by Smokey Robinson Motown's 1st record to sell 1 million copies. Also the 1st Motown song in the Top 5.  This is how we picture the song. Can you follow the lines with the song? This is what we heard:  Kinda vibrate-y. Shakey. Right after that it explodes and all the music is there. It stays loud and at one part gets quiet and goes right back up and does that a couple of times before the song ends. The song is kind of “hyper.” This is how I drew the picture: I drew my picture to match the way I heard the song. The blue is the sudden explosion at the beginning and the red and yellow lines represent how it stayed. Green zigzags are the low parts. The yellow line on the right side of the page is low to high.

My daughter--my youngest--goes to kindergarten this fall. It's the end of the Daddy Era and there has been some pushback. For those of you reading along for awhile, you'll remember that in the new year I began to dip my toes in the job market. The cliche is true that trying to find a full-time job becomes a full-time job. I haven't been quite to that level yet; it's more of a casual browsing and applying for positions that interest me. "No, we don't want you to work!" has been the refrain from my kids. As luck would have it, I've managed to find a part-time gig a few days per week at a local non-profit which manages the historic preservation of a few of Chicago's architectural treasures. My museum background and living a few streets over from two of the properties has been a temporary benefit for both sides. It lets me collect a paycheck for a few hours without jumping into the deep end of the work pool. I get to educate the public, be involved...

The corner of Greenfield and Forest is currently one of the few remaining uncontrolled intersections in Oak Park. No stop signs from any direction. It's a residential T intersection that dead-ends into a large park, is one block north of a school, and is frequently congested with event parking for baseball/soccer games. The only crosswalk is the older style (faded) parallel bars. The walkways coming out of the park slope downward towards the street and don't feature any markings, ADA-compliant texture, etc.. The route features about 1,600 cars per day (800-1200 is typical for a residential street in the village) with speeds of 30 mph as drivers cut-through the neighborhood from major roads. What to do? The resident petition last night was for upgrading to an all-way stop. But there have been no crashes at the intersection in the last 3 years or in the village-wide traffic study from a decade ago. As I've discussed before on the blog, stop signs may be the cheap/obvious ...

I was approached by the folks at  Education.com  about possibly doing an activity of theirs as a guest post. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way.) It's a kinda cool science experiment to do with your kids and I'm all for that. Enjoy! Activity: Amazing Aerodynamics With a button, string and a stopwatch, children can see, hear and measure  aerodynamics  in action! In this energy transfer activity, your child will compare the spin duration of a button strung on different kinds of string. Two key elements of the  scientific method  are introduced: how to record results of an experiment on a data chart and how to use data to support a conclusion. Grade Third Grade Subject Science Physical Science What You Need: Flat button with 2 holes 5-10 kinds of string (thread, yarn, fishing line, kite string, dental floss, waxed thread, twine, etc.) Measuring tape Stopwatch Paper and pen What You Do: Ask your child to ...

I decided to try Oak Park's new "locally sourced, authentically French" eatery--called Léa--for lunch today. It's a great concept, but was a bit of a rough experience. When you walk into the restaurant, the line was almost out the door. (A great problem to have!) In the end, it would have been a benefit to have someone greeting guests and explaining both the process and that they were struggling. There are rows of menu cards on the wall, very artistic/rustic and cute, which are divided into 3 rows. Sandwiches on top. Salads in the middle. Tartines and kids meals on the bottom. There are quiches of the day and soups. Plus a little case of bakery items. Making your way to the registers, there are computers for self-serve order input...something I'd rather not have seen. Each meal comes with sides, different bread types, etc. and it's just easier to tell a cashier. Plus, one of the ongoing problems was that you're asked to take a number from the counter a...

As always, please note that I'm just one of 7 voices... Parking Study W e had the rare opportunity to meet with our Board liaison, Trustee Tucker, at last night's commission meeting. It's helpful to get immediate feedback on our work, but usually there is a simultaneous board meeting he must attend. As part of a discussion about hiring a consultant, there needed to be a conversation about the Transportation Commission's role and appetite for more work relating to the Board's ongoing parking study. We already have a lot on our plate, but we've agreed to hold a few extra meetings. Especially with regard to seeking more public input on parking. Not to mention that we needed to be able to see eye-to-eye about the goals and anticipated outcomes of the parking study.  I'm still deeply skeptical about that part.  My own personal skepticism is not the timeline (it's refreshingly quick for Oak Park) nor the process itself. Rather, I think the process is putt...

Don't get me wrong. Broadly speaking, it's probably a good idea we teach kids a few basics of safety. Not every parent is equipped to show responsible handling of potentially dangerous situations. So we create very general guidelines that apply to most. It's cool. I'm not really upset that my kids are learning about things like unwanted touches. Though there was a little overheard discussion at preschool drop-off about getting everybody onboard with the same body part names as they're referenced in the lessons. We all handle these things a little differently. So when the school sent home the "Never-Never Rules" that they'll be studying soon I cringed a bit. Here they are... The Never-Never Rules are: • Never ride on wheels without wearing a helmet. • Never cross the street without checking all ways for traffic. • Never play with fire. • Never touch a dog without asking the person in charge. • Never use a sharp tool without an o...

One day last week, I was waiting at the bus stop with my son before school when we heard that sound. You know the one. Crunching plastic and metal that is characteristic of a crash. When we looked down the street, a sporty make/model had been trying to make a left turn out of the alley with parked cars blocking the view. This is exactly the situation we've been trying to prevent with the new traffic light which is due for installation any day (supposedly) at the next intersection down where we were standing. But it was a long, winding process from the time our local business association asked that the Right Turn Only restriction be removed to the approval of the new traffic light. That initial meeting predates my almost-three years on the Transportation Commission. There's been fighting with the state over the design and funding. The the lowest bid was double what was expected at the time of approval. And my sinking feeling as I watched the drivers sort out their informat...

It would be too easy to say "for my kids" and leave it at that. When thousands gather to March for Science in Chicago on Saturday, we're marching for progress for humanity that only science can bring. It seems fairly obvious that nearly every aspect of modern life is deeply influenced by our past investment in evidence-based policy, education, and research. From the cell phone in your pocket to the moon landing, America does science better than anyone. And many (most?) of our best accomplishments in science came via government support. If we expand our vision slightly, science has also given us our national parks, preserves our history, and keeps our economy thriving. But there are cracks in America's science program. There are those willing to sacrifice our clean water and air. They deny climate change. They deny that vaccines are one of our best medical techniques for saving lives. They wish to lower the amount of research dollars given to important studies....

As I've written about previously here on the blog, I'm looking for work now that my kids will both be back in school next fall. I started in January and have had fairly wide-ranging experience so far. I've had interviews, seen a few scams, joined a few offbeat websites, and found my favorite places (and keywords) to browse. I've had contact with a few jobs where the details s-l-o-w-l-y trickle out and I have to politely decline because the fit wasn't right. That wastes both my time and theirs. And I've developed a few pet peeves. Employers, I'm sure you have just as many complaints about employees. I don't want to turn this post into me just griping. So, instead, I thought I'd offer a few helpful pieces of advice on how to attract better candidates. If you want to hire somebody amazing, you need to know what appeals to that kind of worker. In no particular order, 10 suggestions for employers about what potential employees want to see in your jo...

My hometown in Ohio had what I thought was a heartwarming story about preschoolers who were upset with fracking in the state's only national forest. So they sent drawings to officials involved with the process to be included in the public record. (A chilling testimony for the future, if you ask me.) It was a great piece on young minds caring about the world. Then I read the comments. I wasn't surprised that many of the people leaving messages blamed the parents for brainwashing. Or worse. They painted the preschoolers in the story as innocents who could not possibly understand the complicated economics of natural gas extraction. To the internet, these idealistic kids were being used by adults for political purposes. It never occurred to these cynics that a 5 year old could have their own moral compass or their own ideas. I'd seen it during the campaign to pass our local school referenda. When students organized to march and hold a rally asking voters to protect their ...

We're very lucky in Oak Park to have a deep bench. Our community is involved, smart, and progressive. In many instances, with multiple candidates vying for a handful of seats, you can't go wrong in who you select in the voting booth. These are simply my selections and a few were difficult choices. I've even been swapping a few names in my last edit as I have one-on-one conversations and rethink some candidate positions. Consider these suggestions. But they've risen to the top in my mind for their views on everything from Oak Park transportation issues to their vision for keeping student needs first in long-term school planning. I hope they reflect our diversity and commitment to good governance. (Candidates, if you feel like you'd like a chance to make me reconsider I'm happy to have a conversation about why I'm voting the way I am for a given position. Feel free to reach out.)  Oak Park Village Board: Peter Barber (incumbent) Glenn Brewer (in...

I understand the frustration of Oak Park taxpayers who are being asked to again raise their own taxes for the benefit of our schools. We have to do something about Oak Park's affordability. But there are right and wrong ways to tackle our high taxes. I wanted to share our family's story of why you should vote Yes on April 4 for District 97's referenda. I moved to Oak Park 10 years ago for the exact same reasons everyone else does. The values, the diversity, the quality of life were all desirable. I've gotten involved and am a volunteer member of the Transportation Commission. We regularly socialize with neighbors. When my son was born in 2010, the excellent schools looked appealing as well. We wanted to stay here to raise a family. When he was younger and had a speech delay, he aged into the school district's Early Childhood program (at the time it was at Holmes) and we started meeting some of the families and teachers we're friends with to this day. He also s...

For those who kept close eyes on the insides of the Democratic Party since a year ago, the battles over the weekend are familiar. A far left, populist wing of liberals tries to subvert the mainstream of the party in a hostile takeover attempt. Last year it was Bernie Sanders allies. Right up into the convention they made noise about the direction of things. Many consider this weekend's leadership struggle to be a proxy-war rematch of the two sides. Again, the Bernie wing lost and now many on the far left are complaining...even threatening to leave the party. In my opinion, it was never really about "how Democrats will win." In 2018 or 2020 or at the local level. Though that's what the battle for party leadership is supposed to be about. No, the question is really about how we govern  when we get our turn again. I'm not going to return to the arguments here about the need to embrace a more radical, hard left agenda. There are plenty of true believers who think Be...

A couple of transportation-related pieces in the Wednesday Journal  this week that I wanted to highlight because I enjoyed them overall. But I have responses and minor corrections to each of them. First, there was this piece by trustee candidate James Taglia: Oak Park's review of parking is much needed Then there's also this "One View" by Jack Crowe: Bike-friendly? Try Chicago, not Oak Park Candidate Taglia's letter focuses on the financial side of parking. I want to just clarify somewhat that, while the Transportation Commission has been working hard and I love seeing us get well-deserved credit for that hard work, it's actually the Village Board itself who is undertaking a year-long study of the overall parking situation in the village. We're happy to take any assignments, of course, and my understanding is that the Board may lean on us for public hearings, etc.. But much of the impetus driving this forward is them, not us. We certainly have aske...

Pretend you're a Trump supporter for a second. Which of these scenarios is more comforting? --Since the last time a Republican was President, the United States has been living under a popular black, Democratic leader. The nation has shifted ever more liberal in just a decade with men now marrying men, women fighting in battle, Christianity declining as the default assumption, and your neighbor is now possibly a foreigner with a very different culture. Despite your inability to put the social genie back in the bottle, your candidate in the election managed to squeak out a few thousand votes in key states to win the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by over 3 million. He does not have a mandate for change and your party's backward attitudes are leading the public to think that you're painfully, perhaps antagonistically out of touch with the majority of Americans. The country has, perhaps, been lost forever as a white, conservative Christian nation. --After l...