Susan Wise Bauer Quote

"You must push back against an immoral ethic that says your worth as a person is measured by the visible results you produce in the world."

FDR Quote

"Any government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuance of that habit means the poorhouse."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1932

Multi-Grain Veggie Pasties Recipe eh!

This is a large recipe; it makes about 10 pasties.

CRUST:
7 C flours (2 rice, 2 rye, and 3 wheat)
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. salt

1 1/2 C oil
3 eggs
3/4 C water
1/2 tsp. vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, then mix the two mixtures together, kneading with hands. Refrigerate crust while preparing filling.

FILLING:
4 carrots, chopped
2 small onions, diced
4 large potatoes, chopped
3 turnips (or 1/2 rutabaga), chopped
1/4 C oil
1 Tbs. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Break off pieces of dough and roll into 8-inch ovals. Scoop about 1/2 C of filling or so onto dough. Fold in half and seal edges. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Serve with sausage if desired.

Stealing Buddha's Dinner: Book Review

Stealing Buddha's Dinner served up a string of morsels reminiscent of my own memories of the 70's and 80's, and I had fun partaking of the nostalgia for the culture (or un-culture) of the time. There were other flavors too, ones with which I was unacquainted, from Vietnamese culture. By intermingling the two types of sensations, the author gave this Western reader a new perspective on her own society as well as a peak into a foreign one.

The story is a sad one on many levels, but the writing is done so poignantly that the telling of the story becomes its own vindication.

Parental Rights Amendment

As a homeschooler, I am a big proponent of parental rights, believing they are among those implied by "among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Proverbs about mother bears come into my mind when I consider the infringements of governments and courts into family affairs and the increasingly institutionalized way in which children are being raised. So why won't I be signing a petition to amend the Constitution to delineate rights of parents?

First of all, the Constitution already retains for the people rights it has not spelled out: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -Amendment 9. I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, thankfully, but it seems to me that the spirit of this amendment would be weakened if further amendments were to follow it, enumerating various rights of the people. And where would it end? The right to choose one's own spouse, work, health care, dress? How many amendments would we end up needing? The principle is already there, and frankly, the political climate in our nation today does not seem conducive to making changes to a document that has already stood the test of time.

A second but a more fundamental reason I won't be signing such a petition is that I don't look to the Constitution as the ultimate source of parental rights or securer of them. A parent's rights are of a higher, more basic nature, such that politically meddling with them can only weaken them. A funny thing can happen in the minds of free people when they place the confidence for their freedom in a person or a document; they can lay down their "eternal vigilance", which Thomas Jefferson said is the price of freedom, and become apathetic in their trust. Moreover, those entrusted with rights are just one election away from being replaced by those who would oppress. To my mind, a more potent course of action is for parents to assertively and gratefully embrace the rights that are theirs by divine right.

And so, instead of signing a petition for a Constitutional amendment, you will see me advocating homeschooling and other involved parenting. It's interesting to note that all of the terrifying anecdotes used to demonstrate the need for a Parental Rights Amendment that I have seen involve public school counselors or day care. One has to wonder, are parental rights being taken away so much as being given up?

George Eliot quote

Enjoying this quote:

"For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

-George Eliot, aka Mary Ann Evans