Afternoon snack with my youngest. Her brothers are back in school but she has a week of "summer" left. Calling it by that seasonal term is ridiculous, as we are cloaked in thick, cold fog. You couldn't get a suntan if you walked around naked, which certain people do in the Castro District lately (yuck, just a personal comment).
Today we got some of her "back to school" supplies, and she helped me stock up on cat supplies.
Biggie and I had a breakthrough of sorts the other night when he came to me to pet him for a while -- this was around 5-5:30 am, which seems to be his prime time. Then, last night, or more precisely this morning, right around then, I awoke to a crash. I could hear that my daughter had awakened too and that she was dealing with it, so I tried to go back to sleep.
A couple hours later, when I got up to drive one of her brothers and others in their carpool, she explained to me that the cat had knocked over his box of food, scattering it all over the kitchen floor.
In the process he scared himself back into the closet. She cleaned it up, and then kept the light on, starting her own day early, courtesy of Biggie.
Tonight, she's at soccer practice; this weekend she plays in her first-ever club level tournament down the peninsula. That she has overcome her doubts to continue competing is one of the very impressive things she has exhibited this summer, as she grows taller and stronger every day.
But one thing that she's reverted to is vegetarianism. Her experiment as a meat eater didn't last long, and I don't think she tasted anything more than a bit of bacon and a hot dog at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.
That's fine. At lunch yesterday in a cafe near her Mom's house, I got her a garden burger, which she devoured and loved.
As I indicate every time I profile her, even in passing, she's a strong-minded young woman -- exactly as I would have her be. But that's not always an easy accomplishment for girls in this society. There are still so many double standards in the way all of us -- men and women -- judge our young.
Boys are viewed through one set of lenses; girls another. I don't have favorites when it comes to the gender-parenting question. I've loved being able to help raise three of each gender. They're all different; they're all strong in various ways.
And, each of them is so vulnerable as well, of course -- especially through their father's eyes.
My high school senior is about to start his fourth and final year of high school soccer. He is one of only three seniors on the team, which means their chances of success may be limited, as they won't have much experience.
He, in fact, is the most experienced player on the team, by far, having started and played every game since he started as a freshman, except when injured. I'm hoping he personally has a great season, which I expect he will, but also that his team can pull together and be competitive in the city league.
Because this will be it. After this, all will fade into memory.
He will no doubt be one of the team captains, so it is time for him to step up into a leadership position on the pitch. I'm curious as to how that may work out.
His slightly younger and slightly taller brother, attending the academically intense Lowell H.S., is for the first time since starting there two years back showing signs that he is intellectually excited by his courses in A.P. Psychology and A.P. History, among others.
This is the moment I've been waiting for -- when our ailing, creaky, under-funded public education system here in this economically distressed inner city finally starts challenging him intellectually.
Once he is engaged, he knows no limits -- he is insatiably curious and endlessly brilliant as a critical, original thinker. His grade point sucks, so far, thanks to weak teachers, "stupid" (his word) courses, and math (period), but maybe, just maybe, now he is about to take off as the student I know he can be.
It will be a busy fall. College applications for one, lots of homework for another, and 8th grade, the end of Middle School for the third.
Oh yeah, there's a national election, too, but quite frankly, the whole electoral process has become so corrupt, reductionist, and media-saturated, that I doubt anything I could write would help anyone find his or her way through this morass.
But there is one thing I have to say. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. If I were a member of a political party with a candidate for Congress who made the unforgivably offensive comments about rape that a Republican did this week, I would resign from that party.
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. Shame on you, Republicans. Any chance I would give any of your ticket a second glance has been obliterated by this travesty. Shame on you all.
I urge all parents of any political persuasion to vote Democratic this November and repudiate the party that tolerated this monstrous candidate to even make it to the point that (way too late) they rejected him, after he made any other option untenable.
If you call yourself a Republican, you cannot shake off this horrible shadow, not this election cycle.
Do some work, come back in four years, clean out these kinds of freaks from your closet, and maybe I'll give you a second chance. But for now, for me as for all reasonable thinking people, your party has been suspended.
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