In yesterday’s New York Times, Erik Eckholm shed some important light on a community in Wisconsin struggling with bullying and homosexuality.  Here’s the article.  The Anoka-Hennepin School District has faced eight student deaths attributed to suicides over the past two years, and it’s believed that four of those students who killed themselves were struggling with issues of sexual identity.  District policy states that teachers must remain neutral on issues of sexual orientation, which means that teachers cannot discuss or mention sexual orientation in any way.  Many teachers and administrators contest that this is preventing them from stopping the bullying in their classrooms and schools.

The days leading up to the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy have been filled with stories of loss and focused on the negative effects of that day.  Granted, the world as a whole changed drastically, and countless individuals’ worlds changed to something beyond their recognition.  I woke up this morning, just ahead of the time that the first plane hit the North Tower back in 2001, and I noted that moment.  I started my day thinking that I might succeed in avoiding some of the media coverage, but before long, I found myself in front of the television, watching and listening to people read the names of loved ones lost.  I made it through about 30 names or so, and then changed the channel.  It was too much, and I felt a bit like I was choking.

Ah, there’s nothing like a little Category 1 hurricane to make life interesting.  Apparently all of these New Yorkers are now bellyaching about how Irene didn’t give them enough of an ass whooping, but I had my fill.  And my fill was tame compared to what others on the East Coast had to deal with.  Not to mention that members of my family faced threats of tornadoes, power outages, fallen trees, etc.  Irene was no Katrina, but some of my fellow New Yorkers need a bit of an attitude check.

I figured since this has been billed as a historic event that I should probably blog about it.  Better to have a record than have to try and remember after the fact.

It’s now Noonish on Saturday in NYC and for the second time in my twelve years here, mass transit has completely shut down.  This happened once before because of a transit strike in 2005, but it’s the first time that impending weather has caused a shut down.  We’ve had two waves of rain here, one light shower and one heavier downpour.  I managed to get all of my plants in off the terrace before the heavier downpour, so now my “garden” sits behind me as I type this.  I have to keep the plants locked away in my home office because Buster and Dusty (my cats) like to investigate and chew on anything new that arrives into the apartment.  The last thing I need is an emergency vet run because of poisoned kitties.

In my blog post on March 25, I mentioned that I wanted to get “Pay Attention” tattooed on my right forearm as a reminder to myself to do just that: pay attention.  Well, today I followed through, and you can see the pic below.  The tattoo is about two hours old, so very fresh.