suggested readings, death rant

[lauradi7dw]

Go down to the "past sermon" section, and click on the May 14th Pride sermon. (for all I know, the other ones are good, too - it's just that I'm recommending that one).
http://uufscc.org/sunday_services.htm

That (by coincidence) will be Florence's closest UU congregation starting in September. She may never make it there - it's ten miles or so from the UUSC campus. I already knew that California is not New England, but it's an interesting contrast - there are 25 UU congregations ten miles or less from our house, instead of 1.

Geoff Nunberg's "Fresh Air" commentary about the possibility of making English the legal official language of the USA:
http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~nunberg/NatLg.html
I especially like the section "the biggest impediment to learning English these days is the shortage of English classes. Right now there are 20,000 people on waiting lists to get into English classes in Massachusetts, 6,000 in Maryland, 10,000 in Arizona, and so on down the line. But none of the immigration bills before the Congress provides a dime to make those waits any shorter, in what has to be a singularly literal example of not putting your money where your mouth is."

Obviously what should happen is that everybody (politician or not) who complains about people not learning English fast enough should volunteer as a tutor. They couldn't be any worse at it than I am, but every time I think of quitting, the English at Large people beg me to keep at it. Well-meaning incompetence is better than nothing, I guess.
http://www.emlc.org/

Arthur and I were trying to schedule out the time (starting Thursday) during which we plan to be hosting all four grandparents, coming to town for Florence's last dance recital and high school graduation. I remarked bitterly that we may need to allow flex time for attending a funeral - my friend with a brain tumor probably is down to his last few days, although it can be hard predict this. The mother of another friend was predicted by emergency room staff to be about to die a week ago, but she got better. I don't know what to do to support the loved ones of those dying - take casseroles to their homes? That would have been one of the automatic responses of our childhood, but I just don't know.
miraclaire has already touched on Derek Sawyer's unexpected death, and two other people I know lost their respective fathers in the past couple of weeks (but they knew in time to make it to their bedsides). Phooey.

Comments

[annag.livejournal.com]

Find out if there's a food rotation, of people bringing either hot dinners or things that can be kept frozen, then heated easily? I'm pretty sure my mom still does this, but not without calling ahead and such. When my viola teacher was dying of cancer, several of her friends got together to make a video of songs and skits to show support. If there are children involved, you can make sure to pay attention to them, since kids can be hit especially hard by the change in social dynamics, possibly moreso than by the death itself. But then, I got my psych degree from a crackerjack box, so to speak.