Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 281

In case you missed it, an important comment from a reader

On February 13, I wrote a piece about the astonishing number of typos and errors that had proliferated from the Trump administration on a single day, including the imaginary Bowling Green Massacre and a typo on the official inaugural photo of Donald Trump.

I just noticed that I received a comment on the post from someone who identifies himself as "Mike Pruitt" and worried that perhaps regular readers (like me) failed to notice Mike's scintillating prose. 

I post it here for your reading enjoyment:

“I wonder if this special little snowflake wrote an article on all of the Obama Administration’s typos? Nah, he was too busy trying to figure out a way to detach himself from Obama’s nutsack to bother with that.”

I always appreciate it when readers take the time to comment on something I have written. I wish that Mike's level of discourse was slightly elevated, but not everyone can adhere to the "no name calling" and "avoidance of vulgarity" policies that I have self-imposed. Nor should they.   

I also wish that Mike hadn't fallen back on the too-often used insult of "snowflake," which is a common refrain from right wing Internet trolls these days. It's not that "snowflake" hurts me in anyway. I just appreciate variety, creativity, and ingenuity too much to enjoy an overused zinger like "snowflake."

Mike is also correct that I did not write a post about all of the Obama administration typos. I'd remind Mike that I'm not a journalist and therefore have no ethical requirement to balance my commentary in any way whatsoever, but I'd also tell him that I have no recollection of any prominent Obama-administration gaffs of the kind I wrote about that day.

No typos on either of Obama's inauguration photos. I checked. No memorable misspellings of famous people's names.No false attributions of quotations to former Presidents.No fake terrorist attacks. 

Obama, to my recollection, never mistakenly asserted that a famous American like Frederick Douglass, who has been dead for more than 150 years, was still alive, and his administration, to my knowledge, never referred to African slaves as "immigrants."

Obama's administration was simply more precise in my admittedly imperfect memory.  

 An examination of President Obama's last 200 tweets also reveals no typos that I can see.

By contrast, there are THREE typos in Donald Trump's last 10 tweets, and that doesn't include the tweet that he posted and deleted FOUR TIMES before finally getting the word "hereby" correct.

Count that one and he has SEVEN typos is the last 10 tweets.

Writing a post about the Obama administration's typos might have simply required far too much research to write. There may not be enough of them to make the post worthwhile. I like low hanging fruit, and the Trump administration provides it in bushels.  

Still, I always appreciate the feedback, even when it's not entirely positive and slightly vulgar.  

 

 

 

 

I fear that this sentiment may be in short supply today.

Critics of food stamps need to experience a childhood of hunger

There's a lot of talk amongst Trump supporters and the far right about the way in which food stamps are decimating the federal budget and costing American taxpayers millions.

If you hear people speaking like this, I would like you to consider saying something in response. These are criticisms that cannot be allowed to stand. 

As a child, my family received food stamps. My parents worked full time until my mother was injured at work and permanently disabled. She received a settlement for her disability, but even with these two incomes, my parents received food stamps at certain times in our lives. We also received cheese and milk from the WIC and an occasional donation of food from the church.

Despite all of this support, I was hungry as a child.

I was hungry a lot. 

This is why I become so enraged when I hear people talk about food stamps as the bane of the federal budget. 

The annual report from the United States Department of Agriculture showed that about 45 percent of food stamp benefits went to children under 18, totaling about 20 million youngsters. Nine percent of recipients were age 60 or older, and nearly 10 percent were disabled adults who were under 60, according to the analysis of food stamp usage for the fiscal year that ended in September 2014.

I know that there is fraud and abuse in the food stamp program (as there are in MANY PARTS of our nation's budget, including the military), but this does not make it bad or unnecessary. When I hear someone complain about the less than two percent of our annual budget that feeds people who would otherwise go hungry, I ask:

Do you really think that I should have been hungrier as a child?

Did I not deserve the food that I received as a child thanks to food stamps?

Do you really think the wealthiest nation on the planet should allow children, the elderly, the disabled, and even those abled bodied adults who are experiencing unexpected difficulties to go hungry?

Hunger is a terrible thing. When I was homeless later in life, I was often hungry, but because I had no address or phone number, I was not eligible for many of the benefits that might have otherwise been able to receive, including food stamps. Nor could I find a job without an address or phone number. Had it not been for friends and former employees who took me in when I was in desperate need of help, I might still be hungry today. 

I am not opposed to rooting out waste and fraud. I am not opposed to making things more efficient in order to save money. But when I hear well fed people talk about cutting back on food stamps for people who genuinely need them to eat, it makes me wish that these lawmakers could experience hunger in the way that so many Americans have experienced it in their lives.

It's easy to cast judgment on others with a fully belly. 

A sign attached to a vending machine accurately describes the emotional state of many Americans

I fear that this sign - stuck to the front of a vending machine - perfectly encapsulates how many Americans are feeling these days. 

Joy is the willingness to show your underwear on a roller coaster

You can choose to live your life with the joy of the front row or the joylessness of the third row.

The choice is yours.

I failed the "Where do babies come from?" question, but only because my son is a biology nerd.

Last night Charlie, my four year-old son, asked me how a daddy puts a baby in a mommy. 

Fear not. I was ready. 

"When a mommy and a daddy love each other," I said, "a baby is born inside a Mommy."

Charlie stared at me for a second, shook his head, and said, "I don't think that's right, Daddy. That's not how it happens. That doesn't make sense. Maybe the doctor puts the baby inside the mommy."

He was genuinely disgusted with my answer.

Then he asked me how a baby could survive in a woman's tummy "with all those gastric juices," which led to a discussion of the womb, which I quickly discovered I was ill equipped to have.  

The boy is obsessed with the human body and might know more than me before long. 

Resolution update: February 2017

1. Don’t die.

Still alive and kicking. 

2. Lose 20 pounds.

I lost four pounds in February, bringing the total lost to five pounds, mostly because I was sick and lacking an appetite and have been skipping lunch to get things done. 

3. Do at least 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups five days a week.

A two-week persistence fever prevented me from achieving this goal, but an illness exemption is allowed.  

4. Practice yoga at least three days a week for at least 15 minutes each day.

No progress.

5. Take the stairs whenever I am ascending or descending five flights or less.

Done! Last weekend Elysha and I stayed in a hotel for a night, and thankfully we were on the sixth floor. I wondered if I would've actually taken the stairs with my luggage if I was on the fourth floor. Seems like an exemption in that case is in order. 

WRITING CAREER

6. Complete my sixth novel before the end of 2017.

My editor and I have decided on the next book. Work has begun in earnest.  

7. Complete my first middle grade/YA novel.

The sale of my first middle grade/YA novel will hopefully take place soon (keep your fingers crossed!), and with that sale, work on this book will commence. 

8. Write at least three new picture books, including one with a female, non-white protagonist. 

Many ideas, but no progress as of yet. 

9. Complete a book on storytelling.

SOLD! Work has begun in earnest.

10. Write a new screenplay.

No progress. 

11. Write a musical.

No progress.

12. Submit at least five Op-Ed pieces to The New York Times for consideration.

I submitted one piece to the New York Times for consideration. No luck. 

On a related note, I sold two more pieces to Parents magazine. 

13. Write a proposal for a nonfiction book related to education.

I'm taking notes on one idea as the school year progresses, and I have several other ideas that I am expanding into paragraph summaries. Work on this will likely commence at the end of the school year. 

14. Submit one or more short stories to at least three publishing outlets.

No progress.

15. Select three behaviors that I am opposed to and adopt them for one week, then write about my experiences on the blog.

No progress. Also, I'm in need of behaviors. Last year I tried backing into parking spaces, daily affirmations, and bottle flipping.

Thoughts for this year?

16. Increase my author newsletter subscriber base to 1,600.

I grew my list by 29 subscribers in February (and 66 overall this year). Total subscribers now stands at 1,350. If I continue at this pace, I will exceed 1,600 by the end of the year. 

17. Write at least six letters to my father.

I received a letter from my father this month. I am writing a response now.    

18. Convert Greetings Little One into a book.

No progress. 

19. Record one thing learned every day in 2017.

Done! My favorite thing learned in February is this:

Johnny Cash's song "A Boy Named Sue" was written by Shel Silverstein. 

STORYTELLING

20. Produce a total of 12 Speak Up storytelling events.

We produced two shows February: A typical Speak Up event at the Connecticut Historical Society and a special show in conjunction with Voices of Hope that featured the children on Holocaust survivors telling stories about their parents and how their parents' experiences changed them. This brings our total number of shows in 2017 to five.

Things should slow down now.  

21. Deliver a TED Talk.

I've been invited to speak at a TEDx event in April. 

22. Attend at least 15 Moth events with the intention of telling a story.

I attended one Moth StorySLAM in Boston, as well as a GrandLSLAM in Brooklyn. This brings my yearly total to three.  

23. Win at least three Moth StorySLAMs.

My name was drawn first at the Boston StorySLAM, giving me little chance to win. I finished in fourth place. 

24. Win a Moth GrandSLAM.

I drew the first spot at the Brooklyn GrandSLAM, which meant I had no chance of winning. I finished in fourth place. 

25. Produce at least 50 episodes of my new podcast Live Better.

I pulled down my first episode after receiving feedback from a friend who works in radio. I'm currently re-recording with a slightly different format. To be honest, my biggest problem is I cannot find a moment of quiet in my home to record. 

26. Perform stand up at least once in 2016. 

A local stand up venue has invited me to perform. I'm getting my material ready. 

27. Write a one-person show.

The "writing" for this has been going surprising well and is nearly complete. I don't actually write the show but work it out in my mind and then record finished sections.

Even better, a theater may be interested in having me perform. In preparation, I've been speaking to a director about lighting, set design, etc.  

NEW PROJECTS

28. Explore the option of teaching a college class.

No progress.   

29. Cook at least 12 good meals (averaging one per month) in 2016.

No progress.

30. Plan a 25 year reunion of the Heavy Metal Playhouse.

No progress.

MISCELLANEOUS

31. I will stand in vocal opposition to every negative comment made about age disparities between male and female romantic couplings because I choose to respect a woman’s choices of romantic partner regardless of their age or the age of their partner.

Done. I had at least two opportunities to do so in February. No one liked what I had to say, but I didn't give a damn.   

32. I will report on the content of speech during every locker room experience via social media in 2017.   

Done. 

Not surprising, I heard no man bragging about sexually assaulting women in any locker rooms (or anywhere else) in February.  

33. I will stop presenting the heteronormative mother-and-father paradigm as the default parental paradigm when speaking to my children and my students.

Done. Not as hard as I thought. I switched over to "parents" in January and haven't slipped yet.     

34. I will not comment, positively or negatively, about physical appearance of any person save my wife and children, in 2017 in an effort to reduce the focus on physical appearance in our culture overall. 

I pointed out to my wife that the dress for adults at my daughter's Snow Ball dance ranged from jeans and tee-shirts to tuxedos and little black dresses. While this was admittedly a comment related to physical appearance, I was not commenting on any one person in particular, nor was I judging anyone's decision. I really didn't care what people chose to wear. 

35. Surprise Elysha at least six times in 2016.

I handed Elysha a Cadbury Egg just before she was to take the stage at Speak Up. Nothing more surprising than handing a Jewish woman a bit of Easter candy just before she is to speak to almost 200 people.  

36. Replace the 12 ancient, energy-inefficient windows in our home with new windows that will keep the cold out and actually open in the warmer months.

No progress. I can feel the heat creeping out of the windows by the second.   

37. Optimize our television for a streaming service. 

No progress. 

38. Set a new personal best in golf.

No progress until the snow goes away. 

39. Play poker at least six times in 2016.

No progress.

40. Spend at least six days with my best friend of more than 25 years.

No progress. 

41. Post my progress in terms of these resolutions on this blog on the first day of every month.

Done!

Unfair assumption #30: CVS shopping carts were not made to be filled.

CVS customers who have a carriage full of items have forgotten the purpose of a grocery store. 

They also create lines miles long. 

Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Never settle.

I often say that the worst thing a person can do is find a good idea and not strive for a great idea.

Settling for good means you will never be better than good. 

Years ago, I ran races around Connecticut modeled after the television show The Amazing Race. Teams of two raced around the state, competing in challenges, solving puzzles, and engaging in embarrassing behavior, all in the hope of being proclaimed A-Mattzing Race champions.

The people who competed in these races often asked me how I came up with such crazy, unique, interesting, and challenging ideas. I explained:

I design the race. I plan out all the stops and decide upon all the challenges. When it's finished and the race is ready to go, I start all over again. I try to replace every challenge with an even better challenge. I assume that my first idea was not my best idea. It almost never is. I allow myself to think of the strangest, oddest, most incomprehensible things, because it is through this opening of the mind and willingness to not settle on something good that great ideas come.

I think this church sign says it well: 

The Education Secretary is knowingly endangering children

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos opposed Donald Trump's reversal of Obama's transgender restroom policy because she worried that the reversal would hurt and potentially endanger children in schools.

When faced with the choice of supporting Trump's reversal of the policy (which he promised not to do during the campaign) or resign, DeVos opted support the policy and keep her job.

To be clear: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has knowingly placed children in danger in order to save her job.