1. Late last week, I short-circuited from novel rejection letters and general loathing for my own work, which naturally led me straight to the edge of an impenetrable titanium wall called WRITER’S BLOCK. After I’d bloodied my cranium against it for a few days, I finally decided it was time to take some time off, back up and get a bit of perspective. So I put the kids down for nap and pulled out Sense and Sensibility (something I’ll never watch if I have to wait for Christian to consent to watch). And on the DVD I found Emma Thompson’s Golden Globe speech, which was so charming that I decided to share it with all you lovely people. I love how she’s so loosey-goosey, compared to the self-importance and self-aware giddiness of most celebrities giving speeches. She keeps throwing her hair out of her face and looking like this fancy dress is such a bother. And I mean, really–“An enchanting companion, about whom too much good cannot be said.” Who says things like that, outside of a Jane Austen novel! Emma, you inspire me! I firmly devote myself for the rest of the…uh, day, anyway…to placing all prepositions BEFORE their objects, even in speech!
2. With all the troubles we’ve had getting Alex to participate at church, this post from Jen at Conversion Diary really hit home.
3. I also came across a good Natural Family Planning video this week. A lot of times, people zone out as soon as you mention the words. There’s this automatic assumption that planning families without using contraception is a choice only a religious zealot would make. But there are lots of good reasons not to junk up yourself and the world with chemicals and barriers, and I thought this video–which BTW is from Parents–did a pretty good job of introducing them.
4. Did you hear about this one? A man gets on the bus and yells at the kids for tormenting his 13-y-o daughter. When I first heard the story, I was ticked off at him. Then the newscasters added this tiny, unimportant tidbit: his daughter has C.P. Suddenly I found it hard to fault him. If all of what happened here happened to my daughter, I can’t promise I wouldn’t get on the bus and deliver a blistering scolding, too. Although I don’t know that it would include profanity and death threats. If you’re interested in this case, here’s a CNN opinion piece about it.
5. This is my linky week. Here’s an essay by Jenni Newbury about life with her brother, who has Down syndrome.
6. Okay, I’m done with links. This week I spent some time at school with Alex. I walked down the hallways, and it hit me: that smell. That Catholic school smell. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
7. I was so impressed with the integration of teaching in his classroom. Some have suggested to me that parochial school doesn’t really matter, that religion is confined to religion class, and you can teach your child yourself. But what I saw yesterday was science class, taught using the language of science, but paying homage to God who created it all. It was truly beautiful to behold. And then, at lunchtime, his teacher simultaneously taught right from left, classroom discipline (lining up) and the Sign of the Cross. All I could think was: wow!
Kathleen M. Basi 
I am going to guess that the catholic school smell is different from the public school smell of whatever was served in the cafeteria that day?
What exactly is the catholic school smell? Incense and fish?
Hehehe! It was kind of an acrid, but pleasant, smell of a very old building, and all I can say is that I’ve never smelled it in a public elementary school, and I was in a lot of them the year I subbed. Fish? Incense? No idea. C’mon, somebody back me up on this! LOL
LOVED the Emma Thompson clip. I’m a fan too.