Photo by Susie Nelson
Dress codes for school are in the news this morning. Specifically when are short shorts too short, tops too low, etc.? Hmmmm. I’ve been passing young girls on my way out in the morning. I presume they’re headed for school, some wearing shorts that would make lil ol’ Daily Mae blush. When there’s far more cheek outside of the material than what’s captured inside, perhaps the shorts are, in fact, too short?
Always I take into consideration the generations lying in between my thinking and those girls and try to adjust accordingly. I can remember wearing head bands, hot pants, mini skirts, and fringed jackets, my bra dusted off only for special occasions back in the day. Young people are going to express themselves differently as each generation mounts the hill but when is it too little considered too much for school?
Let’s face it young boys are highly motivated by young girls. This concept is not news recently uncovered by a motivated cub reporter. The original inhabitants of this planet caught on to the program pretty quickly even with no visuals or reference material to guide them. Unless someone else has noticed it going in a different direction, I believe the original man/woman thing has held our attention until now. However, when given soooooo much feminine landscape to look at I can’t imagine anything the teacher might be saying besides, “see you tomorrow” sinks into youthful male’s intellect during any given class period.
Things have changed a lot over the years. I was explaining to one of my granddaughter’s we used to have to wear dresses to school. Pants were not allowed – on girls, naturally. Dresses and skirts had to be a certain length and if they were not, you were sent to the home economics classroom to get the hem lowered. Once I explained the term “home economics”, then “hem”, she found the whole concept positively barbaric questioning whether I was playing with her or actually telling her something based on fact.
For six months several years ago we had one of our grandchildren living with us while going through some transitions with her immediate family. It was an eye-opening and interesting experience. Raising a teenager at any time in your life is like traversing a mine field without a map. Something’s going to blow up at some point, it’s just a matter of when and how much collateral damage will occur once it does.
“What’s the big deal?”, was our granddaughter’s mantra. I considered having a tee-shirt made with the words emblazoned across the front to eliminate her having to repeat it after every sentence out of my mouth involving work or school. She arrived at our house with a 33 gallon trash bag packed to the maximum expansion point with a wad of clothing looking much like a mating tangle of cottonmouths. I discovered early on folding and ironing were neither terms she was familiar with, nor wished to become familiar with at any time in the near future. The drawers I’d cleaned out in the spare room dresser were quickly crammed to capacity with clothes, makeup, jewelry and toiletries. Wash and wear, they were pulled out of a pile, wrinkles blown out with the blow dryer, and placed on the body in this order every day.
As the warmer weather moved in the jeans were tossed aside in favor of briefer apparel. The higher the thermometer pushed, the briefer the apparel got. Hmmmm. One morning I called to her to take her to school and she arrived looking more like she was headed for a shift at Hooters than a trip to ninth grade. Nope. This is, what’s the big deal for me. Insisting she put one something that at least covered the spots taped out on explicit pictures on TV, she came back up after much grousing looking much better and we got in the car. As the backpack was thrown into the backseat a light went on in my mind. This was not my first rodeo. I raised two teenagers, was one myself, and if it could be done I had already figured out how to do it. Asking for the backpack I was not surprised to find the errant shorts tucked in among the papers and her lunch. One of us is going to have to get up earlier in the morning.
My daughter and I have discussions about the newer generation often. Many things she feels are okay, I’m not so sure of. I want to remain open to new ways of thinking and behaving while remaining free to still have a voice about what I’m seeing. Several days ago I got in a discussion with my son about cell phones and tablets in the classroom. He said it’s great. No need for books, etc. and a valuable resource for facts and information. I can’t argue with that, but how do you learn to use your mind with a device who makes answers so easily ready at your fingertips?
Also, I have concerns about language. I have been told several times recently language is not important anymore, nor writing as we know it. Some day we may even communicate by text-ese, or whatever they call it. Really? Will we go back to throwing excrement at one another as well? I don’t vote for it. It is apparent this is true if you listen to young people speaking. When did “tooken” become a word? How about “I seen it”, or “I haven’t went yet”? Another one I find interesting and hear often is “conversating”. Hmmmm. Yesterday I heard someone say “I boughten it”. Well I guess that’s better than you tooken it, which often comes with extended jail time.
Keeping my mind open is a constant uphill battle I’m trying to win. I have a kind of love affair with language difficult for me to leave behind. So many glorious works of literature have been written using the beautiful language we have developed. What is to come? Wuthrng Hgts 🙂
Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I can not live without my life! I can not live without my soul!” Sigh.
So I write, and continue to use complete words until my audience no longer understands what I have to say.
This cake recipe I originally got from Taste of Home. Then I added the cheesecake filling and fresh strawberries which made it truly rich and decadent.
Mocha Cake with Strawberry Cheesecake Filling
Mocha Cake
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup brewed coffee, cooled
3/4 cups sour cream
Frosting
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 1/2 – 5 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with coffee and sour cream, beating well after each addition.
Pour into two greased and floured 9″ square baking pans. Bake 30-35 mins. or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 mins. before removing from pans. Place on wire racks to cool completely.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, vanilla and butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cheesecake Filling
2 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
Preheat oven to 325.
Spray bottom and sides of 9″ non-stick baking pan well with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
Beat cream cheese in mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix on high for 3 mins.
Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 40 mins. until fully set. Run knife around edges. Allow to completely cool in oven.
Assembly:
Place 1 layer of mocha cake on serving plate. Frost top. Place cooled cheescake on top and top with 2/3 cups strawberries. Frost bottom of 2nd layer of mocha cake. Place on top of strawberries. Frost entire cake. Top with remaining strawberries.
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