What's Next?

It's early in the 2012 campaign, but I've already had enough of Michele Bachmann. Call me an elitist if you must, but I don't want someone who doesn't understand American history--and tries to distort it--to be my President. Bachmann has painted herself as a woman of the people. She (more likely her husband)raised five children and they housed 23 foster children; I'd like to hear her five children's opinion on that. She claims her roots in Waterloo, Iowa, home of John Wayne -- no, wait--that's John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer! Doesn't she have a speechwriter ? I had the feeling that she searched John Wayne on Google, and was in such a hurry she missed the "Gacy" part. The Tea Party, which Bachmann claims to represent, may have some good ideas, but Bachmann is not the person to convey them. She is warm and friendly when speaking to crowds who are programmed to believe her inaccuracies and who don't recognize the errors that she makes, ...

Being literate used to mean a person was able to read and write; comprehension was implied. Today, many of us can read and write, but few of us comprehend what we read in the deep and satisfying ways we used to. We've become a nation of people eager to gather data, but slow in understanding what that information means. And we have new forms of literacy to consider. Digital literacy is vital for almost anyone who holds gainful employment these days. At my organization, you have to be able to use a computer to apply for work as a housekeeper or groundskeeper; paper applications are no longer accepted. And perhaps the most vital type of literacy is information literacy. Can you look at a Web page and determine whether it is current, reliable, authoritative, and accurate. Can you determine its purpose? Is the page posted to inform you, persuade you, or to sell you something? Many years ago, my mother told me about a medicine that she thought would be good for her arthritis. She had rea...

One of the best books I have selected in a long time is Susan Jacoby's new work, Never Say Die . Jacoby is a strong writer, researcher, editor, and investigator, so I knew I'd be stretching my intellect. The subtitle of the book is ""The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age," a phrase guaranteed to spark interest in anyone over a certain age. While she certainly covered the variety of anti-aging products promoted regularly in the evening news and in the Reader's Digest, she also took a close political, cultural, and social look at what it means to be older in America. One startling fact she points out is that although America's fastest-growing demographic are those ages 80-100, no one in government has recognized that this is an economic issue destined to create a major gap between the young and old. As younger Americans work to keep Social Security afloat, more and more older Americans are signing up for their checks which, as she points out, are seldom...

I first discovered my distaste for gardening early in my marriage. Fortunately, my husband was good at it, so we always ate well: beans, peppers, tomatoes, and enough zucchini to get ousted from the neighborhood. In our first July as homeowners,with a garden lovingly planted and cared for by my husband, Herbie said, "We need to pick the green beans after supper." I replied, "Sure, honey." I didn't realize that "we" meant him AND me. But I took the basket he handed me and stood where he directed me, bending down to pick the beans I could see. I worked my way down one row--about twenty feet--and came up with a good handful of beans. "Look,honey! My row is done!" "I don't think so," he said with best farmer grin, eyes wrinkling with amusement. "Look at this plant." And sure enough, when I went back and knelt down among the weeds and into the dirt, I had missed most of the beans. After he showed me how to lift the plant...

When the U.S. tallied up the results of its 2010 census, a new version of America came into view. Ethnically, we are increasingly diverse; as a population we have aged tremendously, thanks to the 76 million baby boomers. More than any other fact, I was shocked to learn that America's "old-old," those persons 80-100 years old, are the fastest-growing population, percentage-wise, in the U.S. There's really no reason for anyone to be surprised about the growing number of seniors. We've been told that American longevity is increasing, and we see older members of our families living longer and longer because their cancer was removed, or they stopped smoking, or they survived their first heart attack and changed their diet and life style. We are engaging in more preventive medical care, and we're finally beginning to focus on wellness. And, as an aside, if you're not focusing on wellness, you can always focus on pharmaceuticals. The evening news is almost always...

Now that I have finally entered my blog to work on it, I am overcome with embarrassment. I haven't written since January, and now it's June. Procrastination, thy name is Mrs. B. And I call myself a writer. Let me rephrase that. I used to call myself a writer. For the past three years I've been a teacher. I've done plenty of writing, but most of it is directed to college freshmen. I've often struggled at the keyboard, searching for the best way to tell a student (who wanted an A) that their B was a gift; they actually deserved a C. Some of my best work lately involves finding a gentle way to say that missing thirteen classes over the semester qualifies you for an F, but I'm giving you a D as a means of encouragement. But now it's summer, and I've had four glorious weeks of travel, visitors, meals with friends, and now it's time to end my procrastination and put myself back where I do my best work. No, not in the kitchen! At the keyboard. I have decid...