Graduation Day

Today was the day for Leah's graduation ceremony from International Academy.

Slightly over 300 students from the three IA campuses (IA is a public magnet high school that draws students form multiple school districts in Michigan and then rigorously puts them through the grinder and gives them a great education, were set to graduate today.

The ceremony was held at Pine Knob Concert Theater and there was metal detectors at the entrances.  Getting in was interesitng.

On going in past the metal detectors, they checked a guy with a backpack right in front of me and let him through with his backpack. All fine and good.

Then the guy checking stuff, after looking in my camera bag and seeing it had a camera and lenses in its aid my camera bag can’t come in.

I pointed out the guy’s backpack was much larger than my camera bag. Again he said a camera bag can’t come in. 

“Ok” I said, slinging the camera bag onto my back, “my camera bag identifies as a backpack.”

I, and the bag, got in.

Stupid rules and stupid people require stupid responses, just saying. 

As you can tell as she headed up to receive her diploma, from the UF she decorated her cap with, Leah will be going to University of Florida!

Note the multiple honor cords shes wearing - graduating summa cum laude, Mock Trial Captain, Peer Corps Captain, Spanish Honors, National Honors Society, and IB Honors.

The ceremony was great. Only downside was with a few Muslim students had some Pali-type keffiyahs over their gowns, and a couple waved them around when they got their degree, and a couple also had scarves that showed Israel replaced completely with "Palestine" on them (again River to the Sea is a call for the destruction of Israel and everyone who isn't clueless knows it). But, there was no disruption, which was good.

A proud parent moment, and it celebrated another amazing accomplishment by Leah.  This was the result of 4 years of really hard work and dedication on her part.  The kid has grown into a fine young lady and will make her mark in the world.

Not An Excuse, But As A Parent You Shoulda Anticipated This Situation

Parents do strange things with their kids sometimes.

Often it starts early with naming the poor tyke.

abc13.com: Southwest gate agent mocks 5-year-old girl's name, posts boarding pass on social media

Now, the gate attendant was wrong for doing this, but with a name like that, it was readily foreseeable.

The name in question?

Abcde

Yes, really.

It may be rather memorable and as easy as abcde to spell, but seriously.

Don't pick cutsie-dumb names for your kids that will follow them forever and open them to ridicule. Kids will have it tough enough without you setting them up for it from day 1.

A proposal unworthy of Worthy

The Detroit News: Skip teacher conference -- and go to jail?

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy wants to make it illegal for parents to skip parent-teacher conferences.

It's a plan that's still in the works, and Worthy acknowledges it faces a tough sell. But she said she's so concerned about truancy and juvenile crime that she wants an ordinance that would force parents to attend at least one conference a year -- or face jail.

That's quite over-the-top and much too statist for my tastes, and given that the Detroit Public School system is in shambles, having the parents show up to a conference is not going to help matters much.

Now its true that parents should be involved in their kids education and should be engaged in making sure their child is learning. Facing jail time for missing a parent-teacher conference? Not so much.

Wayne County is lacking resources and jail space can't even handle the real criminals law enforcement catches, giving the vast majority of first offenders, and often multiple-time offenders, probation for everythingfrom possession with intent to deliver narcotics to assault with intent to commit murder. Adding parents neglecting to attend parent-teacher nights to this list won't help matters much.

Worthy should stick to what she does best, prosecuting criminals, and hopefully pushing for better results than probation on felonies rather than trying to put the nanny in nanny-state.

Those Bratz were up to no good

Judge bars MGA from making, selling Bratz dolls

The Bratz dolls, the bane of every girl child's parents who seek to prevent them from getting on the road to inappropriate wear and behavior are going down, or at least being put in a time out:

By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The rowdy Bratz dolls have been evicted. Barbie has regained control of the dollhouse.

Toy giant Mattel Inc., after a four-year legal dispute with MGA Entertainment Inc., touted its win in the case Wednesday after a federal judge banned MGA from making and selling its pouty-lipped and hugely popular Bratz dolls.

"It's a pretty sweeping victory," Mattel attorney Michael Zeller said. "They have no right to use Bratz for any goods or services at all."

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson rocked the toy industry with his order that MGA must immediately stop manufacturing Bratz. He allowed MGA to wait until the holiday season ends to remove the toys from store shelves.

The decision was a stunning defeat for MGA, which exploded onto the tween scene in 2001 with the edgy dolls and made hundreds of millions in profits, giving Mattel's more classic doll-diva Barbie a run for her money.

The ruling, issued in federal court in Riverside, followed a jury's finding that Bratz designer Carter Bryant developed the concept for the dolls while working for Mattel.

The same jury later awarded Mattel $10 million for copyright infringement and $90 million for breach of contract after a lengthy trial stemming from Mattel's 2004 lawsuit ended in August.
. . .
Mattel has fought to neutralize the Bratz line for years. The dolls - with their huge lips, pug noses, almond-shaped eyes and coquettish figures - were an instant hit with young girls. MGA had taken Bryant's original four dolls and spun out a line of more than 40 characters, complete with accessories and related toys such as Bratz Boyz, Bratz Petz and Baby Bratz.

Coquettish - meaning "A woman who makes teasing sexual or romantic overtures; a flirt."

Yep, that's just what you want preschool and gradeschool girls to be exposed to as a norm for dress and behavior. No thanks, we'll stick to the princess and doctor/professional/smart and appropriately dressed Barbie lines thank you very much.

Mind you, I'm still waiting for CCW Barbie accessorized with a Glock, Sig, or PPK that all the best dressed, self-confident, and safe women are carrying these days.

While not CCW Barbie, Scott of Providentia Blog passes along some law enforcement Barbie pics: