| • | BLACK HISTORY FOR A MONTH? 02-06-2010 IT'S here. Like just about everything else celebratory, it comes every year. But for African-American - or Black - History Month, this hasn't been the case for long. It has been with us since 1 ...
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| • | WAS BARACK OBAMA TALKING TO PARENTS? 01-30-2010 PRESIDENT Barack Obama's State of the Union address was longer, I hear, than any other from a United States president in our nation's history. In that lengthy speech from Wednesday night, the man disp ...
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| • | HAITI SHOULD HELP US TEACH OUR CHILDREN 01-23-2010 AS a kid growing up during World War II, I didn't understand my mother's constant commentary about the hungry children in Europe. Fact is, I didn't really understand anything about Europe and the bat ...
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| • | SHIRLEE IS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER:HAVE WE ARRIVED? 01-17-2010 I'M not too sure that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday will help the public see the light. While it is the only national holiday honoring an African American, "Uh, who?" comes th ...
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| • | EASIER SAID THAN DONE MR CORTINES 01-09-2010 RAMON Cortines, school superintendent of that gigantic educational system somewhere down the Pasadena Freeway, was on the airwaves Thursday spouting a message that I suspect n ...
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| • | IVANA DESERVES PROPS, NOT CUFFS 01-02-2010 WITH Nigerian terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, padding his undies with enough explosives to take down American Airlines flight 231 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, I would have thought ...
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| • | THE ANSWER IS BLOWING IN THE WIND 12-28-2009 SO much for us to be grateful for in a year when prosperity for so many friends, relatives and fellow countrymen is hard to come by. To have awakened Christmas morning in a house with a roof that wasn ...
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| • | "WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?" 12-19-2009 Thanks to Elin Woods, Tammy Wynette's record-breaking 1968 country tune, "Stand By Your Man" has found a resting place. "Surely you can find something in the Tiger Woods story that rela ...
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| • | NOT TAKING THE TIGER BY HIS TAIL 12-12-2009 THE big question I get from readers these days is, "What about Tiger Woods?" It is my practice to respond to every e-mail or snail-mailed letter that I receive.
Most folk who've been foll ...
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| • | KIDS RULE 12-06-2009 AT&T is not known for being on the side of parents or their children. By saying this, I'm not suggesting it does evil deeds directly aimed at the American nuclear clan.
But fast forward to the co ...
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| • | ONLY KIDS -THEY DON'T COME IN BULK 11-28-2009 Here's some good news. The kid said he followed the advice of his parents and the other elders in his family. Jason, the kid, admitted it wasn't usually his choice; that's just the way things were in ...
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| • | PARENTING ADVICE? MAYBE. 11-22-2009 If my usual parenting advice is what readers are looking for, this column may not quite hit the mark. Well, maybe some insights into the mighty responsibility of raising young'uns:
As my married daug ...
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| • | XMAS GIFTS YOUR KIDS WILL CRY FOR 11-19-2009 I am not the Grinch and this blog most certainly is not aboutstealing Christmas. Having said that, readers are most likely set forsome kind of non-traditional nonsense that only The Captain, as one of ...
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| • | DOING THE RIGHT THING 11-08-2009 EYEWITNESSES claim they didn't see anything. Financial regulators pass over the obvious accounting irregularities.
Parents say Johnny will outgrow his troublesome behavior.
Teachers pass non ...
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| • | PARENTS ARE THE TEACHER OF THE YEAR 10-31-2009 ON Nov. 3, Tuesday coming up, remember to vote and remember to take the kids with you to your polling place.
If you've voted by mail, I sure hope you included the youngsters, well, teenagers too, in ...
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| • | HOW HEAVY THE HAND THAT RULES THE ROOST? 10-23-2009 I'M not so sure about justice in America for a lot of reasons. And when it comes to this thing about a jury of one's peers, I get real troubled thinking about the parent who smacks their kid upside th ...
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| • | Karma:police, arrest the parents, too 10-18-2009 ARREST the parents of 15-year-old Jesus Mendez, who has been charged with attempted second-degree murder for the act of dousing, along with four other teenage thugs, Michael Brewer of Deerfield Beach, ...
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| • | PICK OF THE LITTER 10-11-2009 FAVORITISM is an issue in far too many families. We knew a mother who didn't care much for her second child because, said mom, "The kid gave me too many problems during my pregnancy." Mom ex ...
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| • | PARENTS OUGHT TO BE ARRESTED 10-03-2009 The beating death of Derrion Albert, the honor roll student at Christian Fenger Academy High School in Chicago, isn’t really news.
And there isn’t anything that any of us need to hear or ...
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| • | PUT KIDS ON TRACK 09-27-2009 MS. Inappropriate shimmied into the agency lobby smacking on gum, talking loudly on her cell phone but taking a break from the conversation just long enough to tell the receptionist she was there for ...
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| • | MY SISTER BEVERLEE BRUCE 09-19-2009 My earliest memory of my big sister Beverlee Bruce is that of total trust, admiration and constantly being cheated out of my Chocoletto candies.
But with the telephone call last Sunday from NYP ...
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| • | "COLORED" WOMAN SAYS KIDNAP VICTIM AND DAUGHTERS NORMAL! 09-06-2009
IT was on "Anderson Cooper 360" that I heard the woman. What an interview. But then I suppose news outlets are scrambling for a unique angle when reporting the finding of kidnap vict ...
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| • | THE OVERSEER 08-30-2009 Brandi's off to her first year at Pasadena City College. She's reached so-called financial adulthood with a bank account, a debit card and scholarship money.
Bank of America will not be collecting ov ...
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| • | THE MIGHTY MURPHYS 08-23-2009 MILLARD Murphy said his relative, who had come to manage the children and the home while his wife Molly was in the hospital giving birth to one more Murphy, packed up her bags and left the family ahea ...
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| • | HOW MANY SHOES CAN CHILDREN WEAR? 08-15-2009 Back-to-school shopping is going to be taking a back seat this year if the economy keeps on wreaking havoc on family budgets.
While news reports keep telling us things are moving upward, if you repe ...
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| • | TEEN CURFEWS SHOULDN'T BE NEWS TO PARENTS 08-09-2009 Unknown to many parents are state laws and community ordinances on the books that establish for minors, among other things, curfews, penalties for fighting, bullying and truancy.
What a change there ...
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| • | BLAME FOR DEAD KIDS PUT AT LA COUNTY SUPERVISORS' FEET 08-02-2009 NOT much different about this column. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services - I've written unfavorably about them before. Inept social workers - they usually share the spot ...
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| • | A SOCIAL SECURITY PRIMA DONNA 07-25-2009 CHILDREN in the foster care system have a tough row to hoe. And if they are involved with the Social Security Administration, the plot thickens. Their troubles aren't just with the Department of Child ...
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| • | THE STAPLES CENTER - WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY SPENT? 07-07-2009 I’ve been telling the kid in my household the American economy is in a downward spiral and everything we do and don't do, nowadays, will represent this fact of life.She tries to understand.On a ...
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| • | MICHAEL JACKSON KING -WHAT ABOUT POP? 07-05-2009 WHILE many folks feel we've had more than too much of the Michael Jackson coverage, with all aspects of the King of Pop's life being repeatedly pored over by the media, I'm pretty much like so many pe ...
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| • | JACKSON WAS OUR BARACK OBAMA OF THE 70's 06-26-2009 Seems just about everyone has something to say about the death of Michael Jackson.Not only does everyone have something to say, but we are also being fed first-hand accounts from his fans as to how th ...
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| • | KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS 06-20-2009 My daughter Brandi wanted to know if she would still have chores now that she had graduated from high school and would be attending college.
I was astounded. Pretty much knocked off my feet. It was ...
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| • | LAPD DETECTIVE STEPHANIE LAZARUS - GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER? 06-14-2009 THE recent arrest of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus for the 1986 murder of Sherri Rasmussen on the surface doesn't have anything to do with parenting.But these days, in just about every hot ...
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| • | NOT READY FOR ADULTHOOD 06-07-2009 WE just might just have to go kinda easy on the June 2009 high school graduates, especially those who no one told the 12 years they just completed were part of their prep course for the real world.Say ...
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| • | LIFE WITH AND WITHOUT "BABY-BOY" 05-31-2009 "If you can't beat `em, join em." This old saying has been around long enough to have worn itself weary, but not so according to one parent with an unruly young man in her household.Teenager ...
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| • | AMERICA'S KILLING FIELDS 05-23-2009 The names? Can't remember. Doesn't so much matter, anyway, because there are so many and by the time this column gets into print there will be many more added to the list.Where did it happen? That doe ...
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| • | NOT A BAD IDEA! 05-17-2009 MARIAM said money was short in her household. So short, she said, that planning, shopping and preparing meals had become classified as drudgery.The good stuff just doesn't get into her shopping cart a ...
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| • | MOM'S DAY BRUNCH OR WORLD PEACE 05-10-2009 This piece isn't going to be anywhere near what's generally written about Mother's Day celebrations. While mom often expects to receive presents and special treatment, this year, with an economy produ ...
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| • | LA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES WITH MORE DEAD CHILDREN 04-26-2009 WHILE most of my e-mail "alerts" or "be sure to read" messages over the past week have focused on the recently released government memos authorizing torture tactics that were previ ...
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| • | CATHOLIC PRIEST AND CHRISTIAN GIRLS 04-18-2009
There's nothing much to be said about the horrific kidnap, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu that hasn't already been said and whatever hasn't been verbalized has most certainly ...
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| • | "A KNOWN TROUBLEMAKER!" 04-04-2009 “That woman Shirlee Smith is a known troublemaker,” said the woman who was sitting at the table next to mine. It was a loud stage whisper, which was, I suspect, intended to be ...
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| • | MILITARY RECRUITERS? AFGHANISTAN? 03-29-2009 Is the military, with so many career paths open to graduating seniors, an option families really want their sons or daughters to grab on to?Families need to know the real story and not just what the a ...
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| • | KCAL 9's PAT HARVEY DEAD WRONG 03-22-2009 Nowadays, with the economy tanking, lots of folk are providing the public with suggestions on how to stay afloat. Turn on television news and on just about every local channel there is a segment on wa ...
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| • | TICKETS AVAILABLE TO HEAR HER EXCELLENCY, ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF, PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA 03-16-2009 Her Excellency, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia will be speaking in Pasadena on April 8 as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series.Tickets are only for "Series Subscribers," BU ...
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| • | HER EXCELLENCY,ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF,THE PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA BE COMIN' TO TOWN 03-14-2009 "Where’d you get that from?” is a common enough query, especially if it’s a hot piece of news circulating through the hood. Now, when it comes to inqui ...
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| • | SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT ON THE FREE THROW LINE 03-06-2009 ONCE again top folk in the Pasadena Unified School District are scratching heads and adjusting their game plan to give the public some measure of understanding.
This time it's about how or why 42 pe ...
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| • | TRUANT DAMSELS IN DISTRESS 02-28-2009 Ah, the young damsels, the ones who decided a day at Paseo Colorado trumped a day in their respective classrooms, weren't, in my opinion, lured anywhere. I knew this when the first news reports claime ...
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| • | IN TODAY'S TROUBLESOME CLIMATE, HOW IMPORTANT IS BEDTIME? 02-22-2009 A simple question, but not such a simple answer. I suspect there are many more parents facing the same issue as the two moms who looked me up to ask for my input.Jen and Barb from "The Mom Life S ...
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| • | Let's Stop Obsessing Over Octomom 02-14-2009 PLEASE, people, let's band together and put the octuplets to rest. We can do this. With enough support, we can actually make this happen.
var requeste ...
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| • | LET'S DIM OCTUPLET MOM'S TV SPOTLIGHT 02-07-2009 IT'S difficult to determine what's to be said about a 33-year-old woman who would add a set of octuplets to the six children she was already attempting to parent as a single mom.The sane among ...
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| • | HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE WILMINGTON FAMILY MURDER-SUICIDE 02-01-2009 SO many people are asking themselves and each other what drove the Wilmington man, who authorities say is responsible for shooting to death his wife, their five children and then himself, to commit su ...
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| • | INAUGURATION - PICTURES AND REPORT 01-25-2009 “Start at the beginning, “ Brandi advised, when I declared it was impossible to write something short but all ncompassing about our trip of a lifetime to the 2009 inauguration of Pre ...
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| • | MLK DAY OF SERVICE 01-18-2009 Across America, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2009, we're all being asked to support the American spirit of volunteerism and community service by making a commitment to help in our com ...
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| • | INAUGURATION QUESTIONS AND ADVICE 01-11-2009 We're counting down the days and there aren't that many left before Brandi and I head for the historical inauguration ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama.Readers have posed some interesting quest ...
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| • | MONEY GROWING ON TREES? 01-03-2009 The one resolution I hope parents have made for this New Year is to make sure their children come to understand the changes in the household economy.Go ahead and correct me with the phrase that's alre ...
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| • | DOUBLE WHAMMY HOLIDAYS 12-28-2008 Whew! I sailed through the first of this year's holiday double whammies unscathed and with my head held high.But it seems, perhaps, people my age just do this anyway and that would mean there was no c ...
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| • | THEIR CHRISTMAS WAS ABOUT CHRIST 12-20-2008 Stockings, I'm told, were never hung by the chimney with care in hopes that ol' St. Nick might be there.The family had no stockings to spare and there wasn't a chimney anywhere. They didn't miss this ...
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| • | NAUGHTY OR NICE DON'T MATTER 12-14-2008 It's that time of year when we're reminded about that list that gets checked twice and the additional fun experience of determining who's naughty and who's nice.But recognizing the condition of the ec ...
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| • | EDUCATORS RESPOND TO SCRUTINY 12-07-2008 Following last week's newspaper column/blog about my daughter's teachers and counselor who didn't seem to think their job description included communicating with parents, I've had a flood of responses ...
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| • | DON'T PARENTS DESERVE BETTER SERVICE? 11-29-2008 This is an appeal to the public, although the high school counselor indicated this approach along with seeking assistance from school board members and Pasadena schools Superintendent Edwin Diaz were ...
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| • | AH, BUT IT'S A LONG DRIVE TO NEBRASKA 11-22-2008 WITHOUT a full look at the reasons older children were abandoned at hospitals in Nebraska under that state's safe haven law, one would think the parents who did this were pretty awful.That may not be ...
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| • | MICHELLE OBAMA DOESN'T NEED TO DRESS LIKE OPRAH WINFREY 11-15-2008 QUITE frankly, I'd rather not write about the soon to be occupants of the house on Pennsylvania Avenue in the District of Columbia but the public interest in our first African American family moving i ...
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| • | NEW YEAR CELEBRATION 11-09-2008 ON Nov. 4, the Cobb family, all six of them - young, old and middle-aged - got to their Altadena polling place at 5:15 a.m.Dressed for the rain, and also prepared for the almost two-hour wait with the ...
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| • | HISTORY NIGHT '08 11-07-2008 Where were you on History Night ’08?Joyce, who lives in Duarte, California, watched history unfold November 4th on the television set in her family room. At what she thinks was 8:00 p.m., the ph ...
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| • | LESSONS FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL____ 11-03-2008 MY daughter who lives in Inglewood got into a tiff with her neighbor over a Proposition 8 yard sign.Another of my offspring dropped a guy she'd been dating once she found out who his choice was for re ...
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| • | IT'S LEGAL 10-30-2008 It’s legal. You can do it. You might have already done it and, then again, you might have never thought of it. Radical? Probably not. Life-changing? Just might be ...
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| • | OUR GASTLY ECONOMY ISN'T CHANGING HALLOWEEN 10-26-2008 WHO said the economy was in a bad way? Aren't we being told families are having it hard because of, among other things, high prices at the gas pump and continually rising food cost?Back when prices at ...
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| • | GET 'EM REGISTERED TO VOTE 10-19-2008 DID our high school teachers and administrators remember to get students who are or will be 18 on or before Nov. 4, registered so they can vote?Maybe the civic teachers, government teachers and all th ...
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| • | FLOORED IN THE FAST FOOD LINE 10-05-2008 'GOT what she deserved," was the consensus of the group.""Well," said a quiet lady who was sitting on the sideline and who hadn't ventured to join in the conversation until things ...
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| • | AN UPBEAT STORY 09-29-2008 WANT an upbeat story? Check out your neighborhood public library and there's a plenty. While I suspect I'm known for continually shining light on the nonsense that prevails in our society, libraries a ...
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| • | TALK ABOUT VOTING! 09-20-2008 THE 2008 presidential campaign provides families on both sides of the political aisle some of the best lessons life has to offer.Hot off the grill we get a look at unsafe sex resulting in teenage preg ...
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| • | DEFERENCE 09-13-2008 WHAT started as a simple search for T-shirts ended in an understanding of what Sen. John McCain's Republican presidential campaign wanted the news media to afford their vice-presidential candidate in ...
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| • | MEET MICHAEL 09-07-2008 We owe you a big apology. Our website has been pretty much out of "whack" for the past too many months. You should now be able to post comments here on the blog and, by the way,& ...
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| • | PUMP UP YOUR KIDS FOR THE ELECTION 08-24-2008 TITLE on my e-mail was a simple WOW with an exclamation mark. Born in 1965 just before Watts - in the first Los Angeles Riot - went up in flames, my daughter who lives in Colorado exclaimed she'd rece ...
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| • | SUPERVISOR MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH 08-21-2008 What makes Mike Antonovich, a Los Angeles County Supervisor, so dedicated to the well-being of children in the foster care system?As guest on Wednesday’s Talk About Parenting with Shirlee Smith ...
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| • | WHERE'S CAYLEE? A CASE OF LIES AND DENIAL 08-15-2008 THE troublesome story of Caylee Anthony, the 3-year-old Florida girl who has been missing for over a month, follows a pattern the public has been introduced to before. &nb ...
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| • | Unusual Suspects 08-13-2008 While the YWCA’s mission to eliminate racism and empower women is, indeed, lofty, the steps they are taking pretty much depend on the rest of us. The forums, workshops and other programs develop ...
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| • | SENIOR YEAR MUST-HAVES ADD UP 08-09-2008 THE listed requirements for graduating from high school in California are reasonably straightforward. There's no fuzzy language. There's no small print. There's nothing parents need to figure out.
O ...
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| • | WHO TOLD THE FELONS OR THE HOMELESS? 08-07-2008 My friend Chile who was a guest on our Talk About Parenting with Shirlee Smith interview show some months ago talked about her early years in foster care, teenage years as a r ...
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| • | ARROGANT THUGS 08-02-2008 `THUGS!""Where?""Come on, now; you see them."The descriptive comment was meant for the group of black teenage males strolling north on Lincoln Avenue in Northwest Pasadena. So ...
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| • | JACKSON REALIZED THE SHOE FIT 07-11-2008 Who would have thought longtime civil rights activist Jesse Jackson's lengthy relationship with microphones hadn't taught him a thing or two?And one of those things, I would think, would have been: Yo ...
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| • | IS HILLARY THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK? 05-31-2008 The long-running 2008 presidential campaign just keeps showing up in my house. It seems to have taken up a permanent residence. Thanks to my Brandi b ...
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| • | A MOTHER'S DAY REMINDER: DON'T FORGET THE HUMOR 05-10-2008 Back in the day when I was doing stand-up comedy, a significant part of my routine was my Mother’s Day special.The concept of once a year good treatment for us, when we toil 24/7 all the other d ...
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| • | RAMON CORTINES: A SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT WORKING FOR PARENTS 05-06-2008 LAUSD Superintendent, Brewer, has hired former Pasadena Superintendent and local resident, Ramon Cortines, as his number two man.Brewer has come under criticism for not, as yet, putting his dist ...
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| • | RECESSION? 03-28-2008 I suspect I’m not the only head of household who has noted the controversy going on that could be headlined, “Recession or What?”The big boys, maybe some girls too, apparently have s ...
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| • | CALIFORNIA HOMESCHOOLING TAKING A HIT 03-12-2008 Some happenings in our society are just too stupid to comment on. But, then again, there just may be some folk who fail to see the stupidity in the social action or there, also, may be some peop ...
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| • | WHAT DO PARENTS KNOW, ANYWAY? 02-22-2008 Parents with an ear and an eye trained on the mental health, academic success and general well being of their children are frequently labeled as both troublesome, meddlesome and, equally as uncomplime ...
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| • | HISTORY REPEATS 02-14-2008 Among those listed on the tattered and torn copy of a slave sale document that hangs on my wall, (for a good price) are families - husbands, wives and their children. The conditions for sale indicate ...
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| • | YEAR OF THE RAT 02-07-2008 Let’s give our family members the opportunity to expand their cultural horizons by helping them to learn about and to appreciate our Chinese American neighbors.At the top of our cultural awarene ...
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| • | "OH, NO THEY DIDN'T" 01-29-2008 My kid will be with me at my polling place on Super Tuesday. Why? She’s got a job to do just like I do. What’s that supposed to mean when she’s o ...
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| • | WHERE'S THE BRIDGE OVER OUR TROUBLED WATERS? 01-27-2008 Stop for a few moments, well, okay we probably need more than moments which, actually, is no more than on overused figure of speech, anyway. Since I want this to be an honest look at the behavio ...
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| • | WHAT COLORADO SPRINGS HAS TO SAY ABOUT HOLMES MIDDLE SCHOOL 01-18-2008 Here’s how the story I broke on the Blog earlier this week played out yesterday in Colorado SpringsReprinted from Colorado Springs GazetteFriday, January 18,2007School segregationHow King ...
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| • | NON-BLACK STUDENTS LEFT OUT OF DR. KING CELEBRATION 01-15-2008 In celebrating the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. administrators at a middle schools have seriously misunderstood this great Nobel Peace Prize winner’s dream that one day children would ...
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| • | PARENTS RAISING KIDS FOR JAIL TIME 12-31-2007 The so-called cute little 3-year-old sat across from me. While I was trading stories with other adults at the table, she, with a strong arm and an accurate aim, pitched a tennis ball that hit me dead ...
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| • | OMAHA NEBRASKA MALL MASSACRE 12-09-2007 Since the Virginia Tech campus killings last April, administrators of America’s institutions of higher learning are stepping up efforts to make their campuses safe by, in part, ruling out applic ...
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| • | IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THE XMAS PRESENT GAME, THEN WHAT? 12-02-2007 Having just heard Bing Crosby crooning the popular tune, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, ” made me all too pleased that the Advent Calendar in our household was r ...
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| • | TOUGH TEACHER ON THE LOOSE 12-02-2007 It seemed like a page from yesteryear. The teacher was poised upright at her desk doing paper work. About twelve students were sitting quietly about the classroom with their heads bu ...
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| • | HOW MUCH HURT DID THE BOUNTY HUNTER CAUSE? 11-10-2007 My sister has a doctoral degree in anthropology from Harvard University. She has taught at numerous prestigious universities across the country and for many years she served as a Peace Corps director ...
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| • | CANDY VERSUS SAFETY 10-31-2007 There's got to be some safe places for youth to dress-up, parade around and grab onto an identiy that won't belong to them the next day. Roaming the streets and knocking on doors for that elusiv ...
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| • | TOY RECALLS ARE A BLESSING IN DISGUISE 10-21-2007 I saw one of my favorite little characters on television nightly news the other night and the reporter, who flopped him around in front of the camera for all to see, wasn’t giving up any respect ...
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| • | THE JENA SIX 10-09-2007 The Jena Six story is a hard cold lesson for parents of young black males that keeps before us the ugly reality called our sons don’t hold golden boy cards.The six high school students in Jena L ...
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| • | I WROTE IT AND I STILL MEAN WHAT I WROTE! 09-25-2007 I’ve got a book on the market called “They’re Your Kids Not Your Friends.” The publishers in Mexico who picked up the rights went along with that ...
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| • | CHARTER SCHOOL FAILING THE STUDENTS 09-15-2007 A local resident and education-for-all- kids advocate voiced concern the other day because students attending Nia Charter School wouldn’t be able to receive Cal Grants b ...
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| • | MILITARY RECRUITERS GETCHA IF YOU DON'T OPT OUT 09-08-2007 There’s a little known section of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation that was approved by Congress back in 2001. No, the public probably doesn’t need to know all aspects of this c ...
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| • | DO SOMETHING 08-23-2007 Time to act. Time to do something. This week’s blog on the shooting death of 16 year-old Ebony Huell has prompted comments, here, that sound like folks believe in action.Reese says t ...
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| • | TROUBLE IN THE LAND 08-21-2007 Ebony Huell has, unfortunately, become the talk of Pasadena. The 16 year-old who was shot to death last Friday night on the sidewalk outside a teen party on Lincoln Ave. ...
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| • | ANOTHER KILLING - ANOTHER MEETING 08-14-2007 There was another shooting in my town - Pasadena the city of roses. There will be many more. There was another meeting. There will be many more. No one at the ...
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| • | WHO'S MINDING THE KIDS? 07-11-2007 You tell me who should be arrested in the troublesome story of the ten and twelve year old girl kidnappers.While this lawless caper took place in a distant land called Enid Oklahoma, a place most of u ...
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| • | PARIS HILTON LIVES NEXT DOOR 06-12-2007 Is there anything to be gained from the incessant media coverage of Heiress Paris Hilton receiving a jail sentence from a judge for violating conditions of her probation, checking i ...
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| • | FOSTER CARE AWARENESS MONTH - AWARE OF WHAT? 05-02-2007 I’m not too sure that something like Foster Care Awareness Month can get the job done. But then, I don’t suppose the purpose of this month, which is really dedicat ...
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| • | Don IMUS 04-25-2007 “Well!” said my sister, with much indignation expressed by her, in one of the frequent telephone calls she makes to me from her apartment in New York city. Beverle ...
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| • | COLORED CHICKS RUIN THE DAY 04-06-2007 Little girls with ruffled dresses, hair filled with bows and curls, shinny new shoes and baskets filled with spring time goodies hanging from their small arms – it must be Easter time.&nbs ...
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| • | WHO DIED THAT NEWS DAY? 04-05-2007 The teenage uncle told the interviewer he found nothing wrong with helping his toddler nephews smoke pot because, he said, the little ones had done it before. Uncle also said the youngsters had ...
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| • | LIFE AIN'T EASY 04-05-2007 One of my grandmothers had a quince tree in her backyard and every year she picked them, canned them and I suppose even ate the fruit I wouldn’t touch.Quince? I never saw them for sale at ...
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| • | Is The Military A Dumping Ground? 02-20-2007 “I don’t think you know the half of it,” said the young man sitting behind the desk at the public access television station in Los Angeles when I told him the title of the program I ...
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| • | Military Recruitment:What Families Need To Know 02-04-2007 From somewhere back in time I recall a tune with a calypso beat and lyrics claiming, “There are more questions than answers.” A catchy phrase but not a concept we, as p ...
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| • | DR. GRETA PRUITT,TALK ABOUT PARENTING WITH SHIRLEE SMITH BOARD MEMBER, NAMED TO LOS ANGELES MAYOR'S EDUCATION LEADERSHIP TEAM 12-10-2006 Talk About Parenting Board Member, Dr. Greta Pruitt, named to Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa's Education Leadership Team!L. A. Times, Sunday morning, December 10, 2006LOS ANGELES - With legislation po ...
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| • | WHO IS TO SAY BRITNEY SPEARS IS AN UNFIT PARENT? 12-08-2006 Britney Spears isn’t someone I’d normally write about but recent condemnation of the big-time entertainer’s parenting grabbed my attention. Months ago the paparazzi ...
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| • | TURKEY SQUABBLE 12-01-2006 Whatever squabbles emerged at this year's turkey gathering of relatives can't equal the allegations of criminal intent and the filing of a police complaint regarding the alleged assa ...
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| • | STUDENT'S WINNING ESSAY PUTS HER ON A FLOAT IN THE 2007 ROSE PARADE 11-22-2006 Congratulations Christina! Thanks much for submitting your winning essay.   ...
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| • | KEEP THE FAMILY CONVERSATION CURRENT 11-12-2006 I’m generally amazed when astonished parents discover their student is able, in some meaningful way, to discuss current events. “I just couldn&rs ...
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| • | MEDIA FOCUS ON ADOPTION IS SKEWED 10-25-2006 November is National Adoption month here in America. When we compare media coverage of our own children needing permanent families with that given to one-year old David Banda from Malawi who is ...
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| • | KIDS CAN DO IT! 10-08-2006 We encourage parents to have their children submit school work - and here is our first. A book report from Lyndon, 5th grader, who lives in Colorado. Congratulations! An "A" ...
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| • | CONGRESSMAN FOLEY'S FOLLIES 10-08-2006 The despicable behavior exhibited by former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley in his alluring emails to young Pages who worked in the program that have recently been made public is indeed news and political news a ...
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| • | WE'RE HERE TO SERVE 09-06-2006 Thanks for being a "blog friend." We've had some technical troubles with our blog but tech folks say we are now back in service! Friend, Allen, sen ...
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| • | STILL BILL (COSBY) 08-28-2006 In days past, or as my grandson likes to characterize my commentary, “back in the day,” the start of a school day often began with the clanging of the bell.Nowadays, the clanging starts wa ...
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| • | JONBENET RAMSEY OVERKILL 08-17-2006 If you formerly disagreed with those of us who said the news we're fed is basically crap and that these over rated media conglomerates fail to provide people with the issues and events they need to kn ...
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| • | ONE MORE GADGET TO SNATCH 08-15-2006 Recent news tells us iPod theft is on the rise. The media has gone all out to give Apple some un-paid for promotion for their trendy little gadget. A gadget that’s little in size but ...
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| • | IS McDONALD'S FOR EVERY BODY? 07-30-2006 The other morning, Saturday to be exact, I tried pulling my red Oldsmobile into my local McDonald's drive-thru. The place in the "hood" was jammed. SUV's hanging out into the str ...
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| • | MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS IN PRE-SCHOOLER'S DEATH 07-10-2006 Rita Foster? Folks in my hometown are beginning to wonder if that’s the real name of the 4-year-old child who was hit and killed by a bus in front of her apartment complex as she rod ...
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| • | PARENT SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR PRE-SCHOOLER'S DEATH 07-03-2006 The recent death of 4-year-old Rita Foster is being called an unfortunate accident, with no one at fault, according to Pasadena Police spokesperson Janet Pope Givens.At 8 o’clock p.m., when it w ...
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| • | DAVID SANDERS QUITS POST AS LOS ANGELES COUNTY DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES 06-29-2006 Everyone's favorite department, which is also fondly called "The Kid Snatchers," will be looking for a new commandant. Everybody's buddy, David San ...
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| • | THEATER ANYONE? 06-18-2006 There's so much more to life than television and to that end our organization, through the Center Theater Group, works to provide "curtain time" experience for families . The latest venture ...
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| • | WHO CARES ABOUT JOLIE-PITT AND DOMINIQUE CALLOWAY? 06-12-2006 It's been a couple of weeks, now, since the much heralded birth of the Jolie/Pitt baby came to pass. Thank God for the media's short attention span we are now being bombarded ...
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| • | AKEELAH AND THE BEE 05-28-2006 Sometime I just gotta wonder what's up (or down) with parents. You folk claim you want the best for your kids and then when something good comes along, like the movie "Akeelah and th ...
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| • | HOW MANY KIDS ARE IN FOSTER CARE? 05-03-2006 A simple answer to this question is; too many! But what's to be done to decrease the numbers? Some would suggest adoption. Others might say placement with relatives and then there's that bunch of h ...
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| • | FOSTER CARE- 04-29-2006 Reprinted from "They're Your Kids Not Your Friends" (c) 2001 by permission,Sorin Press, Notre Dame, IN I once told someone my favorite pasttime was sitting on the bea ...
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| • | 20,000 Young Adults Age Out of Foster Care Every Year 04-29-2006 Aging out of foster care is a most outrageous concept and practice. Biologiclal parents aren't afforded the luxury of waving a fond farewell to their offspring once the kids h ...
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| • | Disproportionate Number of African Americans in the System 04-29-2006 With such an overwhelming number of African American children in foster care, a quick thinking person might determine my folks don't know how to raise their kids. But let's please ask that you give th ...
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| • | OCTAVIA BUTLER - A VERY TIMELY DEATH 03-14-2006 “Kindred,” by Octavia Butler, Pasadena’s selection committee’s choice for this year’s March 2006 “One City, One Story” provides a clear view of how the ...
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