I'm finding out that many California school districts are cutting back or even eliminating summer school. Santa Clara and LA are two such districts.

Now, education is very expensive, I understand that. But summer school seems pretty important to me-- I mean, it's the best chance some kids have to catch up to their grade level and keep from being left behind more or less permanently.

And then there's the mail we've been getting lately. We've seen a severe uptick in charity mailings in the last 6-8 months (and strangely the offers to consolidate our loans have completely dried up!), and it's hard to see all the causes that need support. Yesterday we got a mailing from Second Harvest pointing out that in the absence of summer school, and hence school meal programs, many kids are going to go hungry this summer.

I know I take these things harder than most people, and I'm learning to deal with it, but this one felt kind of like a punch in the gut. Kids getting neither the education nor the nutrition they need is wrenching. We gave what we could (we've been told that actually donating money to food banks is often more efficient than donating food, since the banks have deals with companies that make the dollars stretch even farther), and I wanted to post the information in case it's of use to anyone. If you can't, or if it's not your cause, that's fine, I don't want to make this a place of guilt and I know that the same reason I'm getting all this mail means most people aren't in a position to be too free with a dollar. Just putting the links up in case they help.

I think we need to take it back to its roots and celebrate the way Saint Valentine would have wanted: covered in bees!

Or, for the more politically minded, you could celebrate by joining the Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women. Raise a glass against oppression!

on the soapbox a bit, but mostly just doing this to help out. posted below is part of an effort at happy googlebombing, in the aide of jill at feministe-- the one that was targeted by the cobags on the law school mesage board. the idea is to clean up the google results for her name, and i hope it helps! i know google has taken some steps to address googlebombing, but usually only in more famous cases (like the whole "miserable failure" thing).

( so, posted below the fold. )

(thanks to petefred for the virtual ribbon! you can get yours here.)

i mentioned briefly a couple days ago that i'd feel better if antiabortion activists also promoted tighter paternity and child support laws-- it would seem a little less unfair.

this, however, is NOT the right direction.

they're trying to bill it as "roe v. wade for men." thats disgusting. they're arguing that men should have a choice whether or not to support a child that results from an unplanned pregnancy. thats. disgusting.

im way too busy to be worrying about this. silly me, i thought a 5 minute news break as i inhaled lunch at 2:15 wouldnt be a problem. now i get to try to concentrate on my remaining 4 hours of labwork, as well as the paper i still havent started (due tomorrow at 3, time to channel my inner techer), while the back of my mind is royally pissed off at the ridicuous people that exist in the world. gaa.

rachel's dad is doing the leukemia and lymphoma society's walk for discovery. if this is a cause that you can relate to, think about visiting his donation page. it's funny... im working on some issues related to leukemia, but i feel more helpful donating to his walk than i do working in lab.

my readers probably know that i'm not big on celebrating valentines day. but this year i am... but in a different way. inspired by rachel niemer and all the other wonderful women in my life, i celebrated today by taking the money sal and i would have spent on flowers or cards or candy and i donated it to a worthy cause. and though i might miss the candy just a little, i know this was the right thing for me to do. and while i have every day of the year to tell people that i love them, today is just a special reminder that i can DO something with that love.

take care, be safe, and wear your short skirts proudly.

it's that time of year again.

( warning: long ramble with no real conclusion. but how is that different from any other discussion about abortion? )

[im starting to worry this might not have a point, but i'm sitll working at it... we'll see.]

i seem to have become aware, all of a sudden in the last year or so, of the sheer magnitude of NEED in the world. i dont know if it's part of growing up, or if its the number of natural disasters that have been in the news, or what, but it makes the christmas season a little... uncomfortable? i mean, i can sit here and write on my weblog from my shiny laptop about all the fun traditions my family has... but what about all the people that dont have the means for that kind of fun? i am so fortunate in so many ways, and i'm still struggling to find ways of sharing that fortune. im new at this!

it doesn't help that i'm not bill gates. sal and i were talking yesterday as we were grocery shopping-- we had picked out a whole bag of canned goods to drop in the donation bins outside safeway, like we do every time we go grocery shopping this season-- and sal was feeling guilty that we werent doing more. and i can understand that feeling-- we cant save the world, just the two of us. and while sal is struggling with guilt over that fact, i think i've for the most part accepted that i can only do what i'm able to now, and as i become more comfortable in life (i.e. after i graduate and get on a real salary!) i can increase that.

but we are trying our best. over the course of our wedding, money was given to both heifer international and habitat for humanity. so far for christmas we've donated food, and several toys to child's play. we're planning on working at habitat in a couple weeks when we're in livermore. instead of exchanging presents with our stanford friends, we're planning on making donations to the red cross or another worthy organization. it doesnt seem like that much in the grand scheme of things, and i'm sure there's more we could do, if we put our minds to it. but i'm in the process of reconciling my firm belief in rational self-interest with my feelings of obligation to the world in general. think of it as trying to read atlas shrugged and the new testament at the same time. how's THAT for cognitive dissonance?

where am i going with this? i really dont know. part of me just wants to be told that i'm a good person, that i'm not letting the world down or something. but its an increasingly small part. i dont know where this confidence is coming from, but its a new and kind of interesting feeling. i do have the confidence that i'm doing good, in my own little way. i have to be careful not to get comfortable and stop working, of course, but i suppose that applies to everything i do. hm. insert conclusion here.

you don't have to be a microbiologist to get worked up on a day like this. yeah, it may be cold and raining, you might have a ton of work, you might be stressed about the holidays... but just take a minute, go to the link below, watch the animation and light a virtual candle for aids sufferers everywhere. it may not be as dramatic an epidemic as the spanish flu, but it's taking an incredible toll on the world. by lighting one of those candles, you can show your support for research and treatment-- and bristol meyers squibb is donating $1 per candle. i know you're all flicking reading weblogs, so go do it ;)

light a candle for world aids day