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.

susan called me at 6 today, saying that the coffee shop by her house had a sign up that advertised afghani food served for lunch and dinner. this news surprised all of us, as we had known it was a coffee shop, which one does not necessarily associate with afgani food.

but dude. afghani food rocks. its kind of a blend of greek and indian flavors. soooo good. sal and i each got a different combo plate and then we shared everything between the two of us. mine was three items: some sort of potato puree with onions and spices inside grilled flat tortilla-like bread, "afghani eggrolls" (spinach and feta inside dough and then fried-- flavored something like spanikopita), and these awesome boiled dumplings with ground beef, onions and splices, topped with yogurt sauce. sal got the kebob combo-- pieces of grilled chicken, beef, and lamb, with two kinds of rice and a small salad with yogurt dressing. so tasty, and $25 total, including tip. i am happy.