Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.
Friday Fragments are the brainchild of Mrs.4444 and you can find more at Half Past Kissin' Time.
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I was thinking last night when I was putting Sam to bed about US shoe sizes and how they're messed up. In Europe, they just start and then keep going up and up as you grow. But here, there are three sets - baby/toddler, kid, and adult. Why do we have to make it so confusing?!
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You've probably heard some about this huge scandal that's come out at Penn State about the assistant coach who is a child molester. Allegedly. I'll add that since I have to. I was actually born in State College, PA while both of my parents went to school there, and have lots of friends and family from that area. It resulted this week in Joe Paterno, the head football coach, being fired after 46 seasons. Basically, back in 2002 a graduate assistant reported to Paterno that he'd seen the assistant coach raping a 10 year old boy in the showers. Paterno told his bosses, who didn't do anything, and over the next 9 years this assistant coach went on to molest many other boys.
My gut reaction is 'hell yes, he should be fired.' He absolutely should have reported it to the police. The graduate assistant should have reported it to the police. Paterno's bosses should have reported it to the police. This brings up the whole issues of personal conduct vs. professional conduct. Michael Vick is still on the Eagles after his whole dog-fighting scandal. I'm not comparing dog fighting to pedophilia either, just thinking about general issues of conduct, job performance, and being a role model. If Paterno had been the only one who knew, then it would make sense that he'd be the only one ousted. But McQuery, the guy who actually SAW the act is currently still employed by Penn State. I'm just not sure how THAT makes sense.
The bottom line is that it's a big effing mess. It sucks. Lots of boys were hurt, and it absolutely could have been prevented. It's deplorable. And it's a shame.
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I am excited because my best friend and her kids are coming up to Bellingham today to visit since there's no school. They haven't seen our new house yet, plus it's nice and tidy now since that usually happens before we have visitors. Double bonus!
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This week, I got caught up on my reading for my book clubs and I'm now on track again to meet my goal of reading 50 books this year! I am SO excited, I haven't actually met the goal for a couple of years. I'm currently reading "Matched" by Ally Condi and enjoying it so far. I'm about halfway through and really starting to wonder when something big is going to happen. I have high hopes since a friend told me they liked it even better than "Divergent," I'm just not seeing that quite yet.
I also started and finished "One Day" by David Nicholls this week. I don't read a lot of love stories, but this is the second time in the past five years that I've found myself absolutely loving one (the first was "The Time Traveler's Wife" which is one of my favorite books ever). I am always excited to find a book with a unique format or a new way of telling a story - "One Day" is told over the course of 20 years, the story of the same day each year in the course of a relationship between Dexter and Emma. I was not hooked right away, but as I continued to read I found the writing was striking me with the accurate and unique descriptions of life. It was also funny, and the story was touching. I found the ending unexpected, and at one point basically felt like the book had punched me in the gut, which is both mildly disturbing and somewhat enjoyable.
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Today is Veteran's Day, so of course I want to say Thank You to all of the women and men out there who have put their lives on the line to fight for this country. Whether or not I agree with the conflict, I will ALWAYS support the troops themselves, and be grateful they are willing to fight for me to have the freedom that I enjoy. Here is a photo of my Father in Law. He looks young. That is because he changed the year on his birth certificate to enlist in the Marines.
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Should be a good weekend, I have my book club on Sunday and on Saturday I'm hoping for some one on one time with Sam. Got any fun plans?
6 comments:
The JoPa thing: Wtf with the guy who saw a ten year old being raped and went running out of the building? I've never been in his place, but I feel that my first inclination would be to rescue the kid. What a dumbass idiot.
The grad assistant should be fired, too. The whole thing makes my blood boil. What cowards.
And a big YES for Matched! I read Crossed (the sequel) last week and... so good! I like Divergent better (I also like Delirium better) but Matched and Crossed were fun reads!
You are so right about the shoe sizes! I always so confused about the kids' sizes because they don't coincide with anything else.
For some reason I can't enter my comment above, but I was going to say that I agree about our shoe sizes
I am so jealous about your reading! I LOVE to read but haven't touched a book since I started working about 3 weeks ago. Have a fantastic weekend!
No fun planned; just relaxation. So far, so good!
Love the pic of your FIL.
I read the Grand Jury transcript. Paterno minimized the incident when reporting it. He referred to it as "fondling or doing something of a sexual nature" in the shower. I'm thinking that the reason charges weren't filed against Query is that he wasn't a Mandated Reporter at the time (He was a student, not an employee, of the school.) He was morally, but not legally, obligated to report the incident, maybe?? Time will tell, I guess. Either way, it's appalling. I read today that Sandusky is RUMORED to also have pimped kids out to wealthy donors to his foundation. I hope like hell that's NOT true. (Feel free to delete this comment if you'd rather not have it here. I won't be offended.)
I've always wondered about the European shoes sizes. Now I get it :)
Thanks for linking up. Have a wonderful weekend.
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