We moved to Worcester about 5 years ago. Before that we lived in Natick, MA which is a smaller suburb to the west of Boston. It was a VERY small Jewish community (which is one of the reasons we moved), but it was also a very warm welcoming community. One of my neighbors was a woman named Evelyn Kreiger, who had 3 lovely children. Her oldest daughter is named Leah and she is now 17. Evelyn has also left the Natick area (but not MA), and she now homeschools so I still talk to her/see her fairly regularly - much to my delight.
About 4 years ago, when Leah was 13 she was reading an "American Girl" Magazine and wishing that there was something out there for Jewish girls. So she decided to make one. I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I was supportive, but kind of just humoring her. After all, how will a 13 yo girl publish a magazine? Much to my surprise she did it. I was extremely impressed by the first issue and have been a big fan ever since. She now has subscribers all over the world - including us - and an editorial board made up of all young Jewish girls. The magazine is completely done by girls ages 8-18, and is very impressive! Nothing is more exciting to my girls than when Yaldah is in the mailbox!
Leah has become a huge role model for young Jewish girls. And a great one she is. Little Miss almost seems to think she is royalty whenever she is around her. Her big goal right now is to someday get on Yaldah's editorial board. Despite this, Leah is still very down to earth and just an all around great person.
Yaldah magazine has been growing for the past 4 years. Leah has been getting acclaim left and right - deservedly so. But she has reached a point that for her to expand any more she needs more capital. She recently was named a finalist in the Well's Fargo Someday Stories (her mom is actually the finalist, because at age 17 Leah was too young to enter). The winner is determined by voting and if she wins she will get $100,000 which will allow the magazine to grow tremendously. Leah is currently in the lead, but it is a VERY close contest and she really needs every vote she can get. You do need to register to vote, because you can only vote once. But this is just such a great cause - and it is a chance to support another homeschooling family. So please vote - and spread the word!
At a time when it is so hard to find good positive role models for our children, here is one that is doing great things. I hope you will all support her.
So, I just had a whole long post just about ready to go, when Baby Book came over and grabbed my mouse and clicked it somehow sending my "back" and losing my post. The kid is a computer genius I tell you :)
Anyway I don't have time now to write the whole thing again. So I'll have to do the abbreviated post now and add more later.
Summer was very relaxed and peaceful around here. It was actually a great summer. But we are back to school work now and I should be blogging a lot more. Now that I actually have something to blog about!
In my lost post and talked about what we did this summer as well as an overview of this school year. I think I will just do summer now and talk about this school year later.
The girls went to Girl Scout Camp for 5 weeks this summer. It was a really great experience and I am so grateful that I was able to give this to them. It was an all girl camp, obviously, and that was important to me but really it was a fantastic experience. It was a fairly small camp -only about 50 kids I think -but the counselors were just terrific and I think the girls got a lot out of it. I also made sure that the girls were in separate groups as I thought it would be very good for them to have some time apart (which it definitely was). It was a typical "day camp" in the woods on a lake with swimming, boating, arts and crafts, archery, etc... All the things that you would expect. But because it was all girls it definitely had that girly side :) For example they had a theme every week as well, and it included red, white and blue manicures during July 4th week :) They did lots of tie dye, and discovered the wonders of gimp :)
The staff was just fantastic as well. They did a cookout every week and were always really good at making sure that they had some kosher food for my girls. I told them I would be happy to send food, but they insisted on finding ways to include them. There was also the day that SPG was the only one that signed up to go on a nature hike. Rather than cancel it, 3 counselors took her out all around the 400 acre facility both hiking and in a canoe and really explored. She had a great time and came home that night glowing with excitement and full of stories about the wonderful time she had had. I really can't say enough about how great the program was.
We started school in mid August - starting Week 4 today. I start earlier than most people do around here, but we will take off most of October for Jewish Holy Days. We changed curriculums and most of our outside activities but all in all I am really happy with the changes, as are the kids. I will of course be writing more about this later.
I will definitely be blogging more now that we are back in school. I find that it is good to remind me of all that we are doing, and is important for me as a homeschooler -even if no one reads :) But of course having readers makes me accountable to them as well. I have a bunch I want to blog about right now, so there should be regular postings for a while.
There is absolutely nothing like spring time in New England. Trees in bud, flowers coming out, little baby animals everywhere. Plus some warm weather after the long cold winter! My neighbors are all out and around. Everyone is outside as much as they can and the world is reawakening. It is time to get out and do some nature studies.
One of the things that appealed to me most about Charlotte Mason philosophy was the emphasis on nature studies. This is also a tenet of Jewish teachings as well. Our Sages taught that we should not spend all day behind a desk reading books - even studying Torah. But we should also get out into the world and appreciates G-d's creations! His animals, plants, rocks! G-d created this beautiful world for us to live in, and I want my children to learn and know and appreciate all its wonders.
Realistically though, I am a city girl at heart. There is this small secret part of my heart that wants to homestead a huge piece of land, have a garden, some chickens, maybe even a cow for fresh dairy plus wooded areas for us to hike in with a river and maybe a pond on our property. But I know this will never happen. Mainly because I need to live within walking distance of a good synagogue. But also because I have a black thumb.
Now I can't really blame my mother for this. She has a marvelous green thumb. Our house was overflowing with her plants and garden, and while she tried very hard to impress upon me this love of plants, it just didn't take. Every single thing I have ever tried to grow has died. Even plants that are supposed to be really hard to kill, have died rather quickly in my presence. A cactus a friend brought me was dead two weeks later (OK, Dante was 3 and dumped hand lotion on it, but still...) I bought an Aloe Vera plant last year because an herbal teacher told me that they were very hard to kill. Mine is basically dead now, but Little Miss has adopted it and is trying to save it. I am not holding out much hope.
So herein lies the problem. I want my girls to have an appreciation of nature, but it is quite obvious they need to get it from other sources!
While we may do some nature studies during the rest of the year, Spring really is when we do the most. There are programs everywhere this time of year, both for homeschoolers, as well as all kids, and even some for adults that my kids can go to and enjoy and really learn from. Most of the programs we go to are sponsored by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. We love the Audubon and our family membership is well worth the price - and would be at double the cost. They have 2 nature preserves within 30 minutes of us, and both run a TON of kids programs as well as a bunch of programs for homeschoolers. We also have free admission to the 33 other Audubon sanctuaries in the state and we have taken full advantage of that as well!
So some things we have done recently:
Little Miss and I went out to Western MA to the Acadia Sanctuary and did a Medicinal Herb Walk. This was billed as an "adult" event, but I played the homeschooling card and she was allowed to come with me. We had a great time! I am studying to be an Herbalist so this was great for me, because as you may have figured out, and area of weakness is being able to identify herbs growing wild. Little Miss has also shown an interest in herbalism, and I love the idea of passing herbal wisdom down to her, so have been fostering that desire. She was great on the walk.
We went birdwatching with Broad Meadow Brook (our local sanctuary) and saw the "Dance of the Woodcock" a mating dance that the male woodcock does in this area at sunset every night for only 2 weeks a year.
SPG did a homeschoolers class on butterfly lifecycles which included a 2 mile hike around the sanctuary looking for butterflies.
We went out to Drumlin Farm, which the Audubon Society runs out in Concord and spent the day playing on their farm. No organized program but a lot of fun. We worked in their gardens, we saw their animals and all around had a lot of fun.
One thing we did that wasn't at the Audubon Society was an all day homeschooling program at Capen Hill Sanctuary in Charlton www.capenhill.org. I had never actually heard of this place before I saw the class announcement, but it was FANTASTIC! We will definitely be going there again. It is a beautiful sanctuary with some really nice trails. The staff was also really excellent. The teachers were very knowledgeable and were obviously very passionate about this place. They made it a lot of fun. In the morning we went to the pond and learned about pond life and got to play with some pond life. Then we had a picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon going on a nature hike with another teacher. It was a great experience and I can't wait to go back.
So those are some of the formal things we have done - although some more formal than others. WE have also done a bunch of more spontaneous casual things as well. For example, Little Miss and I went out and picked dandelions a few weeks ago (free! right in our own backyard! LOL) and put up our first herbal tincture. We also stopped in at a nursery one day to look at all the plants and learn some of their names.
It doesn't have to be formal, but giving your children a love of nature is one of the best ways I know to take care of the planet.
So, I had to go to the mall last night and saw that Children's Place was having a huge clearance sale, so I bought a few things. When I got home and told DH the prices, he said you should have bought more (LOL, I can never win). So I stopped at another mall today and got a ton more stuff and saved a bundle. CP is one of the few places I can get clothes that meet our modesty standards, so this is a HUGE big deal for me!
I got a whole BUNCH of long sleeve cotton shirts - almost all solids, but a couple of stripes, for $3 (originally $12)! I got some sweaters for $5, the microfiber tights are only $1 (usually $4.50), and the thick cotton ones are $2 ($from $6.00)! There was only one style of tznius skirt on sale and that was $8 - so I bought one of those for each girl as well. All together I got almost $400 worth of clothes for about $100.
I didn't check out the boys clothes at all, but there was a bunch there too. There were also girl's pants and pajamas, etc...
Wow, it has been a long time since I blogged!! Time has been running away from me lately. The big reason is that little baby boo has become exceedingly mobile. I swear that baby has become part monkey. I spend all day just running after him. We weren't even able to do school for a couple of days. Fortunately, we now have gates up and can confine him to an area a little easier. We did finish up Unit 1 of Tapestry of Grace Year 2 and I do want to blog about that, and maybe will tomorrow. As well as what we supplemented with. And also since a few people have asked, what I have been using for our Jewish spine.
But tonight, I wanted to share an article in the local Jewish paper about my work as a birth doula. The reporter spelled my name wrong, and I am misquoted a little bit a few times but in general it is a nice article.
Since I am not sure how long the article is going to remain on-line and I want to keep a copy of it, I am going to put a copy of it here as well.
Today is also my birthday - a big one ending in a 0. So feel free to leave me a comment and wish me a happy birthday. :)
The article was in the December 14, 2007 Edition of the Jewish Advocate and was written by Molly Ritvo.
In accordance with Jewish law, many modern-day doulas – women who assist mothers during and after childbirth – are providing contemporary Jewish women in the Boston area with the same support that their ancestors received for millennia.
“There is something incredibly sacred surrounding the birth of a child,” said Yonit Kastan of Worcester, who is a doula. “At every birth I attend, I feel Hashem’s [God’s] presence.”
In addition to offering emotional guidance for the mother, father, and child, certain doulas, like Kastan and Miriam Reyder of Sharon, also offer religious support. Both women are Orthodox Jews and perform their doula services in accordance with halacha.
“My practice of being a doula is about using halacha to surround the laboring woman and the new baby with kedusha [holiness],” said Reyder.
Reyder explained that a doula is essentially a “woman’s partner” who provides massages, relaxation and birthing techniques, encouragement with breathing and movement during labor, and cares for both the mother and child after birth.
Because Reyder and Kastan follow traditional Jewish laws, certain rules, such as honoring Shabbat when Jews are commanded not to work, are respected, while exceptions are granted.
Reyder said she is able to work on Shabbat because, according to the Mishnah, a woman in labor is considered to be in “eminent danger.”
“Because this is a matter of health, certain exceptions are made,” she added.
When these exceptions, called “heders,” arise, Jewish doulas are not only allowed to work, but are in fact obligated to do anything possible to help a laboring woman, according to Kastan.
Jewish doulas must also make special requests of hospitals, Reyder said, because Jewish law requires that there be modesty and dignity during labor.
“I request that only female staff attend the birth and that there be no students, hospital house staff or other non-labor essential personnel in the room during labor and birth,” Reyder said.
Additionally, the husband is halachally prohibited from looking directly at his wife’s birth canal and, because a woman in childbirth attains a status similar to “niddah” (meaning unclean), physical contact between the couple is prohibited and the husband may not see his wife undressed, according to NISHMAT, The Jerusalem Center for Advanced Jewish Study for Women.
Because most professional doulas are not aware of the specifics of Jewish law, both Kastan and Reyder said they believe it is important for a birthing mother to have a Jewish doula by her side.
“My job is halachically commanded to offer support to the child-bearing mother in the best way possible,” Kastan said. “I support the mother in whatever kind of birth she wants and hope to make her experience the most holy one it can be.”
Added Reyder: “The Lubavitcher Rebbe said that ‘it is known that what a one-day-old baby sees and hears will have an influence on the child even many years later.’ For this reason, surrounding the child with kedusha will have a long lasting effect.”
I have spread the word on TJ Wilson out to various people over the past few months and thought I would blog about him since there was a great article about him and his family in his local paper on Thanksgiving day.
Lori and Randy lived here until about 2 years ago. I first met Lori when she was the manager of a local piano store. Little Miss took piano lessons there and Lori and I would sit and chat while I waited. She was pregnant with her first child and I answered a lot of her pregnancy questions. Then I did a private childbirth ed class for her and Randy and became their doula. I was with them with Lori gave birth to TJ in October 2005.
When Lori returned to work she brought TJ with her every day - a wonderful accomodation the store made for her. So I got to see him - and her - regularly. Until she told me she was moving home.
We e-mailed periodically and TJ was always happy and healthy. Imagine my shock when I got a frantic e-mail last June asking for prayers for TJ, who had almost died but was then on a heart-lung machine, after what appeared to be a simple stomach flu.
TJ received a heart transplant in August and is doing well now. But will have a lifetime of struggles ahead of him. You can follow their updates -and hear the full story on Lori's blog at http://www.cotafortjw.com/
Yesterday I was comforting a friend, and the story of Nachman Ish Gamzu came up. This is actually one of my favorite stories from the Talmud and something I try to remind myself a lot. Worth it enough that I wanted to share it with people that might not know it:
A story is told in the Talmud about the great Torah Sage Nachum Ish Gamzu who always said, “Gam zu letovah—This too is for the best.” One day, Nachum Ish Gamzu traveled to the Roman Emperor to give him a treasure chest full of precious metals and jewels as a gift on behalf of his community. That night he slept at an inn and stowed the jewel-laden chest in a secret hiding place. When Nachum Ish Gamzu was asleep, the innkeeper switched the chest with another.
The next morning,when Nachum Ish Gamzu was about to leave the inn, he opened the chest, and to his dismay there were no longer diamonds and rubies inside. Instead, the entire vessel was filled with sand. Nachum Ish Gamzu said, “Gam zu letovah—This too is for the best,” and continued on his way. He arrived at the palace and said, “Emperor, because of our great respect for you, my town is presenting this gift to you.” The Emperor opened the chest and saw the sand. He thought, well, there must be something else beneath it. He sifted through the sand. He dug his hand into one side of the chest, then the other. But all he found was sand. The Emperor said, “For mocking me, I will have you put to death.” Nachum Ish Gamzu’s reaction was, of course, “Gam zu letovah.” Immediately, in walked one of the sovereign’s advisers (the Talmud tells us it was Elijah the Prophet in the guise of a Roman senator). “What are you talking about?” Elijah declared. “Do you think the Jews are so stupid? Do you think they are so foolish they’d give you simple sand?! This must be the same sand that Abraham (the Patriarch) used when he fought against the four kings.6 Abraham single-handedly conquered the most powerful kings of his time. Do you know how he did it? He possessed magic sand. He threw it into the air and the sand turned into knives and spears and arrows.”
“Really?” responded the Emperor. “Let’s try it out.”
At that time, the Emperor’s forces were in the midst of a war. They were trying to conquer a neighboring province, so the Emperor sent this chest to the front lines with his soldiers and they began to throw handfuls of sand toward the enemy. Lo and behold, the sand was transformed into these magic secret weapons! In a day or two, the Roman army was able to overwhelm the entire province. The Emperor thanked Nachum Ish Gamzu, saying, “Because you did this for me, I’m going to reward you with a chest of gold and silver. Take it back to your people and tell them that if they should ever need anything, they should come to me. I’ll be happy to oblige them.”
On his way back home, Nachum Ish Gamzu stopped at the same inn. The proprietor asked him, “What gift did you bring the Emperor that he showed you such honor?” He replied, “Well, you know, I had this chest full of sand. I brought it to the Emperor and this magical sand turned into arrows and spears when thrown at his enemies.” The innkeeper heard this and said to himself, “Wow! That’s the sand in my backyard!” So what did the man do? He filled up an entire wagon full of sand. The innkeeper brought it to the Emperor and said, “You know that sand Nachum Ish Gamzu brought you last week? This is the same stuff.” The Emperor was overjoyed and immediately sent the wagon of sand to the troops. When the “magic sand” turned out to be a sham, the infuriated Emperor ordered the execution of this deceitful innkeeper.
I copied that story from Chabad.org by the way, since they do a great job telling it.
The story reminds us that even when we think bad things are happening, G-d knows the true purpose and would only do things that really are the best for us.
This story is often compared to a story about Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva was a great sage in his own right, but also happened to be a student of Nachum Ish Gamzu.
Rabbi Akiva would say, “Kal d’avid Rachmana letav avid—Whatever G-d does, must be for the good.” He once traveled with a candle, a rooster, and a donkey: the candle so he could study Torah at night, the rooster—his alarm clock—to wake him up to study Torah, and finally the donkey to carry his possessions. Rabbi Akiva stopped at a city. He tried to get lodging at an inn but there was no room available. Rabbi Akiva went from house to house but nobody would let him in. So what did he do? He walked into the neighboring woods and set up camp. All of a sudden, a strong wind kicked up and extinguished the candle. A few moments later, a ferocious lion emerged from behind his tent and killed his donkey. What was left? The rooster. A ravenous cat appeared and devoured it. Rabbi Akiva was completely stuck. What did he say? “Whatever G-d does, must be for the good.”
The next morning, Rabbi Akiva discovered that a band of robbers had attacked the town during the night, mercilessly killing the people and stealing their money. The robbers escaped into the forest. If they had seen the candle, or heard the noise of the rooster and donkey, Rabbi Akiva would have met the same fate as the townspeople. G-d had saved his life by extinguishing his candle and taking his animals.
There is a big difference between Nachum Ish Gamzu and Rabbi Akiva. Nachum Ish Gamzu said, “Gam zu letovah”: Even though something may appear negative, it is itself good. The chestful of sand itself was good, regardless of the loss of the precious jewels. And so it was. This was his philosophy (and one I try to emulate) Nachum Ish Gamzu’s approach was not that he would later see the value of the sand; its worth was immediate and intrinsic.
On the other hand, in the story of Rabbi Akiva, the actual loss of his donkey and rooster, according to him, was not good. But it was a smaller loss compared to a greater loss. Rabbi Akiva would eventually see the good the very next day. But the immediate sacrifice was viewed as negative.
All of us can learn a practical lesson from the above. When we’re taking a trip, for example, our tire might suddenly blow out. We think, “Oy vey! It’s going to kill our plans. We’ll have to spend hours changing the tire. Then we’ll have to stay at a motel instead of making the trip in one day.” Now, we could say, “Perhaps G-d is saving us from yet a worse situation that would have taken place had we continued our trip as planned.” But the emes—the truth—is that standing on the side of the road with a flat tire at that time is in itself good. Even events that are not readily perceived as being positive are totally good, since everything comes from G-d and G-d is all good.
Another homeschooling Mom and I bring the kids to the Boston Museum of Science every month. We sort of co-op science together and well, it a whole different post on why we do that. We went yesterday and you will not guess what struck me the most.
Was it the electricity show we went to? Nope
Was it the cotton-topped tamarin monkeys? Maybe for CPG, but nope, not for me.
Was it the baby chicks that were hatching while we were there? Nope - although they were really cute.
Was it watching our kids know where all the organs went on a 3D human body model (puzzle)? Nope, although the museum volunteer seemed pretty impressed by that.
What struck me the most was not a museum exhibit at all. And in fact had very little to do with the museum at all.
It was watching all the school groups. There were tons of field trips there yesterday of a wide variety of ages and quite honestly I felt really bad for these kids. There are a whole bunch of reasons why.
The big reason is that there is absolutely no way that they can get anything out of this field trip. It truly was a huge waste of taxpayer money to send them.
First of all they are only there for about 2 hours - maybe 3 tops. We got there at 10:00 AM and tons of school groups were getting there at the same time. All morning long the place was packed. After lunch the place has basically emptied out. I didn't really see any more school groups there after 1:00 PM - and they did eat lunch before they left.
So, this is a rather large museum that really you could spend all day at and still miss a few things. They are spending a couple of hours - but they are still trying to fit in the whole museum.
Which leads to my gross generalization of a statement: "Public School kids have absolutely no attention span at all". I am beginning to think that schools cause ADHD. Really, they run into a room. Press all the buttons. Don't bother to wait to see what will happen. And then just run out. It was truly one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. While we would spend an hour in one room exploring it fully (we left it up to the kids to decide when it was time to move on), we would easily see 100 or so kids come flying through while we were still there. Truly, baby Boo had more of an attention span than these kids.
There was no interaction with the exhibits. There was no tying it to what they have been learning in school - most of the chaperones were parents who didn't seem to know what the kids were learning in school anyway. There couldn't possibly have been any learning at all.
If a child did in fact get caught up in an exhibit, within 5 minutes his chaperone would be calling out "Johnny, it's time to move on" And he would have to leave because the 5 other classmates she was also watching had already left. I am not blaming her for that - she does have to watch 5-6 kids, and she does need to get through the whole museum in a couple of hours.
I am not really bashing public school here - for all I know some of the groups may have been private schools. And I truly believe that everyone does what is best for their family, or even each individual child. I guess I don't understand why they need to rush through like that. Why can't they focus on a couple of areas only and spend all their time there? Some people would say that would be a waste of a trip, but i would disagree. They could study the subject in their classrooms and really explore that area and come away with new knowledge. There is no way they could have done that the way they go through now. Isn't quality really better than quantity.
We did not see the whole museum yesterday, nor did we plan to. But both my girls came home yesterday bursting with new information and spent well over an hour clueing their father in to all they had learned and seen.
Well, I still haven't gotten to that Josephus entry for Jennibelle, but I will... The end of the month is always a crazy time for me. Anyway I needed to take a break, just to say:
THE RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!
So I thought I would share this cute poster that Little Miss made for the last game. I thought it was very clever:
Now, in all honesty we are not huge sports fans at my house. Nevertheless I think it is impossible to grow up in New England and NOT love the Red Sox! It goes together with Mom and apple pie - and of course hating the Yankees.
Anyway, I was watching the beginning of the game with the girls and CPG said something that got me thinking. She said "The Red Sox are the best team ever!"
Now, anyone who has grown up in New England will tell you that while we do love the Red Sox, we have had more than our share of heart break over the years! 86 years of it as a matter of fact. That all changed in 2004 though when the Red Sox won the World Series then.
So, here's the thing - to my kids their earliest Red Sox memories are of them winning the 2004 Series and here they are again just 3 years later doing it again! So they think of them as this amazing team. Whereas the rest of us "older" folks, we remember the years of heartbreak. So we spend the season with bated breath, cheering them on, but waiting for them to break our hearts yet again... What a different perspective my children have!
People point to computers and cell phones and all the other ways the world has changed in just our lives. But I think that this is also an important way that the world has changed in just the past few years.
There is of course a lesson to be learned in all of this. I am still trying to completely formulate it in my mind. But I am pretty sure it has to do with accepting every day for what it is and not letting the past cloud your judgment of the future. Kids seem to be naturally able to do that. Maybe we could learn something from them.
Well, I have been working on another post about Josephus to answer a comment, but haven't had much time this week. In the meanwhile I got Tagged by Tammy to give "Seven True Things" about myself. I have never been tagged before and it seems like fun. So here goes:
1) I am a doula and childbirth educator. Not really working as a doula right now, as it is really hard for me to attend births, but doing CBE. I also work in a doula training program and love that.
2) I am working on a doctorate in Naturopathy
3) I went to college in Israel and really want to move back.
4) I have a background in both law and clinical research, which I combined in my pre-homeschooling days to manage the Regulatory side of drug research as a consultant to a whole bunch of drug/biotech companies.
5) I have a sister who is a public school teacher in Florida
Ok, this is getting hard to think of things.... What else?? What else??
6) I love to write and have had a few articles published in both local and national (actually international) print and on line magazines. Mainly on pregnancy/birth topics.
7) My husband and I met through a Jewish Matchmaker.
OK, I did it! YEAH ME! Now I need to go tag 7 other people. Have fun everyone!
Well, I only have a minute to write before Shabbat, but really wanted to put this out there.
By now I am sure many of you have heard about the Ann Coulter intervew on CNBC. If not click here for the transcript and how she has basically called for the end of Judaism.
Many people have expressed shock at her statements. I am neither shocked nor stunned by them. While I admit to not knowing much about Ann Coulter, I am very well aware of anti-semitism. Anyone who thinks it doesn't exist in America and certainly not in this day in age is just not paying attention. There are still MANY people who believe this way, Coulter just had the stupidity to say it on national television...
Don Imus got fired for making racial slurs against the Rutgers Women's Basketball team - and deservedly so. Ann Coulter has called for the annihilation of an entire race (actually a few races - since if everyone were Ch-stian that would also mean the end of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, in fact anyone who doesn't agree with Coulter). I wonder what will the public outcry will be - or if they will even care.
I do want to thank Coulter though. As we study the Middle Ages, we will be learning about forced baptisms and conversions and persecution of Jews throughout Europe. How nice of Coulter to provide my children with a modern day example of what she would like to see...
