Edgy Mama

This week’s column honors teachers–both mine and those who teach my kids.

We never forget our best teachers. But do we remember to thank them for what they’ve done for us?

I need a reminder to thank the teachers in my life, as well as to thank those currently teaching my elementary-school-aged kids. Tuesday, May 5, is National Teacher Day, which offers me both reminder and opportunity.

We all have at least a few teachers in our lives that truly changed the way we think — either about ourselves or about the world outside ourselves. And if we have kids, we’re usually lucky enough to see their growth and learning under the guidance of their teachers.

While we all learn from a variety of people, in honor of National Teacher Day, I want to thank those who’ve accepted the challenge of education as a career — particularly those who’ve earned my never-ending gratitude by teaching my kids.

Study after study reveals that the single most important factor in the quality of a child’s education is the quality of his or her teachers. I feel blessed by the teachers who’ve contributed to my kids’ education so far. While the Asheville City Schools system is far from perfect (what school system is?), as long as the schools continue to hire and support exemplary teachers, I can’t complain (too much).

Read the rest here.

I was honored to be interviewed for an article in A Look of Asheville: Showcasing the Best in Dining, Shopping, and Sightseeing. The book is an annual publication that goes to live in hotel rooms all over town.

I was interviewed about Asheville’s literary scene, and, in the article, I admit to “a white-hot author crush” on Ron Rash. Just to set the record straight, I’ve met Rash, and while he’s an attractive guy, I have a crush on his writing, not on him himself. Not that I regret saying that, especially because, while thousands of words have been written about Rash’s prize-winning books, I bet I’m the only person who’s said those words about the man’s writing. Of course, I doubt anyone’s going to be asking for me to drop the humor/parenting gig and become a literary critic.

I’d link to the article, but it doesn’t seem to be on-line yet, and there’s a huge reproduction prohibition warning in the front of the book, so I’m not going to copy the section I’m included in without permission.

Here’s the link to last year’s A Look at Asheville. If you find yourself in a local hotel room over the next year and in proximity to the 2009 edition, check out page 67.

Oh, and my top two locally-written novel recommendations: Rash’s Serena and Tommy Hays’ In the Family Way. Read ‘em if you haven’t already.

Thanks to Jer for interviewing me and calling me “voracious.” Great adjective.

Just got a note from the Pisgah boys that they won big at last weekend’s Hickory Hops Beer Festival in Hickory, N.C.

Pisgah took 12 medals home from the Carolina Championship of Beer in Hickory out of 15 beers entered.

The winners are:

Red Devil-  Gold
Dancin’ Hobo-  Gold
Pisgah Porter-  Gold
Baptista-  Gold

Valdez-  Silver
Vortex I- Silver
Vortex II-  Silver
Solstice-  Silver

Brown Ale-  Bronze
Endless Summer-  Bronze
Pale Ale-  Bronze
Equinox-  Bronze

The Red Devil, brewed with fresh raspberries, is my personal fave, followed closely by the coffee-stout Valdez. For daily drinking, I like the Brown Ale and the Endless Summer. Congrats and keep up the rocking brewing!

I only get credit for translating this week’s column from Geek Speak, as it’s mostly words from Enviro-spouse’s mouth about how to parent through climate change. I wish we’d had more space to expand on the whole helping kids’ become resilient and community-oriented to deal with coming change, but luckily, the New York Times kind of did that for us.

If you’re on my weekly e-mail list and wondering why you haven’t received an e-mail from me in two weeks, it’s because I have yet to figure out how to transfer my address book to my lovely new laptop. But I’m on the verge of transfer success, so weekly e-mail love will recommence soon. If you’re not on my weekly e-mail list, and you’d like to be, shoot me your e-mail addy at edgymamaatedgymamadotcom.

Happy April 20 (I just learned why today’s date is significant–now I’m totally like a part of druggie subculture!)

Creepy or cool? Tell me what you think?

Here’s an excerpt:

“I’ve been seeing lots of those stick family car stickers around town, mostly on the back windows of mommy vans and stud-daddy SUVs. Driving to and from Charlottesville, Va., last weekend, practically every van I passed contained a traveling family boldly advertising their family/pet configuration on the rear windshield.

What’s the point of these stickers? What are these folks really advertising? How happy their families are? Is it part of a religious movement? Are they saying, “Here’s my contribution to world overpopulation?”

And why do I care? Possibly because I find the stick family decals both cute and irritating – both creepy and cool. Like bumper stickers, they’re hard to ignore. If you’re sitting behind a soccer-mom in traffic, you have little choice but to examine and contemplate the family stick figures splashed in front of you.”

Go here to read more.

This week I write about dealing with kids and profanity.

Here’s an excerpt:

“My angel-faced son was not quite 2 years old when the director of his church preschool called to tell me my boy had dropped a wooden block on his foot, then yelled, “S**t!”

While an understandable use of profanity given the situation, his outburst clearly wasn’t appropriate to the setting.

There was no question the boy was imitating Mommy, so I took full responsibility and told the preschool director that I’d work on curbing my vulgar tendencies. Luckily, the preschool director had a sense of humor and thought the incident was (kind of) funny.”

Read the rest here.

Forget print journalism and crazy newsweeklies going all digital.

Here’s my plan:

“Big news here in Edgy land. This is my final Edgy Mama column. I’m traveling a new career path, one that other Ashevillians have taken, though I’ll be the first female to dip my big toe into the vat o’ hops.

Yes, I’m going to open another brewery in Asheville–number 6 or 7, depending on when certain in-the-works breweries put the barley to the pedal.

Why another brewery?  Because I’m a craft beer addict with nothing better to do than quaff brewskis and watch my waistline expand to Rush Limbagh proportions. But what about raising the kidlings, you ask? That, my friends, is the piece de resistance – the Edgy Mama Brew Pub will be the kid-friendliest brewery in America.

Those 21-and-under are welcome, but not to quaff the adult beverages. Here’s the plan: I’ll be building a basement play area for kids and a giant rubber-walled playpen for the rug rats (care provided by thirsty UNCA students-bartering’s a great thing!). All walls will be painted with blackboard paint for our budding graffiti artists. The “play” basement will have Spongebob Squarepants on continuous repeat. The play pen will feature Teletubbies DVDs. No stoners allowed in the playpens, unless they’re willing to change diapers.

I’ve got engineers working on a plan to burn the diapers in a newfangled E. coli-filtering contraption and use the heat to power the pizza ovens. The ultimate in recycling.

I’ve been researching brew recipes, and I’ve come up with formulations for an Edgy IPA, Parental Angst Porter, Shut It Stout, and Anger Management Amber Ale.”

Read the rest here.

I’m not sure what this means for my column.

Excerpt from publisher Jeff Fobes’ on-line letter:

“The Mountain Xpress, Asheville, N.C.’s, alternative newsweekly, took a remarkable step on Wednesday, ending its 14-year run as a print publication (today’s issue is our last), suspending its regular online news reports and converting its entire news operation to Twitter dispatches from staff and trusted community journalists.

Here at Mountain Xpress, we find ourselves facing unprecedented change. Like many of you, we’re battling a contracting economy that’s forcing us to work smarter, faster, smaller. Meanwhile, digital tools offering new ways of engaging readers seem to land in our inboxes daily. And the astonishing growth and spread of mobile users and social networking capabilities is delivering new news faster than we can even begin to figure out what the old news was.

In other words, news outlets no longer control the flow of information. Quite simply, the tools have left the building.

But that doesn’t mean we’re throwing in the virtual towel. We at Xpress feel strongly that there’s still an important role for journalists in this society. And as a truth-seeking filter, an ever-vigilant watchdog and a community meeting place for diverse thoughts and ideas, we wholeheartedly believe that the newspaper will continue to play a crucial role in our democracy, even if it no longer offers either “news” or “paper” in the conventional sense.

Things are changing, and Xpress has decided not only to embrace that change but to charge ahead in a manner befitting the creativity and edge that make Asheville the continually shifting center point it undoubtedly is.

Accordingly, we here unveil the new Mountain Xpress: the nation’s first “Twaper” (Twitter-powered newspaper). After much thought and internal debate, we have decided to vault the obstacles of conflict and debate in a single, electric leap of faith. From now on, Xpress will be all Twitter, all the time, exclusively featuring the microblogging bursts of the diverse and emphatic folks who collectively make up this community.”