Just Jordan

The color of a person's skin does not matter. Everyone is equal. Right? Well, I think so and it was important to Hugh and I that our kids grew up color blind. We wanted them to choose to play with another kid because they were funny and shared a love for NASCAR (if it were Calder!). We wanted them to realize that the teacher at the front of the class was fabulous because of the things they did, not because of the color of their skin. Because of this, we never acknowledged that anyone with a different color of skin was any different than we were. We didn't discuss race at all. In fact, we ignored it and as it turns out, we were doing it ALL wrong. I have read the chaper, Why White Parents Don't Talk About Race , from Nurture Shock  by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman 3 times. I am fascinated by it. In the book, the authors discuss how Dr. Rebecca Bigler ran an experiment with pre-schoolers. She had half of the kids wear a blue shirt and the other half wear a red shirt to sch...

  The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. A man's world is forever changed when his daughter is murdered. Evidence suggests it happened in a shack in the back woods. Four years later the man, Mack, returns to the shack and has a conversation with God. Sounds hokey. I know. And yet, I found myself racing through the pages. Growing up Catholic I went to catechism and church. I learned about God and the Catholic faith. I was told to believe. And I did. But I don't remember hearing much, if anything, about spirituality and if I did, I certainly didn't understand what it was. The Shack is about both spirituality and religion, but mostly it is about love. My favorite exchange is between Mack and Jesus (page 184) . Jesus is the first speaker.           "Who said anything about being a Christian? I'm not Christian."            The idea struck Mack as odd and unexpected, and he couldn't keep himself from grinning. "No, I suppose you...

The last few days I can't get enough reading. Right now I reading what I thought was the last installment of Diane Gabaldon's Outlander series . Upon looking for a link to show any of you who were interested, I found that Gabaldon is currently writing an 8th novel in the series. My friend, Deena, recommended the books right after we lost Tripp. She gave me all 7 published books and I began reading. I have read nothing but these books for the last 10 months, not wanting to start anything else until these are finished. There have been times I can't put the books down and others where I will leave them for weeks without picking them up. That being said, I totally recommend reading them. (As do the 642 ratings on chapters.indigo.ca .) If I did it again, I would just take some reading breaks from the series! Oh and a side note if you do pick up this series. Although it is not a romance novel in the typical sense, there are some "smutty" parts. I am usually not a fan o...

I flipped the paper open after Calder and I finished our lunch only to see, " HARRY'S FINAL SPELL " as the title on the front page of the Arts and Life section of the Star Phoenix. I started to choke up. I am taken back to the ONLY Saturday night in my final semester at the U of S that I wasn't out with friends (truthfully, we were all WAY to hungover from Thursday and Friday to make our way out on Saturday).  I had borrowed the first 2 installments of the Harry Potter series from the city library. Students were talking about these books and I needed to see what they were all about. I remember laying on Twyla's couch in our apartment on Pinehouse (our 2nd home that semester as our first burned down during the February break - whole other story). I was enthralled. I could not put Harry Potter down. I quickly got caught up to J.K. Rowling's most recent release and began waiting, anticipating and then reading the books the moment they were released. The bo...