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Today at a Glance:
Law Enforcement Memorial Service: The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office hosts the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service at 7:45 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Operations Center, 61 Sheriff E.W. Johnston Drive, off of Commerce Parkway, in Bunnell. The service commemorates Flagler County’s fallen law enforcement officers through the years and includes the traditional wreath-laying at the Law Enforcement Memorial. All are welcome.
Separation Chat, Open Discussion: The Atlantic Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State hosts an open, freewheeling discussion on the topic here in our community, around Florida and throughout the United States, noon to 1 p.m. at its new location, Pine Lakes Golf Club Clubhouse Pub & Grillroom (no purchase is necessary), 400 Pine Lakes Pkwy, Palm Coast (0.7 miles from Belle Terre Parkway). Call (386) 445-0852 for best directions. All are welcome! Everyone’s voice is important. For further information email [email protected] or call Merrill at 804-914-4460.
The Circle of Light Course in Miracles study group meets at a private residence in Palm Coast every Wednesday at 1:20 PM. There is a $2 love donation that goes to the store for the use of their room. If you have your own book, please bring it. All students of the Course are welcome. There is also an introductory group at 1:00 PM. The group is facilitated by Aynne McAvoy, who can be reached at [email protected] for location and information.
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library: Do you enjoy Chess, trying out new moves, or even like some friendly competition? Come visit the Flagler County Public Library at the Teen Spot every Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for Chess Club. Everyone is welcome, for beginners who want to learn how to play all the way to advanced players. For more information contact the Youth Service department 386-446-6763 ext. 3714 or email us at [email protected]
 Keep Their Lights On Over the Holidays: Flagler Cares, the social service non-profit celebrating its 10th anniversary, is marking the occasion with a fund-raiser to "Keep the Holiday Lights On" by encouraging people to sponsor one or more struggling household's electric bill for a month over the Christmas season. Each sponsorship amounts to $100 donation, with every cent going toward payment of a local power bill. See the donation page here. Every time another household is sponsored, a light goes on on top of a house at Flagler Cares' fundraising page. The goal of the fun-raiser, which Flagler Cares would happily exceed, is to support at least 100 families (10 households for each of the 10 years that Flagler Cares has been in existence). Flagler Cares will start taking applications for the utility fund later this month. Because of its existing programs, the organization already has procedures in place to vet people for this type of assistance, ensuring that only the needy qualify. |
Editorial Notebook. Yesterday this space addressed a Bill Maher segment alleged hypocrisy surrounding the sexualization of children. Here’s a piece I wrote for The Ledger in Lakeland in 2000 on a related subject:
“With Britney Spears’ midriff buckling to “Hit me, baby, one more time,” AM Cosmetics selling 10-year-olds scented body oils called “Follow Me Boy,” and beauty pageants turning 6-year-olds into glamor objects, the sexualization of children in contemporary culture is as commonplace in marketing as it is condoned at home. (Last I checked, 10-year-olds didn’t have the jobs to actually pay for the $200 jacket and $60 platform shoes and kerchief-size designer miniskirts, preferably black, from Limited Too, the clothing chain targeting “tweeners.”)
So it wasn’t entirely surprising when my 6-year-old daughter sang her mother and me a song she was learning at school in preparation for a year-ending performance. It went like this:
I’m the last of the Red Hot Romeos
Women, they are putty in my hands
You know, I may be a dying breed,
But companionship is all I need!
There are some who have the magical touch,
From Cupid to Casanova
You may wonder why he talks about himself so much
If you ask, I’m sure he’ll show ya!
He’s the last of the Red Hot Romeos
Women, they are putty in his hands . . .
The song is only marginally degrading by the standards of contemporary backstreet-boyish pop. But I wasn’t thrilled to see a child whose conception of wild things had been happily limited to Maurice Sendak suddenly shimmy to Romeo and Women, they are putty in his hands.
I later learned at Cleveland Court Elementary in Lakeland that the song is part of a musical the kindergarten children are performing in a year-ending show. “Red Hot Romeo” was chosen because of its message: As they sing and dance on stage, children act out a rejection of Romeo’s swaggering.
Message or no message, why would this song be chosen as opposed to something skirting suggestive themes altogether (as the musical’s other numbers do)? Nothing spoils a performance — a children’s performance especially — like a message anyway.
The problem is that, as teachers at Cleveland Court pointed out, even elementary-age kids as young as kindergartners are adopting the look and behavior of teens and “tweens,” down to pairing off as boyfriends and girlfriends. A few are.
That doesn’t mean the school should feel compelled to do more than discourage those wannabes — not inject everyone with a pre-emptive message, no matter how well-intentioned the injection may be: Snorting coke or downing six-packs every evening isn’t good, either, but 6-year-olds don’t need to be bombarded with drug-war doctrine yet either. They will be all too soon.
It’s not as if there’s a lack of moral lessons to teach kindergartners that their teachers need to borrow themes more appropriate in middle school and beyond. Innocence is being eradicated quickly enough in places outside schools’ control. That’s no reason to capitulate and play along instead of preserving, in those early grades, room for childhood.
Adult muck and pretension can wait.”
—P.T.
Now this: The Drag Queens Reading To Kids in Libraries
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The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
From spaghetti straps for preschoolers to ultra-miniskirts on tweens, girls clothing is getting noticeably skimpier. Kid-magnet chains, including Limited Too and Abercrombie Kids, as well as discount stores such as Target are focusing their marketing efforts on a much younger demographic, luring young girls into ensembles that in years past had been reserved for their teenage sisters. GapKids recently featured a white, crocheted string bikini you’d likely see Anna Kournikova wearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The bikini was for a 12-month-old. Racks at Target held several bathing suits perfect for a Hawaiian Tropic bikini competition. The crocheted and camouflage-designed suits started at Size 4 in the little girls’ section. […] There’s serious money at stake. From clothing to games to snacks, kids 12 to 19 spent $179 billion in 2006, according to Teen Research Unlimited. Retailers want a piece of that pie, and they are looking for lifelong shoppers. The younger they snag them, the longer they’ll have them, Leavy said. As if shopping for a teen or tween wasn’t difficult enough, there now is a new category: the pre-tween.
—From Lisa Nicita’s “Exasperation rises as suggestive clothes for girls spread from teens to toddlers,” Arizona Republic, June 28, 2007.
Pogo says
@FWIW, from the cartoon, to the rest of this page
oldtimer says
yes it does
ASF says
“At this point, does it really matter who started it?”
Yes, it does–when the ones who started it state that it is their intention to keep repeating their terrorist massacres over and over and over again.
Pierre Tristam says
ASF finally recognizes Israeli bloodlust for what it is: it hasn’t stopped since its cycle of 1967 degradation into occupation, expulsion, terror and apartheid, now mushroom-clouding into genocide (not an exaggeration: Israel’s razing of Gaza is the equivalent of using a couple of tactical nuclear weapons. And it’s not done mass-murdering yet). What else were we to expect? At least you finally recognize they’re terrorists. Not just like Hamas, but far more effective than Hamas. (And you have to work real hard to outdo Hamas’s madness. But leave it to Israel to find a way.)
Mimi says
Cudos, Sir! Might I add, ANTI- ZIONIST DOES NOT EQUAL ANTI-SEMITIC and JUDAISM DOES NOT EQUAL ZIONISM.
CEASE FIRE NOW!