The Death of the Grown-up
Longtime readers are familiar with the brilliant work of Diana West. She has been a guest-blogger here and I frequently link her trenchant Washington Times columns. Today, her first book debuts: “The Death of the Grown-up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization.” I was delighted to read the manuscript and provide an endorsement. The book is a brilliant diagnosis of our backward baseball cap culture and its intellectual and moral deficiencies, which have profound consequences for a nation at war.
Though I’m not quite yet willing to abandon my Wii, West makes a convincing case that America’s abdication of adulthood (from pop culture to attire to perpetually adolescent gamers) weakens our ability to identify and defend against jihad. Andrew Bostom reviews the book in the WashTimes.
And here’s a taste of the back-cover reviews:
“Diana West’s analysis of American culture and society is filled with sharp insights and critical judgments that are illuminating and provocative. The Death of the Grown-Up delivers an honest perspective on the many forces and pressures challenging 21st century Americans.”
—Lou Dobbs, CNN“The most intriguing question about American culture today–even more intriguing than, “When and why did men start to hug each other?”–is the question Diana West tackles in this penetrating and witty book: “When and why did Americans decide to stop growing up?” Actually, I have a depressing feeling that the two questions are related.”
—George F. Will”This is a vigorously argued, far-reaching and timely book which should be read especially by those content to drift along with the noxious tide of fashion.”—Paul Johnson
“Diana West’s brilliant and irreverent skewering of America’s fixation on youth is a wake-up call for every individual who wants to see Western civilization endure. West makes the provocative case that a mass cultural obsession with perpetual adolescence has eliminated adulthood from the human experience, leaving our society effectively undefended as we confront the challenges ahead, especially the menace of Islamofascism.”—Tony Blankley
“With keen wit and unparalleled insight, Diana West traces the national decline of adulthood and the rise of the permanent adolescent class in American life. From James Dean to Elvis to Bill Clinton, from “anything goes” to “whatever,” un-parents have succumbed to the Teen Age. But what makes West’s invaluable analysis stand apart is her connection of the death of the grown-up to the post-9/11 political, intellectual, and moral paralysis that imperils us today. Her impassioned message: We cannot defend our identity if we have no clue about who we were and are and should be. We cannot defend our existence as long as we mollycoddle a generation of self-absorbed brats. West administers an overdue spanking to the cultural relativists: Wise up or we will all pay dearly.”
—Michelle Malkin“This is a brilliant book that devastatingly dissects our politically correct society. In a book that will be read for generations, Diana West has written one of the most important books on our culture, politics and society that I have ever read. Diana has masterfully recognized and explained how certain trends within Western culture have fundamentally altered Western identity and weakened our resolve to combat a fierce enemy, radical Islam. A must read for anyone who wants to understand why, all too often, many in the West are apologetic when confronted with the excesses of radical Islam and what we need to do to win the war on terror. This is a phenomenal book that will truly alter the way you view society. It is masterful.”—Steven Emerson
”Diana West has written a book not to be missed by anyone concerned about the future of America and the West. With wide- ranging scholarship and a lucid and sprightly prose style, she chronicles and analyzes the unprecedented transfer of cultural authority from adults to teenagers. The unhappy consequences range from the obliteration of traditional standards in almost all areas of life to a multicultural relativism that lowers our defenses against elements of a civilization that would destroy us. West has mounted a much-needed counterattack in the service of Western values and common sense.”—Judge Robert Bork
Add Diana’s provocative book to your beach reading.
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Looks like a very interesting read.
I’ll absolutely read this offering - sounds fantastic.
And in my opinion - you can still be a grown-up and entertain yourself with your Wii, or in my case, an X-Box.
It will be interesting to hear her arguments. Like many others (and apparently, like Michelle) I enjoy a lot of our American culture that in the past has targeted an adolescent audience but in recent years has been expanded to include the 18-35 year old demographic as well. I like movies, some video games, computers, music, etc.
*sigh*
Great, ANOTHER book to read. Do you have any idea what the pile by my bed looks like right now? I do have classes to sudy for, you know…
swj..
What more important class than American culture?
Unless you’re in a liberal academic setting, then you may have learning assignments like the Koran, sexual preference 101, and a term-paper on the negative effects of Conservatism in today’s society….
Well our democrats in Congress who heartley supports increasing the age of adolescence to 25.
And with the cost of these game machines now ($600 for a PS3) it’s hard not to be an adult who plays games because kids can’t afford them anymore.
I work in academia, which is torture if you’re a conservative but amusing in that I get to look at all the bumper stickers, signs, and t-shirts the lefties wear.
One of the bumper stickers on a car I always walk past in the parking lot reads “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”
Yes it is - when you’re 18, you’re an adult.
If you want the rights and privileges of an adult, you need to start acting and dressing like one.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, but you MUST have responsibilities. You aren’t a child anymore — stop acting and dressing like one.
This book goes on my list.
Englishqueen:
Perhaps “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” refers to the liberal penchant for re-writing their own history…..
It’s not that they actually HAD a happy childhood, it’s just that it’s never too late to SAY you had one and have it believed - if you’re a liberal, no one is expected to fact-check it.
You’re being redundant…
Things like “Ethics in accounting” and other such thrilling fair.
I think my econ 110 and 111 professor was a socialist, which was exciting…
/sarc
Touche, swj….
swj, Two words….evelyn woodhead
A subject near and dear to my own heart. Will definately be tracking down a copy.
Although… I will say up front that if she’s going to blame all the ills of the US on gaming then I will have to disagree. Were it not for my on-line gaming guild friends I would often have no ‘adult’ conversation for days. But I’ll read it and see how she approaches it.
as an aside to swj… a young friend of mine had to take a literature class last semester where one assignment was to watch ‘Bowling for Columbine’ and extol it’s virtues. OMG I thought he was going to lose it. But he went ahead and did the paper. Using the format required he totally tore the movie apart factually. He ended up with an A, however the teacher noted that “Although I disagree with your views and consider them misguided, your paper did follow the format properly.”
3Steps, he was lucky.
In classes I’ve taken, to not agree with the teacher meant failure.
Disagreeing with a prof in my day I think hanging was mentioned.
“The Death of the Grown-up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization.”
Is this akin to the dumbing down of our educational system?
A good question for you englishqueen01
Heh, Wii is pretty fun.
“We can discuss my maturity after I beat this level boss…”
One of the only ways I am able to survive at U of M is reading conservative stuff by MM and Townhall.
So to all of my fellow conservative students and vet-students: Give em’ Hell, accept no substitutes, and give you classmates the other side of the arguement to think about!
My sociology course on race and ethnic minorities was more of a challenge to my hypocrite prof because she couldn’t refute any of my arguements and my classmates were asking me where I get my info from. She told the class at the end of the semester when were doing instructor critiques that she was even called a communist. I replied, “No you are not a communist, but a hypocrite because you complain about the system, reap its rewards and demand that society should be taxed at 60% to pay for every entittlement under the sun that you aren’t willing to pay for yourself.” You could have heard a pin drop….
Still got an A- for the class
I have blamed this phenomenon on the tremendous prosperity we have enjoyed in the post-war years. Especially for the younger generation of adults, (Generation X) survival and even wealth are a given.
Most of the people I went to university with still behave exactly the same now as they did then. I am 40 years old, and was a bit older then the people in my classes. I did not share their privileged upbringings. Those people still wear the same clothes, obsess about going to concerts, watch MTV, get tattoos, smoke pot (but only after the kids are asleep), and pursue their hobbies more vigorously then they do their work.
Almost all of them either benefit from a family trust, a do-nothing position in the family business, or an inheritance that has made their life comfortable. They are perfectly nice people, as you can tell from their MySpace pages, but they are reliably liberal, and have no real character. In essence, they are teenagers, and I can’t think that is a good thing for the health of our Democracy.
A pet peeve of mine.I see men my age (50) dressing like teenagers,baggy shorts,football jerseys & backward caps,in nice restaurants.I live out west,where boots,a nice felt hat & a string tie are considered proper attire for a formal function (Richardson usually wears string ties at the Roundhouse) & I’d like to walk up to these guys,smack the cap off their heads & say “Grow up!”
Tangetial to the topic … do you do Wii boxing, Michelle? If so, we definitely need a video of that!
P.S. hope I’m not proving the author’s thesis by asking.
ya we were taking odds.. most figured he’d flunk. We were actually pleasantly surprised at the A.
I dunno… I’m still working on afording a 360.
Halo 3 comes out soon-ish. I am weak.
Sounds like a worthwhile read. I’d be interested in how she addresses the increased intensity in scheduling that children go through today. Recently I was discussing with other parents in their 40’s how much more structured our children’s days are than were our own back in the 70’s.
As parents we begin planning for pre-school before children are born and we make house purchase decisions based on the quality of schools in the area. As early as grade school we plan curricula and encourage extra-curricular activities with an eye toward an acceptance to a good college. College itself costs a fortune, and today being 22 with a bachelor’s degree isn’t going to cut it, so one can find themselves competing for a resume-building job and then devoting a few years to grad school. After that, and pushing 30, one can expect to work their butt off—maybe 100-hour weeks—in order to build a career or a business.
Many of the young adults I know today are better educated and work harder than their parents generation ever did. Some of them wear baseball caps backwards, listen to hip-hop, love video games and play extreme sports. I’ll be interested to see how Diana West squares what seem to me contending phenomena.
“I’m still working on afording a 360″
Tell me about it….
I’d love to hear the counterpoint to the economic discussion when we’re supposed to be in such a dire state, economically ( by the liberal standard ), yet how many 360’s, PS3’s and Wii’s are played by our nation’s teens. Not to mention the Ipods and cellphones.
Trying to take away my iPod will get you hurt.
I’m about a week away from my 360, give or take… *dances*
“Many of the young adults I know today are better educated and work harder than their parents generation ever did.”
I don’t doubt your statement on its face - but adults in my parent’s generation worked pretty damned hard to get what they had. My father was a music teacher for over 30 years. He was up at 5:30 - home at 5:30 Monday - Friday, in addition to extra-curricular activities such as concerts and musical productions. He also worked with a private choral group, dedicating his time and efforts to them. His good friend owned a restaurant and put in 16 - 18 hour days all the time.
While your statement may be true - there are also A LOT of younger adults who don’t have those same work ethics.
I see it all the time in my position as a corporate trainer. Young people come to interviews and orientation training sessions in jeans, t-shirts, ballcaps, etc… and think it’s fine. Many have an entitlement attitude that is absolutely ridiculous.
Sure - there are exceptions to everything - but there is a huge number of our younger generation who THINK they have it hard - but have no idea what hard really is, and refuse to attempt to find out because playing video games, going to concerts, surfing the internet and going out are more important.
This book is an excellent and timely contribution- right alongside Steyn’s “America Alone”.
West nails the phenom of our society being focused politically on *secondary* issues such as “lifestyle choice”, “Universal healthcare” and “universal childcare”…..as Steyn so ably points out. Our society is focused on setting up Big Government to take care of our elders and our kids so they don’t cut into “our” playtime.
I can’t wait to read West’s book and make the connections.
We aren’t all in that fix of eternal adolescence; but, we are all paying the price in simple ways to the complex.
Example of the simple: how many grownups do you know who use the word “like” to finish a sentence when describing their reaction to something they’ve experienced?
How many grownups do you know who end Every FREAKING Sentence as though it were a question? (”I was walking down the street? And I wanted a smoothie? So, I decided to go to Gina’s and get one?”
AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! It makes it very difficult to sit through a PTA meeting when this is the mode of speech.
The complex: Our City Council insists on passing “foreign policy” resolutions against Israel that favor Hezbollah and Hamas by default. “Oh, we don’t approve of Hezbollah and Hamas killing Jews. We just want the Israeli “bully” to stop abusing its power.” As if it was a frickin playground dispute!
Gag.
If you get xbox live look up the login name tastycrat, it’s me.
…I think I just proved my own abdication from adulthood.
Eh…
I think having a way to have fun is healthy. For my generation, fun is video games usually.
I’m also a pencil and paper roleplaying geek (btw, riki-tiki fastpaws is an ooooooooold D&D diety, and is indeed the god of raccoon).
I’ll enjoy my 360, I’ll network a little, and I’ll geek out more than a little bit I’m sure…
But does that make me less of an adult?
Well, yes it does, but not by much…
I wonder how many of our loyal posters spend part of their day, headsets on, game controllers in hand, trying to negotiate a simulated streetscene with their online teammates and rid the world of terrorists?
Raise your hands…..c’mon….. No, the other one….put down the PSP and come out of the shadows….
HAH!
The phrase “backward baseball cap culture,” caught my immediate attention. I turned out ok (some would say) because I grew up in a 2 parent house with plenty of love and discipline.
One day when I was wearing my cap on backwards, my dad said, “Son, you’re head’s on backwards.” When I told him it was “the style,” my dad replied, “Son, wearing your head on backwards is not a style. It’s a sign of lesser intelligence. That is why it has a front and a back.”
He was just thankful I did not wear my pants backwards like Kriss Kross. I did once, but that was because I woke up late for school and was not paying attention. When I tried to explain this, he said, “Please go to your room. You’re not grounded, I just don’t want to understand this. Also, don’t bark like a dog when listening to that music.”
Parents cannot be the “pals” of their children. My dad was not my ‘”buddy.” He was my father, and that is what kids need, not overgrown kids trying to play with them.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/our-function-is-to-fulfill-our-responsibilities/
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/04/14/please-pray-for-my-father/
I thank God I still have healthy parents.
Respectfully,
eric
swj - is that the same as Chiktikka Fastpaws?
Can’t find the Riki Tiki reference anywhere but Kipling’s jungle book - but the Chiktikka one came up when I searched….
“Parents cannot be the “pals” of their children. My dad was not my ‘”buddy.” He was my father, and that is what kids need, not overgrown kids trying to play with them.”
Nail / Head
Thank you, good night, that’s all there is!!!
DAMNIT! I have been out-geeked!
Yeah, you have it right. I was always messing up the name, and you have it correct!
*hangs his head in utter shame*
Your parents might disagree, Eric - what with your totally unhealthy obsession with MKH.
swj….sorry to have out-geeked you….
guess all it takes is google and you, too, can be as geeky as the next guy! :O
ya.. well that may be but alot of them are nothing but slackers. I know, I’m feeding/housing 2 of them. My 20 yo niece and 18 yo nephew. They do NOTHING but ‘play’ aka party all the time. They aren’t ‘ready to grow up’. They feel that they had a ‘rough childhood’ and deserve to have more leisure before they have to worry about things like jobs.
These are my sister’s children. She is a ‘pal’ not a ‘parent’ person too. Although she’d swear she isn’t. She calls me Hitler because my kids are expected to follow house rules and display common curtesies.
“She calls me Hitler because my kids are expected to follow house rules and display common curtesies.”
HAS to be a liberal…that seems to be the mantra towards anyone expecting people to follow rules and display any common courtesy or common sense.
But what do you expect when, in school, these same people were being taught about multiculturalism and revisionist history, instead of learning who Adolph Hitler REALLY was and what he REALLY did?
Fascist…
For what it’s worth, I’m 29, and try to follow the same rules. A little understanding, a little curtesy, a little patients.
Though I also refuse to back down to anyone, and don’t generally take much crap from people. I tend to get “slightly” vulgar then.
Didn’t he make beer or somtin? sarc/
See, there’s a Hitlerbraü joke there somewhere…
This was probably the first time Kriss Kross has been mentioned in the last 10 years. Kudos
How many libs think he was a character in that Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” …. and he has a great singing voice….
“Springtime….for Hitler….and Germany…….”
Sorry - I digress….
“This was probably the first time Kriss Kross has been mentioned in the last 10 years.”
As it should be…. What’s next - an obscure reference to MC Hammer?
Gods those pants looked freaking stupid…
And i’m just BARELY young enough to remember seeing his cartoon…
*shudders*
*cough*
New Kids on the Block
I just got a strange feeling…
Someone here….at home….just popped in an old cassette or, god forbid, turned on their IPod and is listening to one of these artists and jamming away…..
Michelle - is that you?????
Some of the concepts of this book are touched on in the popular “Guns, Germs, and Steel”.
We’ve all heard that necessity is the mother of invention. This can be extended to other facets of life as well, and explains why many cultures did not advance, while others did. When necessity is fulfilled, invention collapses.
We, as a society, have long since fulfilled our necessities (by and large) for the vast majority of our people. Even our poor have lifestyles which would be the envy of the rich in many 3rd world nations.
In such a society, the knowledge that all your necessities are available cheaply, just a couple of blocks away, makes lack of responsibility very seductive.
My iPod would commit ritual suicide if Hammer, New Kids, Vanilla Ice, or Kris Kross appeared on it.
But Ice-T’s old stuff? Oh, that stuff gets frequent play time.
Yashmak - you’re post is very spot-on.
I would add, however, that while many or most of our MATERIAL necessities are often fulfilled - there is a personal facet that many people forget about.
They become complacent in their current jobs or position in life, and since they have all these material necessities, they are often distracted away from personal, internal goals.
I have a good job, family, home and car, but I recognize that there’s more to life than just ‘achieving’ these material or positional benchmarks.
There is intellectual growth, through traditional learning, travel, and other experiences, that those who spend all their off-time playing video games, watching tv or partying are missing out on.
And it is that intellectual growth which contributes to the leap from adolescent mentality to adult.
Sounds like an interesting and timely book.
One of my pet peeves are the “chronological adults” who constantly talk as if they were teenagers.
JRL,
Your dad sounds like a great guy. I wish I had devoted more time to being a better musician, though what skill I have brings me much enjoyment. My dad worked hard too and I wouldn’t be where I am today without his support and guidance.
Two developments that make the workplace, at least for knowledge workers, much more challenging today are globalization and telecommunications. While my dad worked hard, his job didn’t intrude into his free time the way jobs do today. Cell phones, email and projects that literally never sleep due to their geographic distribution have created a very different proposition today than four decades ago. An additional change has been the decrease in job security for all Americans as corporations have become more competitive. Since you can’t rely on having a job at IBM or AT&T for 40 years and retire with a gold watch and pension, much of the workforce has become responsible for managing their own careers. It creates an additional load of ongoing education and constant networking. All of which can take time away from leisure.
My observations in my previous post are ad hoc and my sample group may be skewed. Also I acknowledge there are plenty of slackers around today with an unprecedented number of multimedia distractions. (I marvel that some have time for a “secondlife” while I’m fighting for enough time for my first). My curiosity with the book would be if the “decay” in America is cultural then how do we explain the subset of Americans who are more entrepreneurial and more career-savvy than ever?
Education ain’t the be all, end all of a persons ability to be successful. There needs to be a healthy dose of common sense, initiative, and responsibility. If you think education is the answer to everything when was the last time you went through a drive through at a fast food place and had them get your order right the first time and didn’t act like someone had just asked them to eat crushed glass when you asked them to make it right? Everybody will say those are high school kids, but most are seniors headed for college based on nothing more then their ability to pay for it.
Education can be bought, maturity can’t.
I should emphasize here that I am not a professor or teacher. I’m a secretary, but I am beginning studies for my Masters’ in January.
However, I think that is an excellent question and what I can only refer to as “trickle up dumbing down”.
I believe the “dumbing down” travesty began in our elementary/grade schools - based on the philosophy that students must “feel good” rather than be taught solid, rigorous material. We see this manifested in things like fuzzy math (where the answer doesn’t matter, just the process and how “good” the student “feels” about deciding 2+2=7) and eradication of terms like “failure”, the “F” grade, and red pens.
Michelle mentioned Syke’s 50 Rules… which has a lot of influence over my philosophy (I live in Syke’s listening area, so I’ve heard his talking points before, and he’s on my radio every single day at work…it’s the only thing that keeps me sane in this sea of liberalism). He also wrote Dumbing Down Our Kids which has a similar message.
It began there and worked its way up through the system.
I think a great example of this is the University of Wisconsin system and Milwaukee Public Schools. For several years now, administrators and liberal politicians have been working to include race-based consideration added to admissions because they felt the number of minority students in the UW system was indiciative of a problem in meeting quotas and a lack of diversity.
However - they refused to look at the fact that Milwaukee Public Schools, which has the largest percentage of minority students in the state (especially African American students) is terrible. They have an abysmal graduation rate (less than half, I believe), a terrible drop out rate, violence, and continually failing standards - in other words, the dumbing down of the system.
MPS is not preparing students to enter college, therefore they aren’t going. This is also referred to as the “soft bigotry of low expectations.”
So rather than make schools like MPS (and others that take the “feel good, learn little” approach to education) step up and start carrying more responsibility for actually educating students, the colleges will have to dumb down their standards.
The standards get dumbed down, and it’s going to naturally and progressively work its way beyond college. Because if colleges had rigorous standards and students couldn’t meet them, the college would close. So they make concessions to survive.
Which is a disservice to all and benefits no one - especially in that pesky little thing known as “real life”.
I’ve heard stories about college graduates going into their first jobs demanding high pay, lots of vacation time, and being disappointed that they actually have to work and earn their benefits and the respect of their bosses and higher-ups.
And, no, this doesn’t mean I think adults shouldn’t be able to have fun. Every now and then, it’s great to be able to go and do something silly.
It just means adults need to know what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Playing video games to relax is fine; showing up to a funeral in flip-flops and jeans isn’t. Going to a rock concert is perfectly accpetable; acting like Paris Hilton when you’re 40 isn’t.
If we continue to act like children, someone will come in and be the parent…and it won’t be pretty. If we don’t assume the role of adults and continue to be teens, either the government, the jihadists, or some other group will rise and do the parenting.
And, in my haste to post, I forgot to mention the most important thing:
Parents! BE parents to your children. They have plenty of friends; what they need are boundaries, guidelines, discipline (consistent, appropriate discipline), and - above all - a good example that only YOU can set.
gunslinger, which U of M? Michigan? Mississippi? Memphis? Missouri? ???
/U of Memphis alum. Just curious.
Interesting.
John Leo, definitely a grownup himself, provides somewhat of a counterpoint to Ms. West’s thesis in today’s OpinionJournal (more particularly, the origins of the issue, but the last paragraph is worth noting as well).
My parents, thankfully, were never children to me. They grew up and stayed grown up. Sure, I rebelled and thought they were wrong (doesn’t most teens?), but they insisted on teaching me the values and the discipline to make a successful life in this world. They are both gone now, but I did have the opportunity to thank them both for what they did for me. One more point…I read above about job interviews. A bit of advice from someone who has seen interviews. Dress up. Guys, that means ties. And, for a shot at a good job…and I mean a good career job, speak English properly! The one before you wore jeans and baseball cap (probably little intelligence) The one after you, spoke street English and slang (probably uneducated). That is the thoughts of the interviewers. Now who do you think will get that career job with a note to watch for promotion? I’ve seen it happen a lot.
I’m sorry, but I must correct you on this.
Acting like Paris Hilton isn’t appropriate, even if you are 20 or Paris herself.
Is it ok to show up like that if the eulogy is more of a rebuttal?
Wake UP parents, kids are not your friends or buddies, they are your children it is your job to teach them right, wrong, respect and about real life.
An example of this is when I grew up I had to address all my parents friends or any adult as Mr and Mrs. soandso. This was to show respect and showed me that one day I could grow up and get this respect myself. Now parents seem to want to treat kids as friends instead of the children they are.
Thirteen28,
Thanks for the link. I agree with Leo’s point that one needs to guard against nostalgia when gleaning lessons from the past. Also, his reference to Silicon Valley non-conformists is an important consideration.
A positive change from the 1960’s has been the increased participation of women in the most competitive areas of the marketplace. One could look to the domain name of this site for an example of a woman who is a successful columnist, TV personality and Internet entrepreneur. While Michelle is exceptional and among the top of her generation, I’ve met hundreds of women over the past two decades who are also smart, successful and dedicated their careers. One can legitimately worry about the impact this change has had on the family, but as I’ve watched these women juggle home life and the workplace I’ve never found them to be mollycoddled or bringing down Western civilization.
Green Bay–Thank you kind sir!
SWJ–My crush on Mary Katherine Ham is so July 5th. However, my parents do hang their head in shame every time I head down to South Beach.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/hydratic-lamentations-mary-katherine-ham-revisited/
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/miami-will-smith-is-100-right/
Taylor K–I am the self proclaimed king of obscure late 80s, early 90s music references, mainly hard rock such as Poison and Warrant.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/07/14/war-is-for-tough-guys-bring-on-the-80s-rock-music/
Since Mary Katharine Ham would not convert for me, I have raided the name list for the Republican Jewish Coalition. They have awesome grandaughters my age!
eric
P.S. My parents do not represent anything I say. They are normal, cerebral, quiet, and dignified, and have apologized internally to Ms. Malkin for my goofiness.
I’ll need to read it, but it looks like another hate america title.
Yeah, because MM promotes those books…
This can get overcomplicated and make postive action more difficult. The basics are simple, if you ask me:
1. Know the difference between being child-like and child-ish.
2. Keeping the child alive within you is fun and makes life more pleasant. Just make sure that it’s the grown-up within you that presides.
3. The easiest and best way to keep your childhood memories fresh and innocent is to keep them seperate from your adult life, and the easiest way to do that is to grow up.
It seems to me that if you live by those rules and recognize those simple facts, the rest takes care of itself.
Getting others to stop acting like children is easy: make fun of them. No kid likes to be mocked out.
Kind of a stretch.
Great! I was just nearing the end of “Sabotage” and was looking for a new read! Sabotage — excellent book BTW.
Yesterday’s luxuries became today’s necessities. That has been true since WWII. We had little and wanted our children to have more. They did the same. Some grandchildren used drugs and one died as a result. Our adult children are professionals - raised w/retarded sibling - and I never read to them! Go figure.
Great Michelle. Recommend a book to a bunch of folks who can’t read. Very funny…
hehe maybe I’ll be lucky, and it’ll have pictures. . .with captions!