Rediscovering the Internet (Chocolate in my Purse)

Due to some stalled projects at the office, and the drama of this election season, I've discovered (or rediscovered) a few sites.

The Root
Jack and Jill Politics
Slate
Salon.com
The New Yorker

In other news, work today took me away from the office to our Nation's Capitol for a summit. The highlight? Getting to hear Obama's and McCain's Education point people talk about the respective senators' ed policies. One panelist quoted someone else (he declined to say who) who likened No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to a Russian Novel: long, complicated, and in the end everybody dies.

McCain's person said something that gave me pause. Essentially, the idea that any teacher would be teaching purely to avoid the sanctions of NCLB is 'immoral,' but the fact that NCLB exists and the penalties that are associated with not hitting certain benchmarks means that some kids that were 'invisible' aren't anymore.

Obama's person was big on clearing up one thing: there are no 'silver bullets' and 'golden tickets' (i.e., magic programs) that are going to fix the education connundrum. Obama's team wants to empower teachers to use and leverage resources to figure out what works for them and their students.

I'll go everyone one better. Education reform, on the whole, without parental reform is doomed to failure.

I smuggled a handful of chocolate truffles home in my white leather purse. I want you to imagine this for a moment. Heat. white leather. chocolate. truffles.