Snowflakes

[mallorys_camera]

More hideous white stuff from the sky…

Coming down at a brisk pace, too. Wind! Big ole snowflakes! Despite propaganda to the contrary, I'm convinced most snowflakes are exactly the same.

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I’ve been wondering whether the Parkland shootings might not signify the beginning of the end for America’s public school system.

Four local school districts in the area where I live were closed Wednesday and Thursday following “threats” on SnapChat. And today is a snow day.

Of course in Poughkeepsie, for years, schools have been little more than corrals where exhausted working parents park their kids.

When I was a teenager, we used to regularly fantasize about calling in bomb threats to get out of taking chemistry tests. Don’t think we ever did it, but at this stage, my memory is highly selective, so maybe we did.

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When Robin was six years old or so, he picked up a stick one day, turned to one of his little classmates at the Carmel Mission School and grinned, “I’m gonna shoot you!”

Ben and I were dragged in for a long uncomfortable meeting with the school administrators. At any minute, Monterey County Child Protective Services was going to descend upon us, haul Robin away!

So ridiculous that I pulled Robin from that school.

Maybe it’s not true anymore, but back in the year 2000, practically any object might become a weapon in the hands of an imaginative, cartoon-watching kid.

If you really wanted to call a halt to that kind of thing, you’d target the makers of those cartoons.

Personally, I think it’s a developmental phase.

And as I’ve said previously, I think the most effective way to put an end to school shootings would be to refuse the shooters publicity. Although sure: No civilian needs access to anything more lethal than a revolver, a double barreled shotgun and a bolt action rifle with a three shot magazine. So, certainly some limitations on gun ownership do need to be legislated.