You only have what they wrote.

In the most recent carnival of home schooling there was a post entitled Beyond Homeschooling your kids: Radical Unschooling? by June Tree at The Digerati Life. At first glance, it is a seemingly benign piece about the author's first experience with the concept of unschooling. But the way the author pieced her work together seemed like she was misstating facts about home schooling or giving her opinion under the guise of facts.

So I set out a carefully worded critique of her work. Evaluating what she said on a point by point basis. I showed my work to my editor/wife and she said it read like I was mad or offended. My wife knew I was not mad or offended. But she reminded me that others who read my blog don't know me, they only have what I write to go on. So if my thoughts are not worded correctly or explained carefully enough, the author can misconstrue my intent.

I then thought about Ms. Tree's piece. I don't know her. So I only had her written words to determine what point she was making and why she was making it.

Here are a few examples of how editorial choices can affect your reader's perception:

In her opening paragraph, Ms. Tree says that home schooling is rare and then says parenthetically that it's illegal in other countries. This was rather confusing to me. Based solely on how she wrote that sentence, it seemed like she was saying that homeschooling was rare because it's illegal in other countries. Which is ridiculous! It also made me wonder if she was being purposely misleading by not saying some other countries. She had a link to an article that said that homeschooling is illegal in Germany but the source article went on to say that such illegality is uncommon in Europe.

So the reader is forced to draw one of two conclusions: 1) the author made grammatical errors that turned a benign statement into a controversial one. 2) The author really thinks that homeschooling is illegal in all other countries and thinks that is the reason why it is rare in the U.S.

Another problem I noticed in Ms. Tree's writing was that at times it seems like she is stating facts and others offering opinions. At one point it made me think that the author was possibly stating her opinions at facts. To make it more confusing the author didn't use documentation for her facts. But again if they were only opinions, she doesn't need documentation.

For example, in Ms. Tree's second paragraph she states:

There are reasons for this — usually some circumstances make it easier to keep a child homeschooled (sic) for a period of time, maybe a family decides to move to a new place and needs adjustment, maybe it’s a conscious choice to try a new educational methodology, or for some, it may just be a cheaper option (after all, even public schools these days are trotting out the donation boxes more often and sponsoring more and more fundraisers).

When she says there are reasons for this and then says usually, that reads to me like a fact. It seems that the author is saying the main reason most people home school for a short time due to outside circumstances. Then the author speculates on what she thinks those sources maybe, so I was unclear as to whether the author was passing off unsubstantiated opinion as fact or speculating on the reasons why people home educate.

Again, I only have what she wrote to go on.

So what, you may ask? Why are you making such a big deal about this? There have been many articles over the years about homeschooling that contain wholesale inaccuracies of home schooling. Where the writers seemingly make up their own facts. This article may have inadvertently seemed like another one of those. It just reminded me how important it is when you write, to make sure that what you wrote conveys what you wanted it to.

I am not saying that Ms. Tree is trying to do a hatchet job on home schooling or unschooling. I actually thought the tone of her piece conveyed a genuine desire to open a dialogue on the subject. However, the above examples may lead readers to believe she has already formed her opinion and is trying to open a debate, rather than a dialogue. The tone and the words themselves don't seem to match.

The struggle of good writing is to be factual, clear and be able to write what you feel inside so it is clear to someone who doesn't know you outside of your writings. This is especially important when writing about hot topics. Through Ms. Tree's original piece and my aborted attempt to critique it point by point, I've been reminded how important and difficult this process is.

Schemers - A Review

I have been reading Bill Pronzini's nameless detective books since I was in high school. During that span of over 25 years Pronzini has been cranking out these noir classics of the pulp collecting detective. Over the years Nameless has gone from a single operative to a family man who has operatives working for him.

This has allowed Pronzini the ability to write multiple cases at once intertwining a theme throughout the narrative. The 2009 nameless installment Schemers has two cases involving nameless and his operative Jake Runyon matching wits against an emotionally unstable stalker and the perpetrator a seemingly unsolvable book heist.

Pathos and description are two of Pronzini's signature traits. He deftly handles both in Schemers. From the eerie prologue to nameless's closing victory over an old friend/nemesis, Pronzini shows why he was recently named A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.

In terms of storyline and character development Pronzini was not at his best. There were some plot points that I thought were not as fully explained as some of his previous points. There was some ambiguity that I thought would make the story more palpable if it could have been resolved. That being said, Bill Pronzini's Schemers is still a worthy addition to this long running series.

Next Time: You only have what they wrote.

How to handle stress

Tim of Families Again checked in again with this week with some good questions for the Men's Monday Meme:

How do you deal with stress? Is there really a good way to do it? Is there a Biblical way? Is there a medical way?

Generally I don't deal with stress well. There are basically 2 ways to deal with stress outside of the biblical way externalize it or internalize it. Basically to me that means give yourself high blood pressure or give it to someone else. I tend to do both. This past month my daughter has been learning the biblical antidote to stress found in the 23rd Psalm:

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.6 Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Such a simple stress reliever! I remember a comic strip I read the year I graduated High School. It was the comic strip Kudzu by the late Doug Marlette. The real star of the strip was the Reverend Will B. Dunn. In this particular strip Dunn is reading the 23rd Psalm in a modernized version. He reads: The Lord is my therapist. I shall not freak out.

Funny at the time, but actually a pretty good dynamic equivalent translation. I tend to freak out a lot while trying to educate my children. God's "therapy" is to restore my soul.

One way to increase stress in your life is to put undue and arbitrary pressures on yourself and family. Sometimes we can even take the things in our life that relieve stress and twist them in a way that increases stress. For example, I noticed that Tim of Families again is a daily blogger and part of NABLOPOMO (National Blog Posting Month). In my second month of blogging, February 2009, I tried my hand at NABLOPOMO and it was horrible for me. I felt under so much pressure to blog each and every day. No one forced me to blog each day, but I took that stress on.

These days my blog is what I intended it to be a creative and emotional outlet. It's been almost a week in between posts. I have plenty of topics I want to get to, but I am not putting that extra stress on myself or my family. To See this Weeks Men's Monday Meme click here.

Next Time: Schemers

Now it's the Cubs Turn

There are 5 major professional sports teams in the city of Chicago. In 1985 the year I turned 21 none of these teams had won the championship in their league in my lifetime. The 1985 Bears took care of that very quickly and defeated the New England Patriots in early 1986 in the Super Bowl. 5 and 1/2 years later the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan won the NBA championship and did so again 5 more times in the next 7 seasons. In 2005 my beloved Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917.

Tonight the Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime to win their first Stanley Cup since 1961.

As I type this, people are shooting off fireworks in celebration in my small suburban neighbor hood. Congratulations Hawks! Now there is just one Chicago team left to win the championship in their sport, the Chicago Cubs. Now that the Hawks have broken through maybe the Cubs will be next.

Good help and a good book are hard to find.

My wife and I both love books. She loves reading them and I love having them. See. I'm a keeper and she's not. Don't get me wrong she's definitely a keeper. She's worth keeping around and then some, but she doesn't need to own a book once she's read it. I probably have 100 or more books at home that I have never read. She probably read 100 books this year that she does not own.

So when Amy read a book earlier this Spring and wanted to read it again, and now tells me she wants to own it, I knew it must something special.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is indeed, something special. The story takes place in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights period. Stockett turns in a beautiful, poignant book that is at turns hilarious, harrowing and heartbreaking. (The alliteration society called and they want their h back.)

The Help is one of those books that tells first person narrative of the same events in multiple voices. It has been my experience that in books like theses,one of the voices is usually more realistic or fleshed out than the others. When that happens I generally wish they told us the story in one strong voice rather than adding in several lesser ones. This is not so with The Help. Skeeter, Abileen and Minnie, are all complete characters adding their own distinct pathos to the tale.

The tale itself is the story of how African American domestic servants raise white southern children from birth, often becoming closer to these children than the parents themselves. It is a story of how these 3 heroic women from diverse backgrounds begin to chronicle the good, bad and ugly of this way of life in the deep south.

When you have a story with heroes, you need villains and The Help has one of the best (worst) evil characters that I have seen in print in quite a while. Skeeter's childhood friend puts a face on racism. Hilly shows us from the first chapter that above all else she cares about keeping the lines between black and white clear, distinct and unequal. Watching Hilly ruin the lives and livelihoods of anyone who dares cross her is sobering.

Stockett does an excellent job building tension in The Help. She would bring out some snippet of character development and then let us ruminate on it for 100 pages before developing it further. There were also several unexpected twists and turns along the way.

The best part of the Help is the dialogue. Each of the main characters has a lovely way of expressing themselves rich in colloquial expressions. My favorite part was when Abileen told her young charge Mae Mobely about a special man from space, Martian Luther King, who was hated because he was green.

The first book I read during my Summer reading plan, is always the best I've read at least until I finish another. After starting with The Help, I am not sure how any books will be able to overtake this one.

Next Time: Conventional Wisdom