Blogenberg Bit 1: My daughter said she wants to be in the military when she grows up. “Why would you want to do that?� I responded in such a way that both she and her twin brother immediately asked why I sounded so negative. Wow. Just the question had terrified me. I could only be honest. “I have great respect for the military. Serving is very honorable. Having one of my kids in the military would scare me.�

Imagine how I would feel if I were a parent of a son or daughter who was serving today – not just asking me about it.

Thank God we have parents brave enough.

Blogenberg Bit 2: My 13-year-old son had a lacrosse tournament this past weekend in Princeton, NJ. I’m driving him and three other 13-year-old boys to watch a high school game Saturday night. One of the boys asks my son if his 13-year-old twin sister is “hot.� My son is smart enough not to answer. I’m driving, wondering what would happen if I let one otherwise very nice, very likeable 13-year-old boy out on the side of Route 1.

Blogenberg Bit 3: Two things I’ll never enjoy in business. One is calling up a client and pushing for payment. I think I want to get big enough that I can have somebody whose job it is to do that. Second is busting our humps on a very strategic proposal and then being met by silence. Yep, can do without both.

Nobody wants this war,
Fewer seem to understand it.
Talking pundits (the non-talking kinds are better) scream
behind me on TV about Scooter not going to jail.
24-hours news predicts “spectacular� terrorism this summer.
“Spectacular� – TV talking heads’ word, not mine.
Wow, “spectacular� I wonder – should they sell tickets?
I’m old enough to remember when this was not a violent society in which we lived.
I’m old enough to remember when as a kid I left first thing in the morning for adventure with directions to just be home for dinner.
How did I survive childhood without Dateline catching predators on TV seemingly every night?
We don’t get along. We can’t get along. We’re terrified of immigrants. We’re nonchalant about young mothers killed as collateral damage in gang violence.
Is this the remix that Sam, John, Thomas, George, and the rest of them thought they were starting in steaming disease ridden Philadelphia?
Maybe.
I’m confused.
But that’s good. ‘Cause I live where nobody can order me how to act, what to think, when to have faith, and when to be enraged.
I live in America.
It’s good to be confused; it shows I’m not too old to pay attention.
Happy 4th.

My three teenage kids tell me that only 6.7% of what I say has any value. Thus, I am introducing a new, occasional feature: Blogenberg Bits:

Blogenberg Bit 1: Starburst, Please Stop Selling Candy by Sounding Severely Disabled – In one radio ad, a character complains that he never learned his colors. What do you mean? the other character asks, showing a yellow Starburst. The color challenged one responds by making a noise that sounds like somebody who can’t speak, painfully trying to say the word “yellow.� Here’s a hint for the Starburst ad agency: with a bit of creativity, you could have done the same concept without being offensive. Creativity – try it, you might like it.

Blogenberg Bit 2: Spotting a Man in 13-year-old – All three of my kids give me lots to brag about (I love to brag but don’t because it’s boring, even boorish – except to my staff because I pay them and they have to listen [it’s in their contracts].) I took my 13-year-old son to visit my dad in the hospital – he had unexpected surgery, but results were perfect. (more…)

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has an independent business-owner group or community or whatever they call it. I must have signed on to it because I get the e-mail discussion thread in my in-box. A recent online conversation, prompted by somebody considering starting their own PR shop, explored the benefits of running your own firm. Numerous “old hands� raved about controlling your own schedule, about being able to balance work and family, work and recreation, work and whatever.

Call me Mr. Reality Check. Yep, I do achieve a fantastic balance between work and family. But I’ve had to do two things. One, I’m willing to work myself to exhaustion and two, not give a damn if clients give a damn when they reach me and I’m at a kid’s lacrosse or soccer practice, a hockey or basketball tournament. (more…)

The principal at my twins’ middle school gets it. He understands how to make kids succeed.

Research shows that kids who are “connected� to their school are less likely to get into trouble, use drugs, or have emotional problems. And kids who aren’t in trouble, in any sense of the word, are more likely to succeed – in school and life. I’ve read the research, but always wondered how one creates a school that kids connect to.

My kids’ principal knows how. Apparently, it starts with a principal who cares about what students do with their lives outside of the classroom as much as he cares about what scores students get on the ubiquitous standardized tests.

At a time of budget squeezes, not only does he refuse to let music programs wilt, he’s expanding them, and puts everything he can behind two music teachers that should be on every rich private schools recruitment list. Hundreds of kids take part in orchestra, band, jazz band, chorus, chamber singers, and pop choir. The music program not only dominates county competitions, but mops the floor with schools from neighboring states. (more…)

I stuck it to the “man� this morning. That’s right, I did. I was driving to a breakfast meeting, heading south on Connecticut Avenue. At a red light, all the cars stopped short, making sure to allow space for a “private entrance� to the right. It was the entrance to one of the most expensive and exclusive country clubs in Washington.

“Are you kidding me?� I yelled quietly inside my head. So I pulled up and audaciously stuck my spear in the ground. I blocked the entrance, and kept it blocked until my light turned green.

The “man� had to be stinging at 7:35 this morning.

************************************

God has blessed me with the opportunity to do some special things for my children. One happened this weekend. One was yesterday.

This weekend we hosted my twins’ 13-year-old birthday bash at the community center. It featured a DJ. It was one of the first “teenâ€? parties of this group. (more…)

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines ethnography as “the study and systematic recording of human cultures; also: a descriptive work produced from such research.� To increase our mutual understanding of the human experience, ethnographers often take great personal risk. I am one such ethnographer. I have ventured into the world of 13-year-old girls.

This past Friday night my 13-year-old daughter had another 13-year-old girl spend the night. Being an especially courageous ethnographer, I gingerly entered their world. I was, for example, occasionally allowed to walk into the room where they were sitting or talking. They also allowed me to drive them several places. I recorded my observations – though knowing 13-year-old girls’ survival rules dictate that ethnographers and fathers must be as quiet as possible for fear of embarrassing the 13-year-old girl, only breathing if absolutely necessary, I made mental notes only. (more…)