Why cats are overweight

I deliberately walked through piles of leaves today, primarily to enjoy the satisfying crunch beneath my feet. I do love autumn in NC.

Somehow that provided a mild relief after a disturbing class this morning. Kozol intrigues me, & I love reading his work, but watching a video that clearly represented the inequity he describes was even more unsettling. Maybe it's because I don't watch much tv anyway . . . so when I do actually see the harsh realities & the faces affected by the system, it seems so disheartening. And since I'm here, I might as well stash a few facts in case I ever become callous to the story:

• America spends more money on cat food per year than it does on textbooks.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder is evident in over 50% of inner-city adolescents.
• In 1995, America spent $16 billion on education, compared with $20 billion on prisons.
• If more inner-city kids didn't drop out of school, we wouldn't have the $ to educate them anyway. (!)

I suppose it's more useful to be responsive rather than reactionary. I'm not really sure what that means, since I can't exactly throw a ton of money into the education system like Bill Gates apparently does (I'd hate to see the state of education without 34% of his income!) Maybe it's kind of like the advice given at A.A. meetings: "Admitting the problem is the first step toward change." Not that I've ever been to an A.A. meeting. Wait, yes I have . . . I accompanied plenty of patients to their meetings when I worked in D.C. Anyway ~ ignoring the issues won't help, that's for sure. As for what will help. . . I think I'll sleep on it.