March 3, 2011

There were 2 posts published on March 3, 2011 (this is page 1 of 1).

Ignoring the have-nots in a digital society

Want to use a computer? Take a number

We took the kids to the Cameron Village library last Sunday and loaded up on the kids’ books. As I usually do (being the curious sort) I took note of the crowd making use of the library’s computers. I always like to see what kind of folks are depending on the library’s computers. Like many of my visits there, I found a crowd at the computers. There wasn’t even a single workstation available.

As my kids were checking out their books, I listened as a mom and her 10-year-old son pleaded with the librarian to get a computer. I guessed that he had a school assignment he needed to complete.

“What if they’re not doing anything important – playing games or something?” the mom asked. “Could they give it up then?”

The librarian shook her head. “As long as they’ve got time left on their reservation, they can use it however they like. Now, if they get up and walk away, leaving it unattended, then you could step up and use it.”
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Kids and coaches

I had a up-and-down day yesterday. I was feeling bummed about politics and ran into snafus during my work day that dragged me down. All that changed, though, after 5 PM when I took our kids to Hallie’s soccer practice.

After dropping Hallie off at the practice field, Travis and I went over to the basketball court, where I worked with him on shooting. While we were there, a half-dozen boys Travis’s age wandered up and asked if they could join in. These were immigrant kids, poor and mostly Hispanic, and they looked like they could really use a break. After checking with Travis to see how he felt about it, I agreed to let them join in. I then taught them the game of Pig and we all spent the next hour playing it.
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