Second Thoughts on Humor in the Senate?

A Missouri Republican Senator has introduced a bill to make the Jayhawk the official state game bird for Missouri.

Yeah, that made me smirk for just a moment.

And then it made me shake my head. Unfortunately, those of us who are not Missouri Republicans are cursed with these things called "second thoughts", and they take the humor out of many such things that seem okay on first impression. Here are just a few of those kinds of thoughts that apparently never flickered across Senator Clemens' mind.

- Humor about shooting rivals really isn't all that funny, particularly in light of the bloody history of the Missouri/Kansas border wars.

- You've just blown your party's opportunity to argue that anything whatsoever the opposition introduces is a waste of time and Senatorial resources.

- After your party has decimated MOHELA and damaged the ability of average Missourians to pursue education at Mizzou or elsewhere, it's ironic to see you rallying around Mizzou sports instead of Mizzou academics.

- Proposing that Missourians be able to hunt fictional birds reminds many of us that your party has a penchant for trying to stir up trouble based on chimeras, such as gay weddings and activist judges.

- Will Cheney be invited on the first hunt? Will Senator Clemens go hunting with him?

- I'm a Mizzou fan, but, let's face it, Saturday's basketball game against KU is not necessarily going to be a Mizzou win. When #71 is suiting up against #1, a humble and hopeful determination is a better tool than a loud mouth.

Senator Clemens, I appreciate your attempt at expressing pride in our state's flagship University, and I can understand why republicans would rather talk about other things than the 100,000 kids they deprived of health care, but I don't think humor is really your strength, either. Maybe you should have thought twice about your bill . . .

Mayor's Education Summit - Brave Idea - Can We Pull It Off?

One of Kansas City's greatest civic concerns is the education of children in its urban core. For the past several decades, parents of school-age children in Kansas City, Missouri have struggled with either finding schools they like, or moving to the suburbs. Much of the growth of Johnson County can be attributed to the perception of educational opportunity.

Despite the prominence of education as a civic issue, Kansas City's mayors have been granted a "free pass" on getting involved. The Kansas City, Missouri School District is not under the governance of the Mayor - it is an entirely separate beast. "Not my problem" has been the general attitude of city government toward education in Kansas City.

Mayor Funkhouser was elected to eliminate politics as usual in Kansas City, and this is one area where he is making some progress. He is working on putting together an educational summit in January to find areas where the community is "on the same page" about education. "It is time to stop talking about the city this, the schools that, it's time to get on the same page," Funkhouser said.

I've been involved in some of the early planning for this summit, and it's important to keep in mind that this is a community issue - not a KCMSD event. Education in Kansas City's urban core comes in many forms - there are private schools, charter schools, home-schoolers, and religious schools. Students, parents and teachers are obviously interested in the issues, but so are employers, real estate developers, unions, police, suburbanites, etc.

Wouldn't it be great if we could draw people from all over our community and find five or so areas of agreement on urban education in Kansas City?

It's almost sad that we are at such a fundamental stage, but we are. Already, I can see that there are those who want this forum to be a referendum on Mr. Amato, or a sales job for the community schools idea. Already, I can see that some people want the whole thing to be about the KCMSD - and I think that would be misguided in a half-dozen different ways.

Education in Kansas City's urban core is a community issue, and, if this education summit is going to be more than just another "bitch and defend" session about the KCMSD, it needs to draw in the entire community.

I hope that every community-spirited individual in the Kansas City metro region puts a tentative "save the date" note on January 15, and starts thinking about education in Kansas City's urban core. Mayor Funkhouser could have washed his hands of this issue, but he's trying to accomplish something positive. It is an issue for the Mayor, and it is an issue for all Kansas Citians.

My Wife is a Mistress

(Shouldn't women who get Master's degrees really get Mistress's degrees?)

Yesterday was graduation, and Kansas University conferred the degree of Master of Public Health on her. Not only that, but they gave her the Analee E. "Betsy" Beisecker Public Health Excellence Award - she was selected as the best student of the program!

She started working toward this degree several years ago, taking advantage of an employer tuition plan, and has stuck with it through classes she didn't like, through distracting pressures of work and home, and hundreds of excuses to do other things with her time. Throughout, it has been pure intellectual curiosity that has motivated her - there's no direct benefit to earning the degree, such as an automatic pay raise or promotion.

She earned a perfect 4.0. She never settled for doing "okay" in a class she didn't particularly like, nor did she focus less attention on the classes taught by professors she didn't enjoy. She worked diligently on a thesis - producing original research and winning Honors.

It was interesting to see the group of fellow-graduates. Some were in their early twenties, and some were in their forties. Some were already MDs, and some were fresh from undergraduate programs. Many or most had multiple degrees, but my wife was one who launched into the program after a two-decade break from classroom education.

Obviously, I'm quite proud of my wife/mistress. She's a private person who I tend to avoid mentioning in this space, but she was awfully cute in her cap and gown!