now posting regularly

Taking a little break from the L.A. chatter today, to focus back on NPR goodies from the week. It's actually been a quite interesting week, and I'm happy to share the following stories from the last few days:

• "A Racial Rant Inspires An Internet Balladeer"-- Oh my, starting off with a huge chuckle. All Things Considered talked with Jimmy Wong about his musical response to the ridiculous vlog made by UCLA student Alexandra Wallace. Seriously, this is the clip of the week-- you can listen to the story and they also have the YouTube video Wong created at the top of the page. Must see clip!

• "How D.C.'s Cherry Blossoms Almost Didn't Bloom"-- We're planning on joining a bazillion other folks this weekend to check out the blossoms, and this time of year always makes DC-area folks get giddy with excitement over these beautiful- if short-lived- blooms. If you're unfamiliar with the background story of these gorgeous trees in our nation's capital, check out this NPR piece. And I'll let you know if we find those first two original trees!

• "Copyrighted material staying up on YouTube"-- Interesting Marketplace piece about those ANNOYING ads that appear on YouTube videos. I especially like how the reporter begins by looking at a video of him on YT! 

• "Doctors Should Ask Kids: Are You On Facebook?"-- This brief but informative piece on Shots: NPR's Health Blog is a must read for parents of tweens and teens. I know that our own son is woefully absent online in comparison to his friends, but he's okay with that, at least so far. I know the day is not too far off when he'll be begging for a FB page and wanting to take over one of our laptops on a regular basis. I appreciate the AAP recommendation to doctors- a very "whole-self" health check.

• "The commercialization of princess culture"-- You've got to know by now how much I adore and respect author Peggy Orenstein, and her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter is absolutely incredible and even eye-opening to this mom who has been cranky about the "princess culture" for a long, long time. If she appears on NPR, I link to it, simple as that.

• "FDA Probes Link Between Food Dyes, Kids' Behavior"-- More to think about in the ADHD and food additives discussion, care of today's Morning Edition. While I don't think JAM's ADHD is directly tied to additives, I do wish this wasn't something that we even had to think about in the first place. I'm semi-following this discussion, and it will be interesting to see how the request for the FDA to ban some of these food dyes actually pans out.

Wishing you a happy, NPR-filled week,