Thursday, April 29, 2004

future labor leader?
Last week, the Westfield schools participated in National TV-Free Week. Mr. Cullen, the principal of Clara and Ellie's school, made a deal with the students: if the 400 students met the goal 1500 TV-free student-days during the week, he would award them an extra half-hour of recess. They made it ... and there was much rejoicing.

... Except for Ellie. The half-day kindergarten classes don't have recess, which she kept pointing out to us. She wanted to talk to Mr. Cullen about this, but Mallary persuaded her to write a note. As usual, she was very concerned about spelling things correctly, but we assured her that Mr. Cullen was good at reading "kindergarten writing" (creative spelling).

Mallary encouraged Ellie to decide on each sentence before writing it down and helped her edit orally; otherwise the note is her own work. (She even wrote "I DiD it My slf!" on the front of the note card.)

After delivering the note to the office on Monday, Ellie waited breathlessly for a response. (Well, perhaps not as breathlessly as the rest of us.) On Wednesday, Mr. Cullen came to get Ellie from class, and took her to his office. There she learned that he had been considering how to handle this situation, and Ellie's note brought it "to the front of his mind." (When Ellie tells this part, she cups her hand on the side of her forehead like a large growth.) His decision was to allow all the kindergarten classes to have a one-time, special outdoor recess, for their part in TV-free week.

Ellie seems supremely satisfied with this outcome. Mother Jones would be proud!

posted by Tom 1:11 PM

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

why is this snack different from all other snacks?
Ellie decided to keep Passover this year. She made that decision without realizing that most of her favorite foods (including pasta and pizza) would be off limits. Mallary sent matzah to school with her to make sure she had an appropriate snack.

She did a great job, and was proud to be the only member of the family to observe the holiday in that way. Mallary promised to join her next year.
posted by Tom 9:25 PM

Monday, April 12, 2004

NY Times article about my project at work.
AT&T recently launched a new offer that is the culmination of years of work by our small research department. It is a consumer Voice-over-IP offer called AT&T CallVantage Service, and has been a pretty big deal here at AT&T. A recent article in the NY Times gave it a very good review, and you can read it online: State of the Art: Cut-Rate Calling, by Way of the Net.
posted by Tom 11:06 AM