2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session 2013 special election arts arts and culture author ballot measures bomb books budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration international internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal portland mayor president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes television terrorism theater third parties timber payments transportation union university of oregon violence washington water wildfire women

Actually, the question,"Why, are you too young?" was in response to Mr. S. saying he couldn't get married because it was illegal. If he hadn't mentioned the illegality of it, the kid probably would't have asked any more questions, because lots of people are unmarried. And if the child HAD asked why, THEN it would have been totally okay for Mr. S. to answer as he did. that still doesn't change the fact that the school district acted totally inappropriately.

posted 2 years, 8 months ago
view in context

I can tell you why this happened. The teacher should have said, "No, I'm not married", he should not have said, "No, I'm not married because it is illegal". The same problem could have come up if a straight man had said, "No, I'm not married because my girlfriend is already married to someone else". TMI!!! But the school responded totally inappropriately too.

posted 2 years, 8 months ago
view in context

As long as sex education in schools tiptoes around non-heterosexual orientations, nothing will change. It is still treated like a no-no subject. Hetero sex is discussed in detail, and everything else is mentioned as an oh-by-the-way topic. What on earth would have been accomplished by the teacher not mentioning his situation to this student? Do the parents not realize that probably more than one student at the school has gay parents? Do they think their child won't notice and wonder about that? My kids have attended 4 schools in the Portland metro area, and there were 2 or more gay parents at all of them.

posted 2 years, 8 months ago
view in context

When I was driving to work today, I heard an author reading from a book, and I immediately thought, "Boy, this reminds me of that book I used to read to my kids, "The Everyday Garden". I laughed out loud when I realized it was Cynthia Rylant reading! We loved her books, and I could recite them from memory after so many readings. We've saved our copy of Everyday Garden, and I'm sure I'll read it to my grandkids some day.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
view in context

I used to be on Kaiser, and was very shocked by what happened when I was forced to switch to a 'regular' insurance company.

1. The doctor's office bills the insurance company a high dollar amount. Then the insurance company sends them a lower payment, which they accept as full payment (minus any portion due from the patient). This means two people getting the same procedure don't actually pay the same amount.

2. The doctor recommends tests and procedures with no care for whether or not the patient can afford it, and because of the situation described above, the patient has no idea how much they will pay. If the patient needs to know, they can go home, contact the insurance company, find out how much it's going to cost, then go back to the doctor. Very time consuming, and not in the patient's best interest.

3. After I go to the doctor, I get 5 or 6 different things in the mail for each visit. What a waste of time and paper! With Kaiser, when you leave the doctor, you're done. Done with paperwork, done paying, just done.

4. Once, the doctor's office had a computer glitch, and hundreds of patient visits were never billed to the insurance company. The doctor was never paid for these procedures. That probably didn't help with the cost of care for future patients!

I've also been told that a lot of insurance billing is incorrect, and I've received several incorrect bills myself. More time and paperwork to get that all straightened out.

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
view in context

To the athletes who used to swim, and found it not to be a social activity later in life; try Triathlon! The swim is often the most difficult part for people, and if you don't want to do the bike and run, you can find two other people to do it with as a team.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
view in context