Whoops, Jessica, I guess your mother's cousin, Martha.

Cincinnati is such a funny small town in some ways. My mother said that when she married my father his mother tried to introduce her to her "society friends" but she was too shy. I said, "They were all nice Jewish housewives who played Mah-Johngg! That's not 'society'".

Cincinnati is such a funny small town in some ways.

All it is, really, is a big small town, where high school sports are king.

I just read an article on HuffPo that makes me think this story is going to get worse.

I believe I know which one you mean, and if it's true, I might be physically ill.

Whoops, Jessica, I guess your mother's cousin, Martha.

Still, small world. She lives in the DC area so I'm a lot closer to her kids (my second cousins) than I am to many of my first cousins.

All it is, really, is a big small town, where high school sports are king.

What does that make The Reds?

And to punctuate my rant about big-money sports, the news just noted that Penn State football brought in $73 million last year.

Oy.

A friend just approvingly posted a link to a defense of Paterno that starts in total Nice Guy "here's examples of how so many people are falsely accused" and how poor lil Joe trusted that the people he reported to would do the right thing yadda yadda. Ugh. I'm holding back from responding because the friend is generally a good guy but is himself the son of the president of one of the major state sports universities and I can't see the conversation going anywhere good.

And THEN as I'm writing this my old minion emails to remind me that Sandusky used to frequent our offices at my old firm, and now I'm entirely skeeved.

(And extra glad I didn't respond to the post because it occurs to me that it's highly likely the first friend actually knows Paterno and Sandusky and the crew. Certainly his father does.

What does that make The Reds?

Amateurs. (ba-dum-chhhh!)

All it is, really, is a big small town, where high school sports are king.

What does that make The Reds?

Tee ball.

t edit x-posty Reds bagging!

I think something the rioting students are failing to comprehend is that good people can make really bad decisions. I don't know the first thing about Paterno, but his reputation is clearly that of a decent, morally upright guy. And yet he absolutely failed in his moral duty to protect kids who were abused, and that is a terrible thing. It is possible for both things to be true, and the former does not in any way excuse the latter.

I love HFH generally, but my grandparents were the ones who started the HFH chapter in your fair city, Erin! So I like to read about what they're doing today.

Kate, I am sure they will still be working on it tomorrow. Are your grandparents still with you? I will be happy to take a picture! Heck, I'll take a carafe of hot cocoa down in your grandparents' honor.

Oh, you're so sweet! My grandfather died in 2005, but my grandmother is still with us. She's 95 and has fairly advanced senility and memory loss at this point, though she's otherwise remarkably healthy for someone her age. Anyway, if you feel so moved to take the Habitat workers some hot cocoa, I'm sure they would love the gesture!

HFH KC recently built five homes on a street named for my grandparents, in fact, and several family members were there for the dedication ceremony and took lovely pictures. If anyone is interested, here's a nice blog post I found about the street: [link]

(Except that "amateur" is such an incredibly fucked-up concept, and I have a whole other rant about that, and. God I need to shut up and work.)