I'm just happy I survived Mom's birthday celebration yesterday without getting into a political argument with anyone.

My mom emailed my aunt, who's hosting Thanksgiving, to say that she hopes everyone will avoid talking about politics (this aunt and uncle are very conservative and when Obama was elected in 2008 there was a horrifying argument of the kind that happens when too much alcohol and barely repressed racism get mixed together, although the worst of it was from my cousins, not my aunt and uncle).

Apparently my aunt replied to my mom with "The kids all know if they bring up politics at all, I am kicking them out and locking the door." I hope that holds true. I mean, even if she disagrees with me politically, she doesn't want a repeat of Thanksgiving 2008. No one does.

I know there are teachers here and am wondering if I might do anything here. A friend of S's in school (actually his BFF) is a behavior issue in class. He is a 7YO black male in 1st grade. The way they are handling it seems cruel to me and it is not making the situation better. They punish him by excluding him from events when he misbehaves (there was a Fun Run recently and this child wasn't there - missed it due to behavior issues).

I don't want to sugar coast this - he does things like pull the teacher's hair. Is there anything at all I can do to try to lift this child up? Is it enough to try to set up play times with his parents? Is there anything I can do to advocate for him at school? I'm new to this school thing and I've thought so much of this boy post-election and what the next few years will bring for him and his family.

I've curated my FB feed to be pretty safe, but I had this realization the other day that when I argue with a friend of a friend on their page, I am just displacing the conflict into their space. I don't know, I don't have answers.

Those are great buttons, Jilli!

I guess I did hear that about Ms Ifill taking leave, but I am still shocked and sad.

I wish I had advice regarding the behavior issues.

It appears the post is gone. I go back to my notifications and it just takes me to the top of the group.

ION, it's going to be 60 degrees on Wednesday. On Thursday, 37 with snow, then highs in the high 40s-mid 50s. I guess winter decided to get out of bed. And why does my work computer think I'm in Long Beach, California? At least it makes for interesting ads on websites.

Yay Callaluna!

I know we post here, and we all have uses for Twitter and FB to varying degrees but I can't help that all the social media isn't...a good thing. And there's no going back.

Social media as FB/Twitter does it is toxic. There are uses for Twitter but it's a net negative and I don't know how we shift it.

I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that social media is an arms race. A significant enough group of people see social media solely as something to be gamed and manipulated to their advantage, and they can never be stopped.

I kinda feel like that's true in real life, too.

There was an article in the paper in the past week about trolls who don't really have an emotional investment in what they're doing but are trolling people for "lulz" ... it was depressing.