silveradept | Right, then.

Today's work was calm through storytime and then wheelookitallthepeopleandlinesandquestionsandproblemsandholyshootmyshift'soveralready? Yeah. Couldn't even get to lunch because of how busy it was. But other than that, today was good. And it was productive, anyway.

Linked theme in these next two links - follow along, now. One: Through the assistance of Make-A-Wish and a wonderful volunteer cast, an Idaho girl becomes a superhero for a day. I'm so happy that she got her wish, and that all the cast involved was willing to participate and help make the day special. So the next time someone asks whether there are superheroes, you can say "Yes." with confidence. (Captain Jackson was making a good run for it, but then there were problems.)

After you answer that, you should also tell them that if they want to see superheroes, they should keep an eye on the phone booths. With them possibly coming back into style, we might see more people in their Superman Underoos. Which, if you're thinking strictly in terms of attractiveness, may not be bad, but if you're thinking in terms of the world needing more strangeness, this can only be a good thing.

Purity Ring girls violate "no jewelry" dress code, flak ensues. Religious discrimination claimed, claiming that their ring has as much religious significance as things like the khimar. My reply - if a girl needs (or rather, her parents need) the ring to guilt her into keeping her legs closed, then she's probably better off foregoing the ring, the vow, and learning to have safe sex - it's likely to be better for her and her partners. If it's the parents that give her the ring to guilt her, then there are more serious problems than puberty in that family. Trust comes to mind.

Beyond that, though, the ring, while there may be some religious significance ascribed to it, is an ornamentation. There is nothing in the Christian Scriptures that I know of that requires any religious symbol to be worn, or any ornamentation at all that signifies one's allegiances to certain principles, unless one is part of the religious orders, and then dress is designated by the Rules and bylaws of those orders. It's a settled question that Muslims, and especially Muslim women, should dress in modest means, and that's generally interpreted for women to mean that heads should be covered. On the side of the Christians, such a ring is not ostentatious, but it is jewelry, and that falls afoul of the dress code. Much as those affected may complain, the school's right.

A random-esque question for the people around. Feel free to answer as you like - have you been hit on by someone random? If you have, and are willing to admit to it, how did you feel about it afterward? This leads somewhere, but while I've got an idea of what I'd say, I'm still mulling over whether to put it down in something public or just take the further conversation to another medium. Being public with your private life sometimes means being private with your private life, too. It's all really a matter of confidence.

Anyway, that's the haul for tonight. Still plenty of memesheepage to go around, if you're inclined, and there's always the back issues. More work tomorrow - in fact, the giant evening reading thing kick-off-y bit for in-town work is tomorrow night, even though the summer reading program started today, I think.