COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, October 3, 2015
PARENTS TALK BACK
Taking
parenting
advice from
a childless,
single man
P
ope Francis doesn’t have to put up
with teenagers slamming bedroom
doors in the Vatican or toddlers
Àinging communion waIers in the
kitchen, but he had some sound parenting
advice Ior his $merican audience
When he addressed the bishops in
Philadelphia last week, he talked about
the challenges Iacing modern Iamilies
7he Iamily is at the cru[ oI most
religions, so he’s got a vested interest in
helping the institution
along
He drew an analogy
Irom the way economies
have shiIted Irom
smaller, intimate markets
built on relationships
and necessity to
bigbo[ superstores
Aisha
built on competition
Sultan
and consumption We
Parents talk back
are raising children
in a culture that is
increasingly competitive, in which
business is no longer conducted on the
basis oI trust, and consumption reigns
supreme
“Today’s culture seems to encourage
people not to bond with anything or
anyone, not to trust,´ he said
It’s a mistake to see the younger
generation’s indiIIerence to marriage
and Iamily as simple sel¿shness or some
other character Àaw, he said The root oI
these contemporary situations, he oIIered,
is a “widespread and radical sense oI
loneliness´
What a poignant way to describe our
social condition There is a documented
increase in Ieelings oI loneliness,
and not Must among the young I’ve
had days when some kind oI digital
communication has Ielt like the most
“real´ connection to people I’ve had
Indeed, the human e[perience is one
oI recogni]ing that we are alone and
seeking ways to alleviate it — to connect
and Ieel recogni]ed Perhaps we once
turned toward our churches and Iamilies
Ior that sense oI connection 1ow, we
chase “likes´ and accumulate “Iriends´
on social networks, the pope said
He argued that this shiIt in where
we seek validation wounds our
culture Fierce competition and vapid
consumption undermine social bonds and
human relationships
This is a legitimate and Iamiliar
critiTue The strength in the pope’s
argument rests in the line he draws
between the current economic realities to
the decline oI Iamilial ties, marriage and
social bonds
He brought up the same point with
both the bishops and Congress alike: We
are living in a culture which pressures
some young people not to start a Iamily
because they lack the material means
to do so, and others because they are so
welloII that they are happy as they are
That pressure on one end to be
economically stable is about more than
liIestyle choices It’s about survival
It’s responsible to start a Iamily only
when you are able to support one %ut
staggering student debt, coupled with
Iewer wellpaying Mob opportunities and
skyrocketing housing costs, would give
any sensible young adult pause beIore
starting a Iamily
On the other end, he highlighted the
growing income inequality between the
poor and middle class and the wealthy
Marriage rates among the non-college-
educated have Iallen sharply in the last
Iew decades, creating a “marriage gap´
Francis asked the bishops, “$re
today’s young people hopelessly timid,
weak, inconsistent?” He admonished
anyone Ior thinking so
OI course they aren’t
They are growing up in more
pressure-¿lled homes and schools, in a
culture with Iar less compassion The
cultural shiIts and changing economy
both contribute to weakening Iamilies in
$merica
Someone with heIty moral authority
needed to call out political and religious
leaders who preach “Iamily values”
without valuing policies that actually
support Iamilies
He didn’t let parents oII the hook,
either
He recalled being approached by
mothers in %uenos $ires complaining
about children who were 30, 32 or 34
years old and still single
“Well, stop ironing their shirts!” he
told them
It’s true We can oIIer a ¿nancial
cushion or launching pad Ior young
adults without catering to them like
children
The pope’s straight talk on parenting
and Iamilies underscored the heart oI his
message: 5aising a Iamily transIorms the
world and human history
Ŷ
Aisha Sultan is a St. Louis-based
journalist who studies parenting in the
digital age while trying to keep up with
her tech-savvy children. Find her on
Twitter: @AishaS.
East Oregonian
Page 9C
Tiny house, with kids:
Families ¿nd rewards in living small
By ALICIA BARNEY
Associated Press
/ast year, William and /aura %aird got rid
oI halI oI their kids’ toys, halI oI their kitchen’s
contents and a third oI the Iamily’s clothes It
wasn’t just de-cluttering — they also ditched
almost three-quarters oI their home’s square
Iootage, moving Irom a three-bedroom house
into the 440-square-Ioot cabin on wheels that
they share with their three children, three cats
and a hamster
“I was looking Ior less to clean,” /aura
%aird said “/ess upkeep, less impact on
the environment, less electricity, less use oI
resources”
/iving with less is the philosophy behind
the tiny house movement — the rising popu-
larity oI scaled-down homes, usually less than
500 square Ieet, some as small as 0 square
Ieet
/iving in these small spaces does mean
less responsibility low prices means many
are mortgage-Iree but a growing group oI
tiny-house dwellers are Iar Irom rootless
vagabonds /ike the %airds, they’re parents
with young children
/aura, a nature educator at a state park, and
William, a philosophy proIessor, have gotten
creative to ma[imi]e space in their new home,
which is parked in a campground in Myrtle
%each, South Carolina they plan to eventu-
ally move it to their own land They’ve built
a Iold-out table Ior Iamily meals, installed
bunk beds Ior their -year-old twin daughters
and designated their 4-year-old son’s sleeping
loIt as the playroom /aura even ripped out
wall panels in the kitchen to build a spice
cabinet when she discovered 3 inches oI
wasted space
The Iamily is still trimming down their
belongings and settling on where to store
things bulky towels are especially chal-
lenging but the parents like that they spend
more time together as a Iamily, and more time
outdoors
“We’re ¿guring out how to compromise
more, even iI it’s just, µI’m going to the bath-
room now and you can go aIter me,”’ /aura
%aird said “It’s not as convenient as having a
big house where each kid can have their own
room, but it’s not necessarily a good thing that
everything’s convenient”
Eight-year-old Jessica %aird agrees that the
smaller space has brought the Iamily closer
Laura Baird via AP
This 2014 photo shows, Evan, from left, Jasmine and Jessica Baird playing outside
their 440-square-foot cabin on wheels in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Her Iavorite part oI living tiny: “Every room
has at least one cat in it,” she said
Small-space living with kids in tow means
balancing a commitment to minimalism with
the realities oI Iamily liIe, said Derek Died-
ricksen, a tiny-house designer and builder and
author oI the new “Microshelters: 59 Creative
Cabins, Tiny Houses, Tree Houses, and Other
Small Structures” Storey Publishing
“Just because you have a space that a kid
can sleep in, that’s not going to be enough,”
he said “<ou need some common living and
breathing and moving space It shouldn’t be a
jigsaw game oI Jenga to be able to sit down”
In addition to having a roomy common
area, Diedricksen suggests thinking about
privacy, including isolating adults’ sleeping
space and insulating interior walls so
everyone can get some peace and quiet Other
tips when designing a tiny Iamily home:
Don’t skimp on windows — they make a
small space Ieel less claustrophobic — and
plan Ior storage, including oIIsite space iI
necessary Diedricksen recommends storage
sheds, which can double as oI¿ces or even
playrooms in a pinch
$s kids grow, tiny houses can become
especially challenging, so some Iamilies add
separate dwellings Ior teenagers Tiny-house
designers $ndrew and *abriella Morrison
built their 15-year-old daughter a 120-square-
Ioot cabin and their 19-year-old son a
10-square-Ioot treehouse near the Iamily’s
home
“II parents have a good, open relationship
with their teens and teens are making good
choices, it’s O. to create a separate sleeping
space Ior teenagers where they can be and
have their Iriends over and give the parents
privacy too,” *abriella Morrison said
%etter communication is a bene¿t that the
%airds said they already recogni]e Irom their
Iamily’s year in the cabin
Their kids are “learning how to talk to us
and to each other about what they want and iI
something’s not working,” /aura %aird said
“$nd part oI the discussion is why we don’t
want all the stuII — the resources being used
and the whole process oI consumption and
where our things come Irom We point out, µit
only took two hours to clean this house, isn’t
that great?”’
OUT OF THE VAULT
Ione shooting spree leaves one dead, six injured
$
notorious e[-convict
with a penchant Ior
troublemaking went on a
drunken shooting spree July 2,
10, in the tiny town oI Ione,
Oregon %y the time Theodore
* “Charlie” Earhart ran out
oI ammunition, si[ men were
injured and a Portland man was
dead
Earhart was well-known Ior
his bad character, and had been
pardoned just si[ months prior
aIter serving two years in the
Oregon penitentiary Ior assault
with a deadly weapon He had
pulled a gun on 'eputy SheriII
Walter Cason oI Ione in 10,
threatening to kill him iI he did
not secure Earhart’s release on
gambling charges
Earhart decided to start
celebrating the 1909 Fourth
oI July holiday early and,
aIter ¿lling up on whiskey,
went looking Ior trouble in
downtown Ione He ¿rst met
Ione resident Charles Clark
and insulted him by throwing a
Monkey has fun on
the loose in suburb
S$1FO5', Fla $P — $
monkey that escaped its owner’s
home in an Orlando, Florida,
suburb chewed on its neighbors’
mail, pulled molding oII a police
car and rocked back and Iorth on
a street sign
Zeek was eventually caught
when his owner returned home a
short time later
SanIord police oI¿cers
responded to the neighborhood
Monday morning aIter a
neighbor called to report that a
monkey was eating mail out oI a
mailbo[
Zeek jumped on the oI¿cers’
squad car and pulled some
molding oII the rooI The
monkey also drank Irom a water
bottle the oI¿cers oIIered as a
distraction
SanIord police oI¿cers took
video oI Zeek and posted it on
the agency’s Facebook page
“Zeek had a little Iun with our
patrol car,” the oI¿cers posted in
one video
Motorist sets lighter
to spider at gas
station, burns pump
CE1TE5 /I1E, Mich $P
— $ man with an apparent case
lighted match
in his Iace $
scuIÀe ensued,
Earhart pulled
a kniIe, Clark
pulled a gun to
deIend himselI
and ¿red ¿ve
shots at his
Renee
Struthers assailant, none
Out of the vault oI which Iound
their target
Earhart
continued down Ione’s main
street and broke into the Walker
hardware store through the Iront
plate glass window, arming
himselI with a double-barrel
shotgun and two bo[es oI 1o
1 shot shells He then returned
to Main Street and began to
deIy a crowd oI townspeople
that had started to gather He
Iorced a Iriend in the crowd,
Henry 5eed, to come Iorward
and act as a human shield when
Marshal Tom Carle arrived
Soon aIter, a posse headed by
'eputy SheriII Cason arrived
and a shootout began Earhart
was slightly wounded in the
back by one shot and Àed,
hiding under a nearby wheat
warehouse
From his reIuge under the
warehouse Earhart began ¿ring
back at the mob oI 50 men,
wounding William Clark, the
brother oI the man he ¿rst
insulted Four other men were
shot in the Ieet and legs, and
Joe %easley was wounded in
the Iace as well 'eputy SheriII
Cason received a charge oI shot
in the back $ll oI the wounds
were minor ones
$ Portland man, William H
Escue, was accidentally shot by
a member oI the posse while
he was crawling up a ravine to
escape the gun¿re He did not
survive his injuries
Earhart ¿nally ran out oI
ammunition and surrendered
himselI to Morrow County
SheriII EM Shutt, who arrived
Irom Heppner appro[imately an
hour aIter the altercation began
ODDS & ENDS
Earhart was lodged in the
Morrow County Jail, and Irom
there sentenced to ¿ve years in
the penitentiary
Earhart swore he would
have his revenge against
'eputy SheriII Cason and, in
September 1914, aIter being
released Irom prison, he made
the attempt Coming across
Cason in Iront oI Heppner’s
Palace Hotel, Earhart pulled a
gun and ¿red one shot at the
lawman, but missed Cason
shot back and killed Earhart,
then turned himselI and the two
guns over to the Heppner city
marshal $ coroner’s inquest
and preliminary hearing into the
shooting concluded that Cason
had ¿red in selI-deIense, and he
was set Iree
Ŷ
Renee Struthers is the
Community Records Editor for
the East Oregonian. See the
complete collection of Out of
the Vault columns at eovault.
blogspot.com
pump and the pavement
The man darts to saIety and
later uses a ¿re e[tinguisher to
put out the Àames $ spider is
not seen
The clerk says he apologi]ed
the ne[t day
Texas kayaker snags
oZl Zhile ¿shing,
bird snatches lure
Sanford Police Department via AP
A monkey that escaped its owner’s home Sept. 28 sits on a
curb drinking water that Sanford police officers offered it as
a distraction after they responded to a call that the monkey
was eating mail out of a mailbox in Sanford, Fla. The monkey,
named Zeek, was eventually caught when his owner returned
home a short time later.
oI arachnophobia caused a ¿re
at a suburban Detroit gas pump
by putting a lighter to what he
says was a spider near his Iuel
door
WJ%.-TV reports Saturday
that he escaped injury and his
vehicle suIIered little damage,
but the gas pump was destroyed
$ clerk shut oII the pump Irom
indoors and called the ¿re
department
The motorist can be heard
on the surveillance video at
the Center /ine station asking:
“Is that a spider in there?”
The video then shows Àames
erupting along the car’s side, the
$8STI1, Te[as $P — $
Te[as ¿sherman had an
une[pected catch when an owl
swooped down, snatched a lure
and got caught on the hook
.;$1-TV reports *arry
Olson Jr summoned help and
the bird was eventually Ireed
Olson was in a kayak on
Saturday at /ake %ird /ake in
$ustin and wearing a video
recording device when the owl
went Ior his lure The lure got
hooked in the bird’s talon
Olson managed to get the owl
on the kayak, paddled to shore
and summoned animal control
oI¿cers
Olson, in the video, is calmly
heard talking to the bird and
saying, “Hey owl How are you?
$re you enjoying your kayak
ride? Me too”
$ veterinarian saIely
removed the hook and returned
the bird to the wild