As a Baby Boomer, I grew up at the quintessential time for rock ‘n roll music.  “Rock Around the Clock” emerged out of rhythm and blues the year I was born, and Chuck Berry opened the door for all the rock greats.  Bob Dylan called Chuck Berry “the Shakespeare of rock and roll.” Berry influenced virtually all of the music from the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.  My girls say that I’m stuck in the ‘60s – and I’m proud of that.  So back in 1997 when Nicole was 12 and Jaclyn eight, I wrote a musical script that gave them (and the audience) a rock ‘n roll history lesson: “It’s Gotta Be Rock ‘n Roll Music: 1955-1964”

Merit students performed the #1 hits from 1955-1964.  Before each song, they gave short speeches about what was happening in the world that year and a little biography about the artist. They performed “Maybeline” and learned about how Chuck Berry set the stage as a singer, songwriter, arranger, and pianist. I still remember Kyle doing the Chuck Berry riff across the stage. 

Check out this article “Why Chuck Berry is Even Greater Than You Think” in Rolling Stone. 

With the impending presidential election on everyone’s mind – both here in America and around the globe – I decided to try to better understand the election process to see how are voting system works.  After the Bush-Gore debacle back in 2000, I realized that the electoral college can undermine what the actual people want.  So here’s a quick history and explanation about the electoral college.

Whose idea was the electoral college?

James Madison, one of our founding fathers, added the electoral college to the Constitution to provide a check system to prevent a “tyranny of the majority.” In other words, Madison thought it best to have a small group represent all of the people to make sure that decisions are made in the citizens’ best interests.  This assumes, of course, that the citizens don’t know what’s best for themselves. 

Do elected officials consider their constituents’ mindset before casting their votes?

In the past, there have been 82 votes that have gone against the people’s wishes.  Today, 29 states (of 50) require electors to represent the people’s wishes, but 21 states allow electors to go rogue.  That’s 2/3s of the nation with elected officials who can choose whatever path they like regardless of their constituents’ support.

How are electoral votes determined?

Distribution of votes is based on the state’s population. Every 10 years, votes are reallocated after the national census is conducted. There are 538 electoral votes: 435 from the House of Representatives, 100 from the Senate (2 per state), and 3 from the District of Columbia. California has the most votes (55) followed be Texas (38), New York (29) and Florida (29). The states with the least votes are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.  48 states have winner takes all the votes except Nebraska and Maine (divide their votes proportionately).

How many electoral votes are needed to win?

270. If there is a tie, the House of Representatives elects the president. The crazy part about the electoral college is that a candidate can win the presidency without getting any votes from 39 states and the District of Columbia! WHAT? That means that a candidate could win just 11 states and become president.

What are “swing” states?

Swing states are those that don’t have a consistent history of voting either Republican or Democrat. Candidates spend most of their time campaigning in these states, especially as the election day approaches. Swing states are usually Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Can a candidate win the popular vote, but not win the presidential election?

Yes. This happened to Al Gore in 2000.  He won the popular vote – more people voted for him than Bush — but he didn’t secure the 270 electoral votes needed to become president. So we ended up with Bush.  

While I understand the need to have policies in place to prevent a hysterical movement from overtaking our government, I believe that with a popular vote, we will have a more balanced campaign season and we’ll elect a president who better represents the people. 

In California, it seems we rarely see candidates on the campaign trail because we’re a blue (Democratic) and winner take all state. By going with the popular vote, we’ll see more Independents and possibly break the reign of our two-party system.  So I lean towards the popular vote, and wish this was already in place.

China’s National College Entrance Exam, or “gaokao” test consumes the lives of every Chinese student – and their families – from elementary to high school.  This single test will determine whether or not the students will get into the top universities in China, which translates to having a life of financial success and marriage prospects.  Wow. 

The competition is so fierce that as few as one in 50,000 students get into the most sought-after colleges.  Hoping to give their children, and themselves a better chance at success, parents force their children to work with tutors, take extra classes, refrain from doing sports, and stop socializing with friends. Some parents even succumb to cheating.  Yup!

With high-stakes competition, parents have sent their children into the tests with devices to transmit questions and receive answers hidden in jewelry, glasses, pens, and even underwear. It has become such a problem that the government deploys drones over school buildings to scan for incoming or outgoing radio signals.  This is not without precedent – the Chinese imperial civil service exam that was in place for 1,300 years (605 – 1901) had a similar importance on the course of a person’s life, and test takers went to similar lengths to make sure they passed the test.  When someone’s future is decided by a single test, it’s no surprise that the system will be fraught with all kinds of problems.  

What’s worse is that the students equate the gaokao test score with self worth. The students internalize so much pressure to do well on this test that they suffer from depression.  One of my clients told me that he started smoking cigarettes when he was 10 years old, and drinking when he was 12. 93% of teen suicides takes place around the build up to the gaokao test date. Being an only child whose parents have invested funds and time into helping them succeed, sets up ridiculous guilt and fear of parental disappointment if they don’t score high on the exam.

Can’t believe Nicole is in her 4^th and last year of her residency at Harbor UCLA. 

She loves the hospital and especially her Emergency Medical team. Nicole has decided to do a fellowship in EMS (Emergency Medical Services), which takes one more year. 

Over the past few months, she’s interviewed with several programs and just completed her last interview at UCSF yesterday. We were thrilled that she came up to the Bay Area for 23 hours, so we all adjusted our schedules so we could be together.  I brought the puppies up to meet her and we had fun catching up at Jaclyn and Alex’s place in Mountain View. 

We’re crossing our fingers that Nicole moves back to the Bay Area sooner, than later, but of course, this is her decision to make.  Proud that she wants to specialize in EMS to develop efficient systems for pre-emergency and emergency protocol in the case of a disaster. Also glad that she will eventually be back here for all of us in the Bay Area.  

Did you know that the average family of four emits more greenhouse gases because of the meat they eat than from driving 2 cars? 

If everyone became vegetarians by 2050, food-related emissions would drop by 60% — according to Marco Springmann, Oxford Martin School’s Future of Food Program.  I know I couldn’t live without my ribeye steak and Rob’s smoked salmon fillets, but I could stop eating meat one day per week.

Check out this interesting article “What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?” by Rachel Nuwer of BBC Future.

I’m grateful that I had 2 daughters.  And, Rob loves his girls more than anything in the world. But, I distinctly remember how he tried to get Nicole and Jaclyn to love his favorite sport – baseball.  We decided that because it was America’s favorite pastime, we would be doing them a cultural disservice if they didn’t play baseball at some point in their childhood. So, we convinced them that they would love their dad’s favorite game and signed them up to play in the Capitola/Soquel Little League. What happened next was, well, sad.

Nicole was a watcher. She sat on the bench and watched how the boys pitched, batted, and ran. There were 2 other girls on her team, but there were mostly boys. Rob played catch with her and taught her how to hit the ball.  Her good buddies Brian, Kyle, and Ryan also gave her tips during recess at Merit. So during the games, when she stood at the plate choking up on the bat just the way her father coached her to do from the sidelines, she took her time.  I never played baseball myself, and I never really understood the rules but her league allowed the batter to wait for the perfect pitch and didn’t penalize them for missing good opportunities to hit the ball. Well, Nicole took advantage of that.  She waited and waited for the perfect pitch. It got to be so ridiculous that her team told her to swing at ANYTHING! I think her record was 5 minutes at bat. Oh, dear.

Then, 4 years later we signed Jaclyn up for an all-boys baseball team.  Well, that was our first mistake. Jaclyn liked playing on the Marlins team because she loved the teal and orange uniforms. She also liked pulling her long braid through her cute baseball cap – kinda making a fashion statement on the field. Naturally, she played right field. While she spent most of her time far from the action, she found it quaint that the field was filled with tiny little dandelion flowers.  So, Jaclyn picked herself a bouquet of flowers and was a happy camper until – Yup! – the ball was hit to right field. Her teammates, coach, father, and everyone hollered at her to get the ball but Jaclyn had no idea where the ball had landed and continued picking dandelions.  Oh my! I still laugh when I remember how she kept her flowers as she finally grabbed the ball, and rather than throw it to the second baseman, she ran it into home plate.

Fortunately, they both loved to dance, and they danced for years at Dancenter and then with the No Limits competition teams in high school.  That’s where they belonged and that’s where they completely embraced dance.  Both of them ended up dancing at sporting events in college!  Nicole was a Dollie at Stanford and performed at football and basketball games. Jaclyn founded the 5C Dance Company at Claremont McKenna College where they danced at football, basketball, and baseball games. I guess their baseball experience did come in handy, after all. 

As you probably know, dyslexics are super intelligent people who just have trouble reading. But did you know that there is a font designed to help dyslexics read?  The stroke of each alphabet is weighted differently so they don’t appear upside down or backwards as they read. 

It’s really remarkable to see how it works. 

Check out the video and kickstarter campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/479982674/dyslexie-font-improving-reading-for-dyslexics

It’s that time of year again!  I love HALLOWEEN. 

Each year I bring out my favorite goblins, monsters, and demons and place them in every nook and cranny.  And, I sculpted my traditional Rice Krispie Treat Witch.

This year, I surrounded the witch’s head with Rice Krispie fingers!  Come try one!  They’re delicious! 

Have you ever wondered why some cities streetlights have a warm amber glow, while others have a stark bluish tint? Well, some cities like Phoenix and towns in Connecticut have changed their street lamps to the lower color temperatures because they are more progressive than the rest of us.

According to the American Medical Association, the harsh blue color of LED lights can cause eye damage and distorted vision. These intense lights can also disrupt sleep patterns.  Our brains are sensitive to lights that peak in blue and they’re more likely to mess with our circadian rhythms.

Besides, the blue lights are unflattering – they make you look sick, even if they don’t make you feel sick. So, get the warmer amber-colored LED bulbs for your home and improve your health! Unless you’re performing surgery, you really don’t need the high-intensity blue LED lights.

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Now that most kids have been in school for 6 weeks, and 6-week grades are released, it’s time to get serious about their studies.  Most teachers spend the first few weeks getting students on board with policies, rubrics, and review, so kids often claim that they have straight A’s at the start of the school year. Then, a few weeks later, you watch their grades slowly slip down to B’s, and then C’s… This is an easy fix if you can consistently insist on a routine. Yup!  That’s it!

As soon as the kids get home from school, have them open their Merit Planners (or any planner that has 7 columns for each day of the week and has rows that start at 6:00 am and end at midnight). Ask them to write down all of their homework assignments in their planners on the assignment due dates.  Then do the same for quizzes, tests, and projects.  NEVER PUT IT ON THE ASSIGNED DATE! By entering the assignment on its due date, they will begin to understand priorities.

Next, ask your kids to block off time to complete each step of the homework, study prep, or project. This also helps them guestimate how much time it takes to realistically complete each phase of the homework or study prep.  By blocking off time to complete each phase, your children (and you) will know whether or not they have time to watch TV or play video games.  Make sure that they block off time for each assignment, not one big block for all of their homework. This is important. A huge block in the planner to do homework can be daunting and may even contribute to procrastination.  By writing each task in the planner, they can highlight the tasks as they complete them. This gives them a great sense of accomplishment, which can motivate them to do more.  Success begets success!

Simply insist that they update their Merit Planners as soon as they get home, then do their homework and studying before they do anything else.  With a plan like this, you’ll never hear that they forgot about a test or ran out of time to get their homework done.  We still have time to bring up those grades and empower your kids to do the best that they can this term. Let’s get started now!