Thursday, May 18, 2006

Monkeys, pigs and dogs, oh my

I'm so proud of people who stand up for themselves. Even though I don't personally know Patricia Polacco, I have read many of her books and I like that she is not bowing to the Bush administration and their educational mandates. Read her response to SRA/McGraw Hill's cancellation of her talk at the International Reading Association Conference.

I read an article that Beth Landman wrote in the May 14th issue of the New York Times about emotional service dogs. It was called "Wagging the Dog, and a Finger", and I mentioned it to L this morning at breakfast. His response initially was WTF, and then said exactly what I got from the article- people don't want to dine alone are exploiting the idea of the service dog for their own selfish pursuits. I love my dog but I wouldn't bring him to a restaurant. I may be one of the few people on earth that loves going to movies, dining and concert going solo. So the bigger issue Landman may be getting at is the insecure human. People with emotional disabilities (hell, who isn't emotionally disabled?) have the law behind them. The Department of Transportation made a ruling in 2003 which made it possible for people to bring their emotional service animals when traveling by air. Guidance Concerning Service Animals in Air Transportation, written as clearly as a document released by the US government can be, outlines the criteria for service animals and the needs of their person. So flying monkeys may be a reality after all.

1 comment:

CBK said...

Haha, flying monkeys! They'll steal everyone else's peanuts.