The Blaisdell Blog

  In 1971 I was a sixth-grade teacher.   At that time, I taught in a self-contained classroom.   That means I taught every subject: math, science, social studies, reading, English, spelling, handwriting, health and physical education.   That made for a very full day.               I set my reading instruction for the hour after lunch and part of that time was used for library reading.   One day, I noticed that a girl in the class was reading Are You There God, it’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume.   The book had been published the year before and was making quite a splash in the educational community.   I kept abreast of the Young Adult market and had read the book the previous summer.   I did not like it. I thought it was coarse, vulgar, and pandering.   But here was a good, solid student pouring over Are You There God… like it was written on stone tablets. When I walked by Annett...

 You have a better chance of acquiring autism from Neanderthals than Tylenol.   Let me explain why. First, I love Gary Larson cartoons.   They will make me laugh every time.   But part of humor is making a caricature of reality.   So, let’s start by clearing our minds of the “Cavemen” depicted in Larson’s cartoons, old 1950’s movies and elementary school stereotypes.   I became fascinated with Neanderthals decades ago and am currently doing extensive research on them for a new book.   That interest was intensified when my husband and I took part in the Human Genome Project.   This massive, world-wide project began in October of 1990 and was completed in 2003 with 92% of the sequence completed (100% in 2022).   Among the many useful and important findings of this project was proof that all humans of European or Asian descent have 2%-4% Neanderthal DNA.   This residual DNA is the result of interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern ...

  The United States has a program that allows aliens to buy their way into this country.   It is called the EB-5 visa.   Let’s say you are not poor or brown or worried about raising your children in a lawless nation.   [I can relate to this last one, I am fearful of my grandchildren growing up in Trump’s America.   But I digress.]   Let’s say, instead, that you are an outstandingly wealthy person from a predominantly Caucasian country.   With the EB-5 visa you can pony up around $1,000,000 in an infrastructure project or business here in the U.S.   You then create (or maintain) 10 (no, I did not forget to add a zero or two to that number) permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.   [Of course, if in the mind of the oligarch, there are no “qualified” American workers, those 10 jobs are waived.]   Done and done, you can then get on a fast track for permanent citizenship.   No muss, no fuss, just come to us. For example, i...

  I am a child of illegal immigrants.   They all came before our post-World War I restrictions and none of them were happy at home.   If some of you are now shocked by immigrants coming to this country without being invited, I would remind you, so did all the others.                  Since we are dipping our toe into a big vat of reality let’s try a plunge into the deep end.   Most of the illegal immigrants living in this country are decent people.   They are here because America offers hope, while their native countries offered only despair.   They number around 11 million.   That is a little over 3% of the entire population.   Over 8 million have jobs, pay taxes and buy American food, clothing, appliances, furniture, housing, cars, services and energy.   They are not a drag on our economy, they stimulate it.          ...