From amba’s post listing goodies she discovered on a logophile’s paradise the Phrontistery , I learned ombrophilous, defined as tolerant of large amounts of rainfall. While amba says this word describes those of us who live in Seattle, I beg to disagree. Maybe it was the move to California that spoiled me. I grew up in the Seattle area and moved back here five years ago. In total, I’ve lived in the Puget Sound region for a majority of my life. Enough to know that natives don’t need umbrellas. I never did. A raincoat suited me fine all my childhood years, including commuting miles on the bus to school. Maybe it’s my age. But I’m becoming less tolerant of rain and the lack of sunlight that accompanies it. Ombrophilous I am not. And Seattle is receiving less rain fall, preparing for the possibility of drought and less rain and snow, not only this year but on a regular basis. I like my blue sky. After all, the bluest skies are here. Perhaps I’m becoming heliophilous. This spring we’ve had alternating weeks of sun and rain. I don’t know whether it’s time to put the flannel sheets in the closet. Some days are warm enough for shorts and ice cream. We’ve moved our summer wardrobes into the drawers and bought cartons of frozen goodies. Other weeks like this one seem determined to restore our reputation, or perhaps in imitation of the groundhog seeing his shadow, indicate the weeks left until true summer arrives (after the fourth of July).

The girls and I have enjoyed the sunny weather by adding field trips onto our errand trips. Apple blossoms bloomed bright against the blue sky at Bellevue’s Kelsey Creek Park a couple weeks ago. More farm pictures are below and on the girls blog.

Philotherianism is a word that described me years ago as a child at this same park, and it still describes me now…and my kids too. My daughter is philhippic, and that’s Abigail, the horse lover, not Michaela the hippo adorer. Halophile, psychrophilic, thalassophilous , anthophilous and theophile are good ones too. Philocaly lover of beauty is a true adjective for me and perhaps even logophile might be one too.

I couldn’t help think about my own community as I read these paragraphs containing what the kids at a therapeutic school in Massachusetts had in common.

Several factors keep surfacing, though. First, the kids felt lonely, like pariahs in their families. Most, but not all, had parents who were busy working, traveling, or dealing with their own emotional problems. Second, the kids lost their passion in middle school. They quit the swim team in a huff, or dropped piano lessons, or abandoned hobbies like photography. They spurned old friends.

A third characteristic stands out: nearly every kid in my group grew up in the suburbs or the outer ring of exurbs. Places that were farms and fields just a few years earlier. Places where parents relocate to be near good schools and far from problems. Places that force parents to commute long distances. Places where there’s no there there, like the developments that spread beyond the Washington, D.C., Beltway—the area where my wife and I settled for the sake of our son and daughter.

Also the same magazine led me to Pete Gilligan’s blog where he chronicled his college admission process and was chronicled himself in the college paper even before arrival on campus: ’09er blogged his way into Brown

The Mavin Foundation in Seattle has picked five 20-somethings to travel around the country stirring up conversations about mixed-race people, raising awareness of a mixed-race baby boom and connecting people with resources relevant to mixed-race people and anyone who has contact with them.

Of course, it isn’t as if there were no mixed-race people in America before these young people were born, but there is more freedom now to make that mean something positive.

According to the 2000 Census, which was the first to count multiracial persons, 7 million people, 2.4 percent of the population, said they were of two or more races. For comparison, there were 5.2 million Jewish Americans in a 2000-01 survey of that community. So 7 million is a noticeable chunk of people. In Seattle, 5 percent of the population claims two or more races.

Mavin picked the crew for what it’s calling the Generation MIX tour to reflect this new generation, people who’ve grown up since the civil-rights era, who have been told they can be whoever they want to be.

I particularly liked this quote from Mavin founder and president Matt Kelley:

He thinks they’ll be able to play a role in tearing down walls. The way we talk about identity in this country is far too polarized, he said — gay/straight, Democrat/Republican, black/white and so on.

“We have the exciting potential to move away from conflict-based dichotomies,” he said.

Multiracial people defy the limiting black-and-white lines of the world. They are and not either/or. They belong to both sides of the story. I join Matt Kelley in hoping that conversations and connections can help break the pattern of polarization prevalent in our culture today. I’m also grateful my children live in a time of freedom and choice. I hope they never have to deny half of their heritage, feel they have to fit into a box or live within a label. They are who they are. I hope they celebrate the beauty of being biracial and the gifts it gives them.

I appreciated what Ponzi shared in a post describing her hair color:

One of the great things about being of interacial heritage is the chameleon like qualities one acquires from such a loving union.

Someone has delivered dozens of bouquets or potted plants over the past several weeks to residents of the island near Tacoma.

They hear a late-night knock and answer the door to find a floral gift and a cheery handwritten note saying “Hope these make you smile,” signed “Love, the Flower Fairy.” The handwriting appears feminine.

The flower fairy always gets away and no one admits to knowing who she is.

Among all the other news, I found this cheerful story a welcome note. And I’d welcome any flower fairy who chose to make deliveries on this island. What a fun idea!

The problem is not just that American women are having fewer children, reflected in the lowest birth rate ever recorded in the country.

Officials say that the very things that attract people who revitalize a city – dense vertical housing, fashionable restaurants and shops and mass transit that makes a car unnecessary – are driving out children by making the neighborhoods too expensive for young families.

Since we’ve lived near three of the top four cities (#3 is Honolulu, #4 is Boston), I can believe these statistics. High housing prices prohibit families, especially those who would like to have one partner at home (and unemployed) caring for the kids. From the beginning, we found Bainbridge Island refreshing because families were accepted and expected. Children are welcomed by restaurants and realtors. As we signed papers at the mortgage broker’s office, toys were brought out for the girls. The atmosphere felt different from Silicon Valley, where bringing kids to the mortgage brokers was not as easy. It is sad to see cities missing out on children. The article focusses on Portland, OR’s attempts to attract young families.

Brett also posted a funny picture of where kids may be going…His wife Anne’s Purim post on glue guns and Best Leftover Use of Fabric is equally cute.

Scientists at UCLA have spent the past four years observing 32 Los Angeles families in a study of how working America somehow gets it done. Day after day.

[...]

In 1,600 hours of digital video, scientists captured moments of unfiltered joy — but also of sorrow, anger and frustration.

The UCLA study isn’t ranking families from best to worst. Instead, scientists are asking how families are coping.

In a word, barely.

For the study’s director, Elinor Ochs, a linguistic anthropologist, the most worrisome trend is how indifferently people treat each other, especially when they reunite at the day’s end.

With a mouse click, she summons footage from the project’s vast archive. Some of it is hard to watch.

The article mentioned four trends in American families. Excerpts below each point.