Interview: Tracy

Good Morning, Tracy.  How are you doing?

 

I’m alright, getting ready to do a Passover thing with  the kids tonight.

 

Speaking of kids… I’ve visited your website.  It looks like you and Dr. Zoon have about 10 to 15 in your brood (it’s hard to count them all).  Is this all a ploy to cash in on some of those sweet endorsement deals that the Octomom is getting?  By the way, did you know “Octomom” is not in MS Word’s spell checker?

 

It’s our own war on terrorism.  We heard that because Muslim birth rates are so high and Christian’s are so low, we would be outnumbered in just a few years.  We’re just doing our part. 7 Jesus loving boys with Hebrew names, heh, that’s gotta really piss off some of the Taliban.

 

However, if someone wants to give us a deal to keep us in Legos or Nerf guns, we’d consider it.

 

They don’t have any of the good words in spell check.

 

Depends on how Hebrew you went.  If either of the little Zoons are named Abraham, Ishmael or Hagar they’ll probably be O.K.  Y’all (for Rich and the other Chicagoans that’s you’se guys in Texan) are Home Schoolers, correct?  I notice a lot of Home Schoolers are big internet users.  Do you think we would have seen as big a rise in Home Schooling in the past decade if not for the internet?

 

All of ours come after Genesis, but not New Testament, much to the chagrin of my father in law. They are all some form of God being gracious, our salvation, or faithful. 

 

That’s an interesting question.  I don’t know, while there are a lot of us that are very active on the internet, there’s still quite a few that don’t, and won’t, partake. But having all that information (or misinformation) at our finger tips has made it easier to do.   I honestly believe the rise has had more to to with real or perceived security and morality issues. Those were not our primary reasons, but they are things that give me pause and make me think I’m well out of it. It’s also legal and accepted in more places now than 10 years ago.  While I live in a very home school friendly place, we have an association with 500 members, the public schools welcome us in their programs, city parks and recreation have embraced us and have classes for us, but just 5 years ago, it wasn’t like that.

 

I was never going to home school, home school kids were weirdos, I worked with quite a few a my church.  Turns out, you don’t have to be a weirdo.  But it helps.

 

“That’s an interesting question…”

Sorry about that, the last thing we want to do is make this interesting.  I am sure it has always been difficult to raise kids in a moral environment but I believe it’s more difficult today than ever before.  Mrs. Firefly and I don’t want to be prudes, but even the simple stuff is difficult.  I don’t watch a lot of sports, but every once in awhile I try to watch a football game on television and half the ads are beer commercials featuring young woman doing very inappropriate things and the other half are ads for E.D. medication!  Can’t I watch a football game in the middle of the afternoon without having to give a sex ed. lesson to my kids?  There have been some cute kids shows we’ll let our kids watch (Hannah Montana, Zack and Cody…) and then, inevitably, the child stars age a bit and every episode of the show begins to center on the kids hooking up.  When I see that happen I forbid our youngest kids from watching them.  When our oldest was about six we went to a very nice, little community 4th of July parade in Naples, Florida.  We were having a great time and then, towards the end of the parade there is a flat bed truck full of couples with a big banner that read, “Naples, Florida Gay and Lesbian Club.”  All our kids are very good readers (partially because we don’t let them watch a lot of TV), and my oldest seemed not to notice the sign but I remember thinking to myself, “now I’m not going to be able to take my kids to an Independence Day Parade without ending the day with an in-depth lecture about alternative lifestyles.”

 

Do you agree that our society has grown more vulgar, and if so, do you think it’s just a natural degradation (each generation has to shock the one before it), or do you think it’s a more widespread problem?  What impact do you think this will have on children?

 

Do you agree that our society has grown more vulgar, and if so, do you think it’s just a natural degradation (each generation has to shock the one before it), or do you think it’s a more widespread problem?  What impact do you think this will have on children?

 

What, no softballs like what’s my favorite movie/color/state?

The vulgarity is definitely more noticeable. Especially in entertainment.  No, I don’t think it’s a just natural progression.  I think believing that is just one of those myths about child rearing that everyone accepts.  Each generation doesn’t *have* to shock the one before it, at least not in an immoral or vulgar way.  I used to go to baptist revivals to hack off my mom, which aren’t normally very vulgar.   But there is a movement toward the embracing of sin that is new.  Not only are you not supposed to judge vocally or by silent action,  you have to love it and wear the t-shirt for you to be seen as not judging.   That’s the part that I worry about for my children.  I worry that they will have a hard time defending their actions in a world that is increasingly hostile toward anyone having a moral compass.   For all this  yapping about choice and freedom, there’s precious little of that given to those who chose to follow Biblical  principals.  It takes a very strong character to not only do the right thing, but to learn  to manage attacks on your character without either changing your beliefs or becoming bitter and enraged.  So I guess I hope the impact this has on my children is to make them stronger, more noticeable because they have strong character and fearless hearts.  But I do have my speech to apologize for them on the evening news written just in case.  Hey, out of 8, I’m bound to have at least one screw up.

 

Did I even remotely answer the questions?  Not that that seems to be a requirement for these things.

 

What’s your favorite movie?

 

I don’t believe in favorites

or awards in art.

 

I do own lots of movies, most of them are comedies.  I like to laugh, I like physical humor and a good pun, I like witty dialog.  I like a good story, told at a good but leisurely pace. My husband and I constantly quote movies to each other. some of our most quoted are:

Get Shorty: “you’re trying to say you screwed up without sounding stupid, that’s hard to do”,   “I’m the one telling you how it’s going to be”, “ie, eg, FU”

What’s Up Doc?: “is that clear?  No but it’s consistent”  “You are F-U-N”  “as the years go on romance is replaced by something more, do you know what that is? Senility?”  “I’m not repeating myself, I’m not repeating myself, oh dear God I’m repeating myself”  “you’re upside down”

 

It’s a Wonderful Life: “you call this a happy family, why do we have to have all these kids?” “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” 

 

Steel Magnolias: “I think we should pray, oh I’d rather eat dirt”  “I’m nice, I smiled at the SOB before I could help myself”  “I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a very bad mood for 40 years” “They’re family and I love em, but they look like they’ve been carved out of cream cheese” (we used to  say that about the people we went church with)

 

and then we round it out with  some Holy Grail, Princess Bride and a few Bugs Bunny references to make sure the kids are well educated.

 

“I like to laugh, I like physical humor and a good pun, I like witty dialog”  Well, there’s nothing in the Marx Brothers canon to appeal to those tastes.  I can understand why you kept them out of it; especially when fielding questions from a guy named Rufus T. Firefly on a website named on a pun of a fictional nation from a Marx Brothers play and movie…  …as I keep telling Floyd at our weekly meetings; we have got to come up with a better process for screening the intelligence of our Readers o’ the Week candidates.

 

The soundtrack for “Get Shorty” is very good.  Lots of great songs, but one of the more obscure pieces, “Panacea” holds the distinction of being my favorite song to have in my headphones at night when sitting in the first class cabin of an international flight above thousands of miles of ocean.  The next time you find yourself in just such a position I recommend you give it a listen.

 

I just popped over to your website.  Not a single Marx Brothers movie in your list of favorites.  We have got to screen better…

So, I see “Blazing Saddles” there but no “Young Frankenstein.”  What’s up with that?

Sorry Young Frankenstein wasn’t one of my best.  I forgot I put the favorite movies on there, my husband would laugh as it changes with my mood.  To be truthful, I’ve never watched a Marx Brothers all the way through.  I guess you’re done with me now?

 

Oooo speaking of Blazing Saddles, every time I give birth I sing “I’m Tired”.  I have a nightie that says, “everything below the waist is caput”

 

Ahh yes… Lili von Stupp, the Teutonic Titwillow.  “Blazing Saddles” is a great comedy.  I have an internal battle with myself over which is better, “Young Frankenstein” or “Blazing Saddles.”  But then again, I also have an internal battle over which is better, Hellmann’s or Miracle Whip.

 

My gosh, Madeline Khan was talented.  If you had to cast “Balzing Saddles” today, who would you choose for that role?

 

I was going to try and fake it by asking one of my movie buff friends, but the truth is I couldn’t.  There isn’t another one.  All the ones that could even possibly carry it off were her contemporaries, like Carol Burnett. 

 

Well done, you got to the correct answer with no outside help!  And nice tie in back to Blazing Saddles, via Harvey Korman.  If you could make everyone in the U.S. read one book other than the Bible in the next three months, what book would you pick?

 

While I’m an avid reader and love the written word, I don’t really think there is any book that I would make everyone read.  Books and words are so personal to me.  One of my best friends loves The Pickwick Papers and, although I read it twice, it makes me want to poke my eyes out.  Jane Eyre is one I read at least once a year, she can’t make it past chapter 3.  I do believe there is basic educational information everyone should have, but there are lots of different books that will give you that, find one that captures your mind and go.   As for my kids, I request that they give every book at least 3 chapters, if they still can’t stand it, we’ll shelve it for a while.  Sometimes you need time and growth for a story to really take root in your heart and become a part of you, if someone tries to make you get there before you are ready, it can ruin a story forever (or at least until you decide to step up and try it again anyway).   

 

Dr Zoon says if I keep dodging the questions this way, I could grow up to be a politician.

 

My opinion of Dr. Zoon’s tolerance and patience goes up with each reply…  Just kidding!

 

O.K., since you brought up kids and education again…  I’m fascinated by this home schooling deal.  I’m generally impressed with the families I know who home school, but I don’t like to ask them nosy, prying questions.  But I have no problem bugging you.

 

I would guess the school day is shorter for your kids than a kid in a state run school because you can focus the class work better.  Is that true?  Do you do a year round program, or take summers off?  Do you and Dr. Zoon divide subject matter based on your areas of expertise?  Do the older kids teach some material to the younger ones?

 

And, most importantly, what the heck is wrong with our public schools?  The Little Fireflies attend a Catholic school with far fewer resources than our local public school, yet we consistently graduate kids with far better test scores than the much better funded public schools in our area, and the home schooled kids I know are all very strong, academically.  I think a lot of public school kids imagine their kids are receiving a more rounded education but I guarantee you our school does a more comprehensive job of teaching world religions; including Islam, Judaism, Hindu and Buddhism, and our kids do far more community service and are more involve with sports, music lessons, etc…

 

I went to public schools and I’m a genius.  Why can public schools no longer create young Rufus T. Fireflies?

Your opinion of my husband could not be high enough for me, I married up, no mistake.

 

It depends on what you consider school, but generally yes, our school days are shorter.  We try to do about 36 weeks of school, just like public school, although Texas doesn’t require that.  We do some school in the summer, it’s just too hot for anything else.  We have friends and family in the public schools, so we try and take time when they have time off.   I teach all the basics and then we pursue our individual interests with the kids.  Dr Zoon enjoys astronomy and music so he does a lot of both with them.  I like art so I do that.  We both enjoy nature, so getting out with them and talking about it is something we love to do.  But really, if there is something we want to learn that the Dr and I don’t know, we learn it with the kids. The big guys do teach the little ones plenty, some of it even polite and useful.  I don’t require them to teach, but the littles are just as likely to ask the big guys how to make a letter or what something says as they are us.

I believe what’s wrong with the public schools is the parents.  Most parents have abdicated their entire responibility to the schools, and then complain when it’s not done to their specifications.  They’ve put the schools in an impossible position.  Schools were never meant to do other than teach academics and enforce societal mores.  Now however they are required to teach all those things that parents don’t have the desire or time to teach, like hygene, sex, moral values, at the expense of learning to read and do math.  Parents also refuse to back up teachers in discipline and are more likely to complain than volunteer to help.  It’s a mess that can’t be fixed with money or legislation.  Parents have got to step up and take back the primary responsibility for what their kids learn no matter who is assigning the reading.

Share on Facebook