Steven Helmer Publications

I was going through the news feed this morning and saw one of our Wisconsin high schools is choosing not to show the play To Kill a Mockingbird our of concerns of the use of a racial slur. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/shorewood-cancels-to-kill-a-mockingbird-over-racial-concerns/ar-BBOi68c This decision apparently was the result of potential protests over the play and, for that reason, I don't really blame the school district itself. After all, it's first priority is to keep kids safe and protests have the potential for violence. But, I am very disappointed in the overall community reaction. I know there are those who disagree with me. However, I honestly believe racism is still a problem in this country because we, as a society, are so afraid of offending people, we are reluctant to have real conversations that will bring around real change. In this case, it is a play that tackles racism head-on but won't be shown because it (for the sake of realism) uses a racia...

I was just reading this morning astronomers discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a star Gene Roddenberry referred to in his Star Trek creation. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-find-planet-vulcan-from-star-trek/ar-BBNxGv9?OCID=ansmsnnews11 I just thought it was intriguing that they found this planet in basically the same place he said the planet Vulcan was. So, either he was really lucky about that or he knew something we didn't know. Makes me wonder if maybe he was secretly a visitor from another world.

We had some pretty nasty weather go through the area yesterday, heavy storms and even some tornadoes. As a result of this, we had a small lake in our back yard yesterday evening. But, today, I'm feeling thankful because that was pretty much the worst of it for us. The worst part of the storm went north of us and caused quite a bit of damage to some communities about 20 minutes away. So, as I keep them in my prayers, I'm glad we came out of all of this a bit wet but mostly unscathed.

I come across an article telling me the CDC actually has to tell people t hey shouldn't wash/re-use condoms. The fact I'm bothered by this has nothing to do with the fact people are doing it. After all, it's not like sex education is available everywhere. Plus, condoms might be too expensive for some people so, if anything, I'm going to applaud them for at least attempting to have safe sex. What I'm worried about is, now that this is public knowledge, I'm sure there is somebody who is going to try to make money from this. I fully expect to turn on my TV one Saturday morning and discover an infomercial for the world's first reusable condom. All you have to do is throw it in your dishwasher when you're done. And, yep, that does make my skin crawl a bit.