I wrote this one in honor of my grandpa’s birthday. He loves to do the same for the rest of our family, often in this very style, so I feel like I’m taking a leaf from his book.

A saga sung of P.I.R.:
So let’s begin this ride
While working at a summer camp
A-with his belle and bride

They settled down at College Smith
Where Peter did profess
And lived beside a river wide
In Massachusetts West

Along came daughter and a son
Elisabeth and Dan
With many a summer gladly spent
In a Shoebox on the sand

Fast-forward…

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This is part of a series of responses to Amy Chua’s article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” in the Wall Street Journal. Posts on this topic are tagged as [Chua].

(Don’t worry, it just looks long cause there are a lot of quotes.)

I’m going to start this one off with a personal anecdote that’s probably one of the most emotional moments of my childhood, or was. But it’s also going to seem rather silly now. (It does to me, too.)

When we were little, my brother and I had “computer time” limits — how much time we…

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Brother: In Oregon we had 30mph winds. It was 30 degrees out, but it felt a lot colder.

Mom: That’s not very many.

Me: Many degrees?

Mom: Yeah.

(pause)

Mom: That’s cause they don’t have many graduates.

(laughs)

Bro: What?

Mom: Cause they need more degrees. It’s cause their school’s too small!

(it’s pretty common for us to bring up our school sizes for comparison/competition)

Bro: I heard “driveways” the first time. But that’d be a different kind of “degrees”.

Me: Oh, like slope?

Bro: Yeah, so that’d be a different pun. That’s why I asked.

Mom: That’s also why…

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