So I cautiously talked to the people with clipboards through the gate.  They said they were from the Honduran census bureau and were conducting a national census.  I hesitantly agreed to answer their questions, but after a few minutes the questions got too personal with questions like income and work details.  I started to feel uncomfortable so I ended the conversation, apologized and went upstairs into the house.  To this day I have no idea if they really were official census workers (for those of you who know Honduras you know how un-Honduran a census sounds). 

I thought of that experience this morning when I was listening to a report on NPR about the challenges of getting an accurate count in the U.S. census that is about to occur in 2010.  Minorities and immigrants are typcially undercounted while white males are sometimes counted twice or at least counted once accurately.  Homeless, fear of deportation, people living in motels and a general fear of authority are just a few of the variables that lead to the poor and minorities being undercounted.

It’s easy to dismiss this fear and can be difficult to relate to how someone might feel threatened by someone with a clipboard and an official census I.D.  But that day in Honduras I was scared.   I was operating in my second language, couldn’t tell if the badges were real or made at the local equivalent of Kinko’s and was worried they might be casing my house to rob it or worse.  As I listened to the NPR story I could easily put myself in the position of a mentally ill person in a homeless shelter or an immigrant (legal or illegal) from Guatemala who isn’t quite sure why this person is asking all these questions and fearful of their motivations.  

The troubling thing about the undercounting is that the poor, transient and vulnerable who are so difficult to count are also among those most hurt by undercounting.  The census helps planners determine public services from mental health to road and public transportation.  Addressing illegal immigration is a daunting task made more difficult by a lack of accurate data.  The census sounds so straightforward and simple but in practice it is so very difficult and at the same time so very important.  

The NPR report talked about a wide variety of efforts to encourage participation in the census, including the Spanish television station Telemundo working the census into the story lines of their telenovelas (Spanish soap operas).  So for the rest of my drive I daydreamed – imagining myself behind my gate in Tegus in a Honduran soap opera where I thought the census workers were spies for my sister’s lover’s uncle’s psychic who was trying to get more information so he could take over my hacienda through hynposis and superior population data sampling.  In the end though my cousin Betio convinces me that the census is important and I should participate so that city planners can better plan for the future of our ciudad.

A big help in keeping that commitment has been the museums commitment to having free days and kids activities.  Most of the museums have at least one free day a month.  The Museum of Science and Industry was free the whole month of January and the Art Institute was free in February.  Michael had been learning about Claude Monet in Kindergarten so he and I took the train downtown to see the Impressionist collection and see the real Monets.  What a treat for him to get to stand so close to the Monets that he could see the texture of the paint.  We did a kids’ tour and did a children themed program where you get to draw some of the sculptures.  All free.

Surprisingly though, by far the biggest hit has been the Museum of Contemporary Art.  I don’t generally think kid-friendly when I think of modern art, but the MCA puts on such a great program.  One Saturday a month Target sponsors a family day.  Admission is free for families and they set up themed activity stations.  The February day was on Valentine’s Day so there were Valentine’s themed activities.  Yesterday’s activities were based on the artist/futurist Buckminster Fuller so the activities were geometric themed.  And the activities aren’t your typcial color and paint, but are high concept projects like building a geodesic dome, making a map or your heart, or a movement activity that creates dance from shapes and colors.  Every month there’s an art scavenger hunt so the kids get to know the art in the museum.   

It’s so wonderful to visit a museum with hundreds of kids actively engaged, doing art scavenger hunts and loving every minute of it.  They even have a room with snacks (juice boxes and gold fish) for a break.  As we walked out of the MCA yesterday with the portfolios they had made to hold their art, Michael and Jacob wanted to know when the April family day was and wanted to make sure we could go back.  It’s amazing to me that the Museum of Contemporary art has rapidly become one of the favorite places for a 3-year old and a 6-year old.  I’m glad they love it and I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.  Summer is near with weekends filled with the Jazz Fest, Blues Fest and Gospel Music Festival.  All free and a wonderland for children who love music. 

The photos in this post are from last month’s Valentine’s Day trip to the MCA.  Click here for a few more museum themed photos.     

When we moved to the house in New Lenox we had some hard choices to make about how we set up the house.  It’s a small house (much as Erika doesn’t like me to say that) and furniture arrangements make all the difference in it feeling small versus tiny.  The living space is really just one medium sized room with a combined living room/dining room.  No matter how we arranged it, if we oriented the living room around a TV the room shrank.  This was my moment to propose ditching the TV all together.    

So we put the TV in the garage and arranged the furniture around the perimeter of the room to open up the space as much as possible.  It worked.  The kids now have a space in the middle of the room to play (and pile toys for safe keeping while they’re not playing).  Aside from the pile though, the space is much more open and makes the room feel like a place to live.  

As for TV – worry not, we haven’t gone off the grid completely.  I had bought a TV tuner for my laptop before we left for Honduras so we can watch TV on the laptop.  It’s small, but a side benefit is that we can use it as a DVR/Tivo for free and it records shows right to the laptop.  Our desk is right next to the couch so it’s easy to just pull it over on the coffee table when we watch TV together in the evenings.  We also got rid of cable.  Most of what we watch is on the networks (easily accessible with a cheap antenna stuck under the desk) and the rest we can watch online.  Hulu has changed our lives along with the networks’ habit of putting full length versions of their shows on their website.  I can watch the Daily Show, 30 Rock and House on Hulu, Lost and Scrubs on ABC.com and Notre Dame basketball on ESPN360.  What more so I need?   

So my “throw away the television” pitch isn’t exactly as radical as it sounds.  It has, however, changed the way we watch TV.  There’s an intentionality about what we watch and when we watch it.  We watch less TV and tend to watch better quality stuff (with the obvious exception of the Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice embarassment that I’m loathe to admit to).  The kids watch things we’ve taped from PBS with Sid the Science Kid being the latest favorite.  In general we are much more likely to watch TV because we want to, not because it’s on.     

And the music?  Those load speakers I talked about yesterday are plugged into the laptop which is much more likely to be used as a very expensive radio than as a computer or a TV.  We have great speakers in the living room and some wireless speakers in the kitchen which are very important to my nightly dishes routine.  

The combination of all of these choices has resulted in a great environment where our living room truly is a place to live.  Where TV is something that is great in moderation, where there is space to play, where music is an integral part of our daily lives and most importantly where my reward for doing the dishes is a little Ryan Adams.

Note:  For those of you that get the e-mail version of the blog, I’m not sure why but the photos have a tendency to show up in the wrong place in the e-mail.  It shouldn’t be a big deal, the layout just doesn’t look as nice.  Remember you can always click through to the actual post to see the original version.  

High on the list of the one million reasons I love my children is that they love music.  It has become such a central part of their lives and of our lives together.  Whether playing their guitars, dancing, music at church or singing on the way to bed — music is such a part of who they are and I love it.  I’m not big on children’s music, but just about any other music the kids want to explore I’m up for exploration.  Jacob was pretending to play the banjo the other day so I found some Bela Fleck for him to jam to.  Michael has taken to listening to my iPod in the mornings after I go to work and everyone else is still asleep.  Maggie just loves to move no matter what music is playing.  

Music’s central place in our lives has a lot to do with some choices we’ve made about how to set up our house and with some great new technology which has changed the way we listen to and discover music.  Good topics for a future post, but the end result is that our days are filled with music.  It has put me in a reflective mood about music and how much I love it.  I really, really do.

Note:  If you click on the album covers the link will take you to the MySpace Music page for the band where you can listen to the album for free (legally). 

~ 6 pm Pavo Bravo Street-Level (NOT Skyline) Turkey & Chorizo Chili  Accompanied by a 2004 Marques de Caceres Rioja and a 2006 Glen Ellen Chardonnay

~ 7pm Bullfeathers Brie and Tomato Basil Brushcetta and Proscuitto and Cantaloupe Bruschetta Accompanied by a 2006 Veramonte Cabernet Sauvignon

~ 8pm Y-Foo-Cado Salad with a Toasted Cumin and Lime Vinagrette Accompanied by a 2007 Tenuta Ca’Bolani Pinot Grigio and a 2007 Folie a Deux Menage a Trois Red

~9pm Poconos Pesto – Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto Accompanied by a 2006 Dancing Bull Merlot

~10pm Succulent Salmon with a Honey Soy Glaze and Mango Salsa Accompanied by a 2006 Smoking Loon Syrah and a 2006 Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc

~11pm Commander’s Palace Bananas Foster and Brownies Accompanied by a 2004 St. Annaliese Liebfraumilch

Here is a video of Davis with the Bananas Foster on fire.

~12am Champagne Toast