Sam!

Becky took Sam out for a couple photo sessions to get his senior picture.  I don't know which they're going to choose as the official one ... but if I understand correctly it's not this one.  It's my favorite, though, so I'm putting it up here.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam turned 16 on Friday.  Man is he an ambitious kid.

The current big adventure he's planning for is a trip to Germany next summer.  This summer we're hosting an exchange student named Florian then next summer Sam gets to spend a few weeks with Florian's family.  Man has Sam latched on to the whole "Germany is cool" thing.  He's even looking into how he can attend University there.

Sam is also looking for a job.  He's been networking like a madman and lined up babysitting gigs several times.  Other than that, the most promising prospect at the moment is a frozen custard place called Culver's.  They actually called him back for a second interview.  Can you believe it?  A fast food place that conducted multiple rounds of interviews?  But hey, Sam got to the second round.

His big past time is creating electronic music.  He participates in online forums dedicated to it.  Spends a lot of time at his keyboard playing.

"Hey dad, you know how I wanted to learn more about music theory and how to improve what I make?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I found some colleges that offer free online courses on the subjects and signed up for three."

"Wow. That's a big load to take while still going to high school."

"Oh, not at the same time.  Just one at a time."

"Ah, whew.  What colleges?"

"Like, Berky?  and Emmy?  Or something like that."

"You mean Berkley?  and Emory?"

"Yeah, those are them."

"Wow, those are some impressive schools."

"Are they?"

"Umm, yeah, Sam.  They are."

Turns out the course he's taking is at a Berklee College of Music, not UC-Berkley.  Not being part of that scene, I had to go look it up.  Apparently it's pretty impressive in its own right, having graduated a large number of big name music stars.

So between a trip to Germany and music production equipment, Sam's future paychecks are already spent.  But well spent, I'd say.  He's a cool kid to have.

Idealism

I had a great conversation with Sam in the car on the way to his friend's house the other day. Paraphrasing:

Sam: Dad, does the government have a fund to help in disasters like Japan's earthquake?

Me: Sure, Sam. There's an agency called FEMA that gets tax funding for exactly that kind of thing here in the USA. If we want to help other countries, we often send in military resources like ships and manpower to help with rescue and cleanup. Or Congress can authorize 'special appropriations' to send money. Someone just writes up the proposal and they vote on it.

Sam: If I were in charge, like the President or something, I'd just have everyone chip in one dollar every month. That would be, like what? $300 million per month? For a fund that would help so much. And it's hardly any cost. Just one dollar per person.

Me: Well you know, $1 dollar a month for our family would be an extra $72 a year in taxes.

Sam: Yeaahhhh . . . but if you spread it out to just a dollar a month, no one would mind paying it. That's like nothing.

Me: I'd support you, Sam. I think it's a great idea. I think there's a lot of people you'd have to work real hard to convince.

Sam: No. They'd support it. If they knew it was for such a good cause.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from going on a diatribe about the tea party being the latest incarnation of that selfish ilk that would reduce the size of government until you can drown it in a bathtub. Sam was just so sincere about the ability of government to help. I think that's great.

The next day I read this in Newsweek. And I'm kinda' torn. I think reading it would provide Sam a fuller context of political challenges, which is a good thing for him to see. However, I worry that it might push his wonderful, youthful idealism towards early cynicism about human nature and democracy.

14!

Happy Birthday Sam!

A few days late, I guess, but he waited for the weekend for his party so a couple friends from Sheboygan could come up.

Our Sammy is 14! Last year of middle school. He made that ice cream cake himself. He can go to church dances! I think he's kind of excited to do that.