JoePa & mandated reporters

Unless you're just not paying attention, you've heard about the scandal with former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. He is charged with numerous counts of sexual assault of children. If you haven't had a chance to read the grand jury indictment, you should. BUT. Please heed this warning: it is graphic. It will make you sick to your stomach. I had to skim over some parts, but it explains everything that he is charged. And the extensive lengths that the university went to in order to cover-up the scandal.

One of countless bits of collateral damage is Penn State head coach, Joe Paterno. He was informed of one of the criminal acts in 2002. A graduate student walked in on Sandusky raping a young boy. The graduate student reported the incident to Coach Paterno, and JoePa reported it the next day to his superiors. While JoePa fulfilled his legal responsibilty to report the incident, people are absolutely furious with his lack of reporting. Joe Paterno was not directly involved in the cover-up of the crimes, but he didn't do as much as should have.

As a teacher, I am a mandated reporter. This means that I am required by law to report any instances of suspected child abuse or neglect. The proper chain of command for me is to inform the guidance counselors or principal of my school. After that, I am not involved anymore. I'm not even allowed to inquire about the investigation. If I feel that my principal and guidance counselor are not following up thoroughly enough, I am able to go directly to the police.

My assumption is that Coach Paterno is under the same requirements as I am. I'm sure that he thought his superiors were going to do their job, but when they didn't, he should have done more. In his resignation statement today, he said "with the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more". I wish he had too. For his own heart and mind. But mostly so more children would have been saved from such pain. I think I have learned something from Paterno- that it's always my job to do more than what the law requires. That is a low hurdle that is set to give guidelines. Doing more is always best.

My friend Amy and I were talking about it, and she said something incredibly important- at the end of the day, it is STILL Jerry Sandusky that is the monster here. He is the one that hurt those boys. He is the one that used charity to disguise his evil. He is the one that manipulated his peers to believe the best of him when he was committing a heinous act against innocent children. I know that God promises that "in no way shall the guily go free" and when it comes to Sandusky, this gives me great peace.

Paterno did announce his resignation today. He'll finish the season, and then he'll be done. He is a good man who has made an incredible impact on the game of college football and numerous student athletes. His legacy is great. It is sad that it will be tainted with the scandal of Jerry Sandusky.

268

The 2010 Passion Conference is in Atlanta this weekend. Hearing about it and knowing a lot of people that are attending has made me feel incredibly old.

When I was in college, I was an active part of the "Passion Movement", 722, 268 Generation,One Day, and anything else that I could get into that had to do with Jesus.

I went to 4 stops on the Passion tour- Atlanta, Athens, Rome, and Augusta.
I was in Shelby Farms for One Day.
We drove 2 hours on a regular basis on Tuesday nights to go to 722 in Alpharetta.
I owned every CD put out by Passion.

It was an amazing time of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I know a lot of people from my church who still fall in the 18-25 age bracket who are at the conference this weekend. Reading their tweets, status updates, and blog posts has been so comforting and made me reminisce a lot.

There was so much for me and my age bracket then. But this has also highlighted a fact in my life.

Unless you are married, there is very little "for you" when your 29.

Never knew it. Never cared.
And it's not like I'm mad or anything, it's just that I'm just now noticing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.

random sports stuff.

I hate Charlie Weiss. And Notre Dame. ugh. times a million. Seriously? Take your loss like a man. Don't blame officials. Take it. Own it. I already hate you. So complaining about a loss like you're a spoiled brat isn't gonna help your case. Tool.

I'm no Michigan fan. But Forcier did look like a stud on Saturday. And they beat Notre Dame. So that'll earn you points in my book. I don't care if it's the University of Hell- I like you if you beat Notre Dame.

Love these "What We Learned" Articles- always so entertaining. Especially this truth- "Alabama has options on offense". PTL. It's about time. And. This bit of wisdom to knock the Kiffin fans down a notch- "Now we know. Western Kentucky was just that bad." Ha. Love it.

This makes me so sad. I can't even imagine the Atlanta Braves without Bobby Cox. He's been their manager for as long as I can remember. It may be time for him to retire, but it makes me so sad.

Look What I Made!

I love Alabama. I love decor that supports this love. I've never seen one of these, so I decided I would be cute and make one. I like it. I'd make another if you'd want to buy it. May even consider making them for other schools. But only if you ask really nicely. After all, Alabama did win Saturday :)
(by the way. some of you need some assistance. RTR..... Roll Tide Roll..... Just in case.....)


One of the admins at my school defended her doctoral dissertation a few weeks ago- this is the gift I made for her. Just painted on a piece of wood. My first attempt in hand painting something. Kind of impressed with myself. Just sayin.

Sing For Joy

When I was growing up at FUMC's youth camp, this was a song we sang all the time... I loved it. It's been in my head the last few days. You should love it. Just sayin.

Sing for joy to God our strength
Sing for joy to God our strength, our strength

If we call to Him, He will answer us
If we run to Him, He will run to us
If we lift our hands, He will lift us up
Come now praise his name, all you saints of God.

Draw near to Him, he is here with us
Give Him your love, He·s in love with us
He will heal our hearts, He will cleanse our hands
If we rend our hearts He will heal our land.  

trippin.

I don't care what you call this, American Apparel....


but.
it's HyperColor.
Stop trippin.