Brat pack

"Schoolyards could be hotbeds of swine flu infection" -- Gee, do ya think?

One of the main battlegrounds in the fight against an expected resurgence of swine flu this fall will be the schoolyard, a place where the disease could, well, go viral.

[. . .]

Large groups of children and young adults? Check.

In close proximity? Check.

Lax sanitary standards? Check.

Nasty little brats; no wonder we want to keep them off our lawns. Just kidding, sort of. One of the things my mother enjoyed doing her last few years in Fort Wayne was participating in the foster grandma program, and the kids loved her, too. But she had to give it up because her immune system was starting to become compromised, and it seemed like every week she was getting another infection just as she was getting rid of one. And I've known so many households with kids where the whole family goes through weeks and weeks of members catching things from one another. Back off, Dutch and Maggie! We're trying to stay healthy here.

And, say, did you notice all the school buses out there today? That's right -- all the area school districts are back in business again, with Fort Wayne Community Schools starting today. This is such stunning news that I'm surprised no one else has picked up on the implications yet. Last spring, in the strongest indication of just how bad the recession was, almost all school districts in the whole country shut down. That's right! Just think of it -- a whole summer with buildings unused, teachers out of work, buses idle, janitors having to spend lonely hours drinking at the American Legion. And all those hordes of schooless children with nothing to do but forget everything they learned all year.

And now, just like that, they're all open again. Surely this means that the economy has turned the corner