Dr. Bumbo Wendleken-Miller's blog

I just read an article in the Seattle PI about older (or elderly) dads, also known as start-over dads, or SODs. These are men who have had children in their 60s or 70s, generally by a much younger wife. Often, these are men who already have a family and are now on their second (or third) marriage and want more children, to give them "new life" in their golden years.  Read More »

As a white female planning to apply to college in a year or so, I'm right in the middle of the affirmative action debate. What I truly do not understand is why gender and race should have anything to do with acceptance to college or for a job.  Read More »

Billions of dollars are spent each year searching for cures to diseases that have been with us for centuries. Death has always been inevitable; that is part of what makes us alive. Our ancestors accepted this, and when someone died it was not a tragedy so much as a period at the end of a sentence.  Read More »

This morning, I was listening to the radio.  The DJ was talking about how Keith Urban has recently checked into rehab.  They had a woman who works at a rehab center on the air to discuss what rehab centers are like so that we could all understand what he was going through.  People were calling in to wish him luck in life and a quick recovery.

Why is it that we feel sorry for famous people when they become alcholics or drug addicts?  When they enter into rehab, we her, "we wish them luck" and "we hope that they get over this bump in their life."  No one else made them become addicted to these substances.  Why do we feel bad for them and send them our best wishes?  It's not as if they're recovering from cancer - they are trying to stop being alcoholic!  When average people, and especially those that are seen as "below average," have to go to rehab, we look upon them with disdain.  No one wants to be around an alcoholic or a drug user.  Celebrities are, in every way, held above the standards of society.  Or maybe, in this case, it's below.  Honestly, when it is seen as okay for people to become addicted to a substane, aren't we saying that they can't be held to the same standards as all of us.  Read More »

Shouldn't celebrities have the same rights to a private life as the rest of us have?  There are countless magazines completely devoted to stalking these people.  It's been said that they became famous, therefore they should be okay with us knowing about every sordid detail of their lives, but I disagree.  Just because someone has had a successful career in the entertainment world (and if someone's famous, there's probably like a 98% chance that's why) doesn't mean that they should be subjected to that.  If someone doesn't want the whole world to know when they got drunk, does that mean that they shouldn't follow their dreams and instead just go for a desk job?  Even the fact that they're making insane amounts of money doesn't seem like justification for these gossip rags.  Read More »

Shouldn't celebrities have the same rights to a private life as the rest of us have?  There are countless magazines completely devoted to stalking these people.  It's been said that they became famous, therefore they should be okay with us knowing about every sordid detail of their lives, but I disagree.  Just because someone has had a successful career in the entertainment world (and if someone's famous, there's probably like a 98% chance that's why) doesn't mean that they should be subjected to that.  If someone doesn't want the whole world to know when they got drunk, does that mean that they shouldn't follow their dreams and instead just go for a desk job?  Even the fact that they're making insane amounts of money doesn't seem like justification for these gossip rags.  Read More »

Oh my gosh.  A plane crashed into a high-rise apartment in New York City.  Why is it still possible for a plane to get this close to a building after the devastation of September 11th.  Five yeas later and all of our supposedly improved security allows for a small plane to crash into an apartment building in the middle of the city.

So far, there isn't any proof that this incident was related to terrorism, but it would still be kind of diffiicult for an airplane to get to this building - it had to go through others to reach this one.  There are quite high-profile people and patients of a nearby hospital living in this building, where most apartments sell for a million dollars or more.  Read More »

So, how much freedom should the high school press have?

The arts magazine of my school, two years ago, included a piece of writing that included the "f word."  They were greatly chastised, and as I was not yet at the school I am not sure what the repercussions were, but it was a huge deal for weeks, until school got out in the summer. 

Since then, the newspaper and literary arts production have to be incredibly careful of every word that they print.  Nothing that anyone would consider to be a swear word - not even "damn" - can be considered for publication, it's just too risky.  Thus, we can't quote these people.  Read More »