In My Son's World.

By: Anonymous

The Writer's toddler son has been diagnosed with autism.

My son cried all night last night.

I long to help him, but I cant'n. He is

autistic, they tell me locked inside

himself, inside a world that doctors

tell me I have no access to. I don't

know what he wants. He put his

hands and my my face and cries, "Mama,

mama,"one of the few words he can

say. And I feel my heart break and

shatter because I can't help him. It's

like when water freezes and splits

open a rock; thereis no way to

mend it, there is no way to stop it.

My heart will always be scarred and

broken by his tears.

When I first learned of his

diagnosis, I was determined to pull

him into my world. I sat endlessull

trying to make him speak, make him

look, make him do. And then slowly

I began to relize that his world is

beautiful, too. I stopped trying to

yank him in to my world and instead tried to enter his.

We sit for hours at the fountain in town watching

the water skip over the stones and cascade into the pool

below. We fall asleep watching snowflakes drift lazily

past the window, his cheek against mine, his hand

holding my little finger. We watch a bug make his way

up to the wall.

I learn things about him. He loves the color blue. He

likes Led Zeppelin and country music. He can't stand still

when he hears the opening bars of a song he likes; he

dances and giggles and gurgles until we all giggle, too.

He loves without restraint, without

malice . His heart is so innocent and so pure. It is breath-

taking.

he sees things no one else sees: To me me it is a stone; to

him it is a universe.

I read in a book once that having a child with special

needs is like getting an airplane for a trip. You think

you are going to Venice, but then, the stewardess tell

you that you landede in Holland. Well, you can

spend your time crying for the gondolas, or you can get

out and enjoy the winmills. It's not quiet what you had

espected, but it is beautiful all the same.

So I call himmy little Dutch boy. To rememenber that

windmills are as beautiful as gondolas.

By: Anonymous.

Cancion Mixteca. (Mixteca Song)

Qué lejos estoy del suelo donde he nacido!

inmensa nostalgia invade mi pensamiento

y al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento

quisiera llorar, quisiera morir

de sentimiento.

¡Oh tierra del sol,suspiro por verte!

ahora que lejos

yo vivo sin luz, sin amor

y al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento

quisiera llorar, quisiera morir

de sentimiento.

How far I am from the land where I was born

Immense sadness fills my thoughts

I see myself so alone and so sad

Like a leaf in the wind

I would like to cry I would like to die

From the feeling

Land of the sun

I long to see you

Now that I live so far from your light,

without love

I see myself so alone and so sad

Like a leaf in the wind.

By: Autor: José López Alavés

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Today's big story, of course, is the bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed at least four people and probably significantly more. As time goes on, news outlets will shift their focus from the tragedy itself to the broader issue of the nation's infrastructure. (And indeed, it's already happening.) News organizations, including CBS, have increasingly run stories on America's aging infrastructure over the past few years, but the Minnesota tragedy means that such pieces are about to become much more common.

They are also about to become much more dramatic, due to the collapse and the corresponding disturbing images, which can and will be used to illustrate the potential consequences of inaction. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as it's done responsibly. The problem will be if news outlets give into the temptation to sensationalize, blow way out of proportion or tabloidize. The nation's aging infrastructure is an issue we as a nation need to worry about, along with the related issue of how we'll pay for improving it. But the fact is the bridge you drive over on your way home from work almost assuredly isn't going to collapse anytime soon, and the media should not make you think it will.

It was also be interesting to see how the press handles the political aspects of this story. Senators Chris Dodd and Chuck Hagel will surely be widely lauded for introducing legislation to upgrade infrastructure just hours before the collapse; how the press treats Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is less easy to predict. After all, "[t]wo comprehensive bills that would have stepped up investment in transportation infrastructure were felled by Pawlenty vetoes, in 2005 and 2007," according to the Star-Tribune. (More on the 2005 bill here.) The reality behind the vetoes is complex, however, and Pawlenty has expressed support for infrastructure improvements in the past. He'll surely shoulder some of the blame for what happened; the question is whether, and to what degree, the media treats him as scapegoat.