Beech Hill, school, technology, a poem ... and two drawings

All five of us walked up Beech Hill yesterday afternoon.  Sam had just lost a soccer game to Waterville.  Sunny and Fiona had just seen the One Direction film in Thomaston and Charlie had just checked on the boats in Rockport Harbor and been shopping for clay pigeons and ammunition.  (He says I should learn how to shoot and his dad says I should learn how to shoot ... but I have no interest in guns and will never go shooting -- ever.)  I had been at home getting 7th grade assignments ready for this week, while I was also drying basil in a dehydrator. 
We had a nice walk up the hill and could see for miles and miles in all directions.  Islands, mountains, blueberry fields, blue sky and those billowy white clouds.  It felt like fall.
On the way down the hill, Fiona got a talking to by the other kids about why they are glad they don't go to private school ... because it's too easy, too laid back and there isn't any homework.

I hope all three of them have a happy, productive school year.

Fiona's history teacher said that her children wouldn't have phones or be all tied in to technology.
She said this to Fiona and to the other students just the other day.  She said the same thing to me last Spring when I traveled with the class to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.
Is it the teacher's place to make judgements about phones/technology?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
I watched an interesting documentary about technology on Saturday night.  We think we can multi-task: drive and talk on the phone, listen to a lecture while checking email and Facebook but we can't.  However, we live in a new era.  It seems silly to suggest we turn it all off and go live in Thoreau's cabin in the woods -- although sometimes that's what I'd love to do.  But as teachers and parents it's not realistic.
I'm going to have Fiona watch this documentary.  There is a bit about South Korea and their gaming addiction.  Many kids in this country are well on their way to losing their lives to gaming.
My feeling is that this history teacher at Fiona's school could learn a lot about her students if she found out how they're using technology and why they're using it.  I've learned a lot this summer about kids just by quietly following along with what's happening on Instagram.

So my poem.
Himm....

bent over the toilet at 2 a.m.

oh, so jelous
you have the perfect family
cheerful Henry on leash
baby in pocket on your chest
tall, handsome husband by your side
a wall of bougainvillea behind
I'll take a picture
quick snap shot

wow, I think
how can you not see
the absolute misery?