On Apolo, Budget Cuts (bleh) and Spectacular Rescues

I came to terms this week with my hatred for the word "cuts." This pesky, headline-sized harbinger of bad news has been my life since I took on the education beat about two months ago. On one day alone, I wrote four separate articles (here's just one) about Nevada County schools, each in some way relating to the wearying narrative of budget cuts.

So it was with great cheer that I chatted with one of my favorite interviewees, Catholic priest Father Sylvester, about Ash Wednesday. Ever insightful and glad to help a Protestant navigate the tricky waters of Catholicism, we discussed the cycle of the church calendar and how the deathly metaphor of ashes is hopeful after all. It's a link in a cycle that ends with resurrection and redemption. It makes sense of suffering; it puts tragedy in context.

Arguably more thrilling than talking Ash Wednesday was a fabulous rescue I covered Friday (unfortunately, from the phone, not from the scene). It involved a runaway U-Haul and a man stuck beneath it and -- well, just read the account here.

Coming home at nights has become infinitely more thrilling since the fam caught Olympic fever. We've been watching Apolo, marveling at the Chinese pair skaters and now enthralled by ice dancers (especially this sibling trio).

Finally, I've been using my Audible account to listen to non-fiction bestseller Three Cups of Tea, the true story of American MK Greg Mortenson's project to build schools in the treacherous, Islamic areas of Central Asia. It's a riveting introduction to Pakistan, a place I've heard named as a terrorist haven but never read much more about.

That's this week in links.