Consider these two scenarios from separate train rides this week:

On an uptown 2 train, a nicely dressed man escorts his daughter to school. She appears to be about nine years old. They are facing each other with the silver pole between them. He carries her pink backpack slung over one shoulder.

The father decides to use their commute time wisely. He quizzes her on her times tables. She is eager to do well so her father can be proud of her.

The father asks, "What's four times five?"

"Twenty! That's easy!"

"Okay. How about seven times eight?"

A little harder. She thinks. "Forty -two?"

"Nooo. Think."

The girl ticks her fingers as if she could use them to count that high. "Forty-nine?"

"Are you guessing, or do you know?"

"Uhm. Fifty-five?"

Frustration shadows across the father's face. "How can you not know the answer to this? We've studied the seven times tables over and over. Night after night."

"Fifty-nine?" She almost whispers.

The father shakes his head. "How do you expect to get into the magnet school? You're competing against kids that know their times tables already. Everything builds from here."

The corners of her mouth downturn and tears start to roll down her cheeks. In mere seconds she is bawling. "I-I-I'm sor-sor-sorry."

"Stop crying." The father pulls a hankie from his pocket. He pats her on the shoulder. "We're just going to have to study harder. That's all."

************************************************************
The Brooklyn-bound Q train is crowded, but most people who want a seat have found one. A heavy-set and eccentric father is sitting closest to the door while his daughter has the middle seat next to him. It's clear where she has gotten her taste in clothes, but it could also be partially a result of the onset of her teenage years.

Resting on his stomach the father holds the Times crossword puzzle. He is smiling all over.

"We need a four-letter word for ‘Waterloo pop group.'"

"Abba."

"Of course! Abba." He writes it in the squares. "You weren't even alive then."

"I went to see Mamma Mia, remember?"

"Yes, yes." He nods. "How about ‘Melville captain?'"

"Ahab!" They both say at the same time.

"Eight down: ‘Before to bards.'"

"How many letters?"

"Three."

The girl looks at the ceiling with her Bette Davis eyes, eyes that will someday be her favorite feature, and says, "I don't know." She rested her head on her father's ample arm.

"Okay, let's try another one." He scanned the clues. "Got the gold."

"First," she said.

"You're first in my book," the father said.

The girl rolled her eyes as only teenagers can, but her lips curled ever so slightly.

Jacquelin Cangro

For the past two years, most every ever green post has had an insight into how life can be made more eco-friendly. But just because I incorporate helping the environment into my everyday life doesn't necessarily mean that everyone else thinks it helps them, too.

Reusable bags:
I've written about and taken pictures of the scourge of plastic bags. Americans use billions of these bags every year and are adding to the plastic litter on the streets, in the landfills, and floating around in the oceans. The antidote to plastic bag waste is simply saying no to the offered plastic bag and carrying your own reusable shopping bag.

I have a few canvas ones that I use regularly. But most cashiers and grocery baggers seemed confused when I tell them I don't need their plastic bag and whip out my own canvas ones. The grocery baggers usually step away and I end up packing my own bags. Cashiers at other stores just kind of stare blankly at me and instead of packing my item into my canvas bag, they let me do it. As of late I have noticed others with reusable bags or other shoppers who tell the cashiers that they don't need plastic bags. And maybe if the six-cent plastic-bag-tax becomes law in New York, more people will bring their own bags and shops will become more accustomed to people bringing their own.

Using green transportation:
One post described my shunning of even the bus or subway in favor of walking to work. But I needed a bike for a vacation, so I got a very used one from craigslist (that was within walking distance of picking up), and have been biking now for the past few months.

It seems that more people dislike bikers than any other form of transportation. When biking through Central Park, for example, dog walkers and tourists regularly step into the path of oncoming bikes with careless abandon and seem appalled when we nearly collide. I don't go that fast because my bike is beat-up and old, and I ride defensively, so the look of disdain on the faces of non-bikers when I pedal by is a mystery. I had one guy, who was walking his mini-dog, look me directly in the face while stepping into my path and deliberately slowing down, forcing me to either run him over or veer around him. Would these same people step into the path of a car or bus?

Another hazard of riding a bike is bad weather. When it rains or snows or ice-storms, riding a bike is tough. Most of the time if I hear a report of bad weather, I'll walk instead of bike. But sometimes there's no warning and I end up getting out of wherever I am and have to ride home on a wet seat and have tons of back spackle when I finally arrive. One time the back spackle reached all the way up to my helmet.

Long-lasting, energy-efficient lightbulbs:
I actually needed to replace some of the first-generation energy-efficient lightbulbs that I bought five or so years ago because they slowly got dimmer. One of the complaints about these bulbs is that they are not as bright as incandescents and get worse with age. The new ones I got are a brighter wattage and were cheaper than the old ones. But I'm not sure how to dispose of the old ones since there have been reports about hazardous materials in the bulb makeup.

keeping the earth ever green

Lisa Tae-Ran Schroeder