Nov 26, 2014 Teaching and Learning
Why does this keep happening?
Because hatred is real, and it is deep, and it springs from fear and guilt. Where an apology was never made, nor any reparations for centuries of suppression, there springs fear and hate, because, deep down, they know it, as close to their blood, that they are WRONG!
Nov 25, 2014 Teaching and Learning
Injustice: Ferguson, Missouri; Sanford, Florida; Cleveland, Ohio
My heart is broken.
There is no justice.
There’s racism and privilege and hate and violence.
There are some rich, white people who really don’t get it.
There are those who laugh at pain.
There are whose who get off on the death of black youths.
And there are others, who, wanting to seem rational, say, “Well, we don’t have all the facts.”
There are others, who, wanting to seem on the right side of “the law” say, “Well, did you see the video of Michael Brown robbing a store?” or, “Well, Trayvon threatened George Zimmerman, or smoked dope,” or, “The kid Tamir Rice was waving a gun. How could police know that it wasn’t real?”
I say to all of them about the first two questions: That has nothing to do with this!
I say to them, all of them, about the first two questions: Haven’t you ever done wrong? Would you think it is fair to be killed for it?
I say to all of them: Don’t obfuscate with irrelevant facts!
I say to all of them about all three: Does anyone have to die? What happened to the police tackling someone, disabling someone whom they see as a “threat” — without killing?
I say to all of them: Stop justifying that secret racism in your own hearts.
I say to all of them:
There are five facts about what happened in Ferguson, Missouri:
One: A teenager died in the US.
Two: A black teenager died in the US.
Three: A police officer shot him from several, perhaps, hundred or more feet away.
Four: The teenager was unarmed.
Five: He was killed in cold blood.
Go and search your own conscience, I say.
AND SHAME ON YOU, if you think he deserved it.
AND SHAME ON YOU, if you think his killer deserved to go free.
AND SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT CRYING FOR ALL THOSE YOUNG BLACK TEENAGERS AND CHILDREN WHO DIED.
http://The Death of Emmett Till
Tags: #Injustice, Cleveland, Ferguson, Florida, Michael Brown, Missouri, Ohio, racism, Sanford, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin
Jul 28, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Current Affairs / General Interest, Reading, Teaching and Learning, Thinking, Writing
And here we are, comfortable, with our little, daily stresses and cares, our worries, or work-related sorrows, or the baggage we carry from our lives.
And there they are, in Gaza, which is burning, with Israeli artillery strikes or misfired Hamas rockets.
Or in Baghdad, where Sunnis are being harassed by Shias.
Or, in Ukraine, where there are hundreds of civilian deaths, while governments fight for control in one direction or another.
This isn’t a world in which I wish to live.
And yet, life IS beautiful. And Life is Beautiful, too.
We MUST try and speak for beauty, for life, for love, for peace.
We MUST end the little stesses in our own lives by being non-reactive, thoughtful, calm and measured. (Of course, that’s easier said than done — but I’d like to try.)
Plant a garden of flowers, however small your yard is. If there’s no yard, make a window garden.
Plant some tomatoes and basil in a box outside your window sill.
Plant a tree in a park.
Read a book, or write one. Or, do both.
Teach a child to read a book or listen to music.
Write to your congressmen and congresswomen, and to your leaders.
Play music with your family, your friends, by yourself.
Play.
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Tags: #Trees, Baghdad, Gaza, Israel, life here and there, planting flowers, Playing, Playing music, reading, Teaching a child to read, Ukraine, vegetables, Writing
Jun 28, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Teaching and Learning
So, did I mention that school was over for me on Wednesday? No? Well, it was.
Two days later, I was still in there, cleaning up, clearing up, wiping surfaces. And I’ll go in on Monday, to put any remaining books in boxes and lug them home.
Only two days later –and I feel so much happier, so much more rested, so far away from the stresses of this tiny, fish-pond of a life that’s called school!
Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE to teach, and always will. But it’s exhausting work, and seemingly endless work. And one has to be a saint and never, ever let anything ruffle one’s feathers.
I am not a saint.
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Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Teaching, saint, summer holidays
Jun 20, 2014 Teaching and Learning
I caught my daughter staring at the ceiling, looking thoughtful.
“What are you looking at, Sweets?” I asked.
My daughter replied, still gazing upward, “I was looking at that spider up there.”
“Don’t be nervous, Babe. It’s tiny. It’s not going to suddenly chase you.”
“No,” she replied, “I’m not worried. I was thinking how something so small could make such a BIG shadow on the ceiling.”
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A second later, this thought occurred to me: Do atoms cause shadows? If everything that exists and has physical properties casts a shadow, do atoms cause shadows? Do quarks?
And what about the Higgs-Boson particle?
~ Dreamer of Dreams
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Tags: #Mother and Daughter, a thought, atoms, shadows, spiders
Jun 18, 2014 Teaching and Learning
WOW! Never thought much of Jindal until now. Waiting to see which states follow suit.
Jun 12, 2014 Teaching and Learning
Yes, somehow the word “union” has been made into some sort of horrible, dark word with “socialist” overtones by the Tea Party Republicans. A union implies unity. Unity means working together for a perceived good cause. That good towards which people are working together becomes the Common Good, hence “community.” There is NOTHING wrong with working together for a good cause — it’s the best way. It’s what has made any actual human progress happen. I know people who are into union-bashing, because it’s fashionable, and because “news” “outlets” like Fox News are into it, but if you look around, and see that we have a five-day working week, vacation time, family leave, medical compensation, healthcare, good roads, good schools, good public utilities, etc., it’s always been done by people who work hard, and who are represented by strong unions. Of course, like ANYTHING else in the world, there are good versions of unions, and imperfect versions. That is not a reason to scrap unions. That’s like saying, “So-and-so is a bad mother and a woman, therefore all women are bad mothers.”
Jun 8, 2014 Teaching and Learning
My bean plants are coming up, and so are my Italian squash, my spinach and chard.
Hurray!
I feel somewhat (sorry to sound blasphemous, if you happen to be very religious) God-like when these things happen. Oh, I know all I had to do was to stick the seeds in the (prepared) ground, water it every day, and let nature do the rest. Still, any time when things grow, it is nothing short of miraculous.
Everything has a season and an end. That’s actually comforting.
Unchecked growth is horrible — hence, capitalism ungoverned by a concern for humanity, and cancer, ungoverned by anything except to devour all it can, are horrible.
However, back to my bean plants.
They are beautiful — so delicate, so green, so … double-leaved and pod-dish! They are synonymous with life for me. I remember some misty memory from my childish schooldays, when we planted beans in water in glass jars (or something like that … too far back for me to remember exactly). It was always fantastic to see them grow in utter clarity, in light and water and air.
Life reaches for light.
Oh, I know it sounds all … mystical and all that. If you are religious, take from that what you will. if you are scientific, take from that what you will. What doesn’t change, for me, is the absorption, the interest and awe that are attendant upon being in the presence of growing plants.
I could digress into the beauty of all growing creatures … but that’s another post for another time.
Ciao for niao!
Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: beans, digressions, garden, growing things, spinach and chard, squash