I Remember 9-11

     I remember 9/11.  It was a beautiful day and I had to work the 11 to 8 shift.  Usually I watched the Today show in the mornings, but this morning was so peaceful and pretty I did not turn the television on.  I did some housework.  I left the house and drove to work with the windows down and the radio off.  I was in a great mood and it was going to be a great day.   I remember I was coming in the library branch where I worked with a couple of big bags in my hands.  When I got in, I  noticed that someone had set the staff television set on the counter and it was on.  This did not happen unless something monumental happened.  As the manager I asked what was up with the set.  I was told it was to keep up and help customers stay tuned to the events.  I asked what events.  As usual they thought I was joking but soon discovered I had been in a media blackout and did not know about the air disaster. 

     Once I heard and saw what had happened, I must admit I had a pretty different reaction to that of everyone else, and I suspect what I am going to say next may make you think I am either crazy, unpatriotic or both, but here it is.

      Most everyone there was upset, angry or distraught.  I shook my head up and down and said, nice.  I had to give whoever did this respect.  It was well done. They had definitely gotten our attention. I was not angry, afraid or distraught.  I was intrigued.  Who did it and now that they had our undivided attention, why?  What did they want?  To my dismay, it did not seem as if anyone else, anywhere wanted to know this.  Everyone wanted revenge, especially our government.  Reacting like a one-eyed Cyclops, our government, whipped up by then President George Bush the younger decided to fight back – to lash out at the enemy yet to be named, but definitely some middle east group, hence the war on terror. 

     I thought then and still think now that America missed a wonderful opportunity to set an example of the positive kind (just what would Jesus do?).  Instead of lobbing bombs, toppling governments, losing thousands of young lives and maybe trillions of dollars on a cause we could not win and maybe should not even have attempted, maybe we should have called a time out, a truce.  Someone is really angry at us.  Let’s find out who, and why.  Are their issues valid?  Have we done some bad things (known or unknown)? How can we correct the issue without more deaths? How has our culture damaged another?  What is the problem?  Instead of looking for a peaceful albeit probably long term process (as if the war in Afghanistan, Iraq and all the other places we are fighting bans of Al-Qaida has not taken up a generation already) that would have had the opportunity to change the way we solve problems, communicate and do business, not to mention enhance our reputation in the entire international community, we chose to act like a wronged bully.  We are no closer to solving the war on terrorism than we are on solving the war on drugs, or poverty.  We are helping to create more terrorists.  People who never in their wildest dreams would have thought they would be taking up arms against the USA are doing so and teaching their children to take up the cause.  How is this to ever end with all sides blindly throwing punches?  What are we fighting against? 

     If their issues were not valid, prove it, make it transparent and work to cure the ills.  If it was an act of a few “terrorists” we could have honed in on them – localized attack to arrest and try them in a proper court.  Now we are stuck and being sucked in deeper and deeper.

     A while back I wrote a piece about terrorism (see Maybe We Need A New Song) in which I said they do not have to do another thing because they have already won.  America is no longer the carefree nation it was.  America has given up so many freedoms under the banner of making us safer.  Even as I write this I wonder if my freedom of speech and thought is still intact enough for me to express these views.  But if by being safer we are now afraid of our neighbors, are scrutinized everywhere, searched as if we are in a third world country, constantly looking for threats;  our lifestyle had been permanently changed for the  worst.  I think we missed a golden opportunity to right so many wrongs committed by past governments and maybe even current ones and really be the generation that says enough is enough.  We have to lighten up on the coveting and the greed, for the good of all.  We need to apologize and then forgive all including ourselves.

   
   

Too Bad We Can't Talk About This

     I was raised to understand that there were three things you could not talk about in polite company (during parties, any social event, maybe not even at home): politics, religion and sex.  Times have changed a little, but these three topics are still considered taboo in many circles.  Sometimes I wish not to be in polite social environs just so these topics could be thrashed and thrashed well.
       Glenn Meade really thrashes religion, specifically Catholicism, the Vatican and its role in promoting Christianity and tearing down religious barriers (something it has yet to do).  He does this in his latest book, The Second Messiah.
     This book revolves around the Catholic church, archeology, murder and keeping secrets.  Archeology plays a prominent role in this story as does what may be seen as an unnatural alliance between the Mossad and the Vatican working together. There are also cliche scenes throughout reminiscent of Indiana Jones, but the dialogs and thoughts expressed via the thoughts of the main characters about archeology and religion are very thought provoking.
     I attended Howard University in the early '70's.  One day, my boyfriend who was an artist, took me on a tour of "America's Catholic Church" aka the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  We had a difference of opinion about the church.  He thought it was a beautiful work of art.  I thought it was an appalling display of opulence that was almost vulgar when I thought about all of the poor Catholics that put their last pennies in the offering so that someone could design a church like this with gold walls and ceilings and other expensive trappings.  We argued about it for over a week.  I agreed that it was beautiful, but was an example of why I thought the church in general was failing those it claimed to serve.  A few years later I noticed a movement in mainstream religion that God did not want people to be poor and especially wanted the church to be an example of wealth so that folks would have something to emulate and would have leaders to represent them well.  "You don't want pastor to be driving an old beat up car when he goes to visit the sick and shut in do you?" Was something I heard from the pulpit as deacons encouraged the congregation to donate a "love" offering for the pastor or to donate to the pastor's car fund, or clothing fund, etc.
     I say all of this because Meade addresses just these issues and more in this book.  Here you have an accidental pope who upon being sworn in tells the cardinals that he plans to open the Vatican to all, especially the secret archives and provide full financial disclosure.  He plans to have no secrets, past nor future.  He even forsakes the vestments and accommodations of the Vatican for a sparse room in an abbey.  He wears modest monk wear.  He wants to emulate Jesus as Jesus wanted the church to do.  He is going to try to reach out to the other christian denominations and join the churches.  As one cleric cries, "what next, reaching out to other religions?!?!".  Maybe you can imagine what happens next, the mayhem that this stirs up.
     Throughout this book there are some very interesting discussions about the role of the Catholic church, archeology, culture and life itself.  Too bad we can't talk about them, but you can read them in The Second Messiah and form your own thoughts.  Who knows, you may even break camp and talk about them.

The Media's Responsibility

It never ceases to amaze me that whenever anyone mentions that the media may be at fault, they shriek that they (did not say, do, start it) just repeated what was said/done so that the people would know. I wonder if the people always need to know, and why the media no longer seems to be able to figure out what is really mentionable or newsworthy.

I had a lot to say when Imus spouted his words of wisdom. But here I will just dwell on my view of the media’s responsibility in it. My take on this is if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well we know it makes a sound, but if it does not have an audience, does it make a difference?

I don’t think it makes a difference until someone stumbles on it after the fall. At that time, maybe it has completely decomposed, or maybe it has become a safe haven for a variety of forest dwellers – large and small. But one thing for sure, it is no longer what it was before the fall.

So what does this have to do with the N-word, Imus, gangsta rap lyrics, etc? If the media did not amplify the sound so that all of the above was given an audience, where would it have been heard?

If the media had not continually repeated what Imus said, only that small population of Imus followers would have heard it. Since we really rarely hear much if anything from them or him usually, if the comment was contained or even ignored by the media at large, what power would it have?

What roll does the media play in supporting deviant behavior? If they did not popularize gangsta rap, would BLING be in the dictionary? Would bitch or ho be common terms in youth and younger adult language? Would young black males think that their life expectancy was less the age 21? Maybe for those who actually live the gangsta life, but for middle and upper middle class youth (and those with middle and upper middle class values) of all races should not even be aware of this life and should definitely not emulate it – but they do, thanks to the media.

There was a time when there were very few mainstream published black writers. Then self publication became popular and something else happened. We now have Connie Briscoe, Zane and Triple Crown. For a while, we only had Chester Himes and Donald Goines. Then Sister Souljah started the new wave of reality fiction readers. Now there is a tidal wave of baby mama drama and who did what to whom ghetto lore books.

Back in the day we called it blaxploitation, and although there was a lot of hoopla from the public about gangsta rap when it first came out, the media made sure that it was played enough to become mainstream, and to subliminally encrypt in the public mind that this is how black people live and think.

So what part of the blame belongs to the media? If they did not fan these issues then they would not become profitable. If these issues, behaviors, etc were not profitable, the proliferation of lifestyle, language, dress, etc, would lean toward something else – something that is profitable. Maybe that is where we come in by designing that which should be emulated.

I am not suggesting that we censure the media. I am saying that they are responsible for promoting negative behavior and presenting it frequently enough that people become immune to it and it becomes acceptable. They have a responsibility to the public to make sure that whatever then deem newsworthy is truly that. Also, that their role is to report that which is newsworthy, not to make news themselves.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If the media has a mic planted in the woods, everyone hears the sound.

ENOUGH ALREADY!

I think that James Patterson and his protégés along with Michael Connelly are laughing themselves all the way to the bank. Actually, I think they just chuckle every time they get a notice that their royalty checks have hit. Their latest books are so much alike it’s ridiculous. Connelly attempts to use Patterson’s twisted psychotic outline for his latest book, Scarecrow. Patterson actually mentions Connelly in his book, Swimsuit (“At the time, I was an ex-cop turned mystery writer, but since my last book had gone almost straight from the shipping carton to the remainder racks, I was a third-strike novelist doing the next best thing to writing pulp fiction. I was reporting crime for the L. A. Times, which, on the upside, was hoe the highly successful novelist Michael Connelly got his start”) and appears to model his character on Connelly.

Connelly, on the other hand seems to want to be semi-autobiographical in his book, using a similar character, a soon to be dismissed writer for the L. A. Times who grasps his last assignment and turns it in to a new career, and a two-book deal so that he, too can leave the Times.

Another thread that loosely lashes both stories together is the demise of the newspaper industry as we know it. Technology has taken over. The online Blog and electronic quickly updated version of the paper is usurping the power of the print version, etc.

But getting back to the collusion theory, I sometimes watch the TV series Castle. This series revolves around a waning best selling novelist who has latched on to an opportunity to tag along with a real detective to learn what real police work is like so his next series of books (based in the detective) will be realistic. The connecting tissue here is that in a couple of episodes, Castle has a poker party at his house where he and Patterson, Connelly, Stephen J. Cannell, (all playing themselves) play poker and quickly give each other tips on writing. (Ka ching!!!! Ka ching!!!!)

Now I’m thinking that this new form of best seller production is sort of similar to the junk bond market or pyramid marketing, or predatory lending. Initially there is a great market for it, but once it becomes diluted, the bottom drops out of the market and a lot of folks will be finger pointing at the cause of the demise of reading. People will become bored with this cutesy form of old boy networking. They may actually become insulted by the lack of creativity being used to take their money. They may stop buying books.

Since the publishing industry is stoking this disaster, they will probably blame the gaming industry, the schools, the public and anyone but themselves for causing the death of reading as we know it, because they chose quantity over quality.

This is the type of greed that forces change. Assembly line production of books that are supposed to engage the reader does not work. The market becomes glutted and the consumer becomes sated. Now what? There is no anticipation. Although we sometimes wish our favorite author would write faster, we still want a well thought out, non-formulaic well written book.

Those of us who like a well crafted read may have to find alternative sources and venues. I see a market for self published e-books that can be downloaded to Kindle’s competitors for a price that mostly goes to the writer, a percentage going to the reader device producer. Why not Kindle? Because if it’s ties to Amazon. There has to be a cadre of lesser known writers who are producing well written police procedurals, murder mysteries, law and order books. We just have to support them.

Riding the Bus COTA style

I do not ride the bus. I have not been on a bus in over 10 years. I drive everywhere I have to go. Buses are not convenient for me. I have a job that requires that I have reliable transportation, and I may need to go somewhere in the middle of the day. The bus system does not really do that for me and the time I'd spend waiting for and sitting on one would be costly.

But that's not why I'm posting this. The bus serves a lot of people. But Columbus does not have a system of moving people around like New York, Chicago, or even Cleveland.

You know as much as we fuss about the bus system in Columbus, when you know what they are working with it makes a big difference in your attitude (or better yet, change that line to first person for me).

I attended a town meeting with COTA reps, Jim Hutchinson, Belinda Taylor and Bill Lhota among others. COTA has 750 employees (less than the library) of which 430 are Bus Operators, and 280 fixed-route buses (not counting special services like Mainstream and other services they provide).

Most major cities in Ohio receive at least one cent millage from taxes to support them. COTA had been running on a quarter of a penny until the temporary increase to half (yea- half a penny). The more we talked about this, the more I wanted to start a penny campaign - give the man a penny!!!! geez! I suspect COTA could use 2 pennies just to catch up and plan for the future. And yes, they are interested in light rail as well.

I don't ride the bus. I'd love to ride the train again. Then maybe I'd transfer to a bus. COTA needs support.

On Education

I think the proliferation of charter schools speaks volumes to America’s frustration with our traditional antiquated school program. A school system based on an agrarian calendar and an assembly line time schedule in this age is past archaic.

We now know that people have different learning styles and learning times. A system that dictates when you must know something and is instruction based vs. teaching based is not working and is adding to the frustration of the very people we are trying to reach, ergo the high dropout rate.

I think teachers are more like the shepherd who had ninety-nine sheep and went to find the one that was missing. That would be no child left behind. Get every child to the same knowledge regardless of how long it takes. We all know that, depending the lesson, someone is always going to get it first and someone is going to take the longest getting it. Good teaching works through this and gets everyone on the same page.

Technology has been with us long enough for everyone to come to the conclusion that it is not going away. Babies are bombarded with visual stimulus for near birth. By the time they are in kindergarten, they more than likely have manipulated some sort of gaming or computer based device. They are used to being entertained. They are familiar with the hand/eye coordination of gaming. They are used to a faster paced environment.

As educators, we have to move and teach in a similar environment. For youth who are not familiar with this type of environment we have to introduce them to it because it is the environment of the workplace as well. Expediency may be the current traditional schools goal, but quality and quantity should be today’s goal.

This means that we drop the Carnegie method, forget about needing summer off for crop retrieval, and forget about schooling taking twelve years. Learning is a womb to tomb process. Basic knowledge, which is needed to function in the market place and home environment, should be infused in all aspect of this process, and it should be practical.

One of the things that I think we fail to incorporate or capitalize on in school is the social aspect of school. There is a lot of conversation about bullying and popularity, but has the education arena tried to tie into this as a vehicle for learning? Sometimes the only reason youth go to school is to talk and play with their friends. Is there an opportunity to use this to educators’ advantage?

Some things that I’ve seen that work well:

Multi grade classrooms

Themed education (usually done in an alternative school – literature based, math/science based, foreign language based programming)

12 – month programming

Hands on learning environments

Learning on site (apprenticeships for example)

Field trips (which can be done very well virtually nowadays)

KIPP. Here is a program that is designed for troubled youth who are behind in school, but I think if they had this program from day one, no one would be behind.

I could probably write a chapter on each paragraph above and still come up with more…….. but I have gone too far for a BLOG page anyway. Holler back if you’d like to talk about this.

Discoveries

During our recent branch renovation, we had to pack up our belongings so that the painters could paint the staff area, including my office. We did this quickly as we had almost no advanced warning as to when the painting was to begin. Even so, I took the time to toss out quite a lot of dead wood mainly because I did not want to pack what was not needed or unpack it later.

Now when my sons were little and I needed some alone time from them, I’d tell them to go clean their room and would say, “ and don’t come out until it’s done!” knowing that they would be in there for hours. You see, they would find things that they forgot they had and start playing with them. Periodically I’d ask, “aren’t you through yet?!?’ just to see how much more down time I had. Most often they said no, so I’d go back to doing whatever I wanted. Unpacking my office was like that. I found things I had not seen in awhile, things I wondered why I’d kept, and things that just were not even mine. And, I used the ‘handle it once rule’. Once I picked something up I had to resolve it – keep or toss. I tossed a lot more. Next I’m tackling my file cabinet. I only have two drawers of stuff, but it is that- stuff. I’m sure some can go.

This project came at the right time of the year, too, because I tend to really take stock of things in the fall. I clean house and swap closets, and toss things out better in the fall, early winter than any other time of year. Maybe I just like for spring to have a great start.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: And Not Necessarily In That Order,

Trains

Saturday September the 6th my son Austin and I started our westward migration. We left Columbus by Greyhound (a real feat since we are not fond of traveling by dog) to go to Cleveland to catch a train (if only Columbus could have a depot) to Chicago to start our adventure. Try not to travel in the coach section as it is a big fast moving greyhound. I will not write about that leg of the journey because of pc issues. Anyway, once we changed trains in Chicago and boarded our sleeper car, everything changed. We left Chicago around 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon.

Roomettes are very small but functional for one person or two very small agile people or an adult and child. Each roomette has two beds. The top bunk folds up and is out of the way until you need it. The bottom bed is made from two “chairs” that pull together to from your sleeping platform. When you pull the top bunk down, there is a second mattress (already made up) that you place on the bottom bed, and voila! you’re all ready to sleep. In the morning, you just put the second mattress on top of the top one and close the upper bunk and you’re back to a sitting car. It’s really neat. There is also a small closet and a lap table that lives along the side of the wall under the window until you need it. We had two roomettes across the hall from each other. It seemed as though the sleeper cars have a much better suspension system than coach. If at all possible do travel this way. Not only is it much more relaxing but your meals are included in the cost of the room.

When you are rolling along the tracks with a nice rocking motion, watching the landscape pass you by, it is amazing how hypnotizing this is. I had planned to play with my DS or read and neither of these activities took place. I watched upper Middle America pass by instead, and it was worth it.

One little anecdote I will share with you about train travel is, if the train runs over a steer, it is likely to disconnect the air hoses under the train. When this happens, the train makes unusual sounds and movements. I heard crack, rattle rattle, rocks flying up under our car and then thththththththththwisttttttt and then silence. Eventually you will get word over the PA that they hit livestock and that the power is off as the conductors have to go under the train to re-connect the air hoses. By the way, please do not use the restrooms as the toilets will not flush when there is no power. That was useful information. It was also funny that just as the train stopped it seemed that most of us thought that would be a good time to use the rest room. Good thing that announcement came first. Nothing else exciting happened during the trip except for the gentleman who died on our car, but that, too, is another very short story that should be told, not written.

Automobiles

Our train ride ended in Lamy, New Mexico. From there, we took a shuttle (van) to Santa Fe. I must admit that I was a little surprised when I discovered you could neither fly in or out of Santa Fe, nor did the train go directly in either. Lamy is about 17 miles outside of Santa Fe. Apparently the 75 mile per hour speed limit is only a suggestion since no one seemed to do less than 105. This is not a joke. Anyway, that was the only example of fast paced anything we encountered on this trip.

We asked the shuttle driver to drop us at Enterprise car rental instead of our hotel because we wanted to make sure we checked in there before they closed at 6. We then checked in to our hotel. Santa Fe became our base camp. We settled in Monday evening and Tuesday we hit the road.

We hung a right and went to Albuquerque. One thing I noticed about this area is the lack of tall buildings. There are no skyscrapers as we know them. It may be because they are so high up (Santa Fe is 7388 feet above sea level and Albuquerque is 430+ feet above sea level) everything is scraping the sky.

The petroglyphs were fascinating. First, I guess you should know that these mountains were once active volcanoes. It is believed that the Native Americans painted these symbols on the rocks as examples of the spirits of their dead.

BEEP- BEEP! As we were leaving the petroglyphs area, something was moving in the brush to the left of our car. Suddenly, a medium sized funny looking bird darted in front of us, stopped, looked both ways and ran across the road into the brush on the other side. Yes, it was …..the roadrunner! We tried to get a picture of it but it was way too fast. Really! So once it disappeared we sat there for a few minutes waiting. Wiley Coyote had to be coming along in a minute with his ACME credit card in hand. Well, half of the duo was not bad. How often can you say a roadrunner crossed your path?

Wednesday, we drove to Roswell, which is 200 miles southeast of Santa Fe. Roswell was really weird. I felt alienated, or rather spacey. Well, the thing is, it’s really flat, like Columbus or Cleveland, or central Ohio. It had trees and plants like Columbus or Cleveland, or central Ohio. It was humid like Columbus or Cleveland, or central Ohio. All of the shops we saw reminded me of Yankee Trader. Wait. Where was I, Roswell or Columbus? There were no skyscrapers or a real downtown, although I could have been on W. Broad Street past the Spaghetti Warehouse. Ok, it was Roswell. Roswell is the home of The International UFO Museum. It had some interesting exhibits.

One of the things that this trip showed us was the vastness of the country. Roads are straight and go for miles! Notice the traffic? New Mexico is so sparsely populated that people sighting was a bigger sport than seeing antelope in the wild. Something else we saw that was exciting and beautiful was a windmill farm. Someone is thinking conservation!

We only drove around Santa Fe to get in and out of it. We spent most of Thursday visiting the shops and sites in town. This is a small city – maybe 73,000 people, and it is a walking city. Most things are within walking distance to the hotel areas. The streets are circular – one will probably take you to the few main streets in town so it easy not to get lost, but on the other hand, I found it hard to remember where I was. That could have been due in part to the fact that I had a nasty cold and was trying to breathe in a thin air environment. On the other hand, it could have been because things looked similar throughout the city. But then, all of a sudden, you’d come upon a very striking church or building that was just stunning. This area is full of history. I may go back one day (by train) when I do not have a cold just to be able to spend more time at the historic cites. However, if you want to shop here, bring your 401k plan and the rest of your life’s savings with you because that may be the only way you will be able to afford it.

Planes
Friday morning we checked out of our hotel and took another shuttle (van) to Albuquerque to the airport. During the ride to the airport, I had the pleasure of talking to a gentleman from British Vancouver who had lived in Santa Fe for years. He is an architect and gave me a lot of info on the city. As we talked we exchanged the ‘what-do- you-do info. Once he learned what I did the conversation changed from politics in the US and how the economy here relates to issues there, to WOW I love the Library! He told me a bit about the library in Victoria BC. They are providing DVD’s and CD’s on demand. The interesting thing is that according to him they had just started letting customers reserve them. Anyway, we had a great discussion about libraries and other quality of life issues.

Albuquerque has a cute airport, small with lots of shops. It was pretty easy to get to the gate, except the security area was really a bit much. I had to go through extra screening because of a tube of lotion – just about 3 oz. that they wanted in a quart sized clear plastic Ziploc baggie that they felt I should have removed from my carry on bag (too big to really call a purse) and put in the bin prior to screening. But the real kicker was the gate area. If you have seen in westerns when they herd the cattle through a narrow gate to get them in one by one so they can be counted, and then they are sorted into various pens afterward- you’ve been to this airport. We arrived at our gate, but could not tell where to line up. There were several planes leaving at about the same time and we all seemed to have to go to the same desk and exit point to get to them. There was no seating for passengers at the gate, so if your plane was late, like ours was, you had to find somewhere out of the way to stand or squat around until it did come. Then it was a real stampede to the gate to board. Boy was I glad that was over.

We had a flight to Atlanta with a three hour layover and flight from there to Columbus both via Delta, and both were great flights. Even so, ranking means of transportation in order of preference, trains would get a 10, planes a 5, and buses a 4. I do not like airports if I’m traveling. I think they are nice places to pick up trinkets but many are too big to be comfortable. I do not like take off. Once we’re up I’m fine. Take off bothers me because it feels as if the plane has not committed to the possibility of flight. Once it has leveled off, I’m ok. Landing is not a problem – we have to come down sometime so gliding in and landing in one piece is expected. It’s the take off.

Buses on the other hand are too impersonal and uncomfortable for too long, and they tend to have a generic bus odor that is not nice. And although they may be safer than planes, planes are faster. But in the scheme of current things, if we had instate rail service and even regional multi state rail service, I bet there would be a major decline in bus, plane, and highway travel – trains would win! Not only is it a pleasant trip, but I understand that it is fuel efficient as well.
Well, we landed, and came home to more humidity than I ever remember feeling here before. It felt, well, alien. Wait, where am I…..

More on Over the Hill

Well, I guess the post about surgery did not mention being over the hill, but I am and as such I am finding out things about aging and my body that are less than satisfactory. I walk like Fred Sanford because I need knee replacements. I passed on them because up until now, most recipients, male and female did not seem to be better off after the surgery and painful rehab. But lately, people (women in particular) have been getting replacements today and actually walking well within a week or two. Now I'm curious. So, I plan on discussing this with my Doctor and if it is a go, planning on doing something about my limp and drag this time next year - I am storing up on PTO (Paid Time Off).

Whaass New?

I had rotator cuff surgery in May. It was the first time I'd ever had surgery so it was a real experience. It is now something that I added and then crossed off my bucket list. I had to add it because my plan was to make it to at least 90 years old and no surgery. But, now that this has occurred, I added it and immediately crossed it off!

Apparently by trying to put a piece of paper behind me on a low file cabinet, I dislocated my shoulder and that process cut the tendons holding the rotator cuff in place. I tore it really well (if you're going to do something, do it right) to the point of having no pain. My shoulder just felt like it was annoyed by a sleeve being too tight on it. It made me move it around to get that odd feeling to go away. It didn't.

Anyway, after a few days of that and creeping numbness in my hand, and, yeah the inability to use my left hand, (and friends asking me to do my Bob Dole impression) I decided to see what my Doctor thought.

Long story short - I ripped it. So in order to get my arm (and life) back, I needed surgery. Now you (or at least I) have to wonder when the surgeon and her team continue to ask why I want the surgery since I was not in pain at the time and then they told me over and over that, "you know after you have the surgery you'll be in pain", was this really the right thing to do? Or rather was I in my on personal episode of Twilight Zone. Of course I figured there might be pain after surgery, but when they emphasized that it would be horrible, I began to wonder if that was with or without medication.

So I had the surgery. Arthroscopic - six tiny incisions. In at 8 am home by 1pm - done. Needless to say I was waiting for the pain. Well it did hurt, but nothing compared to natural childbirth - it was pretty easy compared to that. So after about 4 days, I was pretty much off the medication - until after Physical Therapy when I thought it was best to at least take half a dose.

I am now about 66% back to normal. Well, maybe 50%. I am just beginning to use the arm for driving, and I am now reaching up for things and not dropping them (light weight things like a box of cereal).

I will say something about this in a couple of months when I hope to be at least 70% better.

Fight or Flight: No Child Left Behind

Just trying to consolidate blogs. Here is a older one of mine that I just wanted to link to this page but could not figure out how to do it. Previously posted in July of 2006:

During his address to the NAACP, President Bush made the following statement. “There's an achievement gap in America that's wrong for America, an achievement gap that says we're not fulfilling the promise. One of the barriers to opportunity, one of the obstacles to success is the fact that too many of our children aren't reading at grade level. And we know that because we measure, and we're doing something about it. Actually, the achievement gap is beginning to close. There's more work to be done. Measuring allows parents to see how the school that their child is going to is doing. It lets the parents determine whether or not they should be satisfied with the education their child is getting.

I strongly believe that parental involvement is important for our school systems. And I believe, and I strongly believe a parent knows what's best for his or her child. That's what I believe. And therefore, when we find schools that are not teaching and will not change, our parents should have a different option. If you want quality education you've got to trust the parents.
You know, an amazing thing about our society today is wealthier white families have got the capacity to defeat mediocrity by moving. That is not the case for lower-income families. And so, therefore, I strongly believe in charter schools, and public school choice. I believe in opportunity scholarships to be able to enable parents to move their child out of a school that's not teaching, for the benefit of the United States of America.”

It is unfortunate that the answer to the question is not fight where you are but move elsewhere. I suggest that often times the problems reflected by the students are those of the parents. Yes, some of them want a better education for their children, but they do not expect to have to work for it. They are not members nor do they attend PTA meetings. They do not respond to requests to attend parent/teacher meetings or open houses. They ignore requests to come to school to talk about the educational progress or lack thereof of their children. They expect the teachers and school personnel to handle everything. They become hostile when asked to check homework or read to/with children. Sometimes the parent is not much older than the child. Sometimes the problem is the lack of skill on the part of the parent. On many levels, a system based upon the family unit is doomed to fail. The divorce rate shares the same percentage of the odds that the parent is sufficiently educated to help their child. There are a lot of excuses for this behavior, but the bottom line is, parents have a real role to play in the education of their children. It does not start at age 5. It starts before birth.

Flight away from inner-city schools is not the answer. There are many dedicated teachers, support personnel and principals in these schools who would love to have parental support. These are people who are trained and dedicated to teaching.Along with No Child Left Behind we need a different educational model. People are not machines, they are uniquely different, and as such we cannot have a rote program and hope that it will cultivate individual personalities and successes. We tend to believe everyone should learn the same thing at the same time and therefore must learn everything they need to know by the time they reach the age of 18. So what about the children who can absorb twelve years of classroom knowledge in six years? What about those that may need fourteen or sixteen years to learn? Stigmas, like racism and other isms, related to intelligence must be eliminated so that more people are not left behind. We need everyone, who can, to get “it”.

We need teachers in the classrooms not instructors. We need students to feel less pressure to learn things by a certain time so that their energies can be focused on learning and retaining knowledge, and then understanding how to apply that knowledge. Maybe we need to migrate from needing X number of clock hours in the classroom to a system that says you have completed the requirements for primary and secondary learning when you can show you understand these basic knowledges – age at understanding is not important. School should be year round. I am sure there are many creative ways to make sure everyone gets enough time off, and a reasonable amount of time to learn.

I believe parents have the option to make sure the schools in their neighborhoods are having a positive effect on their children.

I believe that by working with the local schools and the unions that education in America can become the best in the world.

I believe that in some communities, education must be done at a time that is convenient to the majority of the people in the community. Maybe parents and children should go to school together – children to get it right the first time, parents to enhance or refresh their skills so that they can be productive in supporting their children’s education and the family financially. Then maybe we would have a system in which parents are the role models and teachers are the educators.

I believe that with some creativity, rule bending and hard work, no child would be left behind.

In Open Letter: Star Jones Checks Bill O'Reilly's Racist Remark, Star Jones-Reynolds (for those of you who are not familiar with this issue) responds to the following:

"O'Reilly, ...was talking to a caller who was angry that [Michelle] Obama had said on C-Span that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." The 58-year-old television commentator..... responded to the caller by offering that of course they'd have to check the facts first. He said: "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels - that is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever - then that's legit. We'll track it down."

I was intrigued that Ms. Jones picked up on the lynch party and tracking down comments as being racist. Actually, I missed that until she brought it up. I was taken aback by the obvious lack of support for free speech - something that O'Reilly depends on. I though how hypocritical this was as a journalist, he did not defend her or everyone's right to their opinions, and the right and freedom to express them.

I was glad, though, that he said he would look in to it instead of just reacting, however I was intrigued by the line, "we'll track it down". Track it down and do what?

Granted, she is right in the public eye, and she had the audacity to say what many people have felt for some time. Let's hone in on this attitude - that of we must support our government right or wrong or otherwise we are not patriots.

One of the things that made this country great was the courage many people exhibited when they stood up and spoke change into existence.

But speaking of speaking change into existence, why must we have a conversation like this about racism and the negative effects of words at this point in time? How can we speak change into existence? When will lynch party be a page in history, one that we can read about, look back on and marvel about how that and the issues related to it have been solved? When will someone be able to use that expression without drawing fire? And, by ignoring it, are we certainly opening the door for more, or for escalated racism? How can we solve this problem?

MAYBE WE NEED A NEW SONG

The last stanza of each verse of Francis Scott Key’s original Star Spangled Banner is “O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!” In the first stanza he asks:

…”does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

I contend that it does not. The terrorists have already won. They no longer need to lob, drive or fly bombs into buildings representing our government and its allies, or even toss threats because that which made America a dream, a goal, a destination point, an example of exemplary government and lifestyle; that freedom to speak, assemble, worship, travel, learn, raise our children our way, and more, either does not exist or is being eroded faster than I can type.

“They want to destroy us”. There is a political ad that says this. It says they want to kill us as well. There are more ways to die than physically. How about death of freedom, death of the spirit that made this country unique; death of fearlessness or the rise of fear from internal and external sources? No longer are we so brave. We are – cautious, scrutinizing our neighbors and anyone who we do not know – death can come from many sources. Are we alive if we are captors of fear and prejudice? What about that ad? How effective is it in perpetrating this death of freedom? And guess what? It is not prepared by “terrorists” but by those among us who want us to think that all middle easterners are plotting against us. Or is it the Mexicans or the French.

We are no longer free to move around the cabin. We are searched. We are chastised for doing what may seem reasonable at the time. Maybe they find sewing scissors in a woman’s pocket book? What if she is a crafts person? What if they were so deep in the bottom of the bag that they were just overlooked? What if she has an olive complexion? Maybe now she is a person of interest. With the new law before the senate, whether she is a citizen or not, she may be held indefinitely without due process. Who is passing that law? Not the terrorists – at least not the ones we are supposed to be protecting ourselves from.

We are now free to choose our own gated community. That will keep us free provided we follow the rules, ask for permission to paint our houses the right color and keep our grass the right length. We may be lucky enough to get in to a co-op apartment or flat – that is if we meet the criteria and can afford the monthly dues. We are no longer really free to express ourselves nor is it truly lawful to assemble to protest as it was guaranteed by our constitution of old.
What has happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Where is it now, America? What has happened to those people who believed in fighting for a just cause and not fighting a concept?

Let's do as we should always do – review our past. There was a time when we were not at war or looking for war. There was a time when we proudly sang of an America as

My country,' tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

A stanza every American could sing because at some time or another, someone in the family fought and died for the freedom safety and liberty of this country.
We proudly sang the last verse:

Our fathers' God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

And did not question one word in it because it was true. Was true. Let's look and see how the road of freedom has narrowed to a path. How long will it be before it becomes a trail, a pass – a memory erased by modern day revisionists.

The terrorists have already won. They can rest on their laurels and reclaim their countries while we implode. We are self destructing via corrupt and immoral leadership. We are destroying ourselves by feeding the fire of distrust. We are destroying -ourselves. While we tilt at windmills, shadowbox with imaginary foes and flail around like blinded Cyclops', the terrorists can heal and return to being law abiding citizens in their countries. America used to stand for justice and freedom and things positive. Oh say, can you see – I think not.