Poetry Thursday

Oh soul, 

you worry too much. 

You have seen 

your own strength. 

You have seen your own beauty. 

You have seen your golden wings. 

Of anything less, 

why do you worry? 

You are in truth the soul, 

of the soul, of the soul.

~ Rumi  

More Oakland

I keep saying I will make time to finish those blog drafts, or start the pesky life blog posts hidden in my heart.  Alas... I am applying for jobs, that is refining my resume, and helping people organize their lives and trying to get fit...

So, here is another bit of the pictorial of my wanderings last week... enjoy

NRU more mishy and mashy

Ok, so this will be some "old" news and some more "current" events because it turns out I had more articles I was hording but not ready to write about for the last mishmash.

If you are in LA or its environs during the heat wave, this sounds like a great way to spend the day -- reading and pedaling on the water: a floating library in the middle of a "lake!"

This is the story of the cab driver who unwittingly picked up three fugitives who had just broken out of jail.  It is really stranger than fiction.

Continuing with the theme of "you wouldn't believe it unless it was in a novel" is a story about the death of two prominent citizens in NJ ...I won't tell you more except the cops think one thing and the family doesn't see how it could be possible.

It is so interesting when "friending" someone that you don't really know on fb can lead to stories you want to read and share.  The writer of this piece on having difficult conversations with loved ones about death is the candidate for whom my friend works.  I would never have seen this if I hadn't "liked" his page for my friend's sake of getting the candidate more likes!

Oakland...

 I had the time to walk a bit in a part of Oakland where I don't spend too much time, and I snapped a couple of pictures...

 This eclectic bit of scenery is a big part of why I love Oakland.

NRU education edition

Really, I keep saying I am not going to do this, and then I can't help myself.

These are the articles that stayed open on my browser until I just had to share them.  Hope you enjoy.

Wow ... if you want to be inspired, read about this teacher.  There are many others out there, but we like to focus on the "bad apples."  I love everything about this teacher ... and I hope others are inspired to bring their magic to classrooms everywhere.

Starting strong down the proactive, positive, inspiring work and staying in that lane.  This NY Times article describes a thoughtful program in Oakland to help Black boys achieve greater heights in education.  I sure wish them well -- and lots of strength and staying power because it takes time to build up when you are starting so far behind 0.  These boys deserve this kind of truly thorough, meticulous and empathetic approach to inspiring excellence.

This is the beginning of an interesting series on how to work the Four Agreements with middle school girls.  I love this book and applaud this woman's efforts.  This piece specifically deals with the first agreement: Be impeccable with your word. This one is for the second agreement: Don't take anything personally.  Stay tuned for the last two ... that is check back with Christina's blog for those other two.

This is a beautiful (and succinct) piece on autism from someone who has autism.  His five things you should know could not be expressed in a more open or striking way.  Everyone should read this -- but parents especially should take his words to heart.  Excellent empowerment...

Ok, so you knew this happy happy could not last on a news round up about education, right?  So, this piece is about how young Latinos don't see themselves in books and why that matters.  Short synopsis -- it matters! 

I'm gonna call it here even though I am sure more stuff will pop up ... this is a lot to digest in one take and I am pleased with the upbeat perspective.  Let's try to have a week filled with this approach to life and challenges.

Cita de jueves/Poetry Thursday

Amigos verdaderos 

son los que vienen a 

compartir nuestra felicidad 

cuando se las ruega

 y nuestra desgracia 

sin ser llamados.

~Demetrio de Falerea, filosofo atenienese

True friends 

in prosperous times

 come only when invited, 

but in misfortune 

of their own accord.

~Demetrius of Phalerum, Athenian Orator

 

NRU super mish mash

Since it was Mardi Gras today, I had super nachos for lunch.  I know, not on my diet.  But, hey if you can't eat fatty food on fat Tuesday, when can you??  And no, I will not be giving any food products up for Lent.  The Pope said not to...

I sure hope it is true that folks will start to rethink their war on rats.  I know lots of folks think rats are nasty.  There are some good reasons to hate on them.  Though, to be fair, they are not to blame for most of what we find questionable in their living habits.  They are not making lifestyle choices.  Sure, they played a part, unwittingly, in the black plague.  But, our lifestyle choices are killing and maiming so many animals up the food chain.  Refrain from poison - please - find another way. Plus - family link, Dos Vientos was one of my mom's childhood stomping grounds.

I am sad to not be closer to the ocean for daily walks during these summer like winter days ... but glad to not have to meet up with the underweight sea lions.  It is so very sad ... and our complicity in this tragedy makes me feel angry, outraged, helpless and guilty all at the same time.  If you can look in this little one's eyes and not see the reality of global warming, then your connection to reality is much more tenuous than previously believed.  Sending the padded wagon for you now.

If you have never been to the desert (here's a guide) in the spring time, this might be the year to venture out.  I swear everything in the desert is magnified ... and wildflowers are no exception.  Maybe that is why the hummingbirds were so happy in Albuquerque.

Are you an aspiring writer?  Well, if you said, "YES!" here is one for you. Ursula LeGuin, besides being an inspiring human being and incredible writer, is also an awesome community member.  She is offering a free online writing course.  You're welcome!

If writing is not what you need, but the opportunity to "manifest your succulent wild life," SARK (google her for yourself, I can't do it all for you!) is offering another free e-course.  Again, you are welcome... and enjoy!

Black History Month Corner
28 kick ass women you should know about, if you don't already...
The everyday practice of Black girl accountability
Not leaving out the boys, but ugh: Teaching the ongoing murder of Black boys... 
Wow ... Paul Revere Williams, architect.  If you have ever flown in or out of LAX, you have seen his amazing work.

Ok... so it turns out I have been hording a lot of articles. 

Poetry Thursday

Wherever you stand,

be the Soul

of that place.

-Rumi

Happy Birthday to Me!

I wish I could show you, 

when you are lonely 

or in the darkness, 

the astonishing light 

of your own being! 

~Hafiz

Scenes from life...2013 to now

Poetry Thursday

...My mother laughs
At the angels who wait for us to pause
During the most ordinary of days

And sing our praise to forgetfulness
Before they slap our souls with their cold wings.

Those angels burden and unbalance us.
Those fucking angels ride us piggyback.

Those angels, forever falling, snare us
And haul us, prey and praying, into dust.

~Sherman Alexie
from Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World

9:57 am to 3:58 pm

Gas, two stops for food and, you know, the bathroom.  379 miles.  580-880-101.  When I got on to the 101 (yes, the) it was 322 miles of beautiful California on a mostly sunny day.

As the miles slid by, every time I saw the green growing on the hills, mountains and valleys, a smile grew across my face.

I stopped counting Papa Joe's (hawks to the uninitiated) after 15.

There was a lot of singing.  I never made it to the many podcasts stored on my phone.  There was some car dancing.  And there was some crying.

Sitting in the car, beauty all around me, car singing my favorite songs, safety descends around me and the tears well. 

When I finally saw the ocean, it felt like I was home.

Oh and there was traffic.  But it was muted by the green dinosaurs sleeping on either side of me until I reached the coast.  Then the sun and waves and fog and islands eclipsed any other cars on the road.

It was a good day.

life, at this moment

These have been some hard days ... can't remember how far back it goes.  But you can probably trace the latest dip by the drop off in the posts.

I can report that I have been pondering words for the year.

So far, BELIEVE! is the one that has been called my attention the most -- although still toying with some variant of OPEN.  I feel like I have been in the spot hoping to OPEN and stay OPEN for so long. 

Today I decided to tape this card into my calendar that reads: What are you waiting for?

It might be my mantra.

NRU education

I am a news junky, and no matter how much I try to tell myself to look away when I see the education posts, I can't.

This one caught my eye, in part because it was unfinished, and in part because these are the conversations more stakeholders need to be in on.  I am glad students' voices are trying to be included, albeit somewhat to very coached.  But we need more teacher, parent and neighbor voices included too.

Apparently there is some good news to come out of the new ESSA .... states *can* choose to evaluate teachers with something other than test scores.  Let's not go crazy celebrating.  It still leaves the decision up to the states.

I offer you a pediatrician's view on ADD and ADHD and why we treat it improperly because we don't truly understand it.

Um... this guy is making a case for why TFA is really a glorified temp agency.  I am giggling and eating popcorn while eating this one.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Here's a little more on the autism spectrum ... and I am still working on this one, so I can't say more than that.

Poetry Thursday, perspective

borrowed from my brother

Be content with what you have

rejoice in the way things are

When you realize there is nothing lacking

the whole world belongs to you.

~Lao Tzu

ugh

I have things to do, a lot of things.  I have so many drafts, letters, cards, and cover letters to write.  I have other people's drafts to read and comment on ... I have story outlines to create and most of all, I have emotions to process.

I should have written that damn craigslist post offering to HIRE someone to process these damn emotions for me.  [when I write or say DAMN emotions, you should hear the vehemence of Waitress' DAMN BABY]

But, I sit here and read other people's words and watch some shows... and hide from life.
 
What I haven't done: finish my "new year's" cards, select my word for the year, generally get my shit together. 

Tomorrow is another day.

These little pigs are up to their noses in water

NRU mishy and mashy

This piece will be in the inaugural displays at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  What a beautiful and heartbreaking piece of a story; that it has remained intact since sometime in the 1850s is a testament to the strength, resilience and heart those slaves passed on to their children.  All legacies have their bitter and their sweet.

It must be the day for sweet stories that break your heart or renew your faith in humanity.  Here's one that speaks to the essence of love ... it is not easy or predictable, but there it is.

If you didn't tune into Obama's last State of the Union, please take a minute to read it.  It was a week for political rhetoric ... I tried to watch the GOP Debate without alcohol and a score board, and it was agonizing.  Two hours in with no visible end in sight, I baled.  Here is the NPR fact check which is actually all you really need to know. 

Ms. Mora's courage to tell her viejitos the "secret" of how she got to their small town in Montana helped them bring their conversation on illegal immigration down to earth. Thank goodness for people talking to each other rather than at each other.

"This isn't to say they've changed their minds about illegal immigration. But it's just not part of the conversation at Los Koritas now. Warner too has moved on from the topic. Yeni is still Yeni to him.

Mora said she just wishes that, when it comes to illegal immigration, "they didn't see me as the exception. There are many like me across the nation. We had to come illegally. There was no other way.'"

Turns out all you need to be a winner in the lottery (at least in your own mind) is some good photoshopping skills. 

So, while I applaud CalTech taking the complaints seriously (but really after UC Berkeley bungling it not too long ago, it would not have been good form for CalTech to follow Cal's lead), I am not sure that one year off without pay while not allowed on campus and "supervised visits" is really the right sanction for sexual harassment.  Sadly, if he was caught this time, he has likely done it many times and will continue to do so.  At what point will his livelihood actually be threatened by his unlawful activity? The people who have come forward to charge him have already put their own livelihoods on the line for the sake of those who might come after them.

Poetry Thursday

If I hold you in my heart, 

you'll wither;
Become a thorn 

if I hold you in my eyes.....
No, I'll make a place 

for you within my soul instead,
So you'll be my love 

in lives beyond this life.
~ Rumi

pics back

Ugh ... don't try to protect your privacy online with regards to pictures, it will take them from your blogs (where you obviously placed them, and where they wouldn't have control over unless you did). Never going to upload my pics to a third party ... not worth it in the long run. Thanks, Google, for the lesson in what I do and do not control, what you can and cannot control, etc...

NRU splash before crash

In the news roundup, there are far too often gloomy tales.  I am feeling under the weather, but the sun is shining for the first time in days (not complaining, just explaining), so I decided this should be the first article in NRU:
It is a great piece about a blog called Chinatown Pretty and an exhibit of its photos.  This was one of my favorite lines:

“Purple is really big in Chinatown,” Luu says. “Sometimes people wear four shades in one outfit. There’s a lot of cane fashion, too, like floral walking canes. Men usually wear monochromatic outfits. You see lots of baseball caps and sneakers — borderline hip hop fashion.”

A fairly balanced (read they did try to show both sides) read on Emeryville's raise in the minimum wage, but decidedly on the side of the workers.  It is The Nation after all.  But a good read, especially for those who will likely never read it, because it explains the reality of who is a minimum wage earner, and how even $15 is sometimes barely break even. 

Some *other* perspectives on Making of a Murderer -- there are lots of haters out there, and I wonder how much of the hateration is coming from lobbying in the law enforcement/prosecution bunch.  Lobbying is every where ... and this documentary, however flawed you may think it is, provides a view into our *justice* system that we just don't frequently get.  What I found most compelling was not whether Avery was a good guy/guilty/innocent, but rather his family's treatment by law enforcement.  I also fell hard for his parents who stalwartly stand by his side. 

I have had this one open in my browser for a while ... waiting to see if I had the emotional strength to read it. And, after reading it, all I can say is "wow." I think this doc has an interesting way of breaking things down, in a world where we want to be able to claim knowledge we don't have in order to prop up a position we know is simply our own ideas.  I like this line particularly because it reminds us of our ability to control (with our vote) the tiniest piece of this from a rational standpoint.

"People high in healthy narcissism (link is external) inspire without undermining. They lead with conviction not cruelty. They bring out the best (link is external), not the worst, in the people around them. That's who we need leading the nation."

In fact, I think this piece is rather complimentery to the voters, it says, you have what it takes to make reasoned decisions.

pics broken

I don't know what I did that caused all of my photos to turn into "do not enter" signs ... ugh... any ideas out there? I think it has to do with the google+ settings...