Status Report - Moving Forward is Hard Work

It has been a while. Much and little has happened to me. I still have doves cooing in the morning. Still have crickets doing their thing. Especially as I try to record the podcast.

For me, it it hard to say I'm happy. I'm not. 

There is bad stuff in America and the world. Which is why I consciously make sure I listen to the doves in the morning. 

They know there are cats in the neighborhood. 

They coo for love. 

They coo for protection.

They even coo when they fight. 

 And doves do fight. Two or more non-relatives on a branch can cause a commotion.

What else?

I'm starting to work on a health literacy certificate. I have an idea about a concept.

I want and need more training so I'm hanging out at the National Medical Library to get a move on about it.

I've restarted the Create Video Notebook but this time I'm only posting once a week-ish on functional and accessible creative tools for media creation. Probably viewed through a frugal lens but hey, I'm a frugal (but not cheap) person.

Re-entry into the world is a bit tough, but I'm doing it. Need a new pair of shoes and have to wait until I'm vaccinated to get them. But will hobble to get vax'd.

Oh, on-line grocery shopping.

This is a big one for me. I never thought I'd do it. 

For me, it works about 70% of the time.

My preference is to shop for food in person. When I couldn't, I had to switch.

It made me more thoughtful about my purchases. I could order exactly what I wanted without concern about how was I going to get it home. Or reject an item because I couldn't carry it home.

Now I can order or try out things I wouldn't have.

However, I do not have access to items that I would have found in an Asian or other markets. There is also limited brand selection with one of the services I used. 

And the meat situation was not acceptable. I'm not paying $16 for a whole chicken. $28 for a piece of beef. 

Plenty of process meats but not good deli style. Processed deli if you get my drift.

And if you don't order within a certain range of you will see sold out. 

A lot.

So yeah, I will be ordering groceries about twice a month. A combination of actual retail and on-line grocery when I work from home. 

Now prepared food delivery. Probably not again.

It hurts. It hurts the restaurants. It hurts the delivery folks.

Damn sure it hurts my wallet. 

Only thing about it that works is the delivery. But I've had food 3/4 cooked delivered. Or forgot my drink. Or the dish overly salty.

Nah. I can do bad on my own. 

Otherwise...

I'm good. Doing ok. Have plenty to do and I'm grateful.

Microbloging and Li'L Abner

Having trouble not writing in anger. So I don't write. And then I feel bad leading to worse. I'm stumbling around the 'Tubes and I see Mel's post about re-embracing our blogs by microblogging. Instead of giving it to Twitter or Facebook give to yourself first.

I use to get booed at Show and Tell. Don't care, I still do it.

There is a web site that collects government and non-profit comic books. These were produced for the common good or to instruct the population about an important issue. I'll write more on the archiving blog but I can say that small step to reclaim my non-angry voice is making me late for work.

A Thought, A Word and A Prototype

I have been bugged about access to health care, and of the poor access to legit healthcare information. When have any of us been taught to access the American healthcare system? Not saying that there hasn't been an informal lessons; depending on culture.

For example in certain communities you don't go near a doctor or healthcare provider unless you are halfway dead. You have to prove to the family unit that there is a reason to engage with medical care because it could mean food, the rent or long term debt.

Other folks revere doctors and accept everything that comes of the mouths of healthcare providers. Even when it is flat out wrong or hazardous to health; white coats; licensed or not are to be obeyed.



We also have a problem with health literacy. How much is a dram of medicine? Once every two hours or Four times a day? Side effects and non-cure medicine are rampant. How do you know what you are supposed to know?

Where do you go for non-branded healthcare information? WebMD? A commercial web site? Your legit pharmacy web with content written by a third party who might be creating advertorials?

I don't want to talk about problems. I want to talk about problems that have solutions big and small. I can do the small. Small cumulative can become big. So this is a prototype for an idea that I have about introducing healthcare literacy topics.

It takes time, research and design skills. Two of those things I have in short supply. But if they do gut the ACA/Obamacare in the next few months we need to set up our own lines of information and defense.

I could be negative about this or I can be proactive. I choose to test the waters to see if this can be done and done in the right way. Not saying that this even a good start but can't wait any more.

This is just an idea I created with simple tools.

The Cool Tools Book That I'm Putting on the Wish List

I was one of those people that read The Whole Earth Catalog. Yes, I know it is not a narrative type book. It was a huge freaking catalog. It was the paper Internet. How do grow hay? Build a mud house? Get a radio license?

It spoke to me even thought I was raised as a city girl. Didn't matter. There were academic stuff in that Whole Earth Catalog. It feed a hunger. I wanted to know what I didn't know.


The above video is about a new book called Cool Tools. I subscribe to the feed of the web site. The site is about tools (an expansive term) and gadgets. Things that people can do analog as well as digital.

There is a part of me that wants this book very much. It is not the logical part. I have no immediate need to build a mud house. But there is other stuff in the book that I would like to read or know about especially for those frequent notices of impending doom.

It is the longing for sensory pleasure of putting hand to paper and falling into a world. This is why I have to stay out of bookstores. I'm vulnerable that way.

So...yeah. I don't do SaleXmas but I'm posting this as a reminder to myself that should I clear 1/3 of my book collection I could possibly pick this up as a reward.

Eh, I mean for my emergency kit supply kit.

That I will read in bed slowly as I turn the pages.

Somedays I Only Want to Hug My Blanket

Status Report: School is going well except when I have to write a paper. I normally can crank out a report without busting a sweat. Not in the Digital Archiving class. I'm learning multiple new skills at the same time that I have to practice them.

The class is doing wonders for my brain cells stimulation but I have to squeeze out time from the early morning or late evening hours. Time I use to allocate to blogging. You might not be aware of this but there really are only 24 hours in a day.

Some of that time is designated for sleeping. It seems that I have been shaving more of my sleep time than my body is willing to accept. There are protest and on certain occasions shutdown actions.

I had a shutdown action last week. I wanted to finish reading a book. The body stated that this was not acceptable and you will enter shutdown mode in 5...4...3...2......zzzzzz.

At which time I fell asleep. Then I woke up ten minutes later with the book still in my hands.

Only to get the shutdown notice again.

Yes, once again I'll dredged up the fact that I could go to school, watch the Late, Late, Late Show on television take a half hour nap and then head back to school.

I need that kind of energy and it is long gone. I just gotta make it over the hump. December is coming. Normally I hate that month but now it has a certain appeal in that when I finish this semester I'll get some sleep time before the next semester kicks into gear.

In the meantime, I have my old school Kindle read me stories in an automated, non-emotional voice. I usually drop off to sleep as it drones on but I get a taste of the book.

There are days when you only have time for a taste. Savor what you can.

Harriet Tubman - Lift Her Up!

It is time for clean up duty. The damage has been done. The Russell Simmons video that was an alleged comedy about Sister Tubman has been pulled from YouTube. I suspect there may be other copies of the video that will be posted again and again.

There are people who insist that it is their right to laugh at the video and call it funny. It is their way of fighting political correctness. Those people are not my immediate concern. 

There is a problem that we can do something about. Nothing goes away on the Internet. That damn title of the video is the most recent search engince citation containing Harriet Tubman's name.

When it comes time school children to do a search guess which item is going to come to the surface? There are currently about 290,000 Google listings for Russell Simmons, Tubman and Sex.

Do you want to be the teacher or parent that has to explain this?

Those poor kids are going to be bamboozled about Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer. What do you think this will do to them? Grown folks, we gotta clean it up.

Lift Her Up! 

Here is your assignment. If you have a post about Ms. Tubman that is appropriate then post it on your blog and tell two friends.

If you have a book recommendation or want to do a book review of something that you have read to your kids post it up and tell two friends.




If you know of a video NOT created or paid for by Russell Simmons that can help people understand the real deal lets share that link that up as well.

We need to push the title of the video way, way down in the search results. This is also a good time to inform the young ones that we have a history that cannot be bought with silver and gold.

You can be angry or you can do something about it.

I'll add citations and other info in this post but I can't do this by myself. As many tweets that went out about the video is that's how many good resources we'll need to flush it out.

For People that Cut History Class and Have to Get up to Speed

Harriet Tubman Humanitarian, Leader, Hero Mini Documentary

TeacherTube video on Harriet Tubman as Older Woman
Intro Video on Harriet Tubman Byway in Maryland

One hour video from the Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth Sackler Center on Feminist Art - Author Beverly Lowry discusses her book Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life

U.S., State and Local Government Sites

America's Story from America's Library - Harriet Tubman
National Park Service Underground Railroad Monument Page
Maryland's Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad Byway



For Parents and School Research

Good Reads Book List on Harriet Tubman
IMDB Page on the movie A Woman Called Moses performed by Cicily Tyson
Library of Congress Harriet Tubman Online Resources
Scholastic Harriet Tubman Web Hunt
University of North Carolina at Chapple Hill - Black Abolitionist Papers about Harriet Tubman   
WorldCat Library Search of Books, Audio, Articles and other media

Another 47% Moocher Speak Up for Education

I want to add my contribution to the many great bloggers writing about being in the 47% entitled, victim-hood and moocher club.  I though I was finished with it but I want to give my education version.

I wanted to go to college. My family encourage me to get a good job. That isn't why I wanted to go to college. I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to know things and people beyond my neighborhood.

Every book, every great movie and every in-depth news story I read growing up told me I could settle for less or get that book learning. 

So yes. Entitlement. As an American citizen, I was told to strive for the best because I could do anything I set my mind on doing. It was the implied entitlement of self-determination. Just like we were taught. In school. Public education funded by tax payers.

Now my family did encouraged me to do whatever it took to get a good job. (They really were job focused but could accept that college could bring more money.) There was absolutely no money for me to go to college.

Not from my mom who struggled to make the rent and later the mortgage. No father contribution because his interests were fermented elsewhere. No rich relatives. No clue how to do this other that the one financial aid workshop I attended.

I'd have to do it on scholarship money and financial aid. Yes, I knew I'd have to work. That was implied in all that reading I did.  Booker T. Washington comes to mind. I know there are people that do not believe broke folks understand about scrimping and saving for a long term goal.

We did. We still do.

I did get a few small scholarships but it was a student loan and what is known as a Pell grant that got me in the door.

Entitlement, check. Moocher, check.

I worked as I went to classes. The first school was in a rural place that I as a city girl had no place being. I left after a year and tried a local university.

My first university class I got the evil eyes from some of the white folks who were very angry about my presence. I believe the words uttered were "Affirmative Action." They made it known I should not have been sucking up the same air or be allowed in the room.

Now, I'm not too clear on this victim-hood part. Were they the victims for having to suffer my presence in the room? Cuz Skippy and Trixie made no pretense about their revulsion on my sitting in the class.

Still working side jobs, living in crappy places and trying to keep up. I wasn't a victim. I was really busy trying to keep up. Until I couldn't. And had to drop out.

If you are still reading at this point let me provide you with a musical interlude.


Round Two

I lick my wounds and go back again using Pell grants, more student loans and side jobs. At my community college the people I took classes with were grandmothers, guys working the 2nd or 3rd shift. We were back to school moms, welders and other folks that wanted that diploma.

No Skippy. No Trixie. No drama. We were white, black, Asian, and everybody else that was ready at 7p.m. for class.

I also took advantage of free vocational education training. I learned to type and write business letters. This was counter to my proto-feminist leanings but I needed to make sure I could crowbar my way in the door of a better job.

Round Three - Move to California 

Second day in state and I'm looking in the Classifieds. Word Processor. Data Entry. Computer operator. I had no idea what they were talking about.  I had just left my home town where companies were still working with IBM memory typewriters. I got temp jobs but I needed to learn this other stuff.

Highly motivated. In 1982 these job paid $25 an hour. However, did not have $5,000 for classes.

So my lazy broke behind bought and studied computer magazines. I was very willing to help out on temp jobs that allowed me to touch or use their computers. Learned very quickly to print out the Help menu. Covert on the job training.

Two years later,there was a free computer class at the local college. Yes, my inner moocher said ring-a-ding-ding.

In-between the classes were employment where I put my tax dollars back into the kitty. There came a time where I could pay for my classes. I paid with no complaint.

There came a time when I was teaching other people, working women, moms, domestic violence victims how to use the computer and software. I did so willingly.

My students did not know this but I was not going to let any of them leave my class without knowing how to do something. And encourage them. And respect them. And make sure they could write a simple Excel formula.  No half stepping.

This 47% moocher paid back all of my student loans.  This moocher made sure she continued to learn both in city or state supported training or through the community college or university system.

This moocher now pays for her classes because the great state of California made it possible for me to keep up with the changes in the labor market. This moocher pays taxes so that others can do the same.

About to start a new adventure, career wise. I will need to go back to school. Don't worry 51% folks. I have the money to pay for it. Or pay it back if I need another student loan.

My point in laying this all out is that people do not live in a vacuum. It isn't about taking and not giving back. Tax dollars circulate and provide a way to help others provide skills to help folks get on their feet and return the investment. Multiple times.

That doctor thumping on your chest? Student loans. That building going up? Some of those guys went through an apprentice training program in a city or state training partnership with industry. That person slinging that gourmet meal might have attended a cooking school using financial aid.

Many of you really don't know where your tax dollars are working positively for you and your communities. You now know one success story. There are millions more.

Yes, among my many gifts I am a low down 47% moocher. We are legion.

Applying Socratic Questions In Real Life

I don't want to be accused of poaching a good idea so I'm telling you from jump street that this post was inspired by David Straker's site, Changing Minds. Dude is deep into well of looking at the various forms of persuasion.

It was also inspired by some of the nuttiness about how we have discussions in America about very serious, complicated topics.The most recent set furor is about education.

The 2012 Texas Republican Platform does encode the belief system of many Americans. There is no point in denying it. The orginal text as printed and accepted by the convention is:

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

I am not making this stuff up or distorting the text. You can read or download the 23 page document here.

Now to be fair, when asked by Talking Points Memo the Communications director said that the inclusion of the critical thinking statement was a mistake but it was approved and cannot be corrected until 2014.

Like Janis Joplin said, break a little piece of my heart. Except this does not make me feel good. Which is why I like hanging out at sites like Changing Minds.

You know, a Texas school could probably get in trouble linking to that site. This joint is nine kinds of deep kind of place

But this is where Socrates comes in. There is a list of Socratic questions. Those of us that actively use critical thinking skills (or want to) can employ these questions to get at the deeper intent of a speaker's message.

Now you shouldn't waste time on the stupid, the ridiculous or the mean spirit nature of personal attacks. Cause stupid is a finite form. You can't argue a brick wall or a group of people determined to create a system of living drones.

But if you are in a discussion with a reasonable person and want to understand what is being said this is a good starting point.  You don't have to ask the questions out loud but it couldn't hurt.

The Questions:

1. Why are you saying that? 
2. What exactly does this mean? 
3. How does this relate to what we have been talking about? 
4. What is the nature of ...? 
5. What do we already know about this? 
6. Can you give me an example? 
7. Are you saying?
8. Can you rephrase that, please? 

So if you got some brain cells to spare you might want to read the full platform of the Texas GOP and then, at your own person risk and responsibility, apply the questions to what you have just read. 

This is not for the faint of heart. I gave up after question 1.  Many because it is too nice a day to be wasting time inside dealing with a fear generated document.

It is fear based based document. It is about power and control. Hell, it is always about fear, power and control when it comes to modern politics.

Just so you know, I have the hots for HOTS and I'm not letting it go. The rest of you come to your own conclusions unless you live in Texas.

Programming School Dropout and Redemption

I've been avoiding telling folks this but it is time to come clean and start again. I am the beauty school dropout in Grease.



I hate quitting anything. Really, I can be guilty of hanging on for dear life until I get it done. Well, life snuck up on me and went booger-booger.

Strike 1. I was doing okay. I wrote my first program and thought my homework was done. What I failed to realize was there were a whole bunch of lessons underneath the first one. I catch that mistake two days before the first quiz and try to cram it down.

You can't do that with an intro Python programing class. I tried but it was painful.

Strike 2. My day job at the Salt Mine got crazy. I can't go into details but let me just say the widgets were asking questions of the whatsits and the whatsits were waiting on the doohickies and in the meantime salt is flowing all over the conveyer belt.

It was lunar baby, stuff was flying everywhere and all I had was a spoon.

Strike 3. I came home and tried again. I'm in Lesson two. I'm still learning vocabulary and programing at the same time. The dude shifted from vocabulary to concept and then from concept to implementation.

I was still on understanding the concepts when bango zoom he was talking about the rafinstinbonk.

It was over. I cured up in my bed, I knew I didn't have a flipping chance.

A Possibility for Redemption

A new session of the class is starting up on April 16th. I'm stubborn. I do not like not learning what I set out to learn. You don't get to be this old without picking up some life skills.

Boomer power baby!

I am gathering supportive tutorial materials:

Videos

Khan Academy has some programming videos:



I can watch or listen to these on my phone via YouTube.

Tutorials

One size does not fit all and I'm looking for re-enforcements.

• At Python.org there is a Beginner's Guide page for non-programmers to access tutorials and resources.
• There is another interactive tutorial at Learn Python.org.
• Python Turtle is for kids and those willing to think like one. There is no shame in my game. You download the software and the follow the instructions to learn concepts in order to move the turtle.
• Yes, there is a podcast for just about everything, this one is for young programmers so if I add the numbers my age I could be youngish.

What About Life?

I know. I could be setting myself up for a fall again. Salt is still shooting across the room but the flow is now in check for the time being. If I can get a better bead on the topic before the new session starts I'll sign up again.

If not, slow and steady will have to be my workflow. Monty would have wanted it that way.

(The programming language was named after Monty Python, which is nice to know but I still feel like a git.)

Trying to Understand Shamrock Socks in February 2012

I have no love for Valentine’s day. In this case, I mean I do not have any guy I’m going to be snuggling up to come February 14th. I am okay with that reality. At peace with the world. Tra, lah, trah, lah.

Okay, not not really.

It is Black History Month aka African American History and Heritage Month. The flag waving permissible issms are at a all time high and show no sign of dipping below the legal legal of sanity. The only grace I can take hold of is the the debates for the Republican contenders for the White House are taking the month off.

For the record, I am not associating the GOP contenders with Target.  The fact that the GOP contenders have tried to make people that look like me targets for their bile is beside the point.

And I do have one.

I was in Target. Target has black hair care products that I generally have to ride a bus three hours to get to a store that has the same stuff at a huge mark-up. I can get it $15 cheaper at Target.

Target has food, mostly processed food but the one near me has some fresh items. Target has clothes that fit potions of my body in a price range I can afford.

They have Valentine’s day stuff that is just about to go to half price. They have St. Patrick socks. Well, socks that have shamrocks on them.

I know what they don’t have. A decent affordable stand alone .mp3 player. A topic for another time. They also don’t have anything about celebrating African American History or Heritage Month. 

There are no banners. No placards. No streamers.  Not a balloon. Not fond of balloons anyway so that could be a plus.

I’m looking at those St. Patrick influenced socks and I am trying to figure out why are they putting the shamrock stuff out in February? I’m standing there internally scratching my head. 

Then it comes to me. Beer. 

On St. Patrick’s day everybody wears the green. Folks having no genealogical peeps from the island will be fixing corned beef and cabbage or at least reading about a heart healthy version in a magazine or newspaper.

There will be big parades that will be inclusive and exclusive. At least here in California. There will be beer drinking and some will even drink beer that is colored green.  Oh, and there will be green peppermint McFlurries and shamrocks on cookies.

You can sell St. Patrick’s day. 

You can’t exactly sell Black History Month. It is problematic.

If this was the 1970s you could move red, green and black socks.  It is not the 1970s anymore.  How about some “Remember the Dream” socks?  Well, perhaps not.

You could have posters in the stores with photos of historical ancestors but I’d be kinda worried which ancestor’s poster would wind up hanging in the toilet paper section.

Then you would have those folks that would complain. There is always somebody to complain but these particular people would complain that "there isn’t a White History Month so why should anybody recognize Black History Month?"

These same folks will be also be complaining through Women’s History Month, Latino/Hispano/Chicano/Mexicano Heritage Month and Asian and Pan Pacific Heritage Month. Some of those whiners will be debating again in March.

Really Not Picking on Target

We are told that everybody wants to wear the green for a day. Watch your local papers and advertising  circulars. A stereotypical green having nothing to do with living people to be sure but it is celebrated and sold with enthusiasm.

It involves food and beer and, well, that is about I know about the day.

Authentic Irish and Irish American history is fascinating, complex and is woven into the building of this nation. That isn’t what the commercial St. Patrick’s day is about but we do a strange form of let’s pretend.

Authentic African American history is fascinating, complex and is intractably woven into the building of the nation. It seems that folks would rather let the days go by.

There Is Still Much to Say

There was a time when 999 was the highest amount of posts you could upload on Blogger. I wasn't too worried about it because I didn't think I'd reach 999 posts. I don't think about things like that because they intimidate me.

Here I am. Number 1,000 according to my post log. Dang! I feel good about it.

I wrote long before there was blogging. Use to do an e-mail news letter. Had a old school user page that required HTML. I never warmed up to Dreamweaver but I gave it a go because I had much to say and thought my voice was as valid as some of the others on the World Wide Web.

In 2004 I came to Blogger.


In one of my early post I shared the lyrics to Sky Pilot. There was no way to easily embed video. There was no YouTube and I would not have known about this video from the CBC in Vancouver.  This is a video montage created by the CBC performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals:



I have an attacment to this song because I would hear it on the radio. I might have been between 9 and 11 years of age. I don't remember. But I didn't connected the song with the Vietnam war.

I thought of Snoopy and the Red Baron. I was a kid.  I related to the world that I knew.

This is such a different place. I now understand about the price of war on human bodies and minds. I understand that there have been other wars and some folks are now shopping for a new one to keep the military industrial corporation going.

"You'll never, never, never, reach the sky."

There was a time when I did not have my face on the blog. In 1999 had read a book about being on the Internet that talked about this guy who was making serious cash money doing web work but it got out that he was a black man.

His work dried up. At that time there were people that would attack you for being "the other."

Not much has changed. There are increasing attacks on women and feminist bloggers.

I have learned that you can't hide who you are. There are people that need to see that an African American woman has a blog. That I write about a variety of issues and concerns.

There is no point in trying to pin me down to a specific topic, not in this blog. One day it is politics, the next is noticing that Brookstone in the mall has a bunch of vibrators on sale for the holidays.

Seriously, not the cheap stuff. We are talking the upper level stroke, stroke, stroke until le petit mort kind of gear.

I get distracted. Too much is going on these days.

I bought a fountain pen. I'm going back to writing on paper first and then uploading. Has more to do with eye and hand preservation. It also has to do with allowing the words to come at a contemplative speed. I want time to think, not just react.

I don't like Facebook but I check in on friends. I like Google+ better but I don't have the time to do more than and comment on friends and followers post. There is some new widget that allows me to copy my post here to my G+ page. I might do that. Not sure.

Twitter, which I didn't initially care for, has been my day to day catch up with folks.

My blog - this is my home ground. My stoop. I know it. I'm okay here. I haven't been posting much because I got stuff going on. I have to make decisions about my life in 2012. What do I want to do? What do I need to do?

No matter what those choices are I still intend to blog. And write. Maybe a video now and then.

This blog is what made the connections with other people possible.

There are days when I get fed up with the stupidity of human beings. The American branch has plum lost their minds. Not sure they are going to get it together, it will take something awful to re-connect with each other.

It doesn't have to be that way but not sure if we can come together. Too many forces profit from keeping us apart.

So I still blog. One post at a time. I hope I remain unpredictable but who knows what changes can happen. Be open to the possible has served me well. I commit to that and the future.

Not Writing The Prescriptive White People Letter

I have watched and listened as privileged white men tried to help the nation understand the problems and worth of poor black kids. If I am understanding correctly, which is impossible because I use to be a poor black kid, I am incapable of going to work, thinking long term and handling my responsibilities as an adult.

It seems I am unable of understanding my current and future situation in life. I did not know that I require intervention to help me move past my impoverished blackness of being. The fact that I had to use technology just to find out how incapacitated I am is beside the point.

I can't make this stuff up. This is Newt with his view on poor children. Excuse me, very poor children. Like poor needs a superlative.



Gene Marks article at Forbes understands the totality of the inequality but wants poor black kids to know that there is a way out via web apps, sites and technology.

I'm thinking Gene does not have a good grasp of the concept of being poor. There is no money. Food is dicey. You might not have a place to live. There are other concerns at the top of the list. Buying a computer is not one of them.

I have a mind to write a letter called "Dear White People..." I am motivated. These past two weeks have really lit me up to put pen to paper.

Hey, wouldn't such a letter be irresponsible? Would it be extremely biased based upon my limited understanding of the totality of the European American experience. Even thought that experience is pumped into my consciousness each and every day by media, literature and commerce.

Yet I feel compelled to try again.  I have a tremendous amount of anger at the embedded racism that is structured in this society. Not only is there embedded racism but if I, as a black woman dare call somebody out on it I get accused of playing some goddamn race card of victim-hood.

I have no race card. With the shit coming out of (some) white folks mouths these past three years I don't need any. Do you hear the ish coming out of mainstream political discourse? Against women, the LGBTQ communities or anybody that is not a white Christian male?

Yet I am suppose to give a calm, rational nuanced response some of the most noxious public thinking that has been romping around the country as political commentary.

Bullshit.

Hmm. Not really where I wanted to go with this. Still too much anger.

I want to write that I am a human being with inalienable rights provided to me by the Constitution of the United States and the 15th Amendment.

Naw, that don't get it either. Bunch of extreme constitutionalists want to revert back to the original constitution. They don't recognize my right to existence anyway.

I can't do it. If I can't write it responsibly, with accuracy, historical perspective, real life experiences and independent documentation to support my point of view then I should not do it.

I can't seem to write without wanting to toss in a couple dozen cuss words. That isn't good.

See, I know that such a letter would hurt people I love, care and respect. It would even hurt people I don't like. There is enough hurt in the world. I have no desire to add to it.

Still that isn't a good reason not to write a prescriptive letter to white people.

Yet people I know might might take offense that I am telling middle class white folks that they don't know how to raise their kids, that they are structurally defective as parents and I, being the 2nd cousin, twice removed from God, have got the scoop on how they could live their lives better if only they would listen to me.

The poor white folks are probably doing the same things as poor black folks, trying to take care of their families the best way they can in these days of denial. Denial being telling folks to get a job but that job has been exported oversees years ago.

Then again, if I am so all powerful knowing that I can solve the problems of millions of people perhaps my time could be better spent fixing the state or federal budget.

Or laying in the infrastruction of a national high speed rail line. Or full high speed Internet access for all, even in the most pastel sections of the country.

You know,  If could lay in that rail line by June then I wouldn't have to get in an airplane or spending time in TSA lines.

Change of plan. I need to attend to my areas of interests.

White folks will have to muddle through without my assistance.

Libraries and Occupations - Then and Now

The library nerd in me loves that this video even exists. Matthew Battles is an author and librarian. His book, "Library: An Unquiet History" talks about how libraries constantly are re-invented for the needs of the time.



In this video, Battles talks about the 19th century Chartist movement paved the path toward the public library system we have today. Toward the end of the video Battles makes the point about how the camp libraries of the Occupy movement will also shape how we share information in the days to come.

For more info on the book:

• WorldCat Book Information Page
• WW Norton's book page with the opportunity to read an excerpt.
• Review of the book by John Kennerly
• Google Books information page with links of other folks talking about the book.

The BBC, Rastani and My Lack of Sleep

On September 26, 2011. Alessio Rastani scared the hell out of folks in the UK and Europe. He also worked my nerves something terrible. I was so messed up I couldn't even read or do anything worth a damn.



For those folks that can't see the video he basically said in a clear, assertive voice that traders and brokers don't care about governments or stable societies. They are looking for profit. The next money fix.

This is not news but he said it in plain English. That was news.

And the work that others folks are trying to do to save Greece and parts of Europe aren't worth the effort because traders and financiers are looking for safe ports for their money, even if they have to stick them in U.S. dollars. It isn't about governments, it is about what Goldman Sachs wants and needs for monetary growth.

What has that got to do with me or you?

Business as usual you say. Well, he also said that he has been waiting for the next drop so he can make some serious bank. A drop that will clean out bank accounts around the world.

I can say with painful memory that small depressions are bad enough. The pure hell of 2001 nobody should wish on any group of people. 9/11+Dot Com bust+Enron all in the same year was quiet enough thank you very much.

And this man speaks of that type of event happening again like a cash money wet dream. It turns out that Mr. Rastani is not a big time trader. He is more of a dabbler.

Rastani is not technically a fraud but he does not roll with the big boys. The BBC did not fully verify his actual qualifications to appear on the broadcast. He is just a man who loves to talk, he wants to be a public speaker.

Rastani got his big break.

And yet,what Rastani said is the truth.

Not about Goldman Sachs. It isn't just that company. Be real. 

We know there are people who would do anything to make huge sums of money. Ethics or societal responsibilities have nothing to do with it. In fact, we are being schooled that no one has any responsibility for anybody but themselves. The rest be damned unless you have money to buy you way out of perdition.

It is the truth that we need to prepare for a serious cosmic money azz whipping or fiscal re-alignment. It is the truth that no one in government or those that aspire to public office has a clue on how to fix this. None. There is no desire to do so.

We are in palliative care mode at the moment. We cling to the side show when the main attractions are just too much to witness.

We need to have alternative sources to our food supply. How are we going handle brown and blackouts? Skills for services or products is going to make a comeback but do most folks have something to trade? Actually no, what do any of us know how to do that does not involve electricity?

You will not catch anyone from this side of the pond say the words that Rastani said on the BBC.  He probably will not appear on any of the business or talking head American television programs. Really shouldn't have been on the BBC.

It makes what he said no less true.

That is why I was curled up in my bed trying to sleep with all kinds of thoughts romping through my head. I didn't sleep much at all.

A Understandable Explanation About Fukushima Reactor

Professor Martyn Poliakoff is at the University of Nottingham does a great job of explaining science topics to N00bs like me.

I've been watching the Periodic Table videos for a long time. This is a video of what is going on with the reactor, the problems about using salt water to cool things down and what is the deal with iodine tablets.



The professor does a really good job of explaining what is going on with the nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan. I don't know about you but every other thought is about that reactor.

When I'm not succeeding about thinking about something else I also am getting mental reminders about the 1954 Sci-Fi classic movie Them!



There may be an ad in front of the trailer. Those of you not into surfer chicks you can skip it in 4 seconds. Those of you that are into surfer chick hold on for about 4 seconds and then enjoy.

The rest of us, do what you can where you can.

Update on the PBS and NPR Funding

Most of you know that I am a Contributing Editor at BlogHer. It is a challenge when I have to fit in writing, research and the day job. All this and poetry videos too. In January I wrote a post about do we still need the Public Broadcasting System. So much has happened regarding attacks on PBS and governmental jockeying of resources.

Back in the day our favorite sweater dude, Fred Rogers made a heart felt plea to Congress to fund public television.

Watch the full episode. See more Mister Rogers.

No lie, I miss this dude. I miss what he represented as an adult male public figure. I can't think of a reasonable contemporary successor. There is one but I can't place him at the moment.

Hell, off track again. I do not question the importance of funding public television and National Public Radio. I have benefited and had my world expanded by the programs on both services.

I do wonder if constantly having to go back to a partisan knock down drag out fight each and every year just to ensure survival is the way to go. One of the things that crossed my mind is to perhaps make it similar to the United States Post Office in that it is taken out of the congressional budget, given a dedicated line of funding and allow it to find ways to generate income.

Just a thought.

Those in favor of funding:

• PBS Public Funding Information Page
• Mary Kate Cary US News What Congress Needs to Know
• Ken Burns talks with the SF Chronicle About Public Broadcasting's Value
  

Those in favor of cutting funding:

• The U.S. House of Representatives Vote to Bar Public Funding of NPR
• From 2010 Bill O'Reilly PBS Funding Should Be Cut Too
• ReNew America Blog We Should Have Stopped Funding PBS and NPR A Long Time Ago

It is up to us. I don't have too much faith in a nation that worships coke-a-holics and jewel thieves and rewards them with adulation.

Maybe the world will end in May.*

But if not, what are we going to do?

*Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. There is a religious group that believes that the end time is actually May 2011. Some folks have left their jobs, homes and everything because they anticipating the mothership, chariot or the heavenly night train to make a pick-up around that time.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Nancy Shiffrin

I purchased Nancy's poetry book called The Vast Unknowing. It is a journey into Jewish identity, living in Los Angeles and the fears that bind all of us if we are honest.

This is a poem with multiple levels of depth. The intersections of youth and culture mixed in with straddling living in America when you were born elsewhere. How do you fit in? How do you understand freedom?

For me it is loving the poetry of Rumi and finding out "Wait, there are others poets I should know about?" Of course there are other Persian poets and people I should know about. A poem gives you a chance to expand your world view, if you are open to hearing about the lives of other people.

Not everyone is willing.

Nancy has a new collection of poems called Game with Variations. If you would like to purchase her book you can e-mail her or visit the Unibook web site.

I generally try to only post one poem per poet but this one is short. I have to post this video to represent for those of us still longing for the touch and refusing to give it up, no matter what society says.

The Professor, Aluminum and Red Sludge

I have a subscription to the Periodic Tables videos from the University of Nottingham, UK. Professor Martyn Poliakoff, his team and videographer Brady Haran have created 118 videos about each element in the periodic table.

The videos are usually fun, informative or explosive. And I do dig the professor's hair.



They are moving on to minerals. However in this video Professor Poliakoff wanted to explain about how the situation in Hungary got started and where the trouble is going to end up, possible in the Danube.

Many of the broadcast news channels have gotten ride of actual science reporters. Those reporters that remain are either mangling the story or choosing not to report it as it is not American centered.

That is a mistake. I won't hold my breath waiting for corporate to see the light and higher science reporters. The BBC has a good summation of what is in the sludge.

Leonard Lopate has an interview with two scientists and a representative of the World Wildlife Fund in Hungary.

If we do not learn that there are long term penalties for irresponsible waste management, land use and environmental stewardship then we will spiral down the bowl.
The professor might be a little dicey on his geography but not about the effects of what will be dumped into various waterways.

Common Sense Tips for Digital Generation Parents - Edutopia

I have a few spare minutes this morning so I'm trying to clear out my Drafts. Stuff I meant to post but forgot or was distracted. I don't have children but I have to interact with people 3x generations after me and have been raised different than I was.

There is no longer a cultural permission to be quiet. Each device, phone, portal connects with the other. Engagement is conditional. Maybe it is cellular communication. If you are not in the cell group you and your thoughts don't exist.

This is video from Edutopia on how parents can understand and communicate with their children in this media saturated time.

Two Games About Women's Bodies and Both Make Me Sad

The power of intention always whacks me upside my head. My post for BlogHer about the FOX News report on Abstinence Video Game is up but as part of my research I was lead to these two games.

I'm not a gamer. I do not want to kill anything or anyone in reality or in a virtual environment. I will if I have to protect my life. But the hunt and execution has not thrill for me.

I do believe in sex education and empowerment but I'm not sure this is quiet the way to go. From E4 comes Privates where the troops are posted in the vagina to kill off the STD and nasty stuff in the lady bits.

It is a shooter game for ages 14 and older. I saw another example of the game and there is a bit of "disease ed" tossed in the game but there is something about having my or any woman's vagina thought of as a toxic battle ground is profoundly uncomfortable.

Having it voiced with a British sounding accents is makes me thing of Dr. Who. I would not mind a certain Doctor riding me up the pleasure canal but he is gonna have to leave the sonic screwdriver in his coat.

Non-sexual education parents can squawk all they want but the more they suppress education based sexual health instruction the more the commercial marketplace will pick up the slack.

This might be a good example of why you don't want that to happen. Except I've got one more.

Hey Baby is a game where a woman walks down a street. Dude says the wrong thing and blammo, he's dead and the remark is on a tombstone.

Look, you can't grow up in an urban area or ride a bus without hearing some clown spewing a line or two. The low hanging fruits of the world will say dumb, vile and bordering on psychotic things to women and young girls.

I'm not sure I want to promote a shooting game as a method of handling the problem. And let me say this as a person who had to walk pass east coast construction crews back in the day.



Um, yeah.

I'm not sure killing a person for saying "God Bless You" is in the same league as I wanna suck your (insert the blank).

For some folks this is gonna be a hoot.

Not for me. It is the same line of thinking that every guy does this. Excluding the teen years, real mature thinking men do not insult women this way. I think the game might send the message that most men do let the brain dribble out of their mouths.

I can't support this but I haven't the right to tell others not to engage in this type of play. The hundreds of women abusing and hating games out in the world is way too many.

This one game is nowhere near as noxious as what people are plunking down cash money for modified versions of Grand Thief Auto and worse. Much worse. So much worse I'm not going to mention the name or link to them.

So there you have it. I don't want to kill for pleasure. And until producers can figure out a way to have entertaining game play that does not involve death I'm not going to have much to do with gaming.

We can do better. We are just not willing as yet. I hope I can hang on until we do.