Anne Sexton – Her Whispers of Inspiration

There was an urgency of somebody or something trying to get my attention. I kept hearing Van Morrison’s Inarticulate Speech of the Heart in my head. Well that and various other song lyrics about pain, love and the search of redemptive peace. Finally, I heard Anne Sexton’s name. I had not thought of her for years. I loved her poetry when I was a teen. I remembered how Anne used words that were her tethers to her world.  A world where madness dominated her life and yet she created solid, beautifully crafted poems.

Who Was This Woman?

Anne had been a fashion model. She was a wife and mother. And a poet. This woman advanced what could be thought of as topics for poems. Topics that were profoundly personal. Her work moved the reader, not stylized structures or academic approval; although she had that too. 

For every box they searched to constrict her value she found a way to express herself. Her poetry were confessional in the sense that she didn’t necessarily clean it up for public consumption. She was not vulgar. There was craftsmanship in her work. Anne wrote her poems as she experienced her life. Engaging and painful.

Trying to explaining her importance is complicated. Anne Sexton had a mental illness. There is no dispute about that fact. The illness has been described as manic-depression in some of the biographical summaries I’ve read. There may have been early family based abuse. I’d guess that there is a possibility that she might have also experienced undiagnosed post-partum depression.

Anne had a great deal of needs that couldn’t possibly be filled or properly treated at the time. Yet, in the middle of all her chaos, Anne created a fine body of work.

Musician Crystal Cheatham has also heard the whispers from Anne:

Most of all I think I understand how much she truly needed her husband and later told him she had exchanged that neediness for what she thought it was in the first place, love. You see what I’ve discovered is that Anne’s writing is not brilliant because she was crazy. It was brilliant because she was honest.

Another thing to consider is the environment of the late 1950s-1960s with specific defined roles for men and women. When she was was not writing, teaching, performing she was creating the source material for her work. Anne burned through friends, love affairs and hospitalizations.  It was not an easy life.

At the Eleventh Stack. Don writes about what Anne faced as a poet and a woman:

I can’t begin to imagine the courage it took for this lone woman to stand up and confront her madness in a public way at a time when most did not want to hear.  The cusp of change was rapidly approaching and perhaps the single greatest accomplishment of Sexton’s life was to bring these issues, with the help of psychoanalysis, into the public forum to be engaged, debated, and addressed.

Anne Sexton committed suicide in 1974. Suicide has many surviving victims trying to make sense of what seems to be a senseless act. At Louisey's blog Letting Go, Recovery in the Sunset, she remembers the anniversary of her own mother’s death. She posted a copy of Anne’s poem, Why Death? maybe as a way of saying she will never understand but Anne did and this is how it was articulated.

Why Is Anne Sexton Important?

I have always remembered the feeling of being stunned reading her poem “For My Lover, Returning to His Wife.” It wasn’t just the topic but the honesty of admitting that the character in the poem knew she was a transitory value. It was painfully lyrical.  It was honest and made me a part of an unspoken understandable depth of loneliness.

At The Unfolding Moment MoonRabbit gives us a glimpse into her creative process in creating art. The example she displays incorporates poems into the the mixed media pieces:

…Other poems have been burning in my consciousness. I search my journals for lines that connect…With colored pencils in various shades of brown and olive, I begin to add text to the diptych. Text becomes texture as I use the words to fill in a space here, to visually extend a line there. If Mary Oliver’s key ideas are the centerpiece of this work, then Adrienne Rich provides the anchor—I carve a slice from her lines and lay it repeatedly across the shape that encloses “breath,” so that breath/spirit and words/communion are intertwined and interdependent.

So Anne and other poets can help mixed media artists find new mediums to incorporate into their work? Yes, I guess they can.

SummerPoet speaks to separations and beginning again with Anne also slipping into her thoughts:

I wondered about Anne Sexton today and Woolf and Plath. The strong women, well not so strong. The beautiful women who wrote, who were brave and in the end stumbled. They felt they weren't loved enough, weren't understood and they couldn't take one more bit of bad news. The sky opened, it start to rain and for woolf, she just let herself go in the river after sitting down to write her husband a note that she didn't wish to be his burden. His heartache maybe but not a burden. I understand that. 67 days later I get it.

For More Information About Anne Sexton and Her Work

This is one time I’d like to suggest you go low tech and visit a public library to get one of her books. If you can download an e-book version that will work as well.

Having said that, for a quick biographic sketch you can’t do wrong visiting Anne Sexton's page at The Poetry Foundation. There you will find not only biographical information but links to some of her poems and a listing of her work.

You should also check out the Modern American Poetry site with a section that contains Anne’s biography, cultural influences and essays about her career.

Do you have a favorite poem of Anne’s or a memory she invoked?

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer where this post originally appeared.

The View From Here - Sourpuss in Action

There is a reason I generally don't post photos of myself. I have been asked. The truth of the matter is I am not photogenic. I give attitude when I am taking my own photo.


Then again, the camera may be recording exactly what it is seeing. I look like an over-aged petulant child. I was aiming for calm and serene.

I really was, being in the park mellows me out. I understand better why homeless bums have put the word out not to hit me up for cash first thing in the morning. There was one panhandler who did not get the memo.

To be clear, he demand I give him money. I refused.

He asked "Why Not?"

I responded "Why? What obligation do I have to give you money because you stand before me and demand it?" There were a couple of other words as well. I am not always calm and serene nor am I always sitting in the park.

I do not like aggressive panhandlers. I like opportunists even less. There is a circuit of opportunists that look like homeless people. Pull out your wallet at the start of the block and his friend might jump you at the end of the block.

So What is Sourpuss Trying to Tell You?

One thing is I don't have my glasses on so I'm trying to see you. I could put my glasses on but then you really would see Sourpuss in action. On the good side, it might cover up that one zit thing I've got going.

I don't wear makeup unless I really, really have to. Has more to do with very sensitive skin. I do have makeup. $90 worth that I bought drunk in San Francisco. And by drunk that would have been a glass of wine.

So yeah, I have makeup but I can't find the instructional DVD that tells me how to replicate my nature skin tone without using my natural skin but with magic dust instead.

Lemme see, yes I have hair. No I don't wear scarfs all the time but I do think I look better wearing them than not.

I need more sun. Need more neck too. I do have one. Otherwise, yeah. This is me. On this day. Not that I am counting down or anything. Just wanting to honor what I say to other people about acceptance and moving forward.

I accept who I am. That person evolves from day to day. I am content. Working on projects that interest me. Trying to extend beyond my comfort zone without worrying is this going to cost me a job or a relationship.

I'm tired of fronting an un-authentic self. Y'all can do what you like, I'm going to be more me. All of me. Honestly, I'm tired of postponing life (not that I do) based on what-ifs.

Those that know me know there is more to me than my face. Hell, there is much more to any person than their face.

Like the song says, take me as I am.

I Need A Poetry Tonic - Oscar Brown Jr.

Poetry can heal but it can also scream to the rafters that something is wrong. You need a master craft person to say what is in your heart before you get a little too ventilated at your job or on the train.



If Oscar Brown, Jr. was still hear he would know how to respond to the talking point idiocy of these times. He'd have us laughing in our tears or syncopating anger into works of art. This is an example of Mr. Brown doing his classic "I Apologize" from an episode of Def Poetry Jam.

Lay Down, Candles in the Rain on the Finally Friday Freakout

There are people hurting in this country. The pain is enormous. There are people asking for help and other people defending their God given right not to do a damn thing.

There are others people yelling and screaming in frustration and when grown folks do that there will be trouble.

By the time I got to be this old I had hoped that we would be better than this, much more civil and certainly respectful in our disagreements. Maybe it is time to lay childlike hope aside. Naw, I can't do that. Not yet.



I like all kinds of music. Always have. Except Opera. I tried, really.

I actually have this song on a compilation album by Buddah Records. Melanie's picture is on the album but I never knew more than I like the song.

Her full name is Melanie Safka. This is a version of her classic tune Lay Down, Candles in the Rain as performed on the Nashville Network in 1991.

"Some came to sing, some came to pray, some came to keep the dark away."

Yep, we have to stand and keep the dark forces of fear away. It is hard but facing fear is hard. There is a lot of fear romping around. More of us have to stand up for truth, integrity and really good chocolate.

Did I say chocolate? Oh, well, chocolate... peace, same thing.

Irregular Flow from 4khz

Sometimes it is a simple idea matched with the breath of execution.

irregular flow from 4khz on Vimeo.

There is not much more I can add except h/t to Buddha at Musings. I went to Vimeo to find out more about it and the creator but there are only a few more videos and a lot of positive comments.

Yes, video can be like this and more.

For The Lover in You on the Finally Friday Freakout

A wee bit of normally has returned to the Stoop. I needed a musical infusion. Digging in the Groove Yard turned up something old and something new.

There are songs that belong to the community. Not even the performers who originated the song has any say when or where it gets performed. Mr. Howard Hewett has made great albums since his Shalamar days but knows that in a roomful of women that song is gonna have to acknowledged if he wants to get out of the building in one piece.

This is a latter day version of the song performed in New York. The ladies get to sing full blast on it. It is song that has literally brought people into this world. It is a time when the war of the sexes was a lot less hostile.

Feel free to rusty bucket up a chorus or two on For The Lover In You



It is strange because I didn't care for Shalamar when I was coming up. I was a total Funkateer, Parliament, Bootsy and all permutations in between. The Bar-Kays, Cameo and any funk master that could twang and band his way into my heart.

It was later, maybe first year of college that I started liking the music. So to end this week of lessons, many life lessons let's add one more to the mix. Jeffrey Daniels, Jody Watley and Howard Hewett dancing it up on Night To Remember



Oh, and about those life lessons? I strongly recommend taking one at a time.

A Moment In Time - I'm Older Than I Think

I was researching the new Apple Nano Video camera feature. I click on a video at YouTube where this young man was trying to explain new features in iTunes, iTouch and the Nano. He is doing a screencast of the Apple page.

God bless him. iPhoneHelper786 is unintentionally cracking me up. I'm not making fun of him. He is trying to communicate to his community about what is happening with the new products. I'm not hating on him.

There is a new feature in iTunes called iTunes LP. Spirit did not know what an LP was. He thinks it is a new menu system where you can get info about the artist, song lyrics, notes and other stuff.

He is right, it is a menu system. I never thought about it that way.

When I studied LP album covers as a kid I was moving through a menu system. It was a static one but yes, sometimes there were photos, notes and song lyrics. He also makes the distinction between legal and cracked music.

Those of us that created our own cassette tapes from our or other acquired albums need to hush up and render no judgment.

Then it hit me - dang, I've seen items this person has never witness. His parents may have only seen music CDs. His experience base is totally different from the one that I had.

Whoa. I forget that I'm not who I use to be. This is not a bad thing.

But still, dang.

Health Care Reform Crib Sheet For Busy People Part 2

I got a letter from my insurance company telling me that they will decide if a medication is valid, not my doctor. The insurance company will decide on the dosage, the length of time I can and can't have the medication and whether I take a prerequisite medication before I can receive the one that my doctor wants me to have. This gives me an excellent opportunity to review of my last post.

You see, if I'm telling you about this situation and I have no visible proof then it is anecdotal. I'm not lying, I really got the letter but you don't know that for sure. There is nothing wrong with anecdotal statements. If is one person telling another “this is my experience” that is not a problem. But when the anecdotal statement leaps into a friend of a friend… then that is a problem. E-mail chain letters are never valid anecdotal resources.

Now if I uploaded a copy of the actual letter then I would be posting the document that is the primary source. In this case, from my insurance company.

If I read about it in a newspaper article and the newspaper confirms with the insurance company that they are changing the terms of prescription coverage or they publish an authentic copy of the letter then the newspaper article is a secondary source. If newspaper columnists, editorial writers or bloggers are commenting on the change in prescription coverage then it is opinion.

Here is a chart to help visualize on overview of the playing field. You can also click to see a large version of the chart:

Vested Stakeholders

Health care is a multi-billion dollar industry. The business of health care intersects with many stakeholders beyond the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Everybody has something to say. I can’t list all the stakeholders but I want to give you examples and a few questions to ask to help you evaluate the information being presented.

Three Questions To Think About As You Evaluate An Information Source

• Who are you are dealing with? Check the Mission statement or the About Us page.
• Who do they cite as being in support of the point of view expressed on the website or blog? Is it a primary source, a newspaper or an anecdotal statement.
• Where does the money come from to support the web site and the activities being promoted by the web site? Again, you shouldn't have to spend all day trying to find that out. That information should be no more than two clicks away from the main page. I’m being generous.

Medical Stakeholders

Many of the sites that I will use as an example have multiple functions. Certainly physicians have a stake in any discussion of health care reform. One of the places that I visited was the American Medical Association current topics page. This lead me to an AMA advocacy site that goes into details on their perspective on health care reform. You can watch a question and answer video with doctor responses or read a short summary of what they want in health care reform.

Not all doctors belong to the AMA or even the ones that do support the AMA’s position on health reform. Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is: “a single issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. PNHP has more than 17,000 members and chapters across the United States.” There is video, links and resources to evaluate.

On August 20, 2009 Health Affairs held a meeting at the National Press Club to discuss Fact vs. Fiction, Key Issues in Health Reform. There were representatives from both sides of the debate. You can download the audio file, PowerPoint presentation or view video clips of the sessions. Every one who presented was a stakeholder who explained their point of view.

Trade and Professional Unions

The more union members work the more the union like any plan that would benefit their membership. There is no question that they are involved in the health care debate. One of the web sites is from the AFL – CIO is advocacy driven the Health Care for America Now. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Make America Happen/highway to heath care is another union supporting health care reform website.

Advocacy

This group contains folks that are actively supporting, actively trying to defeat the reform measure or adding their interpretations based on their group affinity. Also included are corporations and organizations that benefit no matter what the position the public holds on health care.

Hand Off My Health does not like the current health reform proposed at this writing. It does not support a government financed option. One of the questions I ask of an organization is where did they get their information. It should not take more than three clicks to find that out.

Look for a mission statement or an About Us page. Also you can get a lot of information by checking out pages that list links and resources. Many of the resources were to the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation believes that:

To formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

That is fine. I clearly understand the reasoning of the Heritage Foundation. If the budget was balanced they still would not be in favor of any kind of government or public health plan. There was full disclosure and they do have a page specifically detailing The Heritage Foundation's point of view on health reform. It took a while to find out the home base of the Hands Off My Health and related web sites.

At Get Better Health.com you can listen to a discussion between medical professionals. Now if I hadn’t done any research I wouldn’t have known that the guy leading the discussion is one of the participants at CMPI, which is the main website that Hands Off My Health Care and others are spun off from. I still would have researched the name of the doctor and looked up the web site.

Just one more thing. Get Better Health is a sponsored website. I do appreciate that they were upfront about it on their About page:

Better Health accepts sponsorship for content licensing, advertising, events (including salons, debates, forums, conferences, presentations), and information-sharing with our network. Individual bloggers receive revenue-share from licensing and advertising their content, and additional compensation for participation in events. We give 10% of our post-tax profits to non-profit health organizations to support their work.

This does not make their point of view any less valid. This means you have to check the front end and the back end of the horse to make sure it is what it is.

Bloggers

There are keyboards smoking across the country from the heated exchange of facts, opinion and commentary about this topic. I really don’t have to leave BlogHer to find different views but let me show you other bloggers with something to say about health reform.

Disruptive Women in Health Care is a health information blog. The bloggers come from a variety of viewpoints on health issues.

Nurse Ratched’s Place has a post up, she is a working nurse and gives her opinion on health care reform. California Nurses have videos that contain advocacy and commentary about issues concerning their work and health reform.

Melissa Suran in her post The Young and Insured-Less wants to know if those in their Twenties are included in the health care debate.

Resources

Last week Nancy Watzman wrote about the financial lobbying power of contributions to congress members. Congressional Quarterly Politics is a free, non-partisan journalism site that looks at issues and the money that tag along the congressional health care trail. Can you spell PAC?

Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch has a post by Wendell Potter about his role as a health care PR person. He talks about the techniques used in disinformation campaigns in the past and the present.

The Cato Institute, like the Heritage Foundation, believes in limited role of government. On the web site you will find ideas, suggestions and alternatives to a government financed health care option.

Citizenship Is Not Easy

Being informed is our responsibility. Don’t abdicate that responsibility. If you really want to be a patriot share a comment or a relevant link that others would find useful. We don’t have to agree but we can respectfully educate each other.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor and the post originally appeared BlogHer.

Update 02/22/2010 Typographical corrections.

Health Reform Crib Sheet For Busy People Part 1

This year, many first year college students will take a class taught by library staff on critical thinking and evaluating sources. I am trying to convince their parents and other interested people that they need to do the same. There is more to contemporary education than reading, writing and arithmetic. The current health care debate is the prime reason why we need information evaluation and literacy skills.  This is a my attempt at a functional crib sheet.

To begin,  I want to focus on primary and secondary sources and the tools that you can use to help make sense out of the verbal and textual clutter. Next week I’ll show how to evaluate material associated with vested interests and opinion.

Let me say that this topic is a challenge. I would like to keep politics out of this post. That is impossible. My goal for this specific post is to help us make informed decisions.  If you haven’t done so please check out Nancy Watzman’s BlogHer post on More Tools to Get Your Own Scoop on Health Care Debate.

Who Said What? - Look For Primary Sources

The primary source is the originator of the statement or documentation. It can be a person, organization or, in this case, a branch of the United States government. There are multiple health care bills and proposals; the one that has gotten the most publicity as of this writing is from the House of Representatives. It is known as  H.R. 3200, the "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."

This is the primary source you use to support or refute a fact or statement being discussed about the proposed legislation. Internet users can view and download a copy of the printed bill or you can access a web version from the Library of Congress Thomas.gov portal. I found the web version easier to navigate and target the sections of the bill I am most interested in reviewing.

The Cost of Health Care

Reading a health care bill is one thing but it is also important to understand what has been spent by the government and the projected futures expenses.  Again, I’m going to use governmental figures because no matter what political party is in office there is always someone standing in the corner saying, “We are in trouble. We can’t continue spending like this; please pay attention.” 

Allow me to cast a light on the Accountants, Analysts and Researchers  in the following governmental offices:

The Congressional Budget Office has a section on the website that is a quick view on health care spending and projections.  You might want to take a look at a 2007 report that really is clear and concise on why we are in this situation. Insurance, Providers and Patients all have a share of the responsibility for the expense. We need to be honest about the problem. This report does it in 30 pages. There are people who have issues with the Congressional Budget Office. Not to worry. I have more.

From Census.gov this is the 2009 Statistical Abstract where you can view health care expenditures from 1961 to projected 2017. Let me give you a hint. The numbers do not go down over time. You can see a quick pdf chart of the figures.

The Government Accountability Office constantly looks at how money is spent. There is so much data here I get the warm fuzzies just thinking about diving in the data flow. You might feel otherwise. I understand.

Please use the search engine and type in “health care”. Then filter by the year you want to see data. You can read summaries, the full text, or an accessible version for text readers. 

The main point of this section is know your facts and share with others if asked. You should direct attention, whenever possible to the primary source of information. Everything else is a secondary or derivative source and subject to interpretation.

Secondary Sources - Verification and Interpretation

Traditionally, secondary sources have been newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Responsible journalists will cite the source of the topic they are reporting. Secondary sources can also point to expert might support or disprove the presented information. That is why you will see a lot of news articles and television news programs seek out the expert.  “The expert states…” not the reporter/journalist. 

Bloggers can be secondary sources if they cite the primary source without distortion, that they provide linked attribution that can be easily followed by their visitors and that there is a clear separation between providing facts and providing opinion.

Check It Once and Check It Again

Journalism and news reporting can be helpful to consumers when they examine a statement and methodically evaluate the source and credibility.  My love knows no bounds for FactCheck.org  and their review of a chain e-mail letter Twenty Six Lies About H.R. 3200. And how can I not mention PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter on the same e-mail meme.

Another place to hang around is the Association for Health Care Journalists blog. These are the folks that we want to keep an eye on because there is reporting here that may or may not make print in your local newspapers or television news program.

For example, you might have heard about the dust up concerning John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods and his Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.  Via Pia Christensen's post, I found out that Mr. Mackey has very interesting connections to the health care industry.

The original post was written by Laura Bennett and appeared on Muckety.com. Muckety.com helps you see visual relationships between people and companies. It was a little clunky for me but it does work.  Many media outlets are creating their own “health blog” including the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and Consumer Reports.org Health Blog. 

I have questions if this is a good thing or not. If the media outlets has not provided credible journalism in their traditional environment what makes them think a blog is the way to go?

Other Voices

I don’t have to tell you that there is an increasing disconnect between certain types of journalism and consumers. Some newspapers are so busy trying to learn to tweet that they have forgotten how to tell the story. There are a lot of reasons why we are getting the kind of reporting that does not seem to be serving our needs. Sadly too many examples to lists.

There are other bloggers that can say it better than I can.  Mary Turck writes about the Spinning The News:

Too much news reporting is about spin and who’s spinning which directions and which spin is working. It’s about tactics and winning and losing and the horse race — and not about the issues and facts.

Rebecca Critchfield primarily writes about health and nutrition but I think this statement could be applied to health reporting as well. In her post called  the Price of Misinformation she writes:

It’s one thing when people hear new information and share it with others (there’s a reason they call it a “rumormill” and “myths”), but when the media are behind the misinformation it helps no one. People trust the media and they assume that the stories are well-researched. But that’s not always the case in this day and age of a small news hole and the fierce competition to stand out with breaking news. The pressure for ratings is higher than ever and staying relevant in the land of Twitter and the Blogosphere is a challenge for mainstream media.

Next time, a look at how to evaluate those with a vested interest in the health care debate and how to spot an editorial, an advocacy post and various forms of dis-information.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer and that is where this post originally appeared.

Smoke and Deacon Blues on the Finally Friday Freakout

I loved Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special. Everybody was on that show and you usually couldn't slide up and just lip sync. There was no need for wardrobe distractions. This is not to say that people did not dress creatively. Hey it was the 70s, ok?

I don't buy from television infomercials. I almost made an exception for the Midnight Special collection. One of these days I'm going to get my hands on a Midnight Special performance I saw by Van Morrison, Etta James and Dr. Hook. It was perfection as I recalled. I could be wrong but, really with these three? I don't think so.

Burt, I swear I'll pay legit cash money for it. In the meantime this song came into my head a couple of days ago. I was talking about relationships with a friend. I could here it in his voice. I knew that one of his heart fires was a Smoke from a Distant Fire. This is the Sanford Townsend Band.



And to make up for totally blowing last week's Freakout, on account I was up to my neck in researching and writing. I think I heard first heard Steely Dan on the radio but the movie FM and the music from the movie caused total loyalty to these guys.



Much love for these folks. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker with a 2006 rendition of Deacon Blues.



Peace out and be good to each other. You can disagree but no biting, ok?

Is Public Education Socialism or Why Should I Pay For Your Child?

I double checked my copy of the Constitution from the ACLU and my copy from the Cato Institute. Education is not mentioned. There is no constitutional reason for the federal government to provide education to anybody. It is not in the Amendments either.

Now if you want to get fiddly with it you might make the case that in the preamble that "promote the general welfare" might mean that education is implied but I know how some of you feel about the word "welfare." It is right up their with socialism.

The Case for Not Educating Children With Public Funds

• Families have traditionally taught and homeschooled their children in faith, reading and work skills. Many families depend on their child’s labor to support the family. The intrusion of the state takes away parental authority.   
• Businesses would suffer having to pay higher wages for older workers.
• It is sinful to allow idle hands when there is gainful employment to be had.
• Providing education becomes a never ending financial drain on the population, city and state budgets. It is unfair taxation and unconstitutional.
• Poor children, those in foster care and orphans could become productive members of the society without government support. Sure there were crimes, abuses and fraud but on the whole it works; why change?
• Everyone agrees, education is a noble and worthwhile goal but why not leave it to the charities – this isn’t a concern of a capitalist society.

Unfortunately I am not making this up. These were the historical reasons given by parents, business leaders and political pontificators at various stages in American history about not providing education to children. There were fights about classical versus practical education. There were compromises on education and child labor. There were riots about a secular Protestant education and a new wave of Irish Catholic immigrants who were not about to step foot in such a school.

What Is Socialism?

It has been used as an invective, a pejorative and something that no breathing American would seem to tolerate. When I hear a word being used with such frequency I look up the original meaning and bring myself forward.

In one of my dictionaries it is defined as:

State ownership of all or most of the means of production and distribution with control over aspects of social welfare and planning.

Another definition is:

The view that the government should own and control major industries using the dollars earned to provide benefits to citizens.

Now it does strike me funny that few people have gone over to the actual socialists to find out how they define themselves. That is what I did. I visited World Socialism.org and read what they had to say. You can read their definition for yourself.

So When The Government Provides Public Education It is A Socialist Act?

Well match it up with the definitions. If the city, state or federal government uses taxes to provide educational services that replicate private industry practices and then distributes those services to the population then a case could be made that that is a socialist act.

On the other hand, it could be said that providing education to children is an act of capitalism when citizens invest in the supply of functional, capable future workers who will continue to support the goals of the government and provide businesses and the population with a stability, self-sufficiency population who contribute to the tax base.

It could also be said that education is a means of defense. Educated people as a whole tend not to commit violent crimes and are less likely to be victimized due to ignorance. A literate population monitors  and participates in the governance of the country. Educated people have a voices that can’t be taken away by surface intimidation.

Did Socialism via Public Schools Destroyed Private Education?

No.  When there were no schools there were no alternatives to schools if you were not wealthy. It was either work or apprentice to learn a trade. This meant a population that was incapable of adjusting to new situations or environments. They were vulnerable to being ripped off, prayed upon by certain members of the business class and inviting mental stagnation.

Private schools for the affluent members of the society continue to exists. Faith based schools continue to exist. 

There have always been for-profit schools that provided value added instruction. Trade schools are in demand as students look for ways to quickly gain skills to enter the workforce and as a means of continuing their education.

Schools are a reflection of the society. When Brown vs. Board of Education became law many southern parents (and a whole bunch of northern parents too) pulled their children out of public schools and started “Whites-only academies.” When public education failed to provide equal services some African-Americans set up their own schools.

The options increased, not decreased. That is one of the strength we have is to see beyond the visible and imagine a new way to do things. That has nothing to do with socialism or capitalism. It has to do with imagination, not the fear of staying on the same dead grind.

Why Should I Pay For Your Child’s Education?

I’ll be the first to say public education is not perfect but the alternative of having huge chunks of the population being non-literate is a security issue.  The constitution does say “provide for the common defense.” I need to know I’m not surrounded by bone stupid people. So in that sense, yes there is a constitutional reason to fund education.

Education is a reflection of the needs of the citizens, the business community and the government. We all have a stake in what we believe and know for a fact; that we are joint members of this society.

It is a civic duty to insure that all of us, regardless of age, have the opportunity to develop, learn and prosper however you choose to define it. It is our civic duty to make sure that the children who come later have the ability to do the same.  We are not isolated beings that just happen to live in the United States.

Individuals, yes. We are connected to each other. We are so much more than political polarities. I am willing to invest in that opportunity. I’m waiting on that kid that will find a way to take old tires and transform it into something life affirming and non-toxic.  Yes, I proudly want my tax dollars to contribute to the education of any child, teen or adult.

 

A Little Mind Nurturing for Time Challenged People Paid for by Taxes, Donations or Listener Contributions:

• Hold This Thought – a one minute audio and podcast on literature culture and history from KSKA public radio.
• The Loh Down on Science with Sandra Tsing Loh who is a CalTech grade and a gifted writer/performer.
• The Writers Almanac – what happened this day in literary history and Garrison Keeler reading a poem.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer.

Education and Technology – What Century Do You Function In?

Technology can solve problems. Technology can also create problems or reveal existing situations that have nothing to do with the tool used to reveal structural faults. The way we perceived our lives and what we believe to be important is changing; Can you feel the tremors of change?

A technological change can be positive and possibly negative. For my jumping off point I started with Lisa Nielsen's blog The Innovative Educator. Lisa's blog is filled with great educational ideas, technology, concepts and resources, some of them free.

It occurs to me that there would be a lot of schools and school districts that would have no concept of what Lisa is talking about. More to the point, there isn't money to implement five percent of the least expensive ideas she is bring forth.

Free E-Textbooks - What’s Not To Like?

Let me give you an example of my concern. I heard a broadcast on NPR about California approving 10 electronic math and science textbooks. The textbooks are free. Got 30 kids in a class that need textbooks? Not a problem. Kid left USB stick at home? Still can download the textbook.

In favor of e-texbooks:

• Free e-textbooks saves school districts a lot of money and distribution is a heck of a lot easier.
• Textbooks can be updated to reflect real world changes without a two or three year time lag.
• There is the possibility of using animation or constructing animated homework projects to practice math and science concepts.
• Parental math wars? You could offer two versions of the textbook, perhaps in the same e-textbook.

Concerns:

• Free is not always free. Yes, the textbooks are free but how will the students access the textbooks? Online? Will it require functional computers in the classroom? Apple, Linux or Windows? Who provide technical support? Replacement for vandalism and theft?
• What kind of e-textbook will it be? PDF, text or a proprietary format? Will it time out?
• What about an electronic book reader like the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader PRS 700 or the Bookeen Cybook Opus? Have your priced those devices? Also factor in the cost and the replacement cost.
• Not all teachers are tech savvy. Some teachers don’t want to be and you can’t make them. How does a teacher incorporate an e-textbook into the lesson? Will he/she read from the screen? Will their be a projector to show an image from the electronic book? How will they have to teach differently?
• For profit textbook publishers are preparing e-textbook editions. Will for profit e-textbooks morph into being multimedia textbooks? A school district this year does not want evolution? Fine, they take it out the textbook. New school board? Evolution is back in the science book.

Don’t get me wrong. E-textbooks are great idea. California must make use of new technologies. Innovation by its nature will require a change in attitudes, processes and teaching methods. It will also require money or creative ways to make the materials accessible to staff, parents and students.

And Speaking Of A Change of Attitude

Lisa posted this video of Peggy Sheehy’s students telling you what they want and need in an education. The name of her post and this video is No Future Left Behind.

Yes, the video does rattle the bones. For the record, these students will be adults when we are Seniors. I say let’s get on their good side now. By they way, if you are not a parent you are not exempt from knowing about or having these skills. If you are a parent you don’t have much choice in this; your children will force you to change.

How do we do that on a tight budget? How do we do that with a growing cultural individualistic mentality that does not want to pay for other people’s children unless it benefits themselves personally?

Clearing the Path

Like the kids in the video said, outside of the classroom innovation is happening whether you acknowledge or not. There are educators who understand and are preparing the way for the rest of us. The Women of Web 2.0 are working, discovering and exchanging information about just how technology supports education. EdTechTalk also host the Parents As Partners and the Teacher Teaching Teachers podcasts.

Sarah Stewart at Sarah’s Musing is a health educator who writes about open education, transition from her prior teaching style and Second Life virtual birthing pains.

Tom at Bionic Teaching is working on a rubric about what is a 21st century classroom and what are the skills needed such as literacy, creativity and the ability to find and evaluate information. The Tech Savvy Educator ask questions about how do you implement all the new cool stuff like gaming into 45 minutes of instruction?

More Thoughts

It has been said before but we need to make school the place where you have to kick them out at 3 p.m. of instead of having them escape at their earliest opportunity.

For some of you I understand, you want to yank out the technology and put into place a highly controlled, disciplined task focused curriculum. You know for a certain population of students, that might be necessary. But you can’t shelter them from their world. It will find them. Rote learning will not provide for their survival. Or yours for that matter.

Honestly, the next generation will figure this stuff out on their terms. You might not like their terms so this is my modest attempt at self preservation. We need to engage with the tools and technology they are using to transmit the more desirable aspects of our culture and respective heritages.

How shall we move forward?

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer and that is where this post originally appeared.

Dan Roam and Tony Jones Slide Presentation on Health Care

Dan Roam and Tony Jones, M.D. have put together a slide presentation on their perspectives of the health care debate. I may quibble about some of the items but it does point to one thing I keep saying and it gets dismissed.

Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

I want health care access and reform but we are actually talking about health care insurance reform. I'm not giving up on either but crazy is as crazy does.

Public Health Movie From 1944 - Learning From The Past

This was a public health movie about encoraging soldiers to get treatment for venereal diseases. This was something you did not say out loud in the 1940s. The movie tries to talk about the topic without talking about the topic.



This means no discussion of sex, how you contracted the disease or how to prevent it. Yep, a sex education movie without sex being mentioned once. Now besides the fact that it has Robert Mitchum and Noah Berry at the beginning of the movie, there are other reasons why I am positing this PSA.

I had heard of the Jean Hersholt Awards for years. Had no idea of who the guy was. The actor playing the doctor is Mr. Hersholt himself. This was also the guy who help to build the Screen Actor's Hospital and other humanitarian acts.

The final reason that I wanted to post this movie was that toward the end of this 20 minute movie there is a segment about health care overseas. The film mentions that anyone at any time can go in, get tested and treated without a fuss or a commotion. The rate of disease was far less than the United States at the time.

If I need a sledge hammer to make my point I'll go get one. We've got work to do. We have 50+ years to catch up.

Ethical Castaways – A Blog Noir Tale of Content, Respect and Responsibility

It was a dark and stormy night at the Castaway Bar and Grill. Mookie the bartender was polishing the beer into the counter top as he bounced to a remix of Baby Got Back and Feelings. You could hear the barflies drink gulps of regret as they caught threads of Twitter static. It gave me the creeps; watching them hope for redemption in the tweets of possibilities. And then she walked through the door.

I chunk my Psycho Berry smoothie as my client swung her swag. You could tell she had been around; the woman had logos on everything. Even her sunglasses had a slogan, “You can’t hide from 3x Intensified Tide! ” I felt a brain freeze coming on as she slid into my booth.

“McGuffin, right?”

“Yeah. How can I be of assistance?”

“I need help with my blog. I've made some mistakes, silly ones you might say. I need help in extricating myself from an unfortunate situation.”

Yeah, I smiled sarcastically. I heard. People are talking. Go on.”

The dame looks around as she leans into the table, “Well, I don't want to be known as "that kind of blogger." I'm just a…”

“Stop right there! I don't want to know any more about you than I have to. Let's cut to the chase sister. I’ve seen your blog. It ain’t horrible, I've seen worse but yeah, you need to get a grip. Your content is all over the place. You’ve been mixing factual and sponsored content like scrambled eggs. From the look of the logos you flash on your blog I’d say you’ve been spending extra bonus time with PR, haven’t you?

“I got caught up with some action, I might have technically crossed a line or two but I’m here, right? I want to do better. I’m ready to listen.”

I suck up some smoothie as I pass her the folder.

“So you say. Let us begin shall we?”

Content – Roll Your Own

“First off, I don't want you sponging content from other people’s blogs or companies. You cut that crap out now, you hear me? It is ok to quote but you’ve lifted whole chunks of stuff, ‘taint Kosher. Plus, others are getting wise to the game. People in the know can punch a phrase into a search engine and surprise, fifty posts show up with the exact same words. Spammy if you ask me.”

“So in the future I would not expect to see canned content on your blog.  My sources tell me that there is new web based application, something called Attributor, that can track wayward post back to the Mothership looking for copyrighted content. It would be unfortunate if you was bit financially by a spider.”

I showed her the print out from FairShare. Her lips trembled a bit.

“I want you to read WashWords 5 Old News Secrets to Make A New Blog Sing to help you write good content and stay on the good foot. You will also read Lisa Braziel's 6 Steps to Develop Content for Social Media Campaigns. only you will exchange the word blog for company. I also want you to soak up some of Copyblogger's post on A Three-Step Approach to Strategic Content Development.”

“Jeeze that’s a lot of reading, but yeah, anything to get the heat off. I’ll do it, sure no problem.”

Respect Your Adversaries and Competition

“Next you will no longer refer to people you disagree with as a rectal hernia waiting to happen. You don’t have to love them or even like them but you do have to come from a place of respect. Now, I do not say this lightly. Notice this dent upside my head. Besides, you need them.”

“I don’t need those heifers. Always popping their chops. They are jealous biddies sticking their nose in other people’s business. What do I need them for?”

“I manage to suppress my nature tendency of wanting re-aligning her bridge work. “I'm hooking you up with Joella at Blog With Wings.  I want you to read her post on studying your competition; what they do well and what you do better. I also want you to read her post on writing in a conversational style because frankly when you do write it sometimes has the taste of three day old toast. You ever try to eat three day toast?”

“Alright, I get your point. Go along to get along, right?”

“Wrong!, I said respect, not self sacrifice. Object to the idea, not the person. Explain why you think it is a bad idea without questioning heritage, birthright or I.Q. Comprende?”

I could see she was shaking, so I asked Mookie to hook her up with a Mango Sunrise. If she was having trouble with this I’m not sure how she was going to take my next suggestion. The dame wrapped her mouth around the straw and indicated I should continue.

Responsibility, Transparency and Ethics, Oh My!

I pulled out the Blog With Integrity printout and slide it across the table. She went internally ballistic. The dame looked past me gazing at the Twitter stream. She started to tear up again. "I'm not leaving cash money on the table!" I had to say this the right way or risk sending a blogger back to the dark side.

“I'm not asking you to; no thinking blogger would say such a thing. Look, behind the monitor you have real people coming to your blog. You have some responsibilities. How much you want to take on is up to you. You need to recognize it ain't all about you. Your are part of multiple communities not just the Land of Me. With blogging comes responsibility. That is why we are here. You want to make positive changes for the long term. You don't want to flame out. Am I right?”

Sniffing, she nodded her head and sighed. “Yeah. it has been challenging being misunderstood.”

“All I'm saying is be true to your blog. You build credibility and credibility leads to trust. Trust can lead to Steady Freddie money. No promises but no bull either. It is a process. A journey, not a sprint.”

“Now back to this thing about integrity and pledges. One size pledge does not fit all. If you had read the About page it says so. For some bloggers it is a one time only statement that you have advertising or promotional content. For other bloggers they have are visual indicators when sponsored content appears. You can choose like Queen of Shake Shake not to have any declaration at all because she doesn't need no stinking badge or pledge to be ethical.”

“I'm just asking you to check in with your ethical compass and make sure it is in alignment with your personal and business belief system. At least look at the site to get a sense of what you might want to consider or reject in constructing your own ethical guidelines. If you don’t want to do that then perhaps you should visit the Responsibility Project and watch videos of BlogHer09 conference attendees talking about Responsible Blogging.”

“This discussion isn’t going away. Read others bloggers like Ali,  Jennie and  Kelby Carr have written. Take a look at CyberJournalist.net’s writing from a few years back on blogging ethics. I'm not sure why journalists want to weigh in on what bloggers do when some of their workplaces are kinda skeezy in the ethics department (Travel, accepting packages and presenting content from advertisers without attribution comes to mind.). Like I said, don’t hate, evaluate. Some of the ideas are good, like linking back to original sources, separate factual information from advertising content and admit mistakes and correct them promptly.”

“Mookie, fix me a Passion Power Blueberry smoothie to go. Anyway, it is all here. Read it or not, your choice.”

Disclosure and Transparency in Action

Liz Gumbinner and myself are Contributing Editors at BlogHer. Upon my request, Liz did provide me with information about the Blog With Integrity website and link suggestions. My personal opinion is that I support most of concepts of the pledge but I choose not to display any badge at this time on my personal and informational blogs.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer where this post originally appeared.

It's A Raggy Waltz on the Finally Friday Freakout

I am jazz ignorant. I know it. I use to try and listen to my local jazz and blues radio station but it is a little out of my broadcast area. The only other source of jazz is midnight on Sundays and I'm lucky if I can make it to 11 p.m. I know what I like but could not identify the style of jazz if you paid me.

Smooth Jazz don't cut it because it more mush of many musical forms. I don't hate it but I don't seek it out either. So it was cool to find this clip and hey, I even recognized the name of the performer.



From the 1963 movie All Night Long this is Dave Brubeck and company in a lovely scene from a movie I have never heard of or seen.

Open Congress – Please Read the Actual Health Care Bill

Ok, I know that the newspapers and the media told you that this has become a non-issue that there will be no public or single pay option. That is a lie. It is still a big deal.

But we have to participate. You and I as citizens have some responsibilities. One of them is to be informed an the other is to speak.

What I am asking is not easy. Read the actual bill. You can do so at Open Congress.org

I’m not asking you to support or condemn the bill. I’m asking you to make an effort to read it and find out for yourself. There are a lot of pages. Yes, it will take some effort.

BlogHer is working with the Sunlight Foundation. Nancy Watzman will be posting information that can help you to understand what is going on.

You, American citizen, are still responsible for learning for yourself, not what shock jocks, political pundits and people who don't need health insurance because they are wealthy will tell you.

Make the effort.

If you don't want to go to Open Congress.org then hippy-hop over to The Library of Congress - Thomas.gov and search for HR 3200

Taking A Moment To Be A Better Flashlight

I have been less personal here on the Stoop for a while. I had life happen. It is still happening. I can tell those of you that have more of it to live than I've got left is that you do the best you can and keep moving forward. Or rest when necessary. But the forward thing, yeah direction wise that is the way to go. Forward isn't always easy.

I don't know if you did this but when I was a kid I wanted to know how the world got so messed up. As a teen that shifted into being able to see some of the messed-uppers in action and figured they would die off so that the rest of us that had a clue could get to work.

What I did not count on was that it would be so easy for good people to do nothing. To be distracted by survival, responsibilities, trivia, and 50 million other legitimate reasons for shutting off the world and looking for peace. Yet sanctuary ok to visit, even on a daily basis but at some point you have to be a part of the world and the communities you are connected to.

This is not easy. This is also not what I want all of the time. Sanctuary, good. World? It depends.

I was talking to my friend who is a good man. I don't tell him that often enough. Yeah, anyway we were talking and I was telling him that I want to just find a deep cave.

He said "I did not want to do that."

I said, "Yes I do, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it. I don't understand the tolerance for violence, for stupidity being hailed as a badge of honor. I don't understand socialism used as a pejorative when almost everything that happens in this country is connected to another person, a community of people, a frigging Union in fact and health care is considered an enemy of capitalism. This is not the change I signed on for; there is so many positive things that can be done but if you have to fight this hard what is the point?"

To paraphrase: "The point is that change is disruptive. People don't like disruptions for the unknown. Some would rather die than step forward if moving forward meant stepping into the unknown. You have a tendency to step into the unknown, into the possible. Sometimes you get hurt and sometimes you come back sharing the future. "

"I can't help that, it is what I do. I accept that about me."

"Yeah, and that is a good thing. Except when you get angry and impatient with others who are afraid of taking a single step. You don't need a cave. You need a better flashlight."

Grumble, grumble (Damn, he's right.) grumble.

Illumination. That is why a lot of us write, blog, video and record. We want to illuminate some aspect of our world. Of our lives. Our interests. We connect with each other and we step into new flows of energy and points of view.

So I am going to try to be a better flashlight. How do I do that?

Yes, I need work on the grammar/spelling thing. Lawd, I know. Need also to find better ways to explain things to fearful people. I can't do anything for the willfully stupid. I have accepted that for the time being.

I know that I need to put in my two cents about health care but just waiting for a sign on how to do that. Don't want to add to the noise, need facts and substance. I don't know. I just know we can't leave this to Congress.

Health care ain't political with me, it is damned personal.

When I can ride the bus and hear a homeless person who is clearly physically hurt say that they would die than step foot in a county hospital it is bad. Because homeless or not you know there would be a 24 to 36 hour wait for service.

Neighborhood clinic will not see you without an appointment but they will refer you to the county hospital. Area hospitals will not see you unless it is life threatening and they only patch you up to get you out of the door ASAP.

People can't afford the doctor or the Nurse Practitioner in the Drug store because you are not going to be paid for another week and a half and there is the rent, mortgage, kids, food, phone, gas, electric, utilities waiting for your attention.

So yeah, there is a problem here. There are solutions. We can do this. I'll put a hold on my cave reservation but folks need to get to stepping.

Wade In The Water Remix on the Finally Friday Freakout

Creation begets more creation. It can't be stopped or legislated. The participants in the video are generations apart but the constant is the beat, the beat, some drums and more beat.



The singer is the great Marlena Shaw who album I still have in vinyl form. She sustained me during the dark days of tribulations and clogs on escalators.

The performers in the early part of the video is the Berry Brothers, who I don't have a clue who they were but somebody was inspired by these gents. I've seen latter day interpretations of this kind of dancing. I figure some choreographer plucked a few steps from these dudes for certain.

The other performer is the great dancer Eleanor Powell. Put them all together and you have an appreciation for them all. Enjoy and feel free to say "Wow."

Women of the Dance

There are certain songs that I must dance when they are played. The music forces me out of my chair and commands me to move my body in defiance of a culture that tells me I’m too old to shake that thing. Mainly I dance with myself and every once in a while with Billy Idol. For Merce Cunningham I imagined that every day of his life he was commanded to move his body in dance.

Like many people, I had heard of Mr. Cunningham's name. Because the lack of representation of artistic dance on television and movies I would not have been able to tell you the nature of his work. At the dance company he founded website I was able to read his biography and to sample a short video clip that showed his evolution as a dancer/choreographer.

This lead to more questions so I also visited the art portal Ubu Web, I got an additional overview of his career and discovered this video, Septet Excerpt 1964:

What inspired me from my brief research about Merce Cunningham is that he kept on dancing and learning right up to the end of his 90 year  life. He did not allow anyone to dictate how his life should be lived. We do not have to stick to paths that no longer serve our spirit. There are choices to dance to our own beat.

Dance Blogs and Bloggers

Dance is communication, sexuality, freedom and conformity, order and disorder. I try not to distinguish between professional dance and social dancing. It happens too often that one becomes the other. Innovation happens on the street level as well as in the great dancing schools and companies.

I can go days without dancing. This is not true for other people. For some people dancing is just one step removed from breathing. It is their life force and they know it. Their daily challenge is to find a way to incorporate dance and dancing into their day to day routine. Exploring dance blogs and websites can open visitors to styles of dance, performances, the business of dance and dance bloggers.

Carrying The Culture Forward

Anjali Nandan practices a dance form called Bharatnatyam, at Online Bharatnatyam she educates about the dance and has video examples of not only how to perform the steps but the reason behind each movement.

Dance Bloggers is a centralized spot for all kinds of English language dance blogs. From here you can find explorations on movement, learning African dance,  or a wee bit of Burlesque.

For the Love of Dance

Maria at A Time to Dance started her journey to dance later than most professional dancers but with no less of a passion than a teen. She is a dancer/educator who:

I became passionate about dance in my mid-twenties. For most other pursuits, this would not be considered late in life, but for dance, I consider myself a late bloomer. My first dance love is salsa– it was the initial “seed” that made me realize that my best tool for artistic and personal expression is my own body. That opened the door to the study of other types of dance, including hip hop, jazz, ballet and modern. I have been seriously devoting myself to the study of modern dance and dabbling in choreography over the past year.

Tonya Plank at Swan Lake Samba Girl works hard to make time to dance. She is a self described an amateur competitive Latin dancer, in addition to being a writer and a public defender. Tonya writes about dance in New York and beyond, has very interesting photos on her blog (I didn’t know dancers could look like that!) and reviews dance performances.

In the Profession of Dance

Nichelle Strzepek at Dance Advantage writes about what a person can gain from a dance education and what it means to be a professional. You don't have to be a dancer to appreciate:

Even when someone is simply not doing his best, and even if it is negatively impacting you or others, it is still not appropriate for a professional to publicly point this out to others.  It’s not nice!  No one can truly walk in another person’s shoes, therefore it is always best to remember the golden rule.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Dance Mine is a collaborative blog from Janie a ballet dancer, and Sanna who is a Performance Specialists. Together they write on the profession of dance and tips on managing the body, mind and spirit as well as the career.

How Does a Modern Dance Company Get the Word Out on Their Performances?

If you have alternative newspapers in your area you might see the event listed in the Calendar section. One effective way is to have a blog like the Shen Wei Dance Arts Company's blog that let's fans know of upcoming performances. The Elisa Monete Dance Company also has a blog that keeps their audience informed and they have videos that display portions of the company's works.

Dance is more than a competition to be scored. If all you know about dance is Dancing With the Stars, and I’m really not knocking that television program, I invite you to take a little time to dip into the world of dance and dance blogs.

This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor.

Chick Habit Josie Style - the Finally Friday Freakout

I've started collecting DVD movies of animated superheroes and graphic novels. I haven't stepped into Anime yet but it is only a matter of time. Anyway music + animation = the yeah, yeah, yeahs from me.

I've kept this one in my play list for a while. It is an short clip of latter day Josie and the Pussycats directed by Quentin Tarentino. The song is called Chick Habit and the singer is April March.



Now there is almost nothing new but inspiration. The original song was in French recorded by France Gall in 1964. Here is her version:



So the lesson for today is mashups can be good and that they can be educational. I have expanded my world and increased my music appreciation.

Conflict Resolution Skills For Adults Acting Badly

It has been a summer of adults getting themselves into trouble verbally or socially. And no, I’m not necessarily talking about Crowley, Gates or Obama. Here is the deal. I became angry with myself. In one social situation where you would think I’d blow a gasket I was calm and rational. In another situation two days later I acted in anger at the mention of two words.

Two freaking words that I have heard for years. Never had an effect on me before that moment. No, that is not true. The words irritated me but I rationalized it away. Then kaboom!  It concerned me a whole lot. There were people that I wanted to introduce myself to that I could no longer do so because I went off. 

Let me tell you something. As much as well all try to be on our best public behavior sometimes you muck it up. Ask those three guys, who hopefully will have more than a beer, about how ego, time, space and communication misunderstandings can trip you up.

A 2007 post from Margaret Mason at 43 Folders is referencing the book The Four Agreements, which I have not read, so I’m taking what she is presenting at face value.

Words have immeasurable power, so use them with care. Say only what you mean, and remember your opinion isn’t fact. Silence is better than saying something you’ll regret.

Well, I blew that one straight off but I’ll try to remember that for the next time I’m in churn mode. Knowing better can help but it isn’t an automatic balm to ensure human perfection. That is the thing, we are not always perfect but there are troops read to jump down your throat if you don’t act the way that they expect you to. You can’t. Not all of the time.

I really wish there was a public space that would allow people to see the spectrum of a person life instead of focusing on the surface. When I read comments about race, police, politics or validation of points of view is like swimming with piranha; ready to gum you to death at the first drop of blood. 

In case you didn’t know there are a bunch of immature people on the planet. Sometimes that maturity is fluid and mistakes happen. Sometimes folks are stuck on juvenile stupid for life. So what do we do? Instead of shaming someone back to the tenth generation? 

According to Dr. Margaret Paul, we are to keep our hearts open and make the choice of engagement or disengagement.

Carolyn at The Grown-Up Child.ca talks about how she learned to shun others as a technique of conflict resolution. There are times when I have acted in similar ways when I have felt there was no other alternative.

And it does seem to be such a powerful thing, doesn’t it?  Taking your knife edged sword and severing the threads of a relationship.  To me it brings images of someone standing on one side of a rope bridge cutting the bonds one by one while the other on the bridge is forced to run for the safety of land. The swordsman turning their back on the chasm between them and appearing not to care as the other person aches to connect.

I agree with her, it should be used as a last resort. There are some people that you really do have to cut all contact with but that should be at the end of all other options. The reality is that most of the time you will have to interact with the person or persons that is causing you grief.

Tammi Lenski at Conflict Zen writes about how to control and manage your personal hot buttons. There is a passage in her post that I keep working my way through my issues:

Your hot buttons trip you up in conflict because they cause you to misinterpret, close down, lash out or take a side trip down the blame road. They also trigger a set of emotional responses that can escalate the conflict. When you’re triggered, your brain may experience what’s called a “neural hijacking.” The brain perceives a threat, proclaims an emergency and moves into action. This hijacking occurs so quickly that the conscious, thinking portion of the brain does not yet fully comprehend what’s happening.

It was true, I heard those two trigger words and my anger jumped over my normal internal breaking system. There was a jailbreak dash for my mouth. Tammy explains skills that can be used to keep trouble from slipping out inappropriately.

I’m spending the rest of my free time hanging out at the University of Colorado at Boulder – Conflict Resolution Information Source There is a tremendous amount of information at this site. I could spend three week highlighting resources.  I’m printing out post by Heidi Burgess post on Active Listening, Anger Management and De-Escalation.

I also will read and review How to Resolve Conflict from Chris Witt. He list ten steps that can help resolve disputes with most people. There is also a list of resolution techniques at Pick The Brain.

I’ll also dig into my pile of self help books, videos and maybe buy myself a Zune or iPod. Ok, the Zune or iPod does not help with conflict resolution but it would make me feel better. Ok, not really but I would get to practice conflict resolution with my inner skinflint. It is all about listening, validation and searching for best solution or resolution of the problem.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer where this post originally appeared.

Korean BBQ Festival & Cook Off - Summer of Staycation 8

'Cue? as in BBQ? A festival about the smell, the smoke and dare I say it, the joy of eating hot juicy seasoned meat? Er...to my veggie and vegan friends, skip this post.

I'm an Omnivore and I do slip over to the dark side every now and again. I did buy snow peas and carrots yesterday. It is a process, okay? I might not even make it over there, I'd have to take four buses or a train or two on a Saturday. It is supposed to have some serious K-BBQ masters though. I do like pickle Kimchi.

Where was I? Oh yeah on Saturday, August 8th from 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM there will be a Korean BBQ Festival in Koreatown or thereabouts. The skivvy on the location is:

Parking Lot at The Summit on 6th
3223 West 6Th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020

I got the scoop from Yelp with the details on Facebook.

I don't do Facebook. Sorry. No. Not even for potentially good to excellent'Cue.

To be specific, the Festival is free but if you want to scarf upper level Korean Beef Tacos you need to bring cash money.

Hey I do what I can but for $5 - $7 you can wrap your mouth around something hot.
In a culinary way of course. This is a family event.

Condoms , BlogHer09 and Your Voice in Health Care

I sat at the Birds of a Feather Education table for lunch. I met folks. I hoped that I listened more than I talked or ate. I didn't get the chance to meet everyone. Soon lunch was over and I noticed that there were condoms on the table from Planned Parenthood.

I was afraid one of the Waitstaff might throw them in the trash. I started to gather them up when an older gentleman asked me what they were. I smiled and said "Condoms." He asked if he could have them, he wanted to give them to some of his young "knuckleheads" in his neighborhood.

I said "Absolutely!" and gave all of them to him. He said he was working on trying to make those knucklehead understand they got to use them.





Sometimes we forget that there are more good people doing good things than bad. We are all agents of change.

If you haven't already please read the health care post by Lisa Stone at BlogHer and put in your two cents.

The time to speak up and act on your beliefs is now.