I’m a Dickens.

I’m David Copperfield!
by Charles Dickens
Coming up from a childhood that felt abusive, you have risen through hard work to gain a place of stature in your life. You’ve spent altogether too much time in factories and end up misspelling a fair number of words. But in general you are seen as a beacon of hope for [...]

This week’s outrage from Darfur: 1/30/08.

Genocide prevention: 60 years of abject failure by Eric Reeves
Northampton, Mass. (New York Times) Jan. 30 – This year marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 9, 1948, the Convention reflects the tireless work [...]

Your tax dollars at work: the video.

Brought to you by the nice folks at the American Friends Service Committee.
(PS:  If you have a blog on your own, feel free to post this at your place.  Help spread the word.  Thanks.)

Now I’m a believer.

The Earth moved for me Saturday night.  (No, not THAT way.  Not even close.  But it definitely underwent a bit of a shift.)  It gave me a nudge.  More like a good, hard shove, like the kind your spouse gives you if you’re snoring.
I cannot sit on the sidelines.  I refuse to be disengaged from the [...]

Cool Saturday sounds.

Bruce Springsteen: ”Radio Nowhere.”
Not bad for middle-aged guy from Jersey, huh.
Note: Posting will slow down here during the coming month, starting right now, as I try to catch up at work, do my union bit, work on my long-neglected manuscript, and continue to try to get my health together, which still needs lots [...]

Holding on for a leader…

On Monday, while I was home from work due to the King holiday, I took some time to read and listen to a few of Dr. King’s speeches.  I also listened to an interview with an author who has written a book about Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech. 
And the question kept coming into [...]

Class project.

Okay, kids, listen up.
I spent my day off Monday running errands (because that’s what teachers do on holidays), and one of my missions was to start buying some houseplants for my classroom.  See, I work in a “dirty” building.  Not dirty as in unclean: my classroom is always clean, thanks to our wonderful custodians.  “Dirty” [...]

Planet Autism: 1/23/08.

(Herald News) Jan. 13 – Jenni Amick used to talk to others with her eyes averted away from them, if she spoke to them at all.
Crowds really bothered the 28-year-old, and she had a tendency to get violent when she was scared.
For college student Maureen Skaggs, of Joliet, speaking in front of a [...]

Her time.

Julie Christie has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in  the breath-taking, heart-breaking Away From Her.
I hope the writers’ strike is settled by then (to the benefit of the union, of course).  I want to see her get what she so richly deserves.

Blogging for choice, 2008.

     I wasn’t going to participate in Blog for Choice this year, mainly because I am so sick and tired of dealing with nasty trolls every time I mention the subjects of abortion or choice here or elsewhere.  NOTHING seems to bring out the worst in people faster than a debate in abortion (unless you’re talking [...]

Remember.

 “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”

This week’s outrage from Darfur: 1/20/08.

How low can Khartoum go?  This low:
KHARTOUM (Reuters) Jan. 20 – Sudan has appointed Musa Hilal, a man Washington accuses of coordinating Darfur’s marauding militias, to a central government position, a move condemned by international human rights campaigners.
Minister of Federal Affairs Abdel Basit Sabderat confirmed Hilal had been picked as his new adviser. The [...]

A love supreme.

Fleeting images in sand - David O’Reilly, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
In the Buddhist realm of nonbeing, form and color have no names.
But here on the earthly plane at 38th and Chestnut Streets, the particles flowing from Losang Samten’s “pen” are forming luminous fields of cobalt, rose, celadon and more, where elephants, skeletons, demons and foolish [...]

Mike ♥ the Confederate flag.

Surprise.  UnReconstructed Southerner Mike Huckabee is using the Confederate battle flag as a campaign issue this weekend in South Carolina.  I know I for one am shocked:
COLUMBIA, S.C. (UPI) Jan. 18 – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took on the Confederate flag Thursday in South Carolina, saying any decision on flying it should be up to the [...]

A bad day.

There was going to be a music video here for you today.  I took it down last night.
Yesterday afternoon, we got the news that the parents of a former student of ours from last year’s class were both dead.  The local news ghouls confirmed it last night.  The police found the body of the mother of the [...]

No more lies.

This is what it has come down to.  This is just how bad it’s gotten:
COLORADO SPRINGS (Denver Post) Jan. 17 - Fort Carson sent soldiers who were not medically fit to war zones last month to meet “deployable strength” goals, according to e-mails obtained by The Denver Post.
One e-mail, written Jan. 3 by the surgeon for [...]

An open letter to Senators Clinton and Obama.

Dear Senators:
What I’m about to say won’t sound very Quakerly, and I apologize in advance for my choice of words, but there really is no other way to say this.
With all due respect, would you two please shut up.
With all due respect, neither of you is the heir apparent to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, [...]

The war at home, v. 6.

Surprise.  The killing doesn’t stop when the deployment is over:
NEW YORK (AP) Jan. 13 – At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the United States after returning from combat, The New York Times reported Sunday.  [The same New York Times which now employs one [...]

Planet Autism, 1/14/08.

Coping through comics: Manga sheds light on autism
Tom Baker / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

“People with autism, even if they have high intelligence, have difficulty explaining their feelings about the situation they are in to other people,” manga artist Keiko Tobe said. “They have communication problems.”
Tobe’s most successful manga work, Hikari to Tomoni (With the [...]

In the shadow of the torturers.

Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address, asked us to look for the “better angels of our nature.” A real leader, like Lincoln, who has the dreams and goals and aspirations of her or his people at heart, seeks to uplift and advance society.  These leaders ask us to look inside ourselves for what is right and good and loving, and [...]