Teachable Moments - Haiti

When I was just starting college as a music education major, I remember Dr. Carroll stopping occasionally after a question from a student and say, “This is what we call a ‘teachable moment’”. Then he was stray from his intended path for the day and take us where the question led.

Here is my Haiti teachable moment:

The earthquake tragedy of Haiti is a major world event that will soon take its place in history books. But we didn’t want BabyGirl to read about it one day and realize she was alive when it happened but didn’t recall learning or doing anything about it.

Our current core subjects are:
US geography
Family History
Handwriting (printing)
Math
Reading/Spelling/ Vocabulary
Science
Religion

Many would call the Haiti tragedy, world history. Here is how we are working it into our core content:
US Geography: She knows where Florida is on the US map. So we took it to the globe and pointed out where Haiti is in relation to Florida to get some perspective. We mapped what states we’d travel through to drive to Florida and then the modes of transportation to the island of Haiti.
Handwriting/Spelling/Vocabulary: Write the word “Haiti” to learn to spell it. Also “earthquake” “relief”
Science: What is an earthquake? What/Who causes earthquakes?

Then a general conversation about safety ensued. To ease her fears we talked about what emergency preparations are in our home. We let her try on our gas masks. We demonstrated the butane cooking stove and kerosene heater. We talked about the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. What foods we have that are stored in case our electricity is off in an emergency (or other ;o) situation. How we will clean the water from the creek that runs behind our home if the water supply is cut off. Etc.

Also, we made her aware of our contribution to the cause. We have provided major detailed coverage in our newspaper and we have also assisted in the promotion of local fundraising events. She also hears my radio show guests as we discuss it, so she is learning how to help “in your own way” to any cause. Money is not always YOUR best means of assistance.

It's 2009!!!

Remembering Eartha Kitt

My first memory of Earth Kitt was seeing a live performance of Timbuktu! when I was probably just 8 or 9 years old. I remember the thunderous applause when she spoke in her trademark voice from behind stage and how the crowd leaped to their feet when she entered the stage.
Over the years, I did not take the time to learn much about her but always knew she was another of our great talents that chose to spend time in Europe instead of deal the the racism here.
I'll be reading up on her today?

From the web:

Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.

"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later.

More here...

Did you miss this too?

Detroit newspapers are going to 3 day a week home delivery.

You can still get a paper each day but it won't come to your door.

As an avid newspaper reader and an owner, this topic is VERY interesting to me.

We keep a good number of online subscribers (free) but I wonder if they would pay a fee for that?

I'll be watching closely.

Personally, I like the "feel" of the newspaper itself. And I tend to read more of the print paper than when I read online. I would miss it if my local paper every ceased printing daily. I currently don't do home delivery. I go to the corner when I want one.

Would you miss the daily "paper" paper?

RIP Breed- Another brother gone...

...this time to kindney failure .

Remeber MC Breed "Ain't no future in your frontin'" the college party classic?!

I chose this video because they're both gone now.


I'm feeling "old" in the sense that I'm seeing so many people pass on before me. Glad to still be here.

Something I never considered...

Lose the BlackBerry? 

Yes He Can, Maybe

 

WASHINGTON — Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

Read the rest of this NY Times article here.

She's Baaaack!

Sister Souljah returns with the much anticipated sequel to "The Coldest Winter Ever". The title is "Midnight". If you read "Winter" you know that Midnight was a mysterious character that obviously had a past. I can't WAIT to get into this. 

I bought it last night, for full price I might add, and am reading it now so I'll check you out later :-)

What did it FEEL like?

I want to know what it felt like to cast your vote today?

Was it emotional?

Were you more emotional than you thought you'd be?

Did you feel relief?

Did you feel ANYTHING?

Who'd you vote for and how did it FEEL?

I'll comment when I return from the polls!

Photo credit: The Key Newsjournal

Let's not forget to be sad

I've read and heard a lot of people who are just angry about the deaths of Jennier Hudson's mother, brother and now nephew.

Yes it was senseless.

Yes it is tragic.

But I believe that anger is a convenient replacement for sadness. 

Let us mourn with her. Think of your own family, give them a call, give them a hug. Shed a tear or two.

Don't just be mad and angry. That is what the killer was.

Be sad, even if for a moment. 

I am....

May Allah bless Jennifer and her sister to heal and be alright again...one day.

This didn't even seem right when I saw it on MSNBC...

Police: McCain volunteer changes ATM attack story

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh police say a McCain campaign volunteer who said she was held down by a black man who cut the letter "B" in her face has changed her story.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard says investigators gave the 20-year-old woman a lie-detector test and are "looking at some inconsistencies" in her story.

The student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, initially said a black man robbed her at knifepoint Wednesday night and then cut her cheek after seeing a McCain sticker on her car.

Police say bank surveillance footage doesn't show her at an ATM where she says she was attacked.

Todd, who is white, now says she was knocked unconscious and doesn't remember being cut. She now says she only discovered the wound later.

No arrests have been made.

This will go down as a classic

Clinton: I don't agree with the Bush doctrine.
Palin: I don't know what that is.

After you watched:

I got it when Palin said don't refer to her as a MILF (I won't break that down here) but didn't get when Clinton said quit calling her a "flirg". They break it down over here.

Faith restored!

I skipped out on posting yesterday. I was sooooooo uninspired by Hillary. She did what I expected. She is a career politician and did the noble thing (when your back is against a wall). She endorsed the victor. The speech was very much like her concession speech.

The best thing she did was acknowledge the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I was waiting for that. I've been watching almost all of the speeches and she was the first major acknowledgment.

But Wednesday........Bill came with it. He was believable. He seemed to be saying, "I fought the good fight, now its over. We're family again." Hillary still seemed a little bitter. Bill was ready to rock this thing for the Dems.

Biden won me over. I was scared of his mouth. I'm still a bit afraid. But overall, he came off real. And he came off as generous. My fear of any VP would be that they would try to not be "the white man behind the first Black president" and try to upstage Barack and have in-fighting ruin their chances. I don't think Biden is going to do that. He seems grateful for his 3rd chance. (He ran for president twice already). He was generous by using almost 10 minutes of his acceptance speech to campaign.

This convention started slow for me but it's picking up steam and I expect Barack to give up the "hope" speech and give us some concrete reasons why he is the clear choice.

DON'T DISAPPOINT ME BARACK! (You know he reads my blog on his iPhone, LOL)

Raw unedited thoughts watching the DNC-08 Monday

Before reading what anyone else had to say, I wanted to write my thoughts about what I witnessed.

First and foremost, Mrs. Barack Obama.

What I saw was an articulate and intelligent wife, who was a bit nervous.

In her voice, which was a little softer than usual that followed her script so not to deviate into something that could be "soundbitten", she seemed to be thinking, "Just don't fuck this up for your husband girl."

I think she was real. She came across as true. But she had to put in the obligatory "this is why I love America". She did her job and I hope it worked. I hope she only does what she feels so when it's all over she'll never feel as if she had to be someone other than herself to be accepted.

She looked great, just a little apologetic.

Second, good coverage was hard to find. I left MSNBC when they had technical difficulties during Nancy Pelosi's speech. I wandered upon C-Span and now I'm hooked. No pundits after the big speakers, just crowd shots which give you a chance to formulate your own thoughts. PLUS, they show EVERY SPEAKER. On regular cable most people didn't hear Barack's sisters speech or Jesse Jackson Jrs. speech which were both great. Check them out.

This was a major night, a major speech and Michelle did not strike out. It will just be a few days before we can tell if she hit a homerun or a single.

Did you watch?

This is getting to be too much...

So many, so fast, so young...


The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones

A warm warrior.

With EXTREME sadness...

R.I.P. Bernie Mac

I didn't get a REAL appreciation for the genius of the Mac Man until I lived in The Chi for a few years. They LOVE Bernie there. I will never forget going to see The Original Kings of Comedy movie at the "Black" movie theater on 87th and the Dan Ryan (freeway). People laughed and were rowdy as usual until.......they started showing the clips of Bernie before he took the stage. 

You could feel the anticipation in the theater. People sat up, leaned forward, began shouting and cheering like he was in the room. When Steve Harvey introduced him on screen, people stood up in the movies! I never had so much fun. It was an unbelievable feeling of ownership. People in Chicago felt like they all made it when Bernie did. They were proud of him and felt pride just by seeing him on the big screen doing his thing.

I worked in the South Suburbs of Chicago where Bernie lives today and every third person I met was related to Bernie, knew Bernie, has swam in his pool or SOMETHING. He belonged to them.

Usually, people say to me "aren't you from Chicago?" I say "No, my husband is. But I lived there for few years."

Today, I'm from Chicago. And my Uncle Bernie just died. WAY too soon, at age 50.

What's left to be said...

I am so glad that I was not the only one offended by the CNN series. It gives me hope that others see through the thinly disguised loathing that came through the lens.

One point that I don't feel was made strongly enough was the REAL REASON for the special.

RATINGS!

A guest on my show pointed out that, though a bit of time and money was spent on this project, it was meant to boost Black viewer numbers for Time Warner or whoever owns CNN so that they can charge more for advertising next season.

So no matter how we felt about it, they won't do it again. It was done to serve a purpose. We assisted by sending emails and watching (for those with Nielsen boxes) and now the damage is done.

How green am I?

Happy Earth Day!
I had to really consider this. I am definitely more "green" conscious now that I live in Kentucky. This town is SERIOUS about conservation, even the Mayor's city car is a Hybrid Toyota.

Ways I am green...
1. We have three city waste cans. One for garbage, one for recyclable empties (paper, plastic and glass) and one for yard waste.
2. I get recycled mulch each year for my flower beds from the city.
3. I don't water as much as I used to. This saves water and keeps my grass from growing so much (which my husband appreciates :o)
4. I don't do bottled water in my house we have a filter on the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water and ice cubes.
5. I turn off my surge strip each time I cut off my computer so it cuts off the printer too. I just learned that while items are plugged in they even draw "juice" when they are off.
6. I open and close windows, open and close blinds and use ceiling fans to keep down on air and heating costs and use the sun and wind to heat and cool whenever possible.
7. My house is ALL electric, no gas at all.

What I'm going to do...
1. Unplug vcr's (which we NEVER use) and electric clocks and get battery wall clocks and get rechargeable batteries.
2. Walk in my neighborhood park and exercise in my house instead of driving to the gym during good weather.
3. Start a compost so I can garden next year.
4. Shop more at the farmers market.
Hey it's a start.

If you have a few minutes take this quiz to see how many planets it would take to support your lifestyle.

Homeschoolers alert: If you need activities for Earth Day, here is a link.

Cost of researching Rev. Wright's speeches, THOUSANDS

Damage to Obama campaign, MINIMAL

No way to spin out of this photo...PRICELESS




AHHH...modern technology! I know this meeting can't be compared to a 20 year relationship, but it was taken during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. If Barack is still with Wright and Hillary is still with Bill then....judge for yourself. For me and my house, we back Barack! (and Rev. Wright!)

Some good info. if you can use it...

In case you find yourself in an intelligent conversation about Sen. Obama's pastor and want to have some additional insight, here is someone WHITE speaking on behalf of Rev. Wright (come on, you know it helps when you quote white people, LOL)

I pulled these because of some mess I heard on local talk radio Friday. The radio station my show plays on is conservative to say the least. Rush Limbaugh is the main draw during the weekday. Well, a local host tried to take on the Rev. Wright comments but he was ill equipped. A caller said that he was Catholic and has been his entire life and had to endure the priest sleeping with boys scandal. He said Obama can't be held accountable for his pastor's actions. Then the host said something to effect of 'Obama shouldn't subject his wife and children to talk like that and Rev. Wright is the head of that church so he is the equivalent of The Pope.' See, that's some ol' ignant ish right there. So tomorrow on the air I'll address this before I start my "real" show.

NOTE: If you want to listen in, my show is Key Conversations and we are on at 6pm EST you can go here and click LISTEN LIVE (near top right side) and you can hear us. My topic this week is "Black's and Lincoln: What is the connection and why the recent disconnect." Our state is battling with Indiana and Illinois for claim to Lincoln. His 200th birthday is coming and there are celebrations planned and the white folks want Blacks to be on committees to come up with a way to acknowledge him for freeing the slaves and most of us don't want nothing to do with that one. So we're going to to have one of my favorite local scholars on. Her name is Alicestyne Adams and she is the head of the Underground Railroad Research Institute at Georgetown College.

Awwwwwwww damn!

I was casually making the rounds on this snowy afternoon and came across a post about this movie.

You know that's Robert Downey Jr. in the middle right? Here's what the intelligent folk are saying. I'm saying, "This is some bullshit!" I know I haven't (and probably won't) seen the movie but I'm just sayin'!