We need to know truth and not have it sugar coated.

I am 55.  I tell you this because even now, at the age I am, I remember vividly certain things that happened when I was a teenager.  Some of the memories are good some not so much ,but the fact that I remember and remember clearly means the moment made a tremendous impact.  So I remember the lights dimming and squirming in my seat because I didn't want to see what I was about to see.  The projector shot the images to the screen, and I wanted to avert my eyes but I couldn't.  I watched trains packed with people pull out of stations, knowing where they were going and the fate that awaited them, even though they didn't.  I watched naked women and children being led into showers, they thinking the dust of the journey was to be washed off, not realizing that the showers sprayed death.  I watched loud men line up weaker men and boys and shoot them, just like that, then shovel dirt over them as they fell into trenches dug for the purpose of burying them.  This was part of my education, this was a day in the life of a Catholic school girl, and I knew it was real, and I knew it was wrong, and I knew I would remember it so that it wouldn't happen again.  And I am grateful for being allowed to see that reality.  I also remember sitting through the movies about growing up.  Seeing my insides in the form of an outline in order to see how the egg was released from the fallopian tube and how it made its way to the uterus, where if it met the little swimming sperm and they connected, it would implant, and if the connection was not made it would be washed away in a sea of blood, better known as menstrual fluid.  And I am glad to have been shown that reality.  My parents never questioned the need for me to see either of these truths, they knew I needed to know.  So I am appalled that a parent wouldn't want their child to see what could be the horrific affects of a person driving while texting.  In today's paper there is an article about a  movie that was shown to students that graphically shows the end result of driving while not paying attention.  Apparently there is even an image of a baby, dead on impact, with eyes frozen open.  That is reality.  I would want my teenager to see it, to remember it, to know it happens and to be the one to say, I won't let it happen again, I won't let it happen to me.  Now, I know some may be offended that I am comparing the events of the Holocaust to texting while driving, I'm not really, but what I am trying to get across is that to protect is to deny and we can't deny.  I am also trying to get across the reality that teenagers are impressionable.  What do you want to impress on them, the truth, or what you think is nice?  I know this is long, but I so want you to get it.

Both of these images are from Flickr
Rosemary

Brain Gym continued

To continue my thoughts on moving and thinking I went to something that I have known about for years, but haven't really thought about for a while; Brain Gym.  We tend to be so sluggish, especially our young people, and the need to get them moving before we ask them to learn is great.  Couldn't every classroom teacher, at every level spend two to three minutes engaging students in the simple exercises seen in the video in the previous posting?  We are constantly being compared to the Japanese when it comes to education, well I think daily exercise is incorporated into their school day, and I don't mean just PE class as an elective, but real exercise every morning for every student.  Our students spend a great deal of their school day doing nothing.  I bet they would get into class before the last bell if they knew something was going to be going on.  Oh, you would have your dissenters for a while, the ones who would say "This is dumb."  but you know what?  I think it would catch on, anyone willing to try it?  I don't think we have lost our kids, I think we can change their course of failure and non-interest, but not by preaching and punishing.  We need to change our way of thinking, of teaching and reacting to kids.  We know young people need structure, order and discipline, it is how they learn.  We owe it to our students to give them structure, to have order in our schools, to have fair and consistent discipline (not punishment), and to enable their learning.  We can't demand that they learn, we can't beseech them to learn, we can, however, empower them to learn.  A "rigorous" curriculum taught to a sleeping brain is not the answer, but wake up the brain and then give them a real reason why they need to know something, and they will learn it.  Just a thought.
Rosemary

Brain Gym

We need to exercise... The Brain!

Something occurred to me the other day and I am now getting time to really ponder it.  Why are most kids not critical thinkers, or any kind of thinkers?  I thought one of the reasons was that because they are so busy playing video games, texting their friends, connecting on facebook, and basically living on or near their internet source, they simply were not engaging in the act of thought.  I now think it has more to do with how this connection process keeps them from any sort of physical activity and therefore their brains are not so much on overload as simply on standby.  We know that each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body, and that the hemisphere of the brain that needs to be functioning needs to be activated.  So what activates the brain?  Exercise!  So I aks ya (to borrow a phrase from My Cousin Vinny), why aren't we asking our students to wake up their brains?  How does demanding that they come in, sit down, and remain quiet while we "teach" get the lights to go on?  We have always known that little children learn through play, we still know this but even our little ones are less active in play than they really need to be.  It gets worse as they grow.  This will be continued because it merits some deep thought and questioning and I have just begun.
Rosemary

Tea Party Members

The NY Times has an article on who backs the Tea Party.  There are two members quoted who I would just love to meet.  One is a 67 year old female who says about President Obama "I just feel he's getting way from what America is.  He's a socialist.  And to tell you the truth, I think he's a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don't care what he says."  I think she's been watching too much Fox News!  I would love to meet  her so I could ask her just what planet she is from.  The other is a 62 year old woman who when asked how she could rationalize taking her social security while fighting against big government, couldn't!  So she honestly said, "I think I've changed my mind."  I'd like to meet her to welcome her back to the side of reason.  And the world still turns!  Sometimes I want to jump off, but most times know I need to remain so that the ranks of the intelligent ones won't dwindle. 
Rosemary

This shit makes me so mad!

I am appalled and I am incensed.  In the paper today I read that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's second-highest leader said the sex scandals haunting the Catholic church are linked to homosexuality.  He said that "many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia."  He said others have shown "that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia ," and "that is the problem."  He asserted that the church had never impeded investigations of pedophilia by priests.  I am numb.  How can this man be such an ass to think that he can excuse what has gone on in his church, my church, by simply saying it is the fault of homosexuals?  Can he really believe that being homosexual equates to being an abuser of children?  Shame, shame, shame on him.  To be so ignorant and so frightened I can't even imagine.  Someone who abuses children is not homosexual, not heterosexual, not male, not female, but someone who has not become anything at all and therefore preys on the innocent and those they can dominant.  Being a pedophile has to do with who you aren't not who you are.  Someone who harms the innocent in any way is someone who is not, has never been, and doesn't believe he ever will be.  Isn't that someone who would gravitate towards the priesthood?  Make me whole, make me worthy, make me someone?  Now please, before you get all bent out of shape thinking that I am saying all priests are somehow scarred, or incomplete, I am not.  I know that many called to this vocation are truly called by God and are doing his work, but why why why are there so many men in the priesthood who take advantage of our young?  I don't have a definitive answer to that question, but it is not because they are homosexual, and it is not because they are celibate.  First of all, if you are a heterosexual priest and you are having a problem with your vow of celibacy and are going to break it, you are going to find a heterosexual woman.  If you are a homosexual priest and you are having a problem with your vow of celibacy and are going to break it, you are going to find a homosexual man.  If you are a sick priest who is just having all sorts of problems you are going to try and take control.  Who is the easiest to control?  Children.  What is the best way to control anyone?  Through fear.  Fear of what?  Fear of being found out, fear of someone knowing you did something wrong, or bad.  And what holds the greatest power of control?  Sex.  Women mad at their husbands withhold it.  Women entice men with it.  Men become idiots for it.  So these priests who have committed these crimes are not sexual at all, they are meek, they are sick, and they need help.  They are not helped by the church's denial and protection, neither is the church.  Even Jesus asked God for help, maybe it is time the church turned to God too. 
Rosemary

Free Press Article

 I read a short article in the Free Press today titled, "Rally Bubbles with Anger."  I just had to respond.  I sent it to the Free Press so hopefully if you don't read it here, you will read it there.  I just continue to be amazed by the utter stupidity of the American people.  I am not saying that you have to agree with everything any leader tries to do, but to be so blindly  caught up in the froth that is spewing is just unconscionable.  I mean let's pause and reflect and not just jump into the fray because you're frustrated by the state you find yourself in.  When you follow blindly you don't know where you are going to end up, so open your eyes, listen to all sides, read and analyze then decide.  It isn't easy, it takes time, but it is better to be informed than to be told, it is better to make up your own mind than to let someone else tell you what to think.  It is much better to wait and see than to forge ahead and be wrong because you didn't have all the facts.  Iraq? 

Here is my letter to the editor:

 I am going to try to remain very calm so that I can respond to this article with sanity and intelligence.  My first question is, how exactly are we being held hostage with taxes and socialism?  What new taxes have been raised since President Obama took office?  Socialism; a social system in which the producers possess both political power and the means of producing and distributing goods.  Public Education, The Food and Drug Administration, Social Security, The United States Post Office, The Armed Forces, The Highway Commission, The Police Department, The Fire Department, The Transportation Department, The Department of Parks and Recreation, just a few of the things produced and distributed by our government.  "The people wore placards that bore messages like, Obama is a commie."  Why is Obama a commie?  How is he supporting the doctrines of communism?  Because he doesn't think only the wealthy and privileged  should have access to quality health care?  Is that saying that he is in favor of a classless society?  "Put Congress on Obamacare."  Congress doesn't need Obamacare, the members of congress all have free health care for life.  "Delouse our capital."  What?  "This is one beautiful, angry mob," Dustin Stockton of Eastpointe, an organizer for the Tea Party Express, yelled into the microphone,  "The spirit is alive in Michigan."  What is beautiful about an angry mob?  The spirit is not alive in Michigan, stupidity is.  The Tea Party movement was called "the great political and cultural war of 2010."  First of all when was war ever good?  We have had enough of them and we are still at it.  A political and cultural war?  What happened to "for the common good" one of the core democratic values?  What exactly has people so riled up?  The idea of having a system where all Americans will have access to good medical care, no matter their station in life?  I find that hard to believe.  No I think people are getting riled up by a political party that wants to be back in control so that they can continue their grand old lifestyles and those that don't have won't get.
Rosemary

Mom

Tonight's blog is for you mom.  I miss you.  I just don't get how you could be so infuriating and cause me so much stress, and now be so sorely missed.  I had fun with you, I did.  I often go out now alone and wish I could be picking you up to go with me.  When you were here, I was often resentful of  having to spend my time with you, go figure.  I do know that you were one smart woman, and I did realize that while you were here, but I don't know if I told you that or in any way made you believe it.  I am sorry I didn't validate you, I should have.  I should have been in your camp instead of fighting you, because you truly did know better.  Why don't we find that out until a mother is gone?  I am not the first daughter to feel this way after her mother has passed on, I have spoken to many who like me, felt put upon and did not appreciate what I had.  Were you perfect?  No.  Were you a saint?  God no!  But were you wonderful?  Yes, and I should have been better to you, more patient and understanding of all you endured, because it is not easy to be a mother.  It is especially hard to be mother who wants nothing more than to be a good one, and then not have everything turn out just fine.  I understand you now, I love you, and in the two years you have been gone, I have never missed anyone as much as I have missed you. 
Rosemary

Sarah On The Road Again

This isn't what I was going to blog about tonight, but I couldn't paste this on my class blog, so I tried it here and it worked!  So enjoy Sarah, somewhere horrible, probably promoting "Going Rogue"  for the good of the country and her fellow man (Wink, Wink).This is so fun, I love having a blog, just wish more people were reading.  Oh well, all in good time, all in good time.
Rosemary

Universal Health Care

In today's New York Times there was an article that stated; "Most republicans say that they still don't understand how the new health care reform will affect them and their family.  They don't know what it means, but they believe it's bad.  Rush & Co. said so."  I just think this is so sad, a large segment of people have no clue what the health care bill will truly do, but because they are blindly following people who don't want anything our President does to succeed, they don't want it.  Worse, this segment of people are angry, some violently so.  I have just read a narration that basically asked; Why has nothing that has brought pain and suffering to the American people made you angry, but this idea of health care for all has you madder than hell?  So I ask; "Why do the people who care only about themselves and the people who encompass the world they know,  call themselves Christian, or a good American, or a decent person?  They are hardly Christian since the basic premise of Christianity has to do with loving your fellow man and doing onto others as you would have them do unto you.  They are hardly good American as one of the core democratic values has to do with the Common Good; "The public or common good requires that individual citizens have the commitment and motivation-that they accept their obligation-to promote the welfare of the community and to work together with other members for the greater benefit of all.  They are hardly good people because they are selfish and uncaring.  There is no excuse for not accepting this first big step in taking care of all Americans. 


(This should have put the link.  I got this off YouTube, it is not mine, it did however say to pass it along.  the song is titled How To Save A Life by The Fray).

Health care legislation has passed, but it faces many obstacles, please don't be among those who want to see it fail just because President Obama and most democrats support it.  Don't be someone who lets their fear of freedom and being able to believe in things you may not, keep you from seeing that this is needed and necessary for this country to survive. We should all be interested in the same thing, a country whose people have no fear of each other because no matter our differences, your being happy and healthy can only benefit me!  Think about it.
Rosemary

Learning New Things

 In my blogging class we learned how to embed video.  I put this one on the class blog and it worked just fine, I have been trying to do it here but so far without any luck.  So if it works and you can watch the video, if you were a fan of his please, please tell me why.  I just don't get it.  Okay it worked, except I wanted the real thing not the cartoon, just so you know he really did say "Childrens do learn."  He said in in a classroom full of children, who probably weren't listening anyway because children are usually the first to recognize an idiot.
Enjoy!  (It is supposed to put the link, this is not mine, got it off YouTube).
Rosemary