Good Things Come to Those Who Wait!

Water Tower Place
Steve and Mary in Chicago

House of Blues Chicago

Mike Ditka's Chicago

It has been a long winter thus far. My sweetie and I had about hit the end of our rope. It started in December with way too much snow and cold. Many trips across hill and stream to fulfill family traditions, only to end up with the much dreaded flu. (I did not have it then, mine staggered itself by two weeks only to take what could have been a simple two weeks of illness in our home to an entire month of malaise!) More snow, 24 inches of it! More cold, sub-zero temperatures. More travels (all good mind you) only to leave us the day after Valentine's day with no ambition or drive to do much about it!

By Friday of this past week SRC and ME were just about to pack it in. How much more could we take of poor living conditions, excessively horrible environmental realities (unless you were born and raised in Michigan City, don't attemtpt to live there, especially through a winter!)

Well, Friday morning, I had it. SRC and ME were looking like we were the results of a "Shining" part 2, gone bad! I took the bulls by the horn and said, "I am going to Priceline, I am requesting a room on the Magnificent Mile putting in what I can afford, $55 and if it accepts, then that is where I am going with or without SRC!" It accepted it, it took my price! The Courtyard Marriott, on Ontario and St. Claire! Fantastic! Oh course, I had to tell SRC and hope that he would be willing to go with me (and of course cover the tab) When I contacted him, he was so excited, funny though, he was trying to get us into a beautiful Gold Coast B&B (next time, I will let his fingers do all the walking!) It was my Valentine's gift! I seriously thougth he wasn't interested in being romantic, but he took the Oscar!

We had a great time, staying within walking distance of all of our favorite places, shopping at Water Tower, strolling the magnificent mile. Visiting a quaint book seller (Afterwords) and actually being able to talk about Bulgokov and having the seller interested in Russian literature. Picking up Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and realizing that the current state of the USA is lacking what T. Paine warned about, revived my intellectual side. Listening to music at the House of Blues while being treated like royalty by a fantastic server named Annie, (she actually carded me! She also remembered me from past visits, how special) Enjoying amazing steak and specialty pork chops one meal at Ditka's and being lured back there for lunch for their to die for pot roast nachos for lunch! Shopping, eating, music, it is all within a Very affordable reach. Oh and did I mention how amazing everyone was? We were treated like our being there mattered.

As for SRC and ME? We are refreshed and looking forward to going back to Chicago soon! Good things come to those who wait. Believe me, it has all been worth the wait!

I Can See Clearly Now!

Thanks to my new lime green reading glasses, Lenscrafter and Vogue. Okay, so it set me back almost $300! I finally broke down and did it. I went for my eye exam and decided that the little $1 readers from the Dollar Tree were no longer going to carry the reading load I have before me. I have just begun the daunting task of undoing the cart before the horse, and am rearranging the steed and putting it in front of the cart, which is what I should have done many a year ago. You see, I am enrolled in the Reading Endorsement program at UWStout, that is the University of Wisconsin Stout, a distant learning program.

The Cart before the horse scenario is simply this; I have been teaching literacy, that is reading and writing for many years now. I did not set out to, actually I am highly qualified in History, but there is a shortage of teachers, or a glut in the history, actually social studies teacher market. So in 2001 I was assigned the task of teaching literacy through the America's Choice program funded and developed by the NCEE, National Council on Economic Education. Why would they care about literacy? Well, they are concerned as there is an even greater shortage of people who can manifest a document worth producing to an executive team. So, if you want literate executives, you better educate the next generation, right?

After a four years of training and the attaining of a MAE in curriculum and instruction, I went on to work in the area of literacy integration for a non-traditional education program at a museum in Chicago. Now, I am again teaching literacy remediation and without an "endorsement." The lovely and limiting No Child Left Behind, has left many a veteran, trained educator behind. So now I am back in school paying yet another University a large sum of money to obtain an endorsement in an area that I have presented, and authored in and taught! Go figure, only in America!

Oh, the green glasses...I have many books to read and unfortunately, I have discovered that my eyesight is failing at a much greater rate than our reading scores! Eeeewww, not good, hey, maybe my glasses will help me read, and my "endorsement" will raise a few scores.

The Dawn of a New President

This picture was taken on the 20th of January at 7:10 in the morning, by SRC. The glow of the sunrise signals a new day, the morning after, the cold is present,but yet on the horizon is a warm glow and a promise of a power far greater than any of us. Beyond the wires, the brick, the cement, the mortar, off in the distant is what graces the roof tops of every community in the United States,... a church steeple. Good Morning America, and God Bless!

If Stories Come to You, ...

“If stories come to you, care for them and learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.” Barry Lopez, in Crow and Weasel
Our stories are not supposed to be horded and kept in the recesses of our brains, but rather, they should be thrown to the four corners of the world. Just like love, we cannot worry ourselves with the constant concern that it is returned. We know that when we give we receive if not immediately, then ultimately.
Sharing our stories are gentle caresses to the listener’s ears. They are colorful masterpieces to the reader’s eyes. We may truly never fully, completely understand the impact that our experiences have on others. I will share this story, as that is what I do:
I had a student some years back. Q.O.D., is what I use every day to encourage my students to think, share, write, ponder. Most of my stories have some degree of moral, ethical lesson embedded within it. Daily I share my own experiences. Most of the time, I choose a quote that represents something that has happened to me over the 24 hours prior to my coming into class. You see, I never choose the quote until the beginning of my school day. It is in the spontaneity of the moment that guarantees the experience to be real, and “in the moment.” Typically, my students realize this within the first 2 weeks of teaching them.
One student in particular was a bit of an outcast. She gained from my sharing of personal experiences that she can be somebody. She shared in an essay that now she believes that she can go on to college, and she can achieve because if Ms. LaLuna can with all that has happened to her, than she can too.
I never would have imagined as I looked out over my class of students that 1) I was even being heard, and 2) that it would have been her to have “gotten it.”
So my dear friends, if you have taken the time to read this little Q.O.D, then I pray you will see the value in sharing your story. It is the one thing that you have that no one else has, and it is only when you decide to give it away can you give it, and keep it all at the same time. It is in giving away your story that it becomes real.

Q.O.D

"The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost than by the stories it loves and believes in." - H. Goddard

I cannot help but connect this to the profound "change" that is about to happen, or, has already happened. B.H. Obama has been elected. That is the "change" his breaking through the glass ceiling. I think it would be unfair to say that he broke through it alone. My assumption is that he would be the first to say that he was merely the man of the hour and it was actually all of the stories that preceded him that enabled the "change" to occur.
M.L. King stated that "we are not makers of history, but rather we are made by history"
Barack Obama, was made by history, the history of his father and mother. A mother willing to break through her own glass ceiling.
Yes, there were many battles lost. But the stories, the dreams, the hopes, passed on and shared, over and over again, triggered a love in the many that held onto the dream.
Stories told over and over again of a promised land. The Lord told Moses, write it down, this is what I want you to tell generations to come.
I have seen the promise land, and it is rich with milk and honey, and yes, glass ceilings are meant to be broken, so the story goes...

ArtSeesDiner

Becoming a writer is no easy task. It requires the willingness to realize that you might not be able to write at all. So with that said, or written as it were, I am attempting to become a writer. Yes, me, I am moving away from blogdom, not to be confused with boredom, although they are both of the "doms" and in keeping with that stream of jargdom, I welcome you to the kingdom of ME, by way of The Box!

Sex, Politics and a Gender War!

Writer’s note…I was originally going to link the ABC video display of the “Crush on Obama” video, but decided that I did not want to do anything to promote it. I refuse. I have intentionally not linked the sexy politics link because I do not want to use this statement to make it easy for clicking there either.

First of all, I want to extend my apologies to Barack Obama. Clearly the “crush on Obama” video is a degrading piece of garbage that further identifies America as not being worthy to call itself a civilized society. We already have enough “sex” associated with politics, but to use it to promote and to link the idea that only R& B, bootie shaking starlet, wanna be’s is the way to get elected is over the top. I do not know the totality of the whole video, nor do I know too much about the liberal movement behind sexypolitics.com, but I can assure you, I do not want to read it, I do not want to know too much about the approach to use sex as a lure. Being informed is not sexy, people, it is smart. What is pleasing to another person aesthetically is not always, “sexy”, actually for some the constant reference to sex is offensive!

I am ready to go away from the concept that “sex” sell. It also kills, and distorts and destroys when it is not used appropriately. I am embarrassed to consider myself as a Democrat, an open minded thinker when it comes to education, healthcare, economics, the government’s role, etc. At this point I am praying that if Hillary Clinton does not get in as the Presidential candidate that a republican wins strictly because I do not know if we can handle a strong liberal front right now. (Liberal thought is not always immoral pandering!)

Furthermore, this escapade, using a video to minimize, to attract, to defile, (what was the purpose, was it suppose to be funny, is it funny to see an overweight older gentleman hanging on a robust young woman?) the political process has made me more determined to see a woman in the White house. It is time to stop using T&A to sell.

I found it absolutely hilarious that the sexypolitics.com actually promotes a book on Feminism, is that a joke or what? At what point did feminism align itself with reducing women to nothing more that T&A? Or is the newest form of feminism equated to the “sex in the city” thong wearing version?

Isn’t it plausible for Obama to be elected because of experience, intellect, demeanor, conviction, character, do we have to align him so deeply with pop-culture, as in “Obamania?” Isn’t it enough that he is worldly, a Harvard Graduate? Do we need to display to the rest of the world Is that really and truly the only version of America that there is?

Can anyone else see this charade, found in using Hooter-style models to promote politics in the United States is demeaning, and potentially damaging to what we should be doing to encourage, promote and make equal women in this country?

I say one way to bring a positive focus on women is to elect a woman as presidential candidate. Every father that has a daughter should be thinking about the future of their daughter. Every mother that has a daughter should be promoting with a firm conviction and end to the use of women as mere sex objects?

Stop the Madness!

See what your gas guzzling SUV’s, extensive square footage homes and excessive need for driving everywhere has netted for the fifth wealthiest petrochemical producing hoarder has done! Then go fill up and say oh well, “so what’s another $4 a gallon anyway, it is all about me getting around! By the way, when you can no longer afford to keep the lights on, remember - there is always a car that can’t be driven parked on the street for you and your family to sleep in.

By the way, can someone tell me why in the world we think it is okay for a family of five or less to have a 5,000 square foot (or more) home? Can someone tell me why it is necessary to build a monstrosity of a home for three people to live in (look at the newest suburban homes)? Does anyone see how we have been manipulated into investing in the housing market, when did the debt to income ratio disappear? The person making $160,000 a year and buying homes in excess of $500,000 becomes everyone’s debt as recent history has shown us! The auto industry encouraging after years of warnings regarding gas guzzling cars to buy “luxury” is a scam, who is the biggest investors into the production of SUV’s? Excessive consumer spending which has glorified into pop culture excessive spending which only has made a few on the top super rich?

Does anyone understand that if we collectively gave up just one week of income, driving, spending, that we would shut down the powers that be to the point that we could literally bring areas of the economy to a screeching halt? If small business men and women would all collectively support a job walk off, if corporations that are seriously going “green” would give up the “green” for a week that they would once again regain the control that is necessary to stop the billion dollar madness? Take action, believe me neither, McCain, Clinton, or Obama can do anything if we do not demand it, and take control. Let us learn from the Sons of Liberty and take action into our own hands collectively. It was British control in 1776, now it is the Middle East that controls this, are we sadly becoming a colony of the Middle East, the East? “Stop now what’s that sound everybody look what’s going down”…that song is a strong battle cry!

Oh, and to all of you who have the gas guzzlers, the oversized homes, the over-run credit cards…just because you make enough money to pay the bill, that does not give you the right to use more than your share! It is called gluttony and greed!

Building bridges, or is it more like the bridge found in Billy Goat's Gruff?

So that is where all of our steel, initiative and infrastructure has gone! China is building bigger and better, gaining momentum from using steel from Russia, precious metals from Africa and using our greatest minds and initiative. Yay China, you are growing in leaps and bounds. Introducing an Oreo cookie that is not the same as the Ole American one, is it better? While we are removing those “precious” metals that Chinese toy manufacturers have accidentally slipped into our children’s toys, they are utilize mass quantities to build their infrastructure. Where did the Chinese Government come up with that much money to build the biggest bridge in the world? Haven’t governments all around the world worked to sustain the longest wall, and now is it possible that we have also built the largest bridge. What I want to know is that great bridge in China a bridge to democracy, a two-way bridge or a one-way bridge? Ask yourself that question. I am still confused by the relationship between democracy and communism? But the American way is based on relationships that are determined by who you are in bed with at any given moment.

Cold Spring Thoughts

I am sitting in Cold Spring New York as I write this, and truly it is a cold spring day, rainy wet somewhat undesirable. We realize so often that the undesirable is necessary for the desirable to take root and to grow. That is what springtime is really about. The warm sunny days must be balanced against the cool, wet spring days or the force of nature upon the tender shoot would be so great that the tender root will wither before it has opportunity to fully stretch and grow and become what it is suppose to be, a strong root, a tree, a flower, a fruit.

Following a reflection (my daily one) I felt compelled to share my limited words of wisdom. Today’s focus is on being that sometimes lonely tree, that one tree in the distance that balances out a beautiful sunrise, or maybe a sunset, the lone tree that could make a difference to the horizon. We never know when we will be that tree or be called to be that tree. It is in those fleeting unexpected moments that words are spoken to us, words that can make or break a tree.

I remember one time in particular. It was right after my six and a half year old son passed away. I did not want to leave Children’s Memorial Hospital intensive care waiting room. How could I? My baby was lying in the other room only 20 feet away from me. I wanted to grab him, take him home, pretend that none of what had just happened, happened. It was devastating. I remember a social worker came up to me and just looked at me. I guess she knew, she had seen it all too many times. I looked her in the eye and said, “I can’t wake up tomorrow, I can’t!” I remember wanting to just fall into a heap on the floor, no I wanted to run, run so far and so fast away from myself that I would not have the physical strength or momentum to look back. She grabbed me firmly by both shoulders and gave me one reaffirming shake and said with a conviction that could bring down a strong oak tree, “do not let your children go to the grave with your son!” I remember how stunned I was, almost offended. How could she lack such compassion? Did she not see that I was dying too?

Later it came to me, not only was her firmness, her conviction that which could bring down an oak, it was also an unseen gentleness, the hand of God reaching through the moment to make fertile the soil for future healing and possible accepting of the sun that would follow a gentleness that could nurture a tender root to grow.

With this thought I was reminded of something that was written in the margin on the page of today’s reflection. This was my response to the reflection years past. “We get it wrong ~ a foe is the one we hurt, not the one who hurts us, necessarily ~ A friend is who we nurture, not necessarily who nurtures us – it all comes from us! It is us who determines friend and foe, “Blessed are you the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning.” Ruth 3:10

I Want To Go Back!

I want to go back in time to a place of innocence. When people that were elevated to leadership status actually were leaders and earned a respectable right to be in the position that they were. You believed that they must be if they were elected by the people for the people.

We are currently watching a race unfold before us. We have three candidates, are any of them what we really need as a nation. A nation about to lose top billing, a nation that has embraced communism in name of the “big buck” embraced ideals different from that which we were founded upon all in the name of “oil”? Can we put into a White House two separate people a wife/victim or a husband/victimizer? Yesterday it came out that Senator Clinton was in the vicinity of her husbands tryst with Monica. A time back I discovered that Senator McCain has married the woman he had an affair with while married to a woman that had stuck by his side waiting his return from the POW camps. The article pointed out that he started the relationship the night he met her, was it a marriage of position initially? Can we entrust a country to people that would put the sanctity of marriage in jeopardy for political gain?

I will not speak of Senator Obama except to say, it clearly at this point and time appears that he is a man who has risen above his own brokenness in family, and is seeking to set it right in his private life, proudly bringing a degree of normalcy into our understanding of the “American” family.

There is more to this blog than the political arena. Daily I am sickened by the revelation of how demonic the electronic age is. My heart hurts over the decay of family life all as a result of the internet, cell phone, text messaging, ease at which we enter deceitfully relationships. We hide, and the deceit grows out of us like weeds in the abandoned playground of decaying neighborhoods. We hear phrases like, “go ahead its okay to look” is it really? Is it really okay to just look? Is it really okay to just enter into someone else’s home to just share an “innocent” correspondence or two? Case in point; Would any man really tolerate a Joe Shmoe just coming up to his front door and asking for Jane. “Is Jane home? I am her old friend, I just want to sit down and talk with her in her bedroom for a while, just turn your head Joe, pretend that this is all innocent banter. It won’t take long….oh and buddy don’t worry, if your relationship is solid, you don’t need to worry, we are just “friends”! Do you honestly think Joe would be okay with that? Should he be?

How about if Jane just happens into her bedroom and discovers Joe quickly switch screens and wait until Jane leaves a room to enter back into the communication that he was having with an unknown entity? Let’s translate that into a human to human contact, shall we. Joe is seen talking with an unknown woman and up walks Jane, the conversation quickly ends. Joe looks at Jane as if, “yes?” The unknown woman turns away, Joe carries on light inane conversation with Jane and as soon as Jane walks away, (with no introduction mind you) the conversation proceeds with the unknown. Tell me how many people would go on their day feeling okay about that one? But you see, if Jane were to confront Joe over the internet/computer exchange, she would be accused of being paranoid, suspicious, and a comment like “hey, I can have friends, it is just an email!”

Do you see where this is going? How many relationships are going to end this year as a result of a communication breakdown as a result of a communication breakdown? I sit in restaurants, public places and see men and women coming into the establishment and watch as one of the couples sits while the other one is staring at a hand held device, fingers moving quickly on the keys. All attention is on the small less than 2inch by 2inch screen that manages to hold all the attention away from the person across the way. As a child I was taught to ignore the person you were with was rude. To bring the handset of the phone to the table was bad manners.

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus, and there is evil, deceit and it is growing at the speed at which one can type and hit send. For me, I want to go back in time. To a place where each family had one phone number and it was the family number assigned to the man of the house, because women were preyed upon. Where women if they did live alone were advised to list first initial only, to a time when people did not hide behind communication devices. Where men and women understood the boundaries of friendships between people of the opposite sex once they were in committed relationships, to a time when people did not need to be glued to electronic devices, but could actually enter into human exchanges with the people that mattered in their lives. Have we gone too far? Clearly I believe we have, and I resent that there is even a need to be concerned about it.

What does an heiress, a Madonna wanna be and a prostitute have in common?

What does a spoiled heiress a Madonna wanna be and a “broken home” little lady of ill repute have in common? Absolutely nothing! Yep, you got it, nothing, Except for the very thing that every woman has; the ability to sexually arouse a man. The very thing that identifies a human being as being a female is being certain biological attributes. Crudely put, T&A. Add in hormone producing organs, glands and there you have it. Please do me a favor, stop the madness. If you are over the age of 22, the age of the little, prostitute, then grow up and let it go. A inappropriately behave man sought pleasure in a woman that is the age of a girl he could have fathered. To me that is bordering on a form of pedophilia, it does makes me wonder. This little girl is going to be made rich off of paid for sex. The last I heard prostitution is a criminal act, immoral act, an act that is not looked upon in any culture as something to glorify. But as the new American way goes, do what you want today, grab the cash and tomorrow you will be held in high esteem. Whether it is a Miss America winner and her oral exploits on Penthouse, only to be elevated in a Very short time as a pop star, or a an intern to a president weeping on National television over her being victimized! WE glorify that which should be tarred and feathered and sent to a nunnery for future rehabilitation.

So now let’s really talk about women. When are we going to stand up and take what is rightfully ours? We sell out to the cheap imitation of woman-hood; we give over to 22 year olds what most of us have had to work our fingers to the bone for daily. We keep on selling out to men daily. Their lust, greed, weakness, only to weaken ourselves, we are the majority, but we act like the minority, we allow others to oppress us daily. The media is the biggest criminal in all of this. I have two more major issues to touch on to get the “soapblogging” bug out of my system.

“Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro stepped down on Wednesday from her finance position with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, a campaign spokesman said The decision came after Ferraro, the only woman to run on a major U.S. party's presidential ticket, said Clinton's rival, Barack Obama , would not be ahead in the Democratic presidential race if he was not black. Ferraro was a member of the campaign's finance committee and raised funds for Clinton's White House bid, the campaign spokesman said. (Reporting by Deborah Charles, editing by Lori Santos”)

Geraldine Ferraro made an inappropriate statement regarding Obama’s color, it is interesting and unfortunate. Ferraro was constantly referred to not as Senator Ferraro, or Democratic Candidate Ferraro, but segregated regularly as being a woman. Hillary Clinton is regularly being isolated as being a woman. If she were the front-runner (Senator Clinton) then the Obama camp would be weeping sad little losing tears over her being a leader because, she is a woman, and he is black and “yada, yada, yada!”

It is time, time indeed for us to stop segregated anyone based on their gender, age, ethnicity, etc. Can we honestly refer to Obama with a “race” label? Isn’t he as much Caucasian as he is African? We are all members of one race, we can interbreed, therefore we of different ethnicities, but not race. Can we please throw the race card away? I feel bad for Ferraro, I guess it is easier to perform criminal acts and get positive outcomes from the publicity then to make an ignorant comment. We must face the next 5 years of people backing down because we cannot be politically correct when we are facing a politically incorrect situation. We have candidates running, a woman and two men. Actually, we have three candidates. Who is the most qualified, the most in-tuned, the most willing to take on the next 5 years of our rapidly failing society? I am not sure, but when I know it I will reference them as President!

Geraldine, you might want to take lessons from the 3 femme fatales at the beginning of this blog, they know how to get out of all kinds of criminal offenses.

The next major issue dealing with women is the sad description of how to keep your man from cheating, by a self proclaimed dating guru was featured regarding the criticism of Spitzer’s wife not immediately dumping the dude. Now understand that part of the article was taken out of context, and does highlight what a man would do if his wife was caught with another man. (Can we please keep in mind that the Governor of New York spent on this prostitute what most New Yorkers make in a month!) www.Dontdatehimgirl.com suggests that a wife, please her man in the bedroom. Let him experiment, that men seek sex outside of marriage because they are not satisfied. Okay, she might be right, but how about respect? How about committing to a relationship and working through the inadequacies of each other? Women, it ain’t all about sex at home, it is about making the guy feel like he made the right choice! Security is the key, but that is another blog all together.

The truth is a man who pays $4,800! For a sexual encounter is an addict. There is little to nothing that can be done short of therapy. Let us also note the age of the little lady of ill-repute. I have daughters her age and if I knew that they were in a sexual relationship, paid or otherwise with a man of Spitzer’s age, I would hunt him down and let him know how borderline - pedophilic I thought he was. So, the truth of the matter is, what this all comes down to is further oppression and victimization of women against women, victimization of women by society, and victimization of women by men!

Juvenile Murderers, should age minimize the punishiment?

Question: At what point can someone hide behind the implicit innocence of being a child? I ask this as I ponder many situations when we use the term “child” to point finger of blame, or to turn the finger of blame away from someone that has committed a societal wrong, a heinous crime. Do we go too far in the categorizing of age and the predominance in identifying age as the acquitter or wrong, or a definer of wrong?

I will begin by focusing on an incomprehensible crime against a young boy that brought joy to my neighborhood. My children were his playmate, and the friend of his siblings. I was schoolmates with his mother. Ultimately I would become deeper friends with her and her partner. My daughters, well unfortunately and honorably they would be his pallbearers. The young boy was Christopher Meyers, his murderer, Timothy Buss.

I was told months prior to Christopher moving into our small neighborhood that Timothy Buss was released from prison after serving only 12 years of a 25 year sentence for the brutal murder of Tara Sue Huffman. I was told by Tara Sue’s brother that he was out and that some of his family still lived in the neighborhood that I lived in. A quiet small safe neighborhood only 60 miles south of Chicago along the beautiful Kankakee River might no longer be a safe haven. I remember all too well Tara Sue’s brother warning me to keep an eye on my kids, not to let them roam freely in a neighborhood where a monster might return. I told my neighbors about it, they told me I was paranoid…

When we discovered Christopher missing, my heart ached, I was sickened. I told my family that the authorities needed to look for Buss, to find Buss. I told the Sheriff the same thing as we were all looking and praying for evidence that Christopher was okay, that he was just displaced. Christopher was found on the 15^th of August, brutally murdered miles from his “safe haven.”

Timothy Buss was 27 when he returned to his old neighborhood to once again perform unconscionable acts against an innocent little boy. Christopher was raped, sexually mutilated and stabbed over 50 times and then buried in a shallow grave. Buss murdered Tara Sue Huffman when he was 13 years old and she was only 5. He raped, sodomized and bludgeoned her to death then stuffed her into a barrel in a landfill. He only served 12 of the 25 years he was sentenced. He was viewed as a child? I say he is a monster.

Now he is serving out his sentence, he did receive the death penalty, and additional counts added on. This time the court made sure he will not ever be released.

Now before us is another case a heinous crime against not one, but three, a husband, wife and an unborn child. All murdered in the safety of their own home. The crime against this family, the devastation of the woman’s sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, friends for generations to come is real, it is as alive as it was the day they received the unfortunate news. The man’s family and friends for generations to come is alive and haunting them as they are all facing the reality ~ the murderer is about to be released.

Nancy Bishop-Langert and her husband Richard Langert along with their unborn child were shot to death by a 16 year old neighbor boy. Originally sentenced to life without parole this is now being overturned and the family is facing the release of this man, who is being released because he was a “child” at the time of the murders. The details of the crime are relevant in that it was cold-blooded and calculated.

So the question remains, at what point does age matter? Are we delusional in our society to determine how we treat mentally ill adolescence? On one hand we say that a child past the age of 12 is unable to receive child services in the same manner as when they were dependent children. Then we say it is acceptable and fair that a young woman 16 year old has the right to seek an abortion. Depending on the issue, we determine what age is appropriate. Should age be the determining factor in the punishment assigned to a heinous criminal, a monster? Yes, they are human, but clearly we are surrounded by the potential of repeat offenders. Timothy Buss is an example, we risk every day exposing ourselves to violent offenders when they are released from a prison sentence when there was a heinous crime against humanity.

Please visit my dear friend’s website and see the work that she is doing. In this election year, ask yourself “are you truly protected in your safe zone?” Be informed!

http://www.illinoisvictims.org/ go to the juvenile LWOP and read more about it.

Beam ME up Scotty!

Can you imagine? A child sitting in the classroom, visibly bored, trapped in the mundane. The clock ticks, one, two, three…Mrs. Smith announces, “Sally Smith, your mother will be picking you up at 2:05 for your orthodontist appointment, please proceed to the office…” The mind of the fidgeting 4^th grader races to the game boy sitting in his book bag back in his locker. He thinks of nothing more than beating his last score, when all of a sudden it happens… Ms. LaLuna is suddenly standing before him, looking him straight in the eyes. He shakes his head, pinches himself, wonders, “am I imagining, is a figment of my imagination, am I in one of my gameboy games. This is cyber-dude!”

His mind is now captivated, no longer thinking beyond the classroom, beyond the moment. “Mr. Chorak said there would be a visitor, I imagined someone to tell us about standardized testing and how important it is to “try your best, test matter!” But this, this is unreal!”

No this is not unreal this is possible. It is plausible. It is necessary. Imagine for just one brief moment how transforming it could be. A virtual teacher, no a virtual specialist dropping into a classroom to take over the lesson to teach about a concept that children of all ages struggle with, whether it is fractions, the Revolutionary War, a literary device…it matters not. What matters is that the classroom is keeping pace with the world around the child. We must move to the point that we recognize that we do not teach math, science, reading, history, but we teach the child, the individual.

The business world spends thousands upon thousands of dollars to initiate best practice in delivery forms that will intrigue, enhance, capture the adult student, yet we ignore what best practice in education for children, adolescence and maturing adolescence. We are ignoring research on how the mind of a young person works. The biorhythms of our students, how we learn must be at the forefront of education.

Virtual teachers, it is plausible, technologically possible, and probable. The time has come. This will never do away with the primary educator in the classroom, but it will further the instruct ability of children around the world. Teachers in the classroom in the “real” are necessary as facilitators, but to expect any one person to deliver day in and day out all the information and instruction that a pupil needs in the course of a school year limits the overall development of a child at any given time. We can embrace the tendency of the human capacity to learn. Research shows that most humans learn best through visual delivery (videos, media, etc) of information. The engagement of this type of process is forthcoming and as an educator I am thrilled at the idea of being delivered to a classroom in Beijing on a Friday afternoon to share poetry with a group of 12 years old students! Now that is cyber- DUDE, Scotty beam ME up!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/582475.stm

The Power of Music and Finding your own Beat!

As I approached my heart quickened with the sound of drums, all sorts of drums keeping a steady 4 – 4 pattern. Not all the patterns were the same, some of them fast, others slow, the timbre was varied but the rhythm was sustained. I turned the corner to find children dancing with anticipation over the possibility of getting to hold stick in hand. The growing fervor of drum and beat was moving them beyond containment. Weaving my way through little ones, no taller than my thigh, I looked past the man at the door, ahead to see a circle, and an inner-circle where adults all focused on their task, the task to blend their independent pattern to greater meaning. Amidst the growing turbulence was a peace. Those sharing their beat were calm, peace shown on their faces. They were one with a greater power.

"If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away. " H.D. Thoreau

There was no fear of losing pace with companions. It was a safe zone, a place where individuality was brought together in a circle, a continuum, and so the music played on. I was asked at one point (we all were) did I experience any enlightenment? Yes, I did, for one brief moment my dream of being a drummer was fulfilled. For that one moment in my own continuum I was free, free to pound out “my” rhythm, my existence was real. I was free to be me and part of the band.

I set out on a path yesterday to join a friend who is giving his entire life to establishing a Music Wellness Initiative, Eric Myrzyn, Executive Director of http://www.music-wellness.org My commitment to him is to spread the word of MWI, to support him as a friend as I would any friend. It is also because I believe in MWI. I have had the privilege of being a musician with the organization. I have seen firsthand the power of music as a healing tool. The undeniable power of music to bring people together, to transcend hatred, pain, cruelty, brokenness and to bring about unbridled joy is evident. Yesterday I was supposed to be an observer. I was just someone bringing back information and hopefully a degree of clarity to a man who seeks to promote wellness. I came away with far more. I was inspired again. Music is a common language. Music is a language that holds unifying power. The organization that sponsored the drum circle and day of music melding towards greater understanding is Music Crossroads through a Recreational Music Making Partnership, located in Indianapolis Indiana, the crossroads of the United States. It was pointed out to me that music recreation is that of being “re-created” through music. No matter whether a child hearing a familiar song, or a performer learning a new musical phrase, a guitarist focusing on attaining that difficult chord, a drummer with a new progression, you enter into the movement one way and exit re-created.

My kudos go out to Matt Carter of Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, John Fitzgerald of Remo, Inc for leading the “marchers” and providing the percussion instruments, The Shepherd Community Center for sharing their space and the thigh high percussionist, The Indianapolis Foundation, inspiring philanthropy and Albert Schnazi of Integrated Solutions for facilitating an afternoon of enlightened dialogue.

It is no mistake that yesterday morning as I was reading scripture and asking the Lord what He wanted me to know that day that he brought me to 2Chronicles 34:12 “All those (Levites) who were skillful with musical instruments were in charge of those who carried burdens, and they directed all the workers in every kind of labor…” yes, we are called. If the Lord calls musicians to lighten the load, make the burden less, then I guess that is the who in the vast puzzle of life, and I indeed was enlightened!

Blessings!

First of many "America's Best Kept Secret"

It seems that every time I begin to think about the politics of the United States, I am drawn back to my Senior Thesis, written in 2000 in order to obtain my degree in history from Olivet Nazarene University. For an entire year I pondered what I was to write about. I wasn’t your run of the mill history student, as I was more interested in the way that people thought, why they did what they did, and how that psychology drove forward human development. With that in mind I began to search for that morsel of delectable, historical musing that would keep me interested for the next year of research and development towards the right to obtain that much coveted BA in history.

After some reflection, one question kept coming back over and over again. Why was the women’s movement abandoned by W.E.B. Dubois at a time when there could have been advancement for all people in America? What was his motivation given his leading role in as a social scientist? This question came to mind a few years earlier as I was doing research for a literary analysis of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, by G.B. Shaw. My curiosity was piqued and it never really left me. The question led me to a man that would gain my attention, and to this day, I ponder the role that W.E.B. DuBois played in the history of the Black man in a country that would betray not only him, but the Very people that he believed should have immediate integration without delay. I look forward to sharing with you my discourse on a man that shared for the first time with the world, the “Soul of Black Folks.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described it best, “history cannot ignore W.E.B. DuBois because history has to reflect truth and Dr. DuBois was a tireless explorer and a gifted discoverer of social truths. His singular greatness lay in his quest for truth about his own people. There were very few scholars who concerned themselves with honest study of the black man and he sought to fill this immense void. The degree to which he succeeded disclosed the great dimensions of man.”

"The Notebook" Old School Love and Real Love, does it exist?

The Notebook: I realize that this movie came out some time ago. It is true I am not an avid movie watcher. For me catching a flick a couple years after the release does happen sometimes, okay most of the time. It is my norm. But that is okay for me, as I really do not run with the crowd. In fact I have this tendency to run away from the crowd. I just do not like to do what everybody else is doing until it is my doing. That to most means I am out of the loop.

The Movie: It was to many the love story of the decade. Many people told me “go see it”…”just see the movie”…”you have to see it!” For others it was a nice depiction of true love and the American way. To others it was shmarmy, a little too sappy at best and a little too unrealistic for a society that has a divorce rate of well over 50%, and an increasing number that classify themselves as domestic partners of both the heterosexual and alternative type. So, first love being last love? Hmm, that is a bit much don’t you think? Cynics would agree that that type of love and marriage too? Poppycock! (okay I dated myself)

If you look a little closer into the characters you see truth about relationship and the promises we make or fail to make to ourselves at the core. First prevalent truth revealed. It is that the first person that you love, I mean really love, will be the last person that you really love. Some will say there are many people that you will love in your lifetime. Common thought is there are many fish in the sea. Few people buy into the “Penelope and Odysseus” story line. So you could argue this point, or you can identify different classifications of love. The love that Noah had for Allie in the movie was a total commitment to a promise. That was his truth. He could include another woman into his life, his house, but could never promise again that which he promised his one true love. He would not find home.

The bigger point is this, how many of us do not really love, those which we think are our first love? Far too often people marry out of pressure, identifying themselves with the, “it is the thing to do.” Many feel that they cross the point of no return in relationships so they hang on for dear life, or emotional death. The fear of hurting another and putting their feelings, wants first is not putting them first. You are actually putting yourself, your guilt, your pain before their own in many ways. Eventually if you are not really in it for the reasons that you should take a life partner, then it will implode! You will both end up hurt anyway.

Noah asks Allie “what do you want?” She is faced with a decision to go with the one she truly loves or the life that she thinks she loves and a commitment to marry another. Discernment when we must make a choice is indeed a very hard thing. Whether is entering into anything, job, major purchase, relationships, etc., we can be deluded into believing we feel something we think we feel. We want something we think we want. Believe something we think we believe. It only becomes right when it all aligns, when what we feel, want, think, and believe comes together. It is then that a promise can be uttered. Then a commitment backs the promise. Through that we can see absolute truth revealed in our lives.

Sometimes I wonder if we rush so much into relationships for all the obvious reasons that we ignore obvious reasons why we should not, only denying ourselves that Noah and Allie love. Did Noah indicate anything to Allie in his youth that he would care for her and make her home even when she did not remember him? Was there anything that he did which indicated to Allie that he would continue communications even when she forgot home? Yes, he did, he was a promise keeper. He kept first the promises to himself and then to the ones he loved. He made home and knew that it was the essence of her that would fulfill it and he knew that it was her presence that made home for his heart.

Okay, so it was a movie, but it was more than a movie. It is a glimpse at something lost in our culture. We do not love for love’s sake. We do not marry with the intent to fulfill promises. We do not keep promises. More importantly, we make promises we should not make in the first place. Prenuptual agreements, contracts, keep us all in a state of mind that a promise, a word can be abandoned with a blink of an eye. Believe me, I am not saying divorce, break-ups are not sometimes necessary. I have been down that road. What I am saying is this: We have set ourselves up to avoid the ability to make a long-lasting loving relationship with a promise at the core. We go about it the wrong way. What is necessary to have a sustaining relationship with another person? What is needed in order to nurture the relationship to a place of health and growth? I know for myself it is about time. I struggle to maintain healthy relationships with family and friends and work a full-time job, and take care of me. How can I possibly give all that is necessary to nurture the man in my life, nurture the relationship if I have to schedule it in? It is all something to ponder. There is nothing worst then feeling alone with someone in the other room, or worst sitting on the couch with you.

As for this romantic, I do believe that love like Noah and Allie’s exist. Maybe, just maybe, we do not always get it. Or, maybe, just maybe, we let the “one” pass us by. Fear of taking a chance and just going up to the one we are drawn to and saying, hi! We convince ourselves we are silly. Giving up too soon and listening to others around us when they say, oh, he/she is not for you, there are a lot of fish in the sea, find another to fill your time. But then again, that kind of thing only happens in movies.

Friday rantings about health care, the primary election, and other ME points

http://talkwithme2.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/a-friday-ranting-about-health-care-the-presidential-election-and-a-little-more/

Autonomy, Boundaries, what is that all about?

Autonomy, what is it really all about? Do we even care anymore who is peeping in our windows? Think about this in terms of the cyber-revolution. There once was a time when we regarded our own personal space, as a personal space. No one really knew what went on behind closed doors. There was a reason for that. It kept us all in check. Shrouded were the mysteries of the individual and contained in a place that only few, if any held a code, a password to...the rest of the story www.talkwithme2.com/soapblogging or http://talkwithme2.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/autonomy-boundaries-what-is-that-all-about/

Have a great day!

changing with the tide, grabbing hold of a soap bubble and riding the wave

SoapBlogging, the intentional soap boxing arena that allows for the individual writer, in this case ME, to write freely, not caring one iota as to whether or not anyone reads the banter of one who has so much to say! Today I am reminded of how haphazard the world really is, and unpredictable too. Recently I was forced into yet another career change. I would love to blame myself, my lack of attention, inability to communicate, undesirable appearance, lack of insight into the needs and wants of the world around me, lack of fighting spirit, and the list could go on and on. But, after a second thought, (and believe me it takes little to no time to come to this conclusion) I embrace this reality…jobs, career, friends, family, are much like marriage. Sometimes you just come to the conclusion that there is a lack of cohesiveness, continuity, personality conflict, in short, “it just don’t work!” Now that is not to remove blame, as many times there is just downright evil at work! If you are intentionally cheating, lying, stealing, philandering whether in a marriage, or even with another co-worker, (I will fill you in later) then, well, a negative begets a negative!

So here is ME, back to the drawing board, starting over. This time, will I get it right, so…just Kottke shared in today’s blog http://www.kottke.org/08/01/imperfectly-interesting It is my fondest wish that my lack of perfection, my degree of imperfection, will actually be my “ace in the hole” my signature mark. It is today that I start anew and truly endeavor to become the SoapBlogging queen of 2008, the writer extraordinaire, the guiding light to all those lost souls on the internet seeking some degree of value in the written word. It is through our dialogue, our discourse that we will come together in the “third place.”

It is with a strange degree of sadness and relief that I forge into this phase of my life with a whole lot of knowledge regarding the disparity, the condemnable reality of the health care crisis, with an emphasis on hospital’s role in the pillaging of the uninsured and a lack of understanding that asks, so now what do I do with this insight? Stay tuned, you will probably find out!