Blog Posts

What is Common Sense, Anyway?

8/6/2019

After he goes through all the horrible statistics he copied into his notebook, he finishes with a triumphant, “Guns are evil, and that’s why we should take the steps needed to make our society safer and outlaw them completely.”
   “And wouldn’t that be wonderful,” the eight grader starts in, “for all law-abiding citizens to be unarmed and defenseless at the mercy of criminals, who, by the way, don’t follow laws and will have all the guns they want.”
from: The Benefits of Being an Octopus
written by: Ann Braden
Sky Pony Press, 2018

   Two common-sense gun laws stalled in the Senate before the Senators left for their August recess. One is the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which passed the House this past February in a 240 to 190 vote and placed on the Senate calendar in March. If approved, the legislation would require background checks on all firearm purchases—including those made privately online or at gun shows. But that was five months ago.
   The other, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019. The House passed it in February, too, (228 to 198) but was tabled in the Senate.
   Over 250 mass shootings in the last year including three mass shootings in the last week (Dayton, Ohio; El Paso; and the Garlic Festival Massacre in Gilroy, California) brought our legislators back early. The original schedule had them returning September 9, but a peek at the Senate calendar shows what business they will take up beginning today, August 6. Those two tabled Acts are not listed. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CCAL-116scal-2019-08-06/pdf/CCAL-116scal-2019-08-06.pdf
   We Google statistics on mass shootings, we map out locations where they occur, we track gender, age, nationalities of shooters and victims. All those numbers desensitize us, force us lose sight of the actual people, human beings, that are traumatized or killed.
   Families change in an instant.
   I’ve admitted before that my brother and I, along with the neighbor kids played with toy guns. I like to think we (all) have moved away from that kind of play toward activities that are more co-operative, more sensitive, and more compassionate. I know that’s not true as I move through my day trying to avoid, ignore, divert my attention away from fear while I watch/read/listen to the news. Maybe I’m traumatized, too. Maybe we all are. So what can we do?
   Ignoring the news is not a good answer.
   Staying engaged can become overwhelming.
   Finding a balance between the two is difficult, at best.
   It comes down to common sense, which my mom liked to remind me is not common. The causes of gun violence are many. Too many guns. Too few laws. Too much fear, anger, and frustration. Too much unchecked mental illness.
   The help for mental illness needs to be as accessible as the help for physical illness. Right now it is not. In addition to the stigma placed on mentally ill people from the society at large, our health care system, such as it is, treats mental illnesses differently, when it addresses it at all.
   But fear is not a mental illness. Neither are hatred, anger, or frustration. We need to teach our children (and practice ourselves) self-control, moderation, composure.
   Most Americans don’t want to be at war with each other. But these days, it seems as though we are. We are divided on many issues, including gun ownership.
   Making sure, as best we can, that only responsible people can own guns is common sense. Outlawing automatic and semi-automatic weapons makes sense, too. Prohibiting the modification of guns to make them work faster and deadlier also feels right.
   In the aftermath of the violent acts or acts of domestic terrorism this week, most politicians are refraining from only offering prayers and thoughts of understanding.
   At last.
   At least some are admitting we have a problem. That’s a good first step.
   But the rhetoric about condemning racism, bigotry, and white supremacy needs to be more than rhetoric. The talk about common sense gun laws must lead to action. Laws need to be made and enforced.
   And the comments of our president? It’s hard for me to trust someone who said yesterday (Monday), “our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy,” when just three months ago at a rally in Panama City Beach, Florida, the he joked when an audience member shouted “shoot them” in response to his (rhetorical?) question: “But how do you stop with those people?”
   He heard the person's comment, chuckled and said, “only in the Panhandle you can get away with that statement.”
   What does that even mean except racism, bigotry, and white supremacy are alive and well and living in the White House?
--stay curious! (and tolerant)

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The State of Puerto Rico…not, really!

7/30/2019

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…Mom says she wants to unplug on vacation, so I can hang on to [her phone]. I look around and spot the one sign that doens’t have an English translation: !BIENVENIDOS!
   I don’t speak Spanish, but I know that means “welcome.”
from: Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish
by Pablo Cartaya
Viking/Penguin Random House, 2018

The summer before eighth grade, I played clarinet in a community orchestra in our local summer stock venue, Cain Park. Medium-named stars played lead roles in hit shows. That year we put on Gypsy, Bye-Bye Birdie, and West Side Story. I don’t remember who held the leads in the other two, but Tony Dow, Beaver Cleaver’s big brother in Leave it to Beaver, played Tony in West Side Story.
   I had the clarinet solo for Maria’s song, “I Feel Pretty.”
   The play is about a girl and a boy who meet at a dance and fall in love, but Maria is from the “wrong side of the tracks.” Big fights break out and Tony is killed. Prejudice, honor, and the importance of family loyalty are some issues dramatized. Poverty, juvenile delinquency, and the devastating influence of gangs are some others.
   The Jets were American. The Sharks were Puerto Rican. About all I knew about Puerto Rico in those growing-up days came from that play. That might have been pretty much all anyone knew, unless, of course, you were Puerto Rican.
   The play’s setting is the 1950s, a time of American pride. We had, after all, recently won World War II and lots of former servicemen and women were, rightly, receiving lots of honor.
   Puerto Rico is a small island east-southeast of Haiti/Dominican Republic with a population of a little over 3.5 million.
   In 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States under the Treaty of Paris. Nineteen years later, In 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act made all Puerto Ricans American citizens.
   A free election by the people has been held to select their governor since 1948, when the United States government stopped appointing one.
   Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. That means the island is controlled by the Federal government and Congress. Puerto Ricans are American citizens by birth, but they can’t vote in presidential elections and lack voting representation in Congress. A little local control, some Constitutional rights, non-voting but legal status for citizens. An ambiguous position, to be sure.
   Puerto Ricans don’t pay Federal Income Tax, but they do pay payroll taxes, social security taxes, business taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes, you get it, to the Federal Government.
   So what do they get for their tax money? Well, not FEMA money when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. The island is still reeling from the devastation she wrought.
   The government has been in turmoil since July 13, 2019. Two high ranking members of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s administration were indicted on federal charges last week. They are accused of diverting over fifteen million dollars worth of work contracts to unqualified, politically connected businesses.
   Gov. Ricardo Rosselló recently announced his resignation amid a barrage of published emails and chats. The ensuing outrage, protests, demonstrations. . . along with the outrage, protests, and demonstrations about the corruption ruined Rosselló’s government.
   His resignation will take effect this Friday (August 2, 2019).
   Next in line is Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez. It would have been Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marin, but he resigned as part of the email and chat scandal. But Vazquez, who inspires little public confidence and was investigated last year for ethical violations, said she does not want the top job.
   Gov. Rosselló is looking for his own replacement. Anyone he appoints will likely stay in office until elections for a new governor in 2020.
   According to a Gallup Poll survey, in 2017, ninety-seven percent of Puerto Ricans favor statehood. https://news.gallup.com/poll/260744/americans-continue-support-puerto-rico-statehood.aspx
   Now and then, a pro-statehood faction rises up, and about as often one that promotes self-determination. Some Puerto Ricans claim satisfaction with the status quo. The three main political parties each promotes one or the other of these positions.
   Most U. S. Presidents have supported statehood, if the majority of Puerto Ricans are also in favor. But not the current one.
   Why does all this matter?
   If Puerto Rico became a state, the people would be eligible for Federal programs like Food Stamps for disaster victims. Statehood would help modernize the economy, and help the mainland, too. Instead of needing to form their own various trade agreements, alliances, and treaties to stimulate their economy, the island could immediately use the ones already in place for the Fifty States.
   Puerto Ricans would gain full representation in Congress if they could choose two Senators with the same voting rights allowed to the rest of the States. The citizens would be allowed to vote in all elections, including the ones affecting them and their island.
   But Statehood would change the overall structure of Congress. One hundred and two senators will look different from the 100 now seated. The House of Representatives would need to be reconfigured, realigned to accommodate the five seats allotted to Puerto Rico, based on their population and under the current format, without going over the maximum 435 members.
   If Puerto Rico joined the Union, they would receive seven electoral votes, which would change the make-up of the Electoral College.
   Puerto Ricans would not be allowed to compete under their own flag in either the Olympics or the Miss Universe pageant. They do now.
   Statehood would change the way crime and poverty statistics are reported. Puerto would hold last place in both categories. Is this good or bad?
   The island is in dire financial straights, much still caused by Maria. Statehood would mean the United States would absorb that significant debt.
   But first, Puerto Ricans must take care of themselves. A stable government elected by the people, continued disaster relief that is not diverted by selfish and greedy politicians, and a better understanding of the people and their challenges will make everyone want to sing “I Feel Pretty.”
-—stay curious! (and informed)

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Waste Not … Want Not

7/23/2019

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   None of the animals trusted the humans, it was true, but many felt that the point of the web was connection. The [animal and human] worlds touched in so many places, relied on each other so heavily. Wise Owl pointed out that there weren’t two worlds at all. Just one, and it was in danger.
from: The Story Web
by Megan Frazer Blakemore
Bloomsbury, 2019

A few years ago, I stood in front of a bakery counter with one of my adult daughters. We drooled (figuratively) over brownies that could feed a family of four; chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies that guaranteed instant dental work; and slices of “home-made” pie.
   My daughter turned to me and patted her tummy. “Waist or waste,” she wisely said.
   I got the message and we continued our walk.
   Back toward the beginning of this blog (11/24/15), I wrote about food waste in relation to Thanksgiving. It’s time to revisit. Here, it’s not timed to any particular holiday or event, it’s just one of many subjects (mostly out of my control) that I worry about.
   I say mostly because, I *do* control what I choose to buy and how much. I can and do “talk” to other people (thanks for listening!).
   But in three and a half years, I wondered what had changed.
   According to an April, 2019 article published in National Geographic Magazine, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/people-waste-more-food-than-they-think-psychology/ more than a third of our food supply becomes garbage. The reasons are many. Overstocked grocery shelves, over-produced fresh food that won’t survive a cross-country trip even in a refrigerated vehicle, over zealous home cooks who over-buy, even with the best intentions.
   In the same article, I learned that over “80 percent of food waste has been traced to homes and consumer-facing businesses.” (grocery stores, restaurants, food trucks, caterers…?) I sometimes choose the misshapen tomato or apple. If no one buys those uglies, the store will throw them out, but mostly, those fruits and veggies don’t even get to the store. Here’s how you can find them: .http://www.imperfectproduce.com Imperfect even has recipes on their site and a newsletter you can subscribe to.
   Self-awareness in this arena, just like anywhere else, is hard to attain. Seventy-six percent of us think we throw away less food than the average American. Even for me, that math doesn’t add up.
   Behind fruits and vegetables, left-overs is the next big category of guilt-producing waste. Left-overs really are easier, emotionally, to throw away after they have spent some weeks in the fridge getting stinky. And when I rid my fridge of those things I meant to serve but can’t identify anymore, or when I ditch the container that I’m afraid to open because of the anticipated smell, or find the jar of fuzzy jelly that has been living on the back shelf behind the ketchup for a little too long, I know I’m part of the problem.
A good place to start our “eat or toss” decision-making is a site called Eat or Toss. Find it here: https://www.eatortoss.com Besides recipes to help use up items lurking on the edge of edible, the author provides a handy food index that addresses lots of questions from “is aluminum foil- spotted food safe?” to “what is that white stuff on my baby carrots?” with pictures.
   But being mindful in the first place, at the store or restaurant, is important, too.
   Several years ago I bought a composter. Now research shows that people seem to let themselves off the hook because “I’m putting it in my garden, how can it be garbage or waste?” The missing pieces, of course, are the resources used to grow, harvest, bring to market, and cook what turns into that “good garden soil.”
   Here’s something else: reducing food waste is a great way to help reduce the dire effects of climate change. According to Project Drawdown https://www.drawdown.org, reducing food waste is the third most impactful action anyone can take.
   Fifty years and a week later, I’m still reflecting on the moon-walk. When I look at photos of Earth from space, especially the Big Blue Marble, (taken on January 1, 1994, from a NOAA satellite built by NASA, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/9467448026/in/album-72157650236003648/) Earth’s extreme and intense beauty focuses me on global connections. We’re all in this together. People, animals, stars, oaks and palms, mosquitoes, ants, daffodils, and petunias. We all use each other’s strengths to buoy ourselves in a balance of nature that needs our protection.
   From the distance of outer space, it is easy to understand that boundaries between countries are drawn by people. It is easy to imagine oceans and jungles teaming with life. Harder, though, to remember that everything is finite.
   To live together, we need to work together.
-—stay curious! (and eat ugly vegetables)

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Far Out!

7/16/2019

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Looking at
Earth
While Earth
Looks at you. . .
a blip out in space.
   from: A Trip into Space
   written by Lori Haskins Houran
   illustrated by Francisca Marquez
   Albert Whitman & Co., 2014
On my first day of Kindergarten, my mom had arranged with a neighbor to walk me to school. The boy in charge of me was quite a bit older, and not that willing. He did what his mom told him to do, but not that time. He left before I got to his house. I was on my own.
   Mom had to stay home with my baby brother. My sister went to a different school. So. I think I cried all the way there. But maybe only most of the way. I’m not sure how I found my way to school and I don’t remember what happened on Day 2. Really, the building was very close to our house with only one turn to negotiate. I’m sure a traffic guard was in the picture, too. I know my parents would never knowingly let anything bad happen to me.
   My sense of direction is still lacking. My dad used to kid around (probably) and tell me I’d get lost backing down the driveway. When we lived in the same town, I’d call him up and take him to lunch in exchange for a ride-along with directions.
   But, when I moved to a new city and couldn’t depend on Dad as my direction-giving co-pilot, I paid more attention to landmarks and street signs. Now I depend (too much) on my GPS.
   I was just a little older than my oldest grandson is now when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin found their way to the moon, took those giant moonsteps, and returned to Earth 50 years ago this week (July 20). And just like everyone else who was alive then, I remember where I was.
   I remember thinking that my little nephew (who turned 50 last month) would never know a time when people were not on the moon. I wondered if people would still find the moon mysterious. I wondered if I would.
   Yesterday, July 15, Jim Bridenstine, the new head of NASA, (he took over in April 2018 after leaving the House of Representatives) said in an interview that his generation does not have a memory like that. And he wants one.
   So NASA is planning a Mars walk. Not soon. The estimate is 2034 or so. But we have to go back to the moon first. The way Mr. Bridenstine explained it, the moon will serve as a training ground for the Mars astronauts. But, the last time the US went to the moon was 1972, and the equipment is outdated. New equipment is being invented right now.
   Other countries have traveled to the moon. Some had people on board, but so far, only Americans have actually walked there.
   We have an International Space Station. And on January 3, 2019, China’s Chang’e 4 spacecraft made the first landing on the far side of the Moon. Countries seem to be working together better now, both to share knowledge and to avoid another space race. Because, really, what’s the point of learning something if you can’t (or won’t) share? That’s a refreshing concept.
   But, so far, no other country has plans to put people on Mars. The Curiosity has been exploring the surface since it landed in 2012. Now NASA plans to continue exploring Mars with the launch of a new craft that will dig deep into the planet.
   The new Mars lander has a 5 foot 9 inch long arm with shoulder and elbow joints. The grapple at the end of the arm can grasp items with its 5 mechanical fingers. Here’s a labelled picture of the landing craft. https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/spacecraft/instruments/summary/ It will be used to explore the interior of Mars, collect rocks, and send pictures back to Earth.
   The launch is planned for July, 2020, when Earth and Mars will be aligned favorably to save time and fuel. Because the planets are constantly on the move, and neither orbit is exactly circular, precise directions are crucial.
   And kids in grades K-12 can enter NASA’s naming contest for the new lander. If you are a teacher, or know one, here’s the information: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7436
In the meantime, when I’m finished exploring the NASA website, I’ll spend some time exploring my own neighborhood. Blueberries are in season. I have the directions to a nearby blueberry farm programed into my GPS.
-—stay curious! (and plan ahead)

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The Grand Connection of All the Universe

7/9/2019

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Mr. Patterson spoke up. “Every ten years the United States government collects data to find out who is living in the US. The census takers ask questions about age, sex, and race, to see how the country is changing.”
   “It’s friggin’ annoying. If you don’t send in your form fast enough, they start callin’ your house,” Sookie said. “No thanks. I’d rather stay off the grid.”
   Dad smiled.
   Vern ignored Sookie. “There is no census for white sharks. We have no idea how many young sharks, middle-aged sharks, and old sharks there are. A balance would tell us there is a healthy . . .”
   Vern was searching for the word.
   “Ecosystem?” Dad offered.
from: The Line Tender
by Kate Allen
Dutton Children’s Books, 2019

The Fourth of July parade, picnic, and roller-coaster emotions (anger, fear, sadness, and pride) and my wonderful, chaotic house full of kids and grandkids and cats (and a bunny rabbit) has had me distracted and a little disoriented. We have one grandchild left, and he’s going home tomorrow (Wednesday).
Yesterday, I woke in the comfortable and awesome clutches of the Grand Connection of All the Universe. Let me explain.
   Most mornings, I read for a couple of hours while a cup of coffee gradually cools at my side. Last week my quote popped out of the book I was reading. My book did not having anything to do with flags or Betsy Ross. It was about balancing family problems with asking for help when you need it. But Betsy appeared in the pages of a book about a girl who loves history.
As of yesterday morning, I didn't have an idea for today's post. I had lots of mini-ideas, but no one thing stood out. I discovered today’s quote in the book I was reading. The same as last week.. The book only mentioned the Census in passing, in relation to a shark census. The main character’s mother was preparing to conduct scientific research into the relationship between a local seal population and an unusual migration of white sharks.
   But the US Census is news. And the president is still trying to insert his question, even after the Supreme Court said no. It feels like when my kids were small and they asked for another helping of ice-cream for dessert. The conversation went kinda like this:
   “I said ‘no.’”
   “But I really want it.”
   “No.”
   “Let’s call it a carrot.”
   “No.”
   “I’m going to ask Daddy.”

   Everyone got a little huffy, but order was restored, without ice-cream. Substitute the word “question” for “ice-cream” and you have my take on the US Census situation. More details will follow soon.
   Where do ideas really come from, though? I wrote of this once before when I mentioned poet and song-writer Roseanne Cash’s suggestion that ideas are entities in the universe waiting patiently, or not, for someone to catch them. Elizabeth Gilbert says something similar in her book Big Magic. If an author does not follow through on an idea that has come to her, that idea will find someone else to bring it to the world.
   We took my grandson to see the new movie, Yesterday. A young, struggling musician, at the brink of giving up his dream, discovered that almost no one in the whole world had ever heard of the Beatles or their music. The young musician sang the Beatles’ songs and became more famous than he could have imagined.
   All the rest of the plot and characters aside, maybe it’s the music that actually needs to be in the world and found its own way to be heard. Maybe the music itself is the main character.
   What if each one of us is the main character in our own story? What if each one of us does all the good work we can? Imagine all the people living life in peace!
-—stay curious! (and connected)

Weebly, the host for my blog, has changed the way it provides statistics to me. Up until this week, I could see how many people looked at my post and how many pages were seen, no matter how you found me. Now they only count the “looks” that come from ShariDellaPenna.com.
   Instead of over 500 each week, Weebly is recording only the few that come directly from their platform. I’ll keep posting, but I now don’t have any idea how far my reach is. Hit the like button on Facebook, if you want, and if that’s where you find me. Or connect through Twitter. Or find me through my website. It will help me know you’re out there!
   Thanks,
   Shari

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You’re a Grand Old Flag

7/2/2019

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  “The first American flag was raised in 1777,” I say. “During the siege of Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River Valley, in New York.”
   “Ah,” says Grandpa Tad. “Fort Stanwix.”
   “The soldiers cut up their white shirts to make the stripes, and the red petticoats of their wives. They got the blue from a captain’s coat.”
   “Whoa, now. I thought the first flag was made by Miss Betsy Ross.”
   “There’s no historical evidence for that,” I say. “That is a made-up story. Like George Washington and his cherry tree. Also not true.”
   “You don’t say. How’d you get to know all this?”
   “I read a lot. And Mrs. Dooley at the library, she helps me figure things out.”
from: The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins
by Gail Shepherd
Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin Random House, 2019

When I was little, my gram made a nightgown pattern from newspaper for me. I laid on the floor and she traced around me on the sheets she had taped together. My nightgown had little flowers all over it and a ruffle at the wrists and around the bottom. It was soft. I loved that nightgown.
   In 9th grade all us girls studied Home Economics, cooking and sewing. I really enjoyed sewing, even though I wasn’t too good at it. My dad took me to buy fabric at JoAnn’s, but his favorite color was brown. We compromised. We bought brown fabric with little flowers all over it. I only got a B on my apron. The A-line skirt had to be black or navy blue.
   I saved up my babysitting money and bought a sewing machine from Sears. I bought some McCall’s patterns, printed on newsprint, and sewed some of my own clothes. I made an orange caftan (combination of gingham and terrycloth, can you imagine?!) when those were popular in the 1970s. I sewed some clothes for my girls when they were young. They wouldn’t wear anything I made after about age 3 or 4, though.
   My favorite projects were the quilts I sewed for my grandkids on that same sewing machine. All the quilts were ready (but the last one) for each child’s arrival. I used patterns, but adapted them, and only needed math help on the one I sorta designed myself. I learned to hand appliqué, a technique I’m glad I did, but don’t have a strong desire to do lots more of. I appliquéd lots of little sheep on that last quilt. Each sheep had two tiny ears and four even tinier legs, and a wee, tiny tail.
   If Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag, which she did or did not, depending who you read, she hand appliquéd all 13 stars on a field of blue. Some claim she told George Washington it would take less material if the stars were 5-pointed instead of 6. For proof, she folded up a piece of paper and one snip later, she unfolded a little star. You can try it. I did and it works: http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagstar.html
   Reeves Weatherill, the descendant of one of Betsy Ross’s friends, Samuel Weatherill, presented the little paper star at a luncheon of the Philadelphia Flag Day Association in 1963. It was signed by Clarissa Claypoole Wilson, Betsy Ross’s daughter. Clarissa, so the story goes, had given the little paper pattern to Reeves’s own ancestor, Samuel Weatherill. Now after all those years, this important scrap is part of our history.
   The earliest American flags had no particular guidelines about the arrangement of the stars and stripes. Each state in the new Union was represented by a five-pointed star and each stripe represented one of the original thirteen colonies.
   On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act: “Resolved: That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” https://www.si.edu/spotlight/flag-day/flag-facts We still celebrate Flag Day each year on June 14.
   An Executive Order of June 24, 1912, established the rows of stars on the background of blue. When Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959, a 49-star flag went into production the following July 4. President Eisenhower proclaimed the stars to be in seven rows of seven. Dozens of 49-star flags are still available, even though they were only made for one year.
   In preparation for the admittance of Hawaii, a high school teacher in Lancaster, Ohio, gave his students an assignment: design an American flag to accommodate 50 states. It was a math problem for Bob Heft. He successfully arranged the 50 stars in nine horizontal rows alternating six and five stars in each row. He kept the 13 stripes. Bob earned a B- due to “lack of originality.” He wrote to his congressman who convinced the government to adopt his design from over 1,000 that were submitted. His teacher changed his grade to A.
   Hawaii achieved statehood on August, 21, 1959, and the 50-star flag went into production on July 4, 1960.
   At the time of his death in 2009, Bob is thought to have designed a 51-star flag, too. Let’s hear it for Puerto Rico! and Guam!
--stay curious! (and stand up for your ideals!)

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Sweet Land of Liberty

6/25/2019

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In the camp we had a teacher
some days, yes,
some days, no.
Some days I was too ill
with the fever to go.
Some days the teacher couldn’t come
because of the men with guns.

But on the good days,
the teacher might arrive with a piece of chalk
and maybe even a book.
Mostly he would help us
learn English words,
so we would be ready
to leave the camp someday.
   from: Home of the Brave
   written by Katherine Applegate
   Feiwel & Friends/Holtzbrinck, 2007

In the years surrounding the turn of the last century, hordes of people entered the United States through many ports including Ellis Island, Baltimore, and San Francisco.
   One year ago, (July 10, 2018) I wrote in this space about new rules regarding immigration and the havoc they were bringing. International laws and national laws, long-standing precedents, even civilized behavior have been thrown to the four winds.
   Trump’s wall-building mania, his executive orders, his policy changes have resulted in confusion, even chaos, in ever widening ripples. Each tweet after tweet thrown out the window of the Oval Office radiates dissension, discord, and devision.
   In 2017, he tried to block DACA. Federal courts stopped him, so far.
   In 2018, “zero tolerance” became official. Parents and children were separated at our southern border. A lawsuit prompted a federal judge in San Diego to rule overnight that families must be reunited within 30 days. That would have been August 26, 2018. The government says almost all families have been reunited. No one is really sure. Homeland Security detains the parents, and sometimes deports them. Health and Human Services takes care of the kids, sorta. The fact of family separation is a big, ugly problem. The bigger, uglier problem is the lack of communication between the agencies. I think lots and lots of children are still “lost.”
   Just this year, 2019, the president tried to cancel Temporary Protected Status for people living in the United States, mainly from countries in the Middle East and Central America. The Secretary of Homeland Security can grant TPS to “eligible foreign born individuals, who are unable to return home safely due to conditions or circumstances preventing their country from adequately handling the return.” https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-temporary-protected-status/ In March of this year, The Department of Homeland Security issued a notice in the Federal Register stating that even though the preliminary injunction is in place, people with TPS will be able to retain their status and work permits through January 2, 2020.
  But zero-tolerance continues. A recent tweet stated U.S. immigration agents will soon “begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.”
   In April, 2019, acting ICE director Ronald Vitiello and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were fired. They dared to criticize the policy.
   Now Mark A. Morgan is acting director of ICE. Kevin K. McAleenan is acting Secretary of Homeland Security. (You can see my take on all the temporary positions held in this administration in my post last month, “Who’s Minding the Store?”)
   Yesterday’s (June 24, 2019) announced decision to back down for two weeks on that removal process only adds to the confusion. Homeland Security officials have expressed concerns that families could inadvertently become separated as a result.
People, including families who arrive at the U.S. border, are being depicted as “illegal immigrants.” In reality, crossing an international border for asylum is not illegal and an asylum seeker’s case must be heard, according to U.S. and international law. https://www.rescue.org/article/migrants-asylum-seekers-refugees-and-immigrants-whats-difference
   It was a different time in a different age in a seemingly different country when my grandparents were lucky and smart enough to leave the dangers of their homes and seek a better life for their descendants. Leaving everything they knew, even the danger, was hard. Traveling was hard. Re-settling and everything that entailed was hard.
   In case you haven’t seen this for a while, Emma Lazarus wrote her famous poem about the Statue of Liberty in 1883. It was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal's lower level in 1903, the same year my grandmother was born. She arrived in Baltimore three years later.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I try to make sure my kids and grandkids understand the difficulties, hardships, and sacrifices my grandparents made, not only for themselves, but for me and my own grandchildren who they only dreamed about.
--stay curious! (and compassionate)

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The 6th Extinction

6/18/2019

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[Waterhouse] wanted to create such perfect models that anyone - a crowd of curious children, England’s leading scientists, even the Queen herself! - could gaze at his dinosaurs and see into the past.
from The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins:
   An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins,
   Artist and Lecturer
written by Barbara Kerley
with drawings by Brian Selznick
(many of which are based on the
original sketches of Mr. Hawkins)
Scholastic Press, 2001
Caldecott Honor

I don’t remember being mesmerized by any one thing when I was growing up. My girls either.
   But in my work as a children’s librarian, I discovered fascinations with everything from sharks and spiders to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (remember those?).
   And of course, dinosaurs. I hoped my own grandchildren or at least one or two would get hooked on dinosaurs, but no luck.
   One of the boys loved Thomas The Tank Engine. One was so into mushrooms that he had his own field guide at age three. One knew the names and workings of every construction vehicle, common and obscure.
   Fairies and princesses captured the imagination of both girls like nothing else.
   But no dinosaurs.
   I indulged my own fascination by providing dinosaur storytimes. We made paper-plate stegosauruses, and tyrannous masks and claws. We read lots of books and learned about lots of dinosaurs. I usually ended by (hopefully?) inspiring the kids by telling them that I might be looking at the person who solves the mystery of how and why the dinosaurs all became extinct. Now we have consensus, but then there was still controversy.
   Since time began, scientists have recorded five major mass extinctions. Lots of questions remain, but much has been learned. Actually in all that time, five is a pretty low number. According to https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-timeline-of-the-mass-extinction-events-on-earth.html the big five are:
Ordovician–Silurian Extinction
   About 439 million years ago, the combination of glaciation and the formation of the Appalachian Mountains resulted in falling sea levels. Since the majority of the animal life lived in the ocean, trilobites, brachiopods, and graptolites died off in large numbers. Plant life was left high and dry.
Devonian Extinction, Late
   About 100 million years later, giant land plants are thought to have caused the next extinction. Their deep roots released nutrients changing the composition of the oceans themselves. This resulted in mass amounts of algal blooms and depleted the seas of oxygen and therefore, animal life. Many scientists consider this mass extinction to have taken place over over hundreds of thousands of years.
Permian–Triassic Extinction
   This extinction event is called “The Great Dying.” About 96% of life perished in a huge volcanic eruption 251 million years ago. It filled the air with carbon dioxide which fed different kinds of bacteria. Large amounts of methane emissions warmed the Earth and the oceans became acidic. Ancient coral species were totally lost.
Triassic–Jurassic Extinction
   Like the other mass extinctions, it is believed that this one was also a gradual phenomenon. The blame has been placed on an asteroid impact, the resulting basalt eruptions, and climate change. Mammals were the dominant species and then they weren’t. Dinosaurs had room and time to flourish. That was about 200 million years ago. Dinosaurs evolved and thrived for 135 million years.
Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction
   Sixty-five or six million years ago, so the theory goes, a huge asteroid (about six miles in diameter) traveling at 10 to 20 miles per second, smashed into Earth and left a crater 110 miles across, about as wide as the whole state of Delaware is long! The crash was bad. Very bad. The dust it threw off was full of sulfur, which is particularly adept at blocking out sunlight. The dust storm and the resulting “impact winter” snuffed out the sun for so long that plants could not photosynthesize. Then ferns grew almost rampant.
   It took millions of years for life to recover its former level of diversity.

   We may well ask, “What’s next?”
   Nearly 150 authors from 50 nations worked for three years to compile a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The panel is composed of 132 member nations (find them here: https://www.ipbes.net/members) including the United States. Representatives of each member nation signed off on the findings. Here's the report, released on May 6, 2019, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/
   Overwhelming evidence paints a dire future for our planet. Species loss is speeding up. More than half a million land animals are at great risk of extinction in the coming decades. The oceans are no better off.
   This time, no 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into earth. No giant plants upset the chemical balance of the soil or water. No new mountain ranges have formed.
   This time, humanity is both perpetrator and victim of our current condition. Maybe it’s human nature to choose convenience over longterm sustainability. Maybe it’s human nature to live in the moment without giving much thought to the long view. Maybe it’s human nature to "make do" in a dangerous situation rather than try to change it for the better.
   It is easy to become overwhelmed, scared stiff. But it only takes one idea, one thought, communicated widely, lived loudly, believed strongly, to head confidently into the future. A bright one. For our kids. And grandkids. And theirs, too.
-— stay curious! (and say no to plastic!!)
I’m reading The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. Henry Holt, 2014.

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DOUBLESPEAK, DOUBLETHINK, Double Scary

6/11/2019

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“Well, said Mrs. Zuckerman, …it seems to me we have no ordinary spider.”
   “Oh, no, said Zuckerman. “It’s the pig that’s unusual. It says so, right there in the middle of the web.”
   “Maybe so,” said Mrs. Zuckerman. “Just the same, I intend to have a look at that spider.”
from Charlotte’s Web
written by E. B. White
illustrated by Garth Williams
HarperCollins, 1952

On its 70th anniversary this month, I decided to re-read George Orwell’s 1984. After all, it had been years and years sine I read it the first time. It is more relevant than ever, maybe more relevant than Mr. Orwell even could have imagined.
   At the risk of rehashing old news, remember when the forty-fifth president of the United States was sworn in? He declared that he had the biggest inauguration crowd in history. When asked to explain, his senior advisor, Kellyanne Conway, claimed to have provided the media with “alternative facts.”
   Why is it important that we know how many people attended the inauguration? Well, frankly, it’s not. What is important is that he said it. Then justified his truth with a lie. And people believed him. Incredible! And he keeps doing it!
   Here’s the definition of DOUBLETHINK from Orwell’s 1984:

       To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to
   forget any fact that has become inconvenient and then,
   when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from
   oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the
   existence of objective reality and all the while to take
   account of the reality which one denies—-all this is
   indispensably necessary. (Book II, Ch. 9)

DOUBLETHINK is holding two opposing ideas in your mind at the same time and accepting both of them. It is selectively forgetting crucial pieces of information to be able to engage in our society, guilt-free. Our president is a genius at it. An evil genius, to be sure, but still.
   An article in last Sunday’s Washington Post (6/9/19) disclosed that White House officials prevented a State Department’s Intelligence Committee from publishing a warning that human-caused climate change could be “possibly catastrophic.” Rod Schoonover, who works in the Office of the Geographer and Global issues, prepared the report. He was ultimately allowed to present an oral report before a House panel. The written report was suppressed.
   According to the article, “White House officials took aim at the document’s scientific citations” referring to NASA and NOAA. And “Trump officials sought to cut several pages of the document on the grounds that its description of climate science did not mesh with the administration’s official stance.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/447560-white-house-blocked-state-officials-written-testimony-over-climate
   Trump is trying to challenge the fact that burning fossil fuels is warming our Earth. Scientific facts vs. false perceptions is another example of DOUBLETHINK, for sure. Can even he, himself believe his own words?
   In 2019, we have Google, Amazon, and Facebook. I admit to using all three. I appreciate their convenience, scope, and efficiency. I know I am giving up my privacy by joining these networks. Yet I still do it.
   I have clicked all the buttons recommended by these Big Three to assure my safety. I want to believe that I can’t be identified by an algorithm, but when I was in Florida and I Google-searched different styles of bathing suits from my own computer, ad after ad showed me bathing suits on sale (and not) in the town I was visiting. It gave me a different visual of the World Wide Web. I was caught. And another confirmation about the lack of privacy in our world.
   And I continue to use all three, still. I’m not sure I can even navigate through 2019 and beyond without a computer. My medical records? My buying habits? My financial information? Yep, yep, and yep, again. Private? Of course not. Safe? Only maybe.
   When we only use what our perception tell us is true and not filter it with common sense, we are prey for DOUBLESPEAKERS. I’ve come up with my own formula. Of course, it’s not really math, but it looks like math: Perception + Common Sense = Reality.
   I was a children’s librarian in my working life. I am still a children’s librarian at heart. I know among the important messages E. B. White gave us in his delightful book, Charlotte’s Web, is the far-reaching effect one individual, whether spider or human, can have on another. When we open the book we see Fern save Wilber’s life, literally. At the end of the book, Charlotte saves him. On the pages in between, Wilber learns to love his life. He gains self-confidence as he learns to see himself as his friends see him.
   Can a spider really write words in her web that humans notice let alone read? Of course not. That was not the point. The literary term “suspension of disbelief” lets us do exactly that when an author engages us with Story.
   But stories are not life. While we can still discern fact from fiction, we need to define our own reality We need to add common sense to our perceptions.
-—stay curious! (and think clearly)

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Gerry Who?

6/4/2019

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A line is thin. A line is narrow --
curved like a worm, straight as an arrow.
       . . .
Yes, a line is fine, but when a line swerves,
when a line bends, watch what can happen . . .
a shape begins!
from: When a Line Bends . . . A Shape Begins
by Rhonda Gowler Greene
Illustrated by James Kaczman
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997

I like to think my vote counts. After all, that’s what a representative democracy is supposed to provide for its citizens, a meaningful election. While I understand that a majority is necessary, I vote for a representatives who, in turn, will vote in my interest. But what happens when our representatives don’t voice the majority’s opinions? How can that happen anyway?
   In 1812, Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area. He drew a line around neighborhoods that were not defined geographically, but included more of “his” people. Because its shape was compared to a mythological salamander, we get Gerry-mander…gerrymander. Here’s a map of MA and a map of his gerrymandered area around Boston. http://redistricting.lls.edu/what.php
   This re-districting technique caught on quickly. Districts in any particular state can be drawn to include or exclude areas and create politically advantageous voting blocs. The only conditions: the district must be contiguous and the district must not cross state lines.
   In 1911, Congress ruled that the number of representatives be capped at 435.*
   Because the cap remains at 435 but the population continues to grow, the average Congressional representative now represents well over 700,000 people. Raising the cap comes with its own set of problems. Most involve providing enough room for office spaces and meeting rooms.
   The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years for the express purpose of redistributing Congressional districts. States may gain or lose any number of representatives, based on their current population. But populations do not grow evenly. In the mid-1960s, the Supreme Court decided that a similar number of people should reside in each district.Sometimes an area needs to be re-drawn so a more consistent number of people can be represented.
   The Census is a population count. Citizenship is not a requirement for inclusion. As a matter of fact, inmates, although most do not have the privilege of a vote, are generally counted in the district where they are housed, not where they lived before.
   Each state decides who draws the lines.
   If the district lines are seen to be gerrymandered, that is giving advantage to one group over another, especially if the targeted group is in the minority, the Courts can be called in. That is what is happening now in Ohio and several other states.
   As late as last month, Federal judges in Ohio have declared that Ohio’s map, drawn by Republicans, gives the GOP an unfair advantage. The Supreme Court is reviewing claims of gerrymandering in Maryland and North Carolina.
   According to Politico.com https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/03/ohio-redistricting-gerrymandering-1301141 “The high court’s conservative majority signaled during oral arguments that it might be uncomfortable with judicial efforts to rein in partisan gerrymandering.” Michigan, Ohio and several other states with pending legislation concerning gerrymandering will most likely not make any decisions until the Maryland and North Carolina decisions have been handed down.
   Even if the Supreme Court is okay with gerrymandering, I am not. I understand that a direct democracy in a country of 328,868,954 people, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/ is impracticably cumbersome. But when I cast a vote for the candidate who I expect will represent the majority of people in my district, I also expect that he or she has a fair shot in receiving a majority of the votes cast.
   I hope I have not presented an over-simplified summary in my search for understanding this complicated issue. I’m glad gerrymandering is finally getting some of the attention it deserves. We cannot be a true democracy if our elections suppress minority opinions. If we are not heard at the ballot boxes of this country, we need use other means to make our voices heard. Here’s a handy way to find your Representative. https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
   Even though my vote might not count the way I think it should, it still matters.
*The total membership of the House of Representatives stands at 441. Non-voting members include representatives from the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. A non-voting Resident Commissioner, serving a four-year term, represents the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

-—stay curious! (and be heard)

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"Live life as the work of art you are."
Abraham Joshua Heschl (1907-1972)
Rabbi, Humanitarian, Peace Activist

What is Common Sense, Anyway?

The State of Puerto Rico…not, really!

Waste Not … Want Not

Far Out!

The Grand Connection of All the Universe

You’re a Grand Old Flag

Sweet Land of Liberty

The 6th Extinction

DOUBLESPEAK, DOUBLETHINK, Double Scary

Gerry Who?

I'm a children's writer and poet intent on observing the world and nurturing those I find in my small space .

Archives

"Live life as the work of art you are."Abraham Joshua Heschl (1907-1972)Rabbi, Humanitarian, Peace Activist​

I'm a children's writer and poet intent on observing the world and nurturing those I find in my small space .

Archives

"Live life as the work of art you are."
Abraham Joshua Heschl (1907-1972)
Rabbi, Humanitarian, Peace Activist