March 17, 2010

Parental Stress on College Students

In the spring of 1970 the young heir apparent of a wealthy Illinois family committed suicide in a field outside my college campus. His method of self disposal was drinking some type of cleaning fluid he had purchased. I don’t remember if he left a note but I know that he had made an attempt [...]

March 11, 2010

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Today, like every weekday, I got in my car, after work, and head for home listening to NPR. I’ve been thinking about this for some time now and today, after hearing a piece on NPR about Kansas City, Missouri’s school board approving a plan to close 26 schools in one district and Cleveland, Ohio’s school [...]

March 10, 2010

The Future of History

I was never a history buff. I was the kid in high school who got caught napping instead of listening. “So?” I would ask. “Why does this matter?” Now my tweenage daughters ask the same question and I struggle to explain why.

“Because,” I say. And it’s not one of those “Because I said so’s”. It’s [...]

March 4, 2010

The Truth About Prejudice-You’ve got to be Taught

My youngest sister does not remember her first taste of prejudice but I do. It was an incident that shaped my understanding of race for many years to come. She was barely three years old so I must have been about 10, my other sister 7. My mother had taken her three girls to Rich’s [...]

March 1, 2010

Being Black and Proud

I am the descendant of slaves and white slave owners. I did not melt into the pot that is America. The pot melted into me. Back in the later 50s and early 60s no one I knew wanted to admit to that. To be a descendant of a slave meant you were less than a [...]

February 24, 2010

Universal Suffering

Stephen Sangirardi    Universal Suffering     Bard715@aol.com
 
   Last night for the tenth time I watched Schindler’s List, arguably the most important film ever made. There is that incredibly poignant scene at the end when ‘Herr Direktor,’ played by Liam Neeson, is presented the ring of life with the inscription from the Talmud etched inside. “He who saves [...]

February 24, 2010

Doritos Healthier than Brownies?

Quiet as it is kept I love to bake and am pretty good at it. When my kids were in New York City public schools I participated in some of the bake sales to raise money for different school needs. Now bake sales are no longer allowed because of concern in the city about childhood [...]

February 20, 2010

'President's Day, So?'

‘President’s Day, So?’
 
by John Armor 
 
Last week was “Presidents Day.”  We used to know it as George Washington’s Birthday.  But in the Nixon Administration it was changed to Presidents Day, to fold in Abraham Lincoln, save one federal holiday, and maybe to make a small number of Americans think better os Richard Nixon, because he was, [...]

February 16, 2010

The art of loving what you do

The art of loving what you do

by Tyree Harris

As broke college students, there isn’t a lot we won’t do for cash. From cleaning up after our peers at the EMU to standing for tedious hours at the mercy of a grocery scanning mecha-lord at Safeway (like me) — you name it, we’d probably do it.
It’s [...]

February 9, 2010

Would you accept this Challenge?

My daughter – of whom I am extremely proud – is teaching gifted students in a middle school.  She has offered the following challenge to them (with this confirming e-mail to parents) - would you accept, and adhere, to this challenge:

Currently, we are studying one of the Five Themes of Geography:  Movement.  In today’s globalized society, [...]

February 8, 2010

How to get your child through school successfully - a parents guide

Chapter 7 – Dealing with Schools

For most of us dealing with the teachers and administration at our child’s school can be a difficult process.  Many of us approach this important task with needless trepidation or false conceptions.

We were once students ourselves and may have built up a habit of obeying or even expecting punishment or [...]

February 7, 2010

We have a son who hates school

I can already see the shock on your faces, the blood leeching from your veins, the rolling of your eyes.

Such a dysfunctional attitude might be catching. It might be socially and irresistibly viral. As parents, we spend every day combating even the hint of its symptoms, like ‘flu and cancer. “But you must go to [...]

February 1, 2010

Why We Need Black History Month

When I was in high school, a million years ago according to my children, we had Negro History Week. A speaker would come to our school to reflect on the progress of the black race. Often they would talk about people we knew from the limited black history allowed in schools. Most of the time [...]

January 30, 2010

The Failure of Multiculturalism in the United States

The Failure of Multiculturalism in the United States
by Lloyd Lofthouse

I taught in the public schools for thirty years and Multiculturalism in the schools was an attempt to create respect for other cultures around the world. If you read this blog about Multiculturalism, you will learn why it isn’t working. The neo-conservative political alliance with conservative evangelicals [...]

January 30, 2010

The SWI Question of the Day (1-30-10)

Do you think their will be a cure for HIV/Aids?  What should – or could – be done to prevent it?

We welcome your thoughts and comments.

January 28, 2010

The SWI Question of the Day (1-28-10)

Is Experience more important than Education?  Is Education more important than Experience?  Is there no difference between the two?

We welcome your thoughts and comments.

January 27, 2010

The First of all Virtues – Part 4

The First of all Virtues – Part 4
 by Lloyd Lofthouse

I am sixty-four. I served in the United States Marines and fought in Vietnam. For more than four decades, I have lived with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I spent close to a decade attending universities to first earn an Associate-of-Science degree and next a BA in [...]

December 18, 2009

Twitter, Texting and Modern English

It is hard for some to believe that despite our outward appearances, people my age are not self centered little demons out to destroy humanity.

This week in my college English class we have been instructed to construct an essay on Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media; more specifically, “the medium is the message”. In short: what an [...]

December 11, 2009

Christmas 1947

Christmas 1947-Alabama (Not so much unlike Christmas 2009–Alabama—same heart–same spirit)

By Angela Posey-Arnold

“What are you getting for Christmas this year, Jimmy? I think I’m getting a record player. I picked one out at Elmore’s.” Bonnie said to her friend and classmate at lunch.

Jimmy swallowed the last bite of apple, “A record player? That will be neat. [...]

December 9, 2009

A Brief Introduction To Time Travel

Everyone has wished they could go back in time to change something.  You didn’t study for a test or maybe you messed up a relationship with someone.  It’s only natural to want to change whats been done.  In your dreams, changing the past is possible, while in reality changing the past is not at [...]

December 8, 2009

Cronin

Stephen Sangirardi
Bard715@aol.com
Cronin
 
   He drove to school in a dark mood, under a hot and bright summer sun, conjuring up the dozen women he could have married instead of the one he did. But why did he allow himself to be wrapped up in gloom an hour before he had to teach a lengthy class, when [...]

November 24, 2009

“Trash People”

In our city, like a lot of other places, we have a recycle bin that we put out every week with our trash.  Using this as an idea – my daughter who is a teacher for the 7th grade gifted program in her middle school – gave her students a project.  They were to collect the recycled [...]

November 8, 2009

Wrecking America

Wrecking America

By Alan Caruba

I am always wary of conspiracy theories. Most can be explained away as shared ideologies which, in the case of the current and recently past Congresses and White Houses, can be described as socialism. It did not and does not matter which Party was or is in power.

The other explanation for the [...]

November 6, 2009

Memory from the Class of Harper High 1969

The invitation came via the Internet as most things do these days and I almost choked when I saw that it was for the 40th year reunion of my high school graduating class. I hadn’t felt old before I opened that I email but once [...]

October 30, 2009

The Valedictory Address

I would like to share with you the Valedictory Address delivered by my daughter 2 years ago…it may have been 2 years ago but her achievements will always be fresh in my memory…

She wrote this herself.

===================================================

Colleen Marciel F. Rosales
Class Valedictorian, 2007

Members of the administration, faculty and staff, beloved parents, fellow graduates, distinguished guests, ladies and [...]

October 7, 2009

Curing Depression

Carl Jung

Now here is another brain teaser for your therapist, or should I say mind teaser, the notion of curing someone with depression. Sadly, this is one of the most common causes of problems in marriages, and while we look for help from the professionals they take advantage of that vulnerability with a platform [...]

September 18, 2009

Curing Alcoholism

Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage

If you would like to get your therapist’s head spinning ask him or her what it means to be cured and watch as your therapist struggles to answer that question.  The unfortunate reality is the psychology industry, with its biological foundation, has not yet defined what it means [...]

September 15, 2009

Illegal immigrants are “Nurtured” by our society

In the greater scheme of global brotherhood and advancement, all of the aims of these “special schools” are wonderful things. In the meanwhile, the taxpayers of today are suffering, and I don’t think most of us like [...]

September 15, 2009

Thoughts on Writing from John Joss

“No man but a blockhead wrote except for money.” Samuel Johnson was referring to all of us, regardless of gender. Beyond penning Post-it® Notes, shopping lists, family correspondence and ‘duty’ writing, humans with basic writing skills should theoretically be able to write professionally and be paid to do it. In [...]

September 12, 2009

My first pang

At thirteen, I was sent away to public school which meant that it was a private school anybody could attend whose parents were very, very rich. It was called ‘public’ because it was open to anyone (whose parents were very, very rich), not closed (in favour of whom exactly?). What is ever closed to the [...]

September 11, 2009

Education, Health Care and Hypocrisy

            On September 9, President Barack Obama addressed Congress to discuss health care. The news media has focused on that speech, giving scant attention to his address to the nation’s school children one day earlier. Despite the dire predictions of the right-wing, the republic is, regardless of that [...]

September 10, 2009

We don’t need this education

When I was 15, somebody read out in chapel a diatribe against the young as being lazy, disrespectful, sloppy etc.. The diatribe dated back to Rome in the first century BC.

This is no reflection on the male writers who contribute to this site, all of whom are lively and intelligent and challenging even if they [...]

September 9, 2009

Sex Surrogates: The “Logic” of Professional Psychologists Part 3

International Professional Surrogate Association

I am sorry to be so hard on the psychology industry but some of their practices done in the name of “science” bely belief, and I have discovered another concept ridiculous to the point of being hilarious.

Before I go into that concept I do want to discuss what had been my [...]

September 8, 2009

President Obamas speech–victimized again by television

President Obamas speech–victimized again by television

by Bill Hazelgrove

Television may appeal to what is banal and base and it may be low art but it should not be used to hurt our democracy. We have been victimized again. Talking heads on the left and the right have hacked it out over the Presidents speech to school [...]

September 7, 2009

Growing, Growing, Gone

Saturday morning we packed a van to take our youngest daughter back to school. Although classes don’t start at her university for two weeks she had to move in because this year, her senior year, she will be working as a Resident Advisor for one floor of a very large dorm. The packing had been intense [...]

September 5, 2009

Here Comes the President. Hide the Kids!

Here Comes the President. Hide the Kids!

By Alan Caruba

So the President wants to get the school year off with a speech to all the kids from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Under normal circumstances, this would not arouse my comment although it must be said that I do not recall any previous president doing this.

I do [...]

September 5, 2009

The Lottery

The Lottery

by Steve Sangirardi      Bard715@aol.com
 
   One of my worst experiences as a teacher occurred while I was doing “The Lottery.” It was back in the late 80s at a certain Catholic high school in Queens, New York. I decided that my 11th-grade class, which met during 3rd-Period, was going to experience firsthand the inhumanity that [...]

September 1, 2009

MEDICINA TRADICIONAL MEXICANA

Recientemente la Universidad Autónoma de México (U.N.A.M.) presentó el resultado de un esfuerzo monumental, consistente en la construcción de una enciclopedia multimedia especializada en la medicina tradicional [...]

August 27, 2009

Helping Others Write Well. . .Or At Least Better

You can probably tell from the number of posts I that I love to write. It was a joy I picked up at the age of five when I first learned to read and write poetry, a talent I inherited from both my parents. Writing is a therapy to express all my feelings and I [...]

August 26, 2009

Wheat, Yes, Wheat!

Wheat, Yes, Wheat!
By Alan Caruba

Today, we shall talk of wheat. Yes, wheat!

Since 98% of Americans have no connection to farming beyond a visit to the supermarket, most give no thought to how food products get to the shelves.

However, if you do a quick inventory of the foods you eat on a daily basis, you will [...]

August 24, 2009

Where are the Parents?

Where are the Parents?

by Lloyd Lofthouse

There is nothing to envy about many American families. They are in worse shape than the economy.

My wife is Chinese. She lived in China the first twenty-eight years of her life. She is now an American citizen. In China and other Asian countries, family is important.

If you study Confucian [...]

August 24, 2009

What Academia Doesn’t Teach

What Academia Doesn’t Teach

by Peggy Klaus

It’s back-to-school time once again. Here in Berkeley where I live and work, I always enjoy watching the annual return of the students as they move into dorms, say good-bye to parents, and fill the streets with their eager faces. Last weekend, after seeing two Cal freshmen struggle to [...]

August 21, 2009

Get In Shape, Girl

Smooches, my beautiful ladies! Please understand that I am not the fitness connoisseur. I speak as a concerned woman. This article is to encourage you to be the beautiful woman that God has called you to be. My desire is for you to be emotionally, mentally, spiritually, socially, physically and financially whole. It is very [...]

August 21, 2009

The Meaning of an Education

The Meaning of an Education

by Lloyd Lofthouse

Words are cheap. Actions speak loud. The best way to learn about another culture is by comparing and contrasting that culture with yours to see any similarities and differences.

Emperor Constantine lived 280-337 AD. He ruled the Roman Empire and accepted Christianity as the state religion. From that time, Christianity, [...]

August 21, 2009

The Power Of Social Pressure

It’s soccer season and suddenly the circle has come round and my wife and I are re-creating our lives from the early 1980’s. Instead of five children, it’s three children and five grandchildren. But times have changed and where we originally had to scrape and scurry to come up with money to sign them up [...]

August 18, 2009

Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 1

Each post will be less than 700 words.
This is the first entry—an introduction.
There will be several more on this topic.
By Lloyd Lofthouse

During America’s Civil Rights era, laws were enacted with the intent to correct wrongs in America. I strongly agree that it [...]

August 17, 2009

What Makes a good book GREAT & Read, Read, Read to Your Kids!

What Makes a good book GREAT & Read, Read, Read to Your Kids!

by Robert W. Walker

Not a week ago this question came up on Facebook-”What makes a book a great read for you? What makes a book not just good but GREAT?  My reply on Facebook got a lot of interest and add on responses, [...]

August 15, 2009

SOFT SKILLS TRAINING GOES TO SCHOOL!

SOFT SKILLS TRAINING GOES TO SCHOOL!

by Peggy Klaus

Middle school students at a New York City public school are learning what many business professionals tell me they wish someone had clued them into much sooner in their lives: SOFT SKILLS!

A six-week pilot program— Soft Skills 101: Lessons for Teens on Getting Ahead at School, at Work, [...]

July 31, 2009

Teaching U.S. Kids the U.N. Way

Teaching U.S. Kids the U.N. Way
By Alan Caruba

It’s horrible enough to think of the way school children have been deliberately and unnecessarily frightened by the teaching in American schools about “global warming.” Since the 1980s it has been part of the curriculum in schools throughout the nation, convincing a lot of children that the Earth [...]

July 27, 2009

Why Some PhDs are Jerks

Why Some PhDs are Jerks
By Alan Caruba

I was talking with a friend about the latest hot topic involving Prof. Henry Lewis Gates of Harvard and the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department.

We both agreed that some of the stupidest people we have ever known were PhDs who too frequently turned out [...]

July 21, 2009

Your Are Brilliant, and the Earth by Hiring Paul Hawken

You Are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring by Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken’s commencement speech at the University of Portland, Oregon, on May 3, 2009, is one for the record books.

 
Paul Hawken is a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books, most recently Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came [...]

July 10, 2009

Start a Business? Are You Ready?

 

    Do you plan to give up your job and start a new business of your [...]

July 5, 2009

Am I Ready to Start a Business? 10 personal questions to ask yourself before you commit

 

     No, we won’t begin with “Do you have a master’s degree?” Although education does matter, higher education is not a requirement for starting or succeeding in a new business. In fact, according to a 1992 United States Census Bureau report, [...]

July 5, 2009

Should I Write My Life Story?

Nearly 81 percent of people say they have a book inside them. It’s in their hearts, minds, and soul; but unfortunately, it never seems to develop in pen. Most of these people feel their life story or an event in their life is worthy of becoming a book—and they may [...]

June 30, 2009

America, the Silly Nation

America, the Silly Nation
By Alan Caruba

As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, we will hear about our Founding Fathers, about those who fought our wars to preserve and safeguard our nation, and other men and women who contributed to the nation’s greatness.

It is good to look back, but future generations will look back as well [...]

June 22, 2009

The Ritalin Generation and The Catcher in the Rye

Read an article in the New York Times about the current generation not getting A Catcher In The Rye. “Why doesn’t he quit whining and take his Prozac,” some fifteen year old whined in some classroom discussion. The Times surmised Holden was dated and not relevant to our mega teen culture and that his disaffection [...]

June 17, 2009

The Under-Educated in the United States

As we approach Father’s day I have become aware of the young men who befriend my husband and ask for advice. They come from all racial backgrounds and all economic ranges seeking counseling about wives, children, jobs, getting jobs and, more than a few about education. When you live in an economically diverse area like [...]

June 13, 2009

Stayin’ Alive. Ah. Ha, Ha, Ha….

Stayin’ Alive. Ah. Ha, Ha, Ha….

by John Armor

       Saturday Night Fever begins with the classic scene of a very young John Travolta striding through the streets of Brooklyn.  His shoes slap the pavement, his body sways to the rhythm of the Bee-Gees’ immortal song, played sotto voce, Stayin’ Alive.  The story is about the attempt [...]

June 10, 2009

How A Free eBook Can Be Your Viral Book Marketing Salesman

E-books are the future and the future is now. Have you been wondering how to write an ebook or how to make an [...]

June 6, 2009

Too Much Sex in the Schools

Too Much Sex in the Schools
By Alan Caruba

America is a very different place from the one in which I grew up in the 1940s and 50s. Change is to be expected. Technology transforms the way we live, often in ways we do not initially comprehend. Events alter our perceptions, but one thing does not change. [...]

May 31, 2009

Stupefying America

Stupefying America
By Alan Caruba

If you have a suspicion that many of your fellow Americans are too stupid to trust with the great affairs of this nation, you might just be right, but you might not know why.

Take a look at the choices television offers. Do you ever wonder why shows featuring stupid people or animated [...]

May 29, 2009

Book Excerpt: Do We Develop or Not?

 

 

Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage

We know from Darwin’s theory of evolution that the notion of development elicits controversy from many intellectual corners.  If we think about the notion of development through to its conclusion then many established organizations lose their grip on us as individuals.  This question becomes extremely important in relationships. [...]

May 11, 2009

Non-Fiction Writing—Avoiding the I, Oh and You

When new authors write non-fiction, they will often base their subject matter on personal experiences. One mistake commonly made, is the over use of the word “I” in the beginning of sentences. “I know this because I’ve been there, done that.” Or, “I did it this, or that way.” Over [...]

May 8, 2009

Relationships Advice: Transference Causes Divorce

 

 

 

Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage

Here is the most significant point made in the entire book, transference causes divorce.  This one single point can probably do more than any other to motivate couples to learn how to move their relationships in the right direction.  And for the first time ever on a public [...]

April 29, 2009

Book Excerpt: Are We Biological Beasts or Psychological Beings?

 

 

 

Tim Kellis, Author of "Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage"

I want to pose to you one of the most significant questions needed to understand before we are going to solve our marriage problem.  Are we biological beasts or psychological beings?  Unfortunately the belief within the mainstream teachings of the psychology industry is that [...]

April 28, 2009

ENTRE MALAS “INFLUENZAS” TE VEAS

Recientemente recibí el correo de un familiar acerca de la epidemia de INFLUENZA en México. Anoto y añado algunas precisiones que bien cabe aclarar. Sirva este texto a modo de [...]

April 27, 2009

Subway Stories- So 15 Cents Equals. . .

Whenever I bring up something that really happened on the subway people think I made it up. Life has always been more interesting than fiction and if you reside in New York you tend to see it played out every day. I have learned over the years to take notes and try not to stare [...]

April 26, 2009

Earth: A Short Review

Last night, my wife and I went to the movies and saw Earth. My interest in nature documentaries is usually fairly tepid, but we’d seen the previews and we thought the cinematography might be worth the ticket price. It was.

Having said that, the movie was somewhat disappointing in a number of ways.

For one, [...]

April 16, 2009

Our Children Can’t Write

 

For many years I have had the honor and sometimes pleasure of judging scholarship contests for teens. When The New World Foundation and Parade magazine joined efforts for the react Take Action Awards I would spend months reading over the application essays. When the contest [...]

April 10, 2009

The “Logic” of Professional Psychologists Part 2

 

 

 

Lenn

I would like to begin this post by stating that yes I am generalizing psychologists with posts like this, but as I get more involved in my project I am running across more concerned psychologists who do understand the notion of psychological healing through forgiveness by unlocking past experiences that cause individuals to have [...]

April 2, 2009

The Conception Of American Democracy Pt One

Author’s Note:  Much of the information here was researched and organized by other authors, particularly Bruce Johansen. I am presenting it as an educational tool and not as an entirely original essay.  J BlueWolf

Benjamin Franklin And Native Values
Colonial interest in Six Nation treaty accounts was high enough by 1736 for a Philadelphia printer, Benjamin Franklin, [...]

April 1, 2009

Blog Tour on Relationships with Relationship Expert Tim Kellis

 

 

Tim Kellis, author of "Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage"

Hello

The month of April is upon us and I would like to invite you for a Blog Tour I will be doing this month, and next. The focus on the tour will be relationships, and the discussion is sure to be lively. 

I want to [...]

March 25, 2009

The Education Wars

The Education Wars

 

America is losing the education wars to countries like China and India. The reason for that is that the Chinese and the Indians love almost everything American. India even has their own Hollywood churning out movies by the hundreds. It’s called Bollywood.

 

China and India have hundred of millions of people that [...]

March 24, 2009

Cornerstone Words

Of all the words that Traditional People favor, Respect is the one used the most. It implies many things: values, morality, character, compassion, commitment, relationship, and more that is unspoken, but understood. We think it is the foundation of Traditional Life.
It begins with family and extended family, blossoming from an understanding of the importance of [...]

March 23, 2009

Book Review by Bettie Corbin Tucker from Independent Book Reviewers

Hello.  
I wanted to share with you a recent book review by Bettie Corbin Tucker from Independent Book Reviewers.  To view the review online please visit the following link:

“Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage” Book Review

 

If you would like to pick up a copy of the book you can get it for a 20% [...]

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