A Patient Episcopal Priest, A Starlit Path, and Abby’s Ninth Birthday

Thank you for reminding me of the importance of being a “work in progress.” Merry Christmas!

cindi.ology

The day after Thanksgiving, I accompanied my brother-in-law, Odie, a newly retired Episcopal priest, to a Christmas tree farm.  It’s late fall in New England so although I was enthusiastic about going, I did half-expect a National Lampoon Christmas Vacationish scenario. Particularly the scene where Clark gathers the family around the tree in the woods, says, “Isn’t it a beaut, Audrey?” and Ellen pipes in with,”She’ll see it later, honey. Her eyes are frozen.”

Evidently I have seen that movie one too many times because the day wound up being unseasonably warm.

Shortly after the farm opened for business, we began to methodically walk amongst the Christmas trees, carefully tagging the ones we deemed just right, commenting on the others. That one is nice but the trunk is too thick. That one is too tall. That one’s needles are too hard. The top on that one is…

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The False Paradise of School Privatization

Share on FB widely!

gadflyonthewallblog

Create a perfect world!

Go ahead! Don’t be shy!

What kind of government would you like? Republic, Monarchy, Dictatorship, Anarchy? Some combination or original system?

It’s all up to you.

How would you structure the economy? Capitalistic, Socialistic, Communistic? Something else?

You decide.

What would a family look like in your perfect world? How would careers be prepared for and chosen? What level of technology would you choose?

All these and more must be answered when creating the ideal community for you and I to live in.

It’s what Sir Thomas Moore famously did in his 1516 novel “Utopia” about an impossible “best state” for civil society.

And it’s what I had my 7^th grade students do last week in preparation for reading Lois Lowery’s contemporary science fiction novel, “The Giver.”

In small groups, my little ones clustered together at their tables and gave social planning a go.

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Because of This Post, Steven Singer is Back in Facebook Jail

How long is her sentence?

Diane Ravitch's blog

A few months ago, Steven Singer wrote a critique of privatization that Facebook refused to let him post. It wa titled “School Choice is a Lie.” This Post was blocked by Facebook, and Steven was banned from Facebook for a week. It has happened again!

Steven wrote this post, “The False Paradise of School Privatization.” Once again, Facebook has banished him. Please read the post and put it on your Facebook page if you have one.

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WINS ON GUN CONTROL AND ONE GREAT BIG GUILTY PLEA KEEP THIS WEEK A POSITIVE ONE!

You can’t imagine how much this helped me!

WHAT WENT RIGHT

I choose to reflect this week on that went right for the resistance and not on tax reform. Let’s remember that there are many significant differences between the House and Senate bills that they still have to come to an agreement on so it is not a done deal yet. Meanwhile, we continue to fight on and see many good things still happening. So cheer up and read on. The highlights for this week are;

• SOME COMMON SENSE ON GUN CONTROL – The Supreme Court rejected two important gun control appeals, thereby leaving in place the lower court rulings upholding a Maryland law that bans the sale of a range of semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines and Florida’s ban on open-carry firearms.
• FIRST 45 ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY – Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia’s ambassador and disclosed…

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Ventra cards. Treating the elderly and the disabled like crap. A Rahm idea.

Yep. I experienced this disrespect, too!

Fred Klonsky

Rahm/Ventra rant.

When I use my senior reduced fare ventra card, I have always just kept it in my wallet and the scanner reads it and says, “go.”
Suddenly a Ventra charge started appearing on my Mastercard bill. Because my Ventra card wasn’t working.

Interesting that you don’t actually need a Ventra card. Apparently, a Mastercard with a chip works just as well, but I was being charged regular, not reduced fare.

I called the RTA number on the Ventra card.

After 10 minutes, I talked to someone who told me to call Ventra.

I called Ventra.

I was told to call RTA.

This was becoming one of those moments.

The woman at RTA told me that if I ordered a new card by phone, they would mail it and I would have to fill out a form and I would be charged a fee for a new card because…

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Dreamers

“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world.”

A Voice

“You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one”

-John Lennon, Imagine

I heard it on the radio driving home from my friend’s house.  It was Tuesday, September 5, 2017, the first day after a scorching labor day weekend in Los Angeles, where temperatures in the San Fernando valley approached 115 degrees.  A random spark on Friday set ablaze the dry crackling bushes and trees that within 24 hours enveloped more than 5,000 acres of the La Tuna Canyon, evacuating half of Burbank and closing the 210 freeway.  Billowing black smoke soon mixed with the usual smog to rain ash and choking particles down upon the sweltering metropolis.

President Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, announced that the administration would cancel DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an executive order begrudgingly signed by…

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