Be informed series....

I noticed that "Being informed" seems to have received the most hits. If you need a subject researched for truth or just to be informed. Let me know. Contact me by e-mail at juliaburns253@yahoo.com -- in subject matter write "research for your blog". I will use your initials if you allow as the questioner and research every aspect of it. If you have any question and cannot find out the answer let me know? No matter the subject matter. I will find out the truthful answer. THERE IS NO FEE FOR ME DOING THIS! I just want to write about it on my blog. Further more no information other than you initials will be used period. I believe in truth in literature no matter what the literature is. But I will ask, no pornography -- the only truth in that is that it is pornography period. Thanks Julia

Be Informed Series--- Welfare and Drug Testing.

How many have seen this little ad on Facebook? If your elderly mother or father were forced to submit to a drug test to get food stamps, how would she feel? It was hard enough to walk into that Health and Human Service office as it was to ask for a “hand out.” But that woman or that man who really needs help, who has worked hard their entire life, is being told a clear message. MESSAGE: “WE DO NOT TRUST YOU DOPE HEAD!” We are putting you in the class with everyone else. In our lives, we often stereo type people with certain words and or phrases – like the use of the world WELFARE. Let us be honest about it, in the south what is the 1st thing that comes to mind. –WOMAN “A” -- “Some woman comes in with 4 or 5 screaming babies; she is tired looking, dressed shabbily. I bet you none of those children belong to the same father. She keeps having baby and getting food stamps. I bet you she also is a prostitute.” Let me give you another scenario. –WOMAN “B” -- A Hispanic woman pays for her formula using WIC and the remainder of her groceries with food stamps. First thought “I bet you she is an Illegal alien who came to this country and is given a government handout!” If this is your thought process (I am not telling you what to think – but again be honest with yourself) shame on you! Let me tell you why. Are you in either of these women’s shoes? No. I know of two cases like I just mentioned. Woman “A” is waiting on some type of life insurance settlement on her only husband who died in a construction accident—social security is making her prove the paternity of her children since two were born before she married their father. Woman “B” (the Hispanic woman) is a natural born US citizen and her husband was killed while going to help her brother with a broken down car. He was shot due to mistaken identity. They had no life insurance. Her social security benefit from her late husband is less than $1,200.00 per month. How does a single mother support an infant and two children off of that? I know for a fact that woman “A” cannot pass a drug test. She is on a mild anti-depressant. According to Harold Pollack, these are obstacles to getting these women out in the work force. Remove the obstacle and they all can work. A woman or man on more than 16 pills due to mental and health issues, zoned out can work? Okay. How are these women going to afford child care? All their children are under the age of 10. According to all the research, women on welfare are more likely to use illegal narcotics but the actual statistics just do not support the evidence because the newest studies were done in the 90s. It did show a decrease of usage from other studies done. But the factors involved are very wide as to why. The studies were not done except through a questionnaire of recipients. Now recently, with the upcoming presidential election, many politicians are screaming “Welfare reform by requiring drug testing.” Mitt Romney has been quoted as stating “Good idea.” Newt Gingrich also thinks it is a great idea, but he was the politician who feels that women on welfare reform need to find themselves a husband to get off welfare. He made a statement similar to that back in the early 90s. If a woman needs a man to gain substance to feed her children and herself, then she is nothing more than a prostitute for goods and services. But what does the Newt know? He allegedly changes wives due like he changes his underwear! He and ex-governor Fordice (R-Mississippi) strongly believed women needed to stay married regardless of any situation. Rumor has it that is why Mrs. Fordice divorced retired Governor Fordice because it seemed he was married to another bent over his desk and she walked in and caught him? **On a personal note, after my divorce, I went on welfare because there were no jobs available. I asked one of the Mississippi State Senators for assistance in collecting child support, to get the papers pushed through. He agreed to assist me but I needed to meet with him to give him some information. Do you know what information he wanted? He wanted to get one on one instruction between the sheets of how hard I really had it and how hard it would be for him to give me the help I needed. Needless to say, I stayed on public assistance and did without child support.** The truth of the matter, there are less than 20% of welfare recipients on illegal drugs. There are many extenuating circumstances of why a person is on any types of welfare or narcotics taking into consideration of mental illness as well. There are many barriers as to why women cannot get off welfare. To date there is about an equalized amount racially speaking of people on the roles. Idaho (according to an AP article in 2012) did a detailed financial study of the cost for all this drug testing. Florida did a similar study as well. It would cost the tax payers more money to do the drug test on welfare recipients. Florida found out first hand that they lost a lot of money in doing the drug testing. Who are the losers in this situation? Children, elderly, and tax payers would lose. Last but not least, the test cases already done have found that forcible testing is in violation of the 4th Amendment. Furthermore, we do not do drug testing on prisoners in our jails because of violating their 4th Amendment, then why should we do it on 8-20% of the welfare recipients that may or may not be abusing drugs. Prisoners incarcerated are far more likely to do illegal narcotics than welfare recipients. Sources: Associated Press. NY Times. “Growing Support for Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients.” 25th February 2012. Web http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/support-grows-for-idea-of-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients.html 14th June 2012. Deva, Jorge, Yehuda D Nuemark, Carolyn D M Furr and James C Anthony. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. “Drug Use Among Welfare Recipients in the US.” 2000 Vol. 26, No. 2 Pgs 335-342. Web http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1081/ADA-100100609 14th June 2012. McNutty, Frederick. The College Voice. “No Welfare recipients should not be drug tested.” 8th Feb 2012. Web http://thecollegevoice.org/ 14th June 2012.

Be informed -- Part of a series of Articles on being informed.

Always having enjoyed my mornings, this particular morning is no different. I woke up and read “Yahoo News” while drinking my coffee and getting ready to face whatever challenges this hot, steamy day in June may present. Among the headlines that really caught my eye was this one in particular:

“UN: Food supply tenuous for 16 million N Koreans.”

I like that word tenuous. (Like many of Americans, I had to look it up. I do not use a word unless I know the full meaning of it.) In other words the food supply in North Korea is lacking, weak, rare.

Do you remember back when (1950s/60s/70s) our parents use to advise us at the dinner table to eat all the food on our plate?

“There are thousands of starving children in southern Asia who go without food.”

Was there any substance to that comment? I cannot speak for then, but for now, that comment is very true and sad to say. I took the time to research the situation. According to an article written by Han Ho Suk, North Korean is fast becoming a world super power and willing to take on anyone who gets in its way. This is all fine and dandy but the country of North Korea cannot feed 24 million people and the United Nations is calling for help. (Lee) A while back, the United States placed an economic blockade on North Korea to enforce worldly UN Sanctions for nuclear weapons, yet the State Department issued information last year that US “will be giving” North Korean emergency aid only. (Michell) Does this make sense?

Get ready US Citizens because our government (which is nothing new with this administration) will cause the people of this country to have severe economic intestinal pains when they swallow this dose of CRAP which is being inflicted or dealt with behind closed doors. I have to criticize whether or not most of the worldly leaders have any intellect what so ever or does this only apply to the USA and its citizens. See if you can make any sense in all of this.

The US State Department, April 2012, published this information about North Korea: Economy* GDP (2010 est., CIA World Factbook): $28 billion; 48.2% in industry, 31% in services, 20.8% in agriculture. Per capita GDP, purchasing power parity (2011 est., CIA World Factbook): $1,800. Agriculture: Products--rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, cattle, pigs, pork, and eggs. Mining and manufacturing: Types--military products, machine building, electric power, chemicals, mining (coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy, textiles, food processing, tourism. Trade (2010): Exports--$2.557 billion (CIA World Factbook): minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products. The D.P.R.K. is also thought to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from the unreported sale of missiles, narcotics, and counterfeit cigarettes and currency, and other illicit activities. Imports--$3.529 billion: petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain. Major trading partners (2009): (1) China, (2) R.O.K., (3) Singapore, and (4) India. In small letters at the bottom of the page, “In most cases, these figures used above are estimates based upon incomplete data and projections.”

This type of statement is what is wrong with the financial world and the US Economy. Everything is based on estimates, incomplete data, and projections. This is why we went to war with Iraq, incomplete data, estimates, etc. (***FYI the CIA has stopped printing and actually updating its “Factbook” since about 2009: What is the CIA up to?***) Do we all need to contact the show “Fact or Fiction” on SCI-FI Television to investigate? I have three questions: (1) Is there a hunger issue in North Korea? (2) Is there a real military threat in North Korea? (3) Are we getting into a wrangle with the North Korean’s on behalf of one of our allies and major debtors, China? India? Singapore? I choose “C”. What is your choice? According to Tony Michell with the BBC, North Korea is still in armistice with the USA and will continue to have nuclear weapons until the US signs the treaty to end the Korean War but it will continue to accept food aid from the US as it has been since the 1990s. Is this what it is all about? The US refuses to sign the “peace treaty” and the North Koreans sink all their money in their military and starve their countrymen? From that stand point, I can see who is the most humanitarian. We are but not really and they aren’t. Is this called population control? What is the US citizens roll in this? Will there now be more outsourcing? Is there a plan for a petroleum pipeline thru North Korea? According to John Bauer, there is an interest in unblocking the North Korean terrain for petroleum purposes pertaining to oil pipelines and railways to be diverted to Russia. (Oh OPEC “power,” Where are you?) Ultimate goal of the worldly leaders: “Starve children and line the pockets of the wealthy. Whose is dying so we all may drive our cars?”


SOURCES

Bauer, John W. U S Army War College Journal. “Unlocking Russian Interest on the Korean Peninsula.” Summer 2009, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p52, June 2009. Web 
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/44287816/unlocking-russian-interests-korean-peninsula 12th June 2012.

Lee, Jean. Yahoo News. “ UN: Food Supply tenuous for 16 million N Koreans.” 12th June 2012. Web http://news.yahoo.com/un-food-supply-tenuous-16-million-nkoreans-040735079.html Michell, Tony.

BBC New-Business. “Viewpoint: Kim’s death and the North Korean economy.” Euro-Asian Business Consultancy. 19th December 2011. Web. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16254565 12th June 2012.

Spencer, Richard. The Telegraph. “North Korea threatens full scale war if rocket is intercepted.” 9th Mar 2009. Web http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/4960009/North-Korea-threatens-full-scale-war-if-rocket-is-intercepted.html 12th June 2012 (Photo: Getty)

Fulton Street Mansion

e moved from North Carolina to keep from totally being in the streets, after all what is a 52 year old woman suppose to do?  I had already sent my crazy brother and half insane mother ahead, via plane, a few days ago. I drove with my daughter in a rented truck loaded to the gills with personal treasure.  My feet and legs were three times their size.  I could barely walk or sit because I was so swollen and I was holding the cat (our Siamese Chocolate Point) the entire time.

    It took me two days to get from North Carolina to Houston, Texas.  I was a little scared about returning to a city I had grown up in. Coming down Interstate 10, I saw the crystal palaces from my past. They were bright and shining. Each chimney going full force on this cool December evening as the sun went down in the far western sky. The crystal palace is where the Dorothy went to see the wizard with her friends to try and get home. In actuality, the crystal palaces are chemical plants. I could not find many of the old landmarks that were once on this road into the big city. I saw many houses on the other side of my palaces though. I knew the population had grown but to this extent. There was so much that I could not find.  Mother had told me on the phone, the previous night, “Beware of your emotions.”  I saw what she was talking about. The Houston I knew was gone. I have accepted as much and kept my council to myself.  I looked and stared, slowing my driving speed.  I could not find my blimp. Where was it?
You can’t ever go back. This I know from a life time of living and moving with my parents. They were forever trying to recapture a time of their youth—those pleasant memories in a time of utter lunacy. I kept thinking that it had been more than ten years since I laid eyes on this city.  In truth it had been more like twenty-five years. My Houston was in my heart, never to surface again.

    As we left Interstate 10 and went north on Interstate 45, I looked intently for the correct exit. I was now on Fulton looking for the house where my niece, great nephews, brother and mother were at. After about 30 minutes, we finally arrived. I had to wade through rail construction and look for young boys playing in the street directly across from Moody Park. When we pulled up into the yard and turned the engine off on the moving truck, my daughter and I sat there. We were not speaking at each other. It was as if we knew what each of us understood what the other was thinking.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

   In front of us were three poor pitiful excuses of shacks. They were not houses, they were shacks. They were putridly painted vomit brown, crooked hanging eaves over the front doors, dirt yards, crab grass patches, weeds, rotten wood, and hanging gutters of remnants of three whore houses that were abandoned during the depression that are now leftover shacks for left over people. I had to question my own intentions of why I was here. Am I a left over person?  What did I get myself and my daughter into? Before I got out of the truck, I said a prayer for protection, for strength, and for perseverance.

    Now in my life time, I have made some pretty dumb decisions. After all isn’t that the very essence of living is to fall down, get back up and try to go on with life.  We live from our mistakes. I began to formulate a game plan as I walked into the first shack on the right. This is the residence of where my family was. I walked in and immediately had to sit down again. The inside was almost a worse as the outside. There was dark dust and dirt on the walls and ceiling. There was one chair, clothes everywhere and a Christmas tree in the corner. There was a brand new television, x box, and what looked like an entanglement of black snakes attached to cable equipment. Sheets were over the threshold of each door except the bathroom—a real door. I counted numerous holes in the wall and pencil markings of various messages. Mom looked at me and said, “Take a deep breath. I told you to beware of your emotions.”

I was in hell! Had I been such a bad person turning my life around all these years and for graduating from college with a degree to come and finally get a job to support my family? Is this the price I am to pay, to live in a shack? Okay. If this is what God wants, to see how I make it, then so be it. I am up for the challenge! One of the biggest adventures I have been given from God is to see my dear sweet friend from years past, Donna on Christmas Eve. I have not seen Donna since 1986. I lost touch with her because of reasons I no longer remember. We went our separate ways, had families, and continued to live, missing each other as we became older in life.  Her grandmother, whom I thought the world of, eventually died over time. Her father was now living in that house off of Airline Drive. Mr. Peg was gone too. (He was the old man who owned the gas station on the corner of Airline and Little York.) The buildings I once knew in the area were all gone. There were a lot of ghosts that walk the streets. The majority of my ghosts were men. I was concerned with one man in particular, Joe.  I lived with Joe and cared for him but I did not love him. My niece’s house on Fulton was not far from the house he lived over in the Heights. It took me a whole five minutes to locate him. He was dead. I breathed easy. I was dreading about what we would say to each other if I were to run into him.  We did not part on a good note.

Then there was Milton. A good man but I did not know it at the time; I was too dumb and young. He was tall, redheaded, and handsome. He always smelled so good and in private, we will not mention that except he was a wonderful, caring, and loving man.   I blew it with him. Well, too little too late. Sometimes things can never be corrected. You can’t go back and build on something that you probably have made more tender and sweet that it really was.

While waiting for Donna to pick us on Christmas Eve, my adult children and I decided to walk across the street to Moody Park and look around and wait there. It was cool outside and there was a light drizzle, but it sure did feel good. While sitting on the concrete wall, an oddly looking man walked up to us. He reeked to the heavens of soiled clothes and lack of personal hygiene to a point. If I were a bar of soap and saw him coming toward the tub, I would run stick myself in some drain in hopes of melting quickly. He approached and stopped to stare and smile at my son. When this odd fellow smiled, he had a mouth of black rotted teeth, probably from years of narcotic use and lack or oral hygiene. He tried to get eye contact with my son (who was 22) at the time. My son backed away and he got closer. That is when “Mom to the rescue” stepped between them.
   
      “May I help you?” I asked.

      “No. I was just admiring your man.” He replied

      “That is my son, he ain’t buying! Get lost.” I told him sternly with walking stick in hand.

    The odd man turned and kept on walking. The man wanted my son to pay for his services. Unfortunately my son had never encountered something like this and didn’t recognize the attempt. I did tell him what the man wanted. Robert turned 50 shades of “beet red.” Telling me not to tell anyone, every what had happened that day! (But you know Moms love to tell secrets and funny incidents about their children.)

    Later on Christmas Eve, Donna, her husband, and her daughter came and picked us up.  I had a great time with her Dad, Dad’s life long live in---that he will never marry, brother, sister in law, husband, son, and daughter. It is interesting hearing about me and I didn’t even realize that I was that wild and crazy. My own children couldn’t believe that their mother was a major party animal. I just sat and listened why my kids swapped stories with Donna and her brother – David, who told a lot. I just laughed. If I did those things now it would kill me and be considered criminal.

    After Christmas, it was time to get busy and start really looking for employment. My funds were getting really low. I spent every day looking on the internet. I canvassed hospitals, the city, the county, internet web sites, newspapers, googled, etc. The week after Christmas, I put in 37 applications and sent out many resumes. Then come New Year’s Eve. I slept.
 
   Living in a small house with 3 boys, under the age of 16 years old, who cuss like sailors and challenge everything is a strain on the senses.  There were some tense times. I realize my niece gave birth to those boys; she loves them very deeply, but she is no mother. Same goes for their fathers.  The x-Box, internet, cable television, and the streets have raised those three boys. They very seldom ate anything other than noodles. They never picked up after themselves and they think nothing is frighting at 12midnight. Let’s not mention, when they take off, they are gone for two and three days in a row and my niece has no idea where they are—especially the 13 year old.

   The oldest (who is 15) is a compulsive liar and pleaser. I wonder about him though. He tries not to but it is a defense mechanism. My niece has them trained to call their fathers for money. She spends all the child support money on them, but, for frivolous reasons.  When she could spend the money on food, she would rather buy them an x-Box game or $200.00 pair of tennis shoes.  If you try to ask them how their day was, expect anything but the truth. His grades in school are average, but his social skills with his own peers are way below the level they should be.

   The 13- year old and the 15- year old have the same father. A Vietnamese-American left over from the product of a Vietnam affair with an American soldier. The two brothers look nothing alike. The oldest has Asian features. The youngest has European features. But the youngest I worry about. We didn’t always get along and I have had to call the police to him twice. He has even been to Child Protective Services. A lot of good it did to get Social Services involved. What good does it do helping a child, and putting them back into the same situation when the mother won’t get help and there has been no overall improvement in the home? Not to mention this 13- year old looks younger than the 11- year old. He never really has grown. He also stays gone for as much as 7 days and God only knows where. He doesn’t like school and doesn’t attend. No one seems to care about him. When other people do care is the only time my niece gets involved.

   The 11- year old is a different matter. The youngest has a different father.  His father too is a product of a Vietnamese-American soldier affair. But, he didn’t get kicked out of the country. He stole a boat and traveled the pacific until he made his connections. Some of those connections were honorable and some not so honest. He has done and dried off cocaine numerous times. He and a sister were adopted by good Catholics just in sponsorship. This year he is over 45 and looks 90. His looks have gone and the ugliness of this man is showing.  The 11-year olds father has also served time in Louisiana for the sexual battery of an under aged infirmed person and cocaine use. He is a registered sex offender who doesn’t register.

    The youngest has everything. Also a major drama king, he really knows how to yank a chain. What is bad about the behavior of this child, he never takes a bath! After three days, his oldest ½ brother forces him to bathe. Then a war is on. This child is a hole-maker in walls, screams and cries the loudest, and turns absolutely cold in his eyes.  He also will hide the telephone and lie as well if not better than his older brothers. That is a common trait they share, all three have a lying capacity to protect themselves and all their crazy activities. They also live and believe in x-Box. It scares me to think about them as adults because they will be un-learned and ignorant like their mother and fathers.

    This type of atmosphere in which I have chosen to reside in is a vacuum. It will suck you in to a new type of drama in which all the fish swim against the current to an emotional death.  The highlight of my niece’s day yesterday was to bring me a paper plate and show me what was stopped up in her waste drainage in her home. It was petrified feces mixed with some type of oily residue. She had to show it to our neighbors who were pathetically board captive on lookers. But, I realized that I was sadly interested in what petrified feces looked like. I now can say that I have seen it all!  (To be continued…….)

Why do you get on Face-Book?

Have you ever thought the reasoning as to why you or anyone else gets on Face-Book? It is a social media to be social on; you share part of yourself with others and they reciprocate. Can people be not nice on Face-Book? Of course they can, but here is my thought on the entire social media sharing. Let me share a little about myself and what I see in most of you. I am a person who likes to write, yet I really do not like to go anywhere. I like staying at home in my four walls. I was once extroverted but as I have gotten older, I became introverted: I really do not like to talk to anyone anymore period! Even though I sometimes will take a job as a motivational type speaker, I am truly not a procrastinator except once in a while. The past 30 days (though) I have been a major procrastinator, a personal need of just attention—because of unspoken stress and health issues. So I have really been on Face-Book. I hit the “like” button, because I agree. There are a lot of intelligent comments that people write or comments that are funny and make my day with an internal chuckle or two. My standard day consists of work and home. I do go and actually play Bingo on dollar night once in a while. I win too! It is nice to walk away with more than $500.00 in my pocket. But think about it? We all get in a rut on our home turf on a daily basis. We seek something that we need, which is basically to be agreed with or heard—regardless if it is writing or speaking. We also have a need to share without any real strings attached—no real demands of our precious time other than to just let someone know we will pray for them, or we are thinking about them. Each of us already has a lot on our plate going on personally. Many of the games we play on Face-Book are like exercises; they are a stress releases to get us off of our mundane stressors. Some people do not play games and just do not like to, but that is their choice and I we should respect that. There is a key to all of this. When we click that “like” button, we tell someone we “like” or are “thinking” about them. The underlying meaning is that we are acknowledging that person’s presence. To take it one step further, we are letting them know that we are in their lives and we need them to be there with us in ours. Mother Teresa (I have her pictured above) wrote “Everyone lives to be needed.” When we interact with people in person, there are times (be honest with yourself) you question your very existence as to why you are even there. You may actually question why this person may need you sometimes. On Face-Book, you do not really have to question that. You may sit and say your life is fulfilling, well so is mine, but there is always a little voice, a piece of us which we hold to ourselves that questions so much that we do not understand dealing with our very existence and no one is exempt from this--period. Do not insult yourself by attempting to deny that fact. Be human, be real, be yourself: therefore it is okay to snap, be humorous, make mistakes, and it is okay to be human on Face-Book—not some corporate dummy, or someone’s mom, or someone’s sister, or someone’s daughter. But remember, sometimes employers would like to hold it against us which isn’t right, because we are being human and not perfect by any means. Think about what I have written because this is the way I see in myself, and I see in many of you. Take note: The most exciting thing that I have done in the past 10 days: I boarded a ferry and went across the ship channel. Why was it exciting to me? I closed my eyes, and smelled the water, while feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I could hear ship horns in the distance. I heard sea gulls calling for morsels of food. I could feel a slightly light splash (a few droplets) of water as I leaned over soaking in the moment. I did not hear too much because I was concentrating on the water sounds hitting the side of the boat. Then I realized that this is a wonderful example of what God created for me. The sky has colors I can never possibly paint on canvas—truly bluer than blue. I was happy to the fact I was sharing it with 2 people I love very intently (my children.) I was then totally relaxed and in love with the world around us. My rose colored glasses saw no pollution, no hate, no anger, no pain, no starvation, no death, no blood, no guts, and no gore for the rest of the day. (And no I wasn’t doing drugs or drinking!)

Out-of-sight, Our-of-mind, Memorial Day?

Humans have a very short attention span in life. It generally lasts with the visual, “Out of sight out of mind.” (Thomas A. Kempis) For many of us once something is out of sight and out of mind we do not miss it until a stimulus comes along. Well that day of an annual stimuli is fast approaching. For many of us it is called Memorial Day. When I was younger, I use to think that it was a day for remembering our dead. It was originally called Decoration Day, a southern tradition that was started by the ladies of the south gathering together to decorate the graves of the dead soldiers of their long gone confederacy. Taken note by General John A Logan in 1868, he made it official under General Order Number 11 to where flowers were placed on all military graves, Union and Confederate. Toward the turn of the century it took hold and the rest is history. The interesting thing about all of this is we remember our dead service men and women on Memorial Day and our living service men and women on Veterans Day but is that sufficient. I choose not to celebrate either. Do not go clicking off this article before reading it through altogether. Do not take it upon yourselves to judge me yet. Let me tell you why I choose not to celebrate either. We shouldn’t be forced to say thank you or remember what our defense service person has done for us through a national holiday. It should not be an out-of-sight, out-of-mind experience. The celebration or the nationalism is no longer taught in schools the way it should be. The national pride of being an American is no longer existent in most cases. Think about it. On Memorial Day, most everyone takes off and goes to the lake, a park, or the beach. Some just stay at home and do yard work, sleep, and barbeque. But how many people actually take the time to attend one of the Memorial Services that is put on by collective cities, VFW posts, or some other service oriented group? Not many. How many people take the time to purchase a flag and actually go to cemetery and put it on a grave of a soldier? Not many. Our children are not taught the actual purpose or the meaning of something real. I recently took a poll and 2 out of 15 middle school teenagers and asked if they knew the purpose of Memorial Day. They didn’t. Of these 15 young people, I watched them very carefully; they did not know the Texas Pledge of Allegiance or the US Pledge of Allegiance for that fact. They stood during morning announcements and mumbled. These were not illegal aliens but full fledge US Citizens and they all knew English. When we think about remembering our dead, we should not only remember the good they had done for our country but the actual history behind their service, the purpose regardless whether we believe it right or wrong. For example, I was not a believer in the Vietnam War when I was fast approaching my teenage years. Yet, I supported the soldiers. I will never believe in the wars or conflicts in which our country has been a part of or is a part of since then, but I support our soldiers. Do not think I am contradictory by any means. I support our soldiers because they have done the job they have been hired to do. They have performed to the best of their ability in most cases. But most of all they have attempted to retain some human qualities about themselves in the face of killing or being killed. They have returned to a country and…..just that and…..are attempting to regain what was lost through time. But what was lost can never be retrieved. Those are the soldiers that come to our aid in a national disaster such as a hurricane or tornado. Those are the soldiers that left their spouses, their children, their family and their friends when called to go far from home and fight for freedoms that many us think we have but in actuality they are fighting for something or some obscure idea of money and power between national entities. The soldiers and the average person can’t even begin to understand this concept. It is sad. Those are the reasons I choose not celebrate Memorial Day or Veterans Day. I want to remember what my father did and why he remained my father until I was 32 years old. He was lucky. He was a veteran of the Korean War. His detachment was scheduled and went overseas without him. Why did he live and the others in his detachment die? He was sent to the hospital for an unknown rash during deployment and stayed there for weeks and then discharged honorably. He was highly allergic to wool and in those days the uniforms had a wool material content to them. I can remember (in later years) he tried on a wool suit, he broke out like crazy on his chest and arms. I choose to celebrate Veterans alive or deceased every day I am living. I walk up to the living soldier, a stranger to me, and shake their hand and say thank you – may God bless you for being my defender. I have taken many a flag and placed it on the grave of an unknown soldier to me. If we stop and take the time to remember the things we do and why we do them, then they wouldn’t be out-of-sight, out-of mind. Take the opportunity to honor that foot soldier, the Native American Indian, that Texas Hispanic, that Japanese American, that Chinese American, etc. Many of their ancestors fought for our freedoms as well. Being an American service person means so much more than just being a soldier. It could be that civil patrol man, who is dead now, that spotted the German U Boat off the shores in Mobile Bay. Or one of my grandmothers, who was a look out during the Civil War. The blood of our freedoms in America has no race, color, sex, sexual orientation, rhyme or reason regardless of what our history is. SUVCW and David Merchant. Origins of Memorial Day. 4th Apr. 2009. Web http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html 24th May 2012,

Meeting of Great Minds -- old band members

The Might Marching Panther Band of Murphy High School gathered together for the first time in years. It was limited to students who were under the direction of Larry Keating and the late E B Coleman on May 5. 2012. We honored Larry Keating by gifting a frame of memories, visiting, and sharing wonderful stories from “way passed when.” When I tell you “way passed when”: that would be a time when a lot of some things were considered teenage mischievousness and not illegal acts like they are now. It was truly an adventuresome weekend to say the least. Now done to business! The planners of the first meeting were unorganized. We learned; that is Regina, Maurissa and I realized that we needed help and a lot more people to be involved. So Maurissa and I realized that Regina is the best organized of the three of us, we sort of appointed her leader—president official of the 1st ever Murphy Band Alumni (only under the direction of Larry Keating and E B Coleman.) Why these two men? Why now and why them? That would be what many would ask. To quote Dr. David Crump (while looking at picture of Larry Keating shouting at band students in Ladd Stadium, “Don’t mill around with head down like a bunch of cattle!”

He is correct. We had to look forward to something and look up. That is why each and everyone I have shared the band experience with over 90% are really very rich in self esteem and successful in their own right! We have all done that, looked up for something because we are something spectacular. It may have taken some of us longer to get there but we did it. To quote Kevin J Conlon, VP of Academic Affairs at the Columbus College of Arts and Design, “We were a great band!” Being great at something means we are only as good as we were taught and to be the best you have to have great leaders. We had the best – both the economically affluent and the economically challenged. Our shoes where white as white as our gloves and our hat brims had to be the reflection of ourselves, confident, clean, and to command a performance of superior. I am not saying we were perfect by any means. We were down-right dangerous in most cases! But as I have realized in putting together the memories and finding the people, I find nothing negative so far. Oh I sure there are negative things but I have not looked for them. It has always been my nature in the past to look for the sour, the sorted, and the negative things in most people but why not this group of people? When I go into searching for the missing, I see something special, a common bond, a uniform to wear, and an emotional warmness. We are all politically diverse, different religions, and so many different professions. Even though I try to avoid coming into any contact with my ex-sister-in-law (because of familial reasons) I find myself thinking of her with a little caring compassion, fondly of that rifle captain whom I practice 10 hours of rifle twirling and tossing with to get it right. Oh the aches and the pains we experienced. I also have met some band members that were there before and after I graced those Spanish walls of Murphy High School. I have also been made privy to some very special hopes and dreams, illnesses, and death. I have discovered three band members deceased so far; two that I shared the news with just earlier today. One former student had no idea that our former band directors (Larry Keating) eldest son had passed away, Alan. It does sadden me to think that the world will never realize just what a great musician he really was. But it doesn’t have to end there. Another one was Carmen Garriz Longino (sister to Patricia Garriz) passed away from a lengthy illness and then the untimely sudden death of Joanne Scruggs. But all in all we were special. Not in an angelic way either but in a humanism type realistic way to question, was it real? We really didn’t stick to our own world either. Larry Keating and E B Coleman dared themselves to venture to other countries with us. They led us to the Netherlands, Mexico, Disney World, and other great places all across the south including a performance at the Super Bowl in the “then new” Super Dome in New Orleans, LA. What happened to us all? We grew up. We left the famous halls and went out into the world to see suffering, pain, happiness, work, blood, gore, guts, death, and all the wonderful things that our young people today very seldom can escape at such a young age. We are now a collective group of homemakers, husband, wives, widows, widowers, divorcees, life-long partners, doctors, painters, students, musicians, educators, professors, scientists, entrepreneurs, conductors, business men, business women, technology specialist, nurses, stylists, brokers, surgeons, geologists, photographers, missionaries, appraisers, engineers, conductors, veteran political activists, food managers, insurance adjusters, therapists, food workers, bankers, lawyers, writers, communication specialist, media specialist, real estate agents, architects, and so much more. We are society that once touched each other’s life. These are the people, even though thru a brief moment in history, gave something to a group they happened to bond with. In learning that lesson, they learned to give of themselves throughout life and that is what makes a successful person. These are the richest people in the world. Richer than any sports ball player could ever have it, these were musical talents and performing artists who won life on their terms and conquered. When we meet again, and we will, we will walk away like before feeling wonderfully charged to have been associated with each other at one time or another. We will go back to our lives and give more of ourselves because that was what we were trained today by Larry Keating’s direction and E B Coleman’s enforcement. Oh our parents had a helping hand in there, but these two men will always be considered special to us when our parents weren’t looking. For the future: I would personally like to see the collective group gather and hopefully form a permanent association for the advancement of at least one person a year. That is correct. There is at least one musician that can follow us and that we can see after to become something wonderful. We can give just a little bit more of ourselves. We can start a scholarship fund for a needy musical artist from the Murphy High School Band. I met Stan Chapman, the current band director. Even though he is not our Larry Keating or E B Coleman, he teaches with such a conviction that he too would be a hard act to follow. I also met a few of his band members and they had that “ego” look of greatness in their eyes. In speaking with Alexis Gould Beegle today, she mentioned him in fondness as a dedicated teacher of music. Bobby Keating and Larry Keating spoke of him as a respected colleague and in very high regards as have other former members who have watched the band from afar. Since this scholarship was suggested when we first met on May 5th this year, it will be placed on the table next year with many more of us to make a decision. There is already an E B Coleman scholarship fund from what I understand. Larry Keating stated that when he meets with his band group in Florida, they are thinking about starting a scholarship fund in the name of his old band director. I had to ask if his old band director was still living. Larry replied, “Why yes he is!” (When he answered he had a smile on his face.) According to Larry, he is up there in age. So ladies and gentleman, get ready. Open your hearts. We are going to make a difference in a life for at least one young person to become leaders among leaders like us in society—but to their own tune!

Book Review "Why Read"

Review of Mark Edmundson’s Why Read? “Why should I read? I do not understand the majority of what I do read.” That is a bold opening line for an essay. That was me when I was 29 years old, pregnant, stuck in bed by my physician, watching limited boring television until someone brought me a grocery bag full of all types of paperbacks to read. I learned to read and step outside that “societal box.” The “societal box” is the old custom of the way a southern woman was supposed to be – wife and mother. [Fast forward] the time is 2011 and I have just finished reading Mark Edmundson’s Why Read? It is a very interesting book about why students should read, comparing the educational knowledge and wisdom of the Liberal Arts reader to other professions, interpretations, instructional methods, and more. It is an over-whelming book that I cannot agree with wholeheartedly. I also think this book is too long winded, repetitive, and lacking in the real support of individualism—after all reading is part of life in every aspect whether or not a person is 6 years old or 76 years old. It is humanly impossible for an average human being not to read once they get past the age of 6 years old. (Keep in mind that will always be exceptions to this rule.) It is important not to confuse plain reading with comprehension. Reading, though, is a second nature to every single person able to do so. In this book, I honestly feel that, Edmundson wanted to convey that if we do not read, how can we learn about ourselves—our likes and dislikes in life? (5) This is a great notion that does not pertain to gender, race, culture, religion, or sexual orientation; reading is equally open to all persons. I feel that the core to his argument is the value of liberal reading – such as in a liberal arts program. These are the types of curriculum that train many a collegiate student to go out and take their place in the world with an avant-garde wisdom, dogma, or training needed to be prolific in today’s society—almost in any area. If that being the core of his argument, I am not so sure I agree with it. In the summer of 2002 and summer of 2011, Hardwick Day conducted a study (2700 person telephone interviews) exploring the “lasting effects of college in such areas as career preparation and advancement, skill development, development of personal and professional values and attitude, and community involvement.” (Salem College) Key findings: 1. 75% of Liberal Arts degree people rated excellent compared to 53% of other graduates 2. 70% of Liberal Arts degree people benefited from a highly-qualified teaching-oriented instructor, compared 63% of private and 40% public universities 3. 88% of Liberal Arts degree stated there was a sense of community among students compared to 79% of private and 63% public universities. (Salem College) These results just support other surveys previously conducted that state; the students are happiest and more successful in Liberal Arts Programs, because it gave them an edge in writing and speaking. This was compared to other degree programs not in a humanities type development. (Salem College) I do not agree with this is because of the actual value of the education that a younger person might receive. I am not speaking of financial value but an emotional value of appreciation in literature beyond the collegiate levels. In this book, I did not make a connection other than through the economic, the “pocket book.” It is true general knowledge that there will always be a certain amount of students who will not choose to take a liberal arts program because of the reading. These types of jobs will be in the industry of computers, finance, technical/medical support staff, or some type of science related industry. But will these individuals be opting out to get a good dose of learned wisdom as Edmundson implied? (10-11) Drawing on personal experience, there is not a guarantee with any educational training that a student will be the wiser for having taken it even if they happen to excel to become degreed. For example, just because a doctor is a learned person, doesn’t make them a good doctor or a wise doctor. The same interpretation can be made about nurses, lawyers, judges, teachers, social workers, anthropologists, or police officers. Edmundson did not make any relative point about what is the difference between a liberal arts student reading a Jane Austen novel in a freshman collegiate literature class compared to a nurse reading Jane Austen when they are middle aged? The student may be prompted to compare the characteristic fiber with her own self-discovery for a paper grade. The nurse may approach the characters with her own self-discovery in an imaginary sense. I am assuming that it would be highly unlikely that either reader would spend any quality time to research the actual author since she has become a Hollywood iconic type figure. Both readers would learn that this Jane Austen book was written during a period of romanticism about the English entitled and a slight mixing of the social classes generally in a country side setting. The overall balance obtained would be equal – both being the better for having read it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that either of them is wiser than the other because of the reader’s ages. There also will be people who just do not want to choose a liberal arts program for whatever reason—that are perfectly suited for the profession they have entered into—with the utmost wisdom. Another area of this book that was attractive and a bit comical was pertaining to instructional methods. In a class last summer (that I took), the instructor wrote something along the lines in his syllabus that he will not debate creationism in any sense with any student because this is an anthropology class. “In other words, we teachers strike an unspoken agreement with religion and its dispenser. They do their work, we do ours.” (23) This basically begins the passage “The World According to Jerry Falwell.” Edmundson is correct in his summation, however, someone (from personal memory) forget to tell that to the late Brother Falwell that religion, education, and politics does not make for a happy camper! One word that I feel that Edmundson should have used in addressing religion is objectivity. This should have been enforced with the argument that it is okay to feel the way you do whether other people agree with you or not. I personally do not think this is stressed in educational literature enough. This type of humanities cultivation is imperative regardless of the degree path---something that Edmundson doesn’t stress at all in Why Read? I concur with Edmundson about “Religion is the right place to start a humanities course, for a number of reasons….” (25) One thing that I learned from a Religion 101 class and a class called Mysticism in America (both humanity type classes) is to question our own beliefs and how we came to feel about the way we did. It doesn’t mean that you doubt the word of God. These types of classes without the assistance of people like Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, or Joel Osteen can encourage a person (regardless of their age) to research their spirituality, to re-examine ideals, and question about historically religious physical findings with the written Biblical word. It can enhance a person’s (like it did me) understanding of why they are a Christian. It helped me to understand that there are underlying Biblical messages that God really wants us to question our faith with every decision we make in life and how we live our lives. Being well read in philosophies of religions can also help us gain a greater respect for other cultures as well. Edmundson covered a lot of this in his book. The “Final Narratives” section is appealing because of the “what if’s” type question that Edmundson suggests to his students. This section is like the great age of exploration. “I ask about how they image the good life. I ask, sometimes, how they picture their lives in ten years if all turns out for the best. I want to know what they hope to achieve in politics, in their professions, in family life, in love.” (27) The instructional method for reading at this point is vitally important because it details the student’s imagination and gets them to formulate specific feeling of where they are now and tend to be within a specific time period. For each time an instructor questions a student (unless the student has cauliflower for brains) the “brain” is thinking, which enhances the leads to a prompt for writing in a literary type method. “The objective is to help students place their ultimate narratives in the foregrounds and open themselves up to influence.” (137) There is so much that can be related when combining religion and spirituality with sociology, history, psychology, ethics, economics, and sciences that many scholars just do not actuality understand in their collegiate academics. However, Edmundson did not state this evidently; he stated repetitious examples of great authors and the meaning of how they felt on how reading would improve (empower) the average student; the examples do not necessarily connect these areas as a whole. Just because Edmundson gives us an academic explanation, doesn’t mean we are going to understand it. “So far Emerson has made the process of human expansion seem almost automatic, as though it were a matter of natural evolutionary force.” (29) Really! I always thought that we are born, grow, and grow older, return close to helplessness like we were at birth and die. Is that not evolutionary? I, like so many, learn that in literature but 5th or 6th grade science. The soul has nothing to do with this. I am sure that in the 1800s when Emerson wrote it might have been a discovery but in 2011 – oh woo! A student studying Emerson (with this natural evolutionary force) would possibly have the tendency to yawn and fall asleep.

Students who fell asleep in a basic literature class at a North Carolina Technical College. Emerson would have good use to teach future educators to instruct their students the elements for comprehension of historical literature. It is really nice of Edmundson to mention all the great poets and philosophical writers, but is it wise to loan so much to the historical expression and less to the current manner of literature. I am not referring to the word “Pop” or even “pop-culture.” (128) (Pop is not literature but a soda that goes right through you!) One of the considerable awakenings for me in liberal arts or Why Read? is the now compared to then. 20th Century literature “which is more and more taught at universities, usually cannot offer such prospects.” (130) Is the author telling us that Toni Morrison cannot be as effective as Emerson? Does a literary writer need to have written more than 100 years ago to be great? I feel as if on pages 128 to 136 is short changing the intellect of many. Yes it is true that “unlike Faulkner, King did not write ‘works of universal human significance.’” King sure did make a lot of money as a writer and there are several of his books worth looking at in a literary sense. Examples such as Delores Claiborne or Coffey on the mile had a tremendous amount of self discovery as well as being just well written books. Delores Claiborne offered the question of “how far would a mother go to protect her child?” Coffey on the mile is about consequences and actions in a series of books. It eventually became incorporated in the movie Green Mile. If a student walked away “unsatisfied” after reading King then the teacher must have lacked the “universal” insight of “human significance” to be able to teach the valuable form of that author. (133) Teachers should be attentive more so to the current century of literature that would catch the attention of their students. After all what is the purpose of this book? It is to get students to read, to be able to write about their reading experiences, to get them to study and question about themselves, and to learn. The most prepared instructor (or school system) should be able to compromise on their choice of good reading material. For example: if students are going to read a Shakespearian play then they also need to read Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile and other Plays. I agree with Edmundson that students “need to know what’s worth taking seriously, and what’s a noisy diverson.” (134) Television made movies also shouldn’t by any means intimidate educators but enhance their methods. A great example of this is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, William Faulkner’s Long Hot Summer, Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Homer’s Troy, Sir Thomas Malory’s Lancelot of the Lake, or Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. This is where Edmundson on page 135 should have had an imagination and said “hey look at this method of teaching” which he failed to do. I have actually sat down and read Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I am so glad that I did because it gave me a chance to discuss it with my friends, certain family members, and my children who were all buffs of the movie. Since then many of my friends have read the book to get a greater understanding and are glad they read it. Edmundson doesn’t realize or may not want to cover the subject of “spoon feeding literature” to students. The most insights that I gained from this book is when Edmundson included Orwell (a great literary genius in my opinion) and his essay about Charles Dickens in this book. (96) I like Orwell because he is “dark” in his styles of literature. I have to admit, I have never read Charles Dickens (until recently) and I hope to never read him again after completing Hard Times in another class. I have to say, I now loathe Dickens. I have to agree with Edmundson’s interpretation of Orwell that Dickens really lacked imagination. (97) My point is not every student, reader, or literary critic is going to get the same appreciation of a book as another. If Edmundson thinks that the proper teaching method to awaken the inner self of all students, then this is a great pep-talk book for humanity teachers but far from being 100% realistic. Why read? should have basically stuck to the 4 variables (principles) as to why people do or should read: 1. Academic, 2. Entertainment, 3. Academic Entertainment, and 4. Personal appeal. (8) Instead he elaborated on those principles and stretched the information into 146 pages of useless banter. An instructor in tune with teaching their students and the subject matter objectively – should be about obtaining the knowledge from the students after reading any work—regardless of the matter. Students who obtain a liberal arts degree may very well in fact be more content with themselves for having done so, but not all students are wiser for it. Not all students can handle this type of course load for the reading requirements (as I have stated earlier.) Not all students are cut the same and this is why I disagree with some of the subject matter that he is trying to convey. If teachers would like to learn how students feel about the material that they read, then let them read, let them discuss, let them write about their experiences with the material. Previous opinions of a subject matter are important, but not necessarily that of the student reader who may see things differently than Orwell or Edmundson and for that matter even me. Freud, in my opinion, should be kept out of literature interpretation, because he is a skeleton, an outdated father of psycho analysis. Finally let us not make our literature a thing of the “deep dark psyche” that everyone should have an epitamy of self discover, because humanly speaking why should we. From personal experience in my BLS (Bachelor of Liberal Arts Studies) the easiest was to get a student to read is to present the material and a series of questions. If a student has a problem with this, then maybe the student shouldn’t be in those types of classes. My son is one of those students who would be totally lost in a Liberal Arts program, but my daughter would thrive on it. Does this stop my son from reading? No it does not. He gains extreme personal insight from technical reading and or audio books. If Edmundson would have really thought about all of this, the ultimate introduction for literature is in the earlier grades (as I have stated.) It should be spoon fed slowly to build up an appreciation. By the time these students reach collegiate level, they will be thoroughly trained and read. They will have obtained variant degrees of wisdom and knowledge. Then they can make better choices about what types of careers to choose from and how their character was formed by this type of method. Edmundson’s ideas were similar to mine but with the overwhelming amount of information in his book (Why read?). It was hard to differentiate and absorb. It was geared mainly toward the college levels only which is why I did not totally agree with him. Works Cited Edmundson, Mark. Why Read? Bloomsburg: New York. 2004. Salem College, Liberal Arts Program Study. Hardwick Day: North Carolina. 2002, 2011. Web 23rd November 2011. http://www.salem.edu/news/study-reveals-graduates-of-salem-and- other -liberal-arts-colleges-feel-better-prepared-for-lifes-challenges

A true mentor.

As an adult and parent at 52 years old, I realized that I had never had a vacation with either of my children. This year, I had finally made up my mind that I will take one but with a purpose. I was returning to my hometown. The high school band that I was a member of for [about] 3 ½ years was having a gathering, a reunion. We were honoring a mentor—a very special person, our band director. Only he didn’t know it at the time—Larry Keating. I had once asked his son, Bobby, “Were we really bad students that gave him a hard time?” “Yes” according to Bobby. Well he is correct! We did give him a tremendous of difficulty but no more than we probably would have given our parents. Come to think about it, yes we gave him more difficulty than our parents ever knew about. I started to think, how did Larry Keating survive? There were many lovely faces there; it was like seeing a great wine mixture that had fermented to perfection with age. I looked collectively at years of growth. There were also many missing from this past weekend which some have passed on and some were just unable to attend. But I happened to think about what Walt Whitman had written about Lincoln having his worth in his pocket; a man’s worth is what is in his pocket when he passes from this place to the next. I would like to take it one step further. A man may not have much in his pocket, but it was how the man lived his life. Our memories will die with us and we will take them beyond unlike our physical possessions. Larry was a band director with an associate E.B. Coleman. He directed and E.B. followed through—almost like a god-father would in the Mafia. Larry directed a correction and E.B. Coleman had a board that went across the “butts” of America. We had to respect our uniform, our band, our school, our city, our country and then ourselves. It only took one “pop” and a dare for another before we understood and he would dare us not to cry. We received that message in the deepest sense of the word that registered in our brain whole-heartedly. The lessons we learned was self esteem. Then pretty soon, after the end of the 1st showing, we had an ego—there was no one greater than us with the belief we could do anything we wanted. To put together the ideal show, Larry would have us meet a while as a music instrumental section (like the trombones, trumpets, flutes, etc.) Then we met as wood winds and brasses; then as a whole. Our performance had to be perfect precision because it was detailed which was marked to the beat of the music. I had learned like many others, anything worth doing is worth doing well. Not having a totally functional home life, those actions and words of Larry Keating haunted me when things were really bad for me because of illnesses. I had come to a period in my life that I couldn’t realize tomorrow. Larry came to me and I could see his hands clap and tell me “again until you get it right.” He was a mentor that touched so many and I realized that his purpose in life (that God afforded him) was to motivate many. He did just that! His words from the 70s motivated me to continue living and make a change toward the better. So I was a little late in doing so. Now I am not putting this man too high on pedestal, because God moves in mysterious ways. He is human like the rest of us. He just motivated us to be the best we could be. This is the best lesson that a child could learn. It is a lesson that last a life time. These are the lessons that many speak about “it takes a community to raise a child.” Larry Keating helped to raise more than his fair share of about a 1,000 or more children. What is even greater, he is a live, living and will live more through the eyes of so many. He was our mentor, honorable to us. Today, the big question on the table is “where is the E.B. Coleman Board?” It was the board that touched more butts in America than a standard pair of pants. The board is trophy that should be displayed in the Halls of Murphy High School in Mobile, Al. We knew not the board of E.B. Coleman except with Larry Keating direction in the rising of more than 1,000 children. EBC rest in peace and Larry—thank you.

Sleeping in class or not? That is the question

My latest job is substitute teaching for major independent school district. It is not an easy job to step into a teachers position. Since employed I have substitute taught for 6 classes. Of the six classes, I have had 2 really bad, 1 mediocre, and 3 great experiences.

It did not realize how hard it was to substitute teach until I stepped in front of those students and in most cases in a wheel chair. Let me start off by saying, I want to apologize to all teachers and substitute teachers I ever gave a hard time to. If I did this, I should have had my "shiny hiny kicked!"

My last experience really surprised me most of all. My allergies were bothering me when I woke up that morning. I couldn't even put my make up on. I was swollen really bad but couldn't call out because I was committed and there was a teacher depending on me. During the showing of a video, I had closed my burning eyes. I then proceeded to do some stretching and jerking exercises because my neck was really hurting, not to mention the head-ache I was having. I moved my neck forward and tensed my muscles, back and to the side. Held them and stretched in place. I heard the giggles. I noted a little "gurggling" which I do sometimes, when I am not feeling good. I just hoped that no one was watching me for fear of students making fun of an old lady in a wheelchair. Of course, I had a feeling they heard and watched. They giggled. I popped off and stated "What did I snore?" Bad comment on my behalf.

At the end of the day when I signed out, the principal (or v-principle) showed me a picture that a student had snapped of me with their cell phone. What must they have thought? It wasn't even a good picture. She told me it would probably end up on the web. I told the truth about my allergies and the stretching due to my arthritis. After I left the school, I then realized how it might have looked to the seniors in the classroom -- the noises, the eyes shut, the movement of my head not to mention the smart comment I made about snoring.

I came home and wrote a short letter to my HR recruiter. I realized that even though it was against the rules for the student to do what they did, I didn't feel that it warranted the student getting into trouble. (Something I should have said in the school office but didn't. I was also remembering a student who was suspended for taking the same type of picture earlier this year of a sub-teacher sleeping in class.)

Students make dumb mistakes thinking they are doing the correct thing. We shouldn't discourage the students for correcting a situation they perceive as wrong. The problem is should they break the rules to correct a situation? Depends on the situation. In this case I do not know the outcome of what happened to the student who took my picture. I know they should be counseled with but to punish no.

Apparently a parent reported it to the school, which they should. But regardless, I am an honest person and hope that all will be well by Monday. I know now it is harder for me to be a substitute than I thought. I learned a really great lesson, that I am not as "cool" as I think I am and I have to watch everything I do in front of those students.

Oprah, Dr. Phil, Donahue, Maury et al

I have never been a big watcher of talk shows. Some men and women really like those types of entertainment, but personally speaking it is just not my thing because these types of shows very seldom have a follow up and are generally one-sided. ~BUT~ at 6am this morning, I found myself watching an older version of the Dr. Phil show from 2006. It covered teachers who are harassed by their students.

I listened intently to a teacher who had lost her contract because more than 10 years ago she made 2 porn films and was into drugs and alcohol. Some students had run across this film and were making it a public issue. The point of facts covered were (a) there was nothing in her pre-employment hiring process that covered something of this nature, (b) she is not the same person then as she is now, and (c) all her job reviews have been excellent. The teacher explained how wrong she was then and how her life was such a mess. She now is a mother and no longer interests in drinking or drugs. She, also, does not participate in any type of pornographic interest for more than 10 years. Yet she is being punished for bad choices as an extremely young adult. The audience voted and more than 60% of the audience didn’t find a problem with her teaching their children in a teen setting.

It was pointed out that the teens, had brought this film forward were not sanctioned because of the law. It is illegal for minor to own or possess pornography.

I am going out on a limb. Would you allow a teacher who had turned their lives around teach your children? Would you allow a teacher who made a “one-time” mistake teach your children?
[Again, I am going out on a limb.] I know, personally, in my life-time, where a teacher has made such a mistake. To my knowledge this mistake was an isolated one-time incident to where this teacher lost this license. That incident happened more than 20 years ago. To answer the question, yes! I would allow this teacher to teach my teenage children. Why because he taught me honorably and was a great role model who made a judgment error.

If I knew a teacher (such as the teacher who made the ‘porn video’) who had changed their life style around for the better, who wanted to teach my children, would I allow it? In a heart-beat! Why?

Teenagers need to see that in our lives we fall down. They do not often see the fall down aspect of their parents. We parents often keep our failures and disappointments to ourselves. However in today’s society it is easy not to financially succeed in most cases; this is a different type of “failure” –which is the loss in the ability to 100% care for our children like we did when they were born.

The best lessons in life are from examples. People make mistakes all the time, it is how we correct, change, and start fresh. “Once forgiven, the sin is washed away, and we begin fresh and new!” Is this not the christianly manner that Jesus would advocate? Have to bring Jesus into this because is this not the behavior that society should take, especially those being a self-professed Christian?

Depending on the circumstances and if we have all the facts, we cannot judge people on a social basis. We can only judge people in the confines of the legal system and that is only with all the facts being present and heard in an objective manner. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the only Christian alternative period.

Listen to my advice, for whatever it is worth—do not be a hypocrite! In the case of many school boards and their judgments of hiring and firing teachers, “hardening of the arteries” has set in as elective officials. Why is there not a parent board for that a school for that nature teacher ratings? Parents do have the ability and more exposure to teachers more than most of the school boards or even their school supervisors. After all are we not the employers of these teachers? For that matter, are we not the employers of the school boards too? I for one am glad my children are past this age.

Buyer Beware

“Buyer Beware” Part 2

Follow up on ‘PENDING CHARGES’

Well I have been proven wrong and glad to be proven wrong by U-haul.

On March 20th, (today) I received a comment on my last noted article from Alison with U-haul. The matter was taken care of. As of later this afternoon, I had my $91.00 and some change credited to my Bancorp Bank card.

It takes one person to correct a situation. I am so very blessed that Alison with U-haul accidentally ran across my blog. I am equally as blessed that she was a conscientious American Humanitarian to take the time and correct a situation that means I can get a few simple things in life like toilet paper, a gallon of milk, peanut butter, non-dairy creamer, tooth paste and aspirins. It will also mean, I have enough gas money to get to that job interview next week.

In return, I will (even though I have not been asked) THANK U-haul today for having such a caring employee. She needs to be noted as such. I will also go one step further, I will pray for Alison that God forever remembers the wonderful deed she did in getting my needs met. She is truly an angel.

Buyer Beware

Hind-sight is better than Fore-sight!

How many times have you heard that in your life time? It was generally a well heard term in our home growing up. Well here is a hard lesson in life to learn and realize that you have learned it.

In this economy, never ever use a bank card that you have for a reservation.

I was in the process of moving while filing for my taxes at the same time. I felt it would be easier for me to get my tax return on one of those Intuit-TurboTax Cards. I read all the disclaimers, disclosures, and “dark gray” areas to make sure it was on the up and up. My relationship with Intuit-TurboTax is fairly new, about three years old. This is the first year they have offered this debit card – to my knowledge. I chose it. BIG MISTAKE!

On March 1st, I reserved over the internet an Uhaul truck. $1.20 was run to make sure the card was good (which has happened to me before). On March 2nd, I picked up the truck on March 2nd and my card was run again for the cost plus 20-30% (which also has happened before). This hold came to about $91.00 and some change. General rule of thumb, ladies and gentleman this is a common practice with credit card companies – it is called “CHARGES PENDING.” It is an authorized hold that generally drops off after 5 – 10 working days. I have never seen one held after 5 working days.

When I turned the truck in on March 3rd, I paid cash for the entire bill. It came to about $77.00 and some change.

On the 5th working day, I called Uhaul customer service to discuss this matter with them. That was March 9th. A gentleman that answered the phone with their customer service department was most helpful. He was sending an e-mail to the “charge department” in the corporate offices to have this matter taken care of. It would be resolved as earlier by drop off by Monday.
On March 12th, I checked the bank account. It hasn’t been removed. I started calling and found out that from Bancorp Bank, Inc. most of all holds are held up to 60 days and they reserve the right to do so because Uhaul Corp., okays it. I got Uhaul Corp on the phone via a three way call with Bancorp Bank. Bancorp gives us a list of requirements to have the hold drop as well go into their spill with Uhaul Corporate Offices. The Uhaul representative tried to correct the Bancorp representative on the different types of authorized holds and what they were looking at was not that type of hold. A (2nd) email/fax was sent and Bancorp verified that the hold was no longer valid. But it wasn’t corrected according to the bank when I checked.

I asked to speak to the person with the bank that said it was incorrect. I was denied that the hold was dropped because “They (the holds) are authorized by the security department and the information cannot be release to me or to them because of security purposes but it is incorrect. We need to resend the information all over again.”

A 3rd e-mail/fax was sent. It was verified as being received. But I was told “security is not going to release the funds for an undisclosed matter.”

I asked, “OH? What is the reason? I want to speak with the people or department who made the decision.”

I was told, (this is really good),

“Ms. Burns, you cannot talk to that department. It is security. They do not talk to the general public. They will not tell me why it was denied, because of security reasons. I do not have access to that information. No one does, not even you Ms. Burns because of security purposes. Your money will be getting released in 60 days. “ (Is Bancorp Bank part of Homeland Security?)

I spoke with more than 7 customer service agents with the bank, not one looked at my account before they started quoting policy to me. I finally got hold of someone who was with customer service who advised me that, fraud division generally handle pre-paid services, and she transferred me over to them. While I held for 45 minutes as called number 13, a recording came on the phone that they had closed for the day. Their normal business hours are Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm Eastern Standard Time.

I filed a complaint with the Federal Reserve that will take 60 days to investigate. I wrote Uhaul Customer Service an e-mail. I called the president of Intuit and e-mailed Intuit. I have sent a total of 6 or 7 e-mails to Bancorp Bank. I even sent an e-mail to VISA International to see if they can define and teach “PENDING” to Bancorp. I have spent a total of 8 - 12 man hours on this project. I have held on the phone 4 of those 8 hours. I have been hung up on three times. This has made be physically ill.

Today marks the 10th business day. No money has been released and no phone call has been made to me. No one has apologized for this practice. I will not be able to get my small $91.00 (and change) nor my $1.20. I wonder how much interest Bancorp Bank is receiving on similar issues?

Most people live pay check to pay check and need their money. I do. I am one of those people!

“DO NOT SECURE ANY RESERVATIONS ON THE INTERNET OR BUSINESS USING YOUR PERSONAL CREDIT OR BANK CARD EVER AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE!”

I am not sure I will be using Intuit-TurboTax next year for myself and the other people I do taxes for. I have done upgrades on my desk top and purchased the last Intuit program through Office Depot. I was also thinking about buying Quick Books (Intuit). No I don’t think so.

I am not credit savvy, or very bright in many things dealing with society and personal finances. I try and it doesn't work for me. I am not full of wealth. My aspiration in life is that of humanitarian. That I understand 1000% --that is my training in life. I loathe people with money who say that their money came via God. It didn’t!

Honestly people who have money have obtained it by (a) inheritance, (b) working very hard and being financially smart, (c) off the backs of laborers, or (d) dishonestly. I like the “b” group. I work hard and am financially dumb(the "b-1a group"). The last time I checked God had nothing to do with US cash flow. God only deals with the morality of our souls. God could care less how much cash or assets you or I have. He does cares if our needs are met. Cash can purchase needs by the individual or someone can give us our needs. It matters not. Some may argue that he watches over. Yes he does. He watches over to see man SCREW UP!

When doing business to hold a reservation, do it with a prepaid credit card that you don’t mind having money held on. It is a common business practice to hold the amount of purchase + 20-30% of the bank authorizing the rest of the money. But make sure there isn’t more money held than that. Sometimes banks make mistakes and hold twice that of the purchase.

One should never do business with Bancorp Bank Pre-paid debit cards. They issue information on your account without looking at your account. It seems they have a different telephone number and different customer services for different corporate sponsored cards and that none of them have anything to do with the other. The regular customer service has access to your card. They also can tell you like they told me,

“It seems that after looking at these charges, they have gotten confused on the terminology and that is why your money has been held.”

REGARDLESS OF THE SITUATION, I WANT MY MONEY. I CAN’T GET IT BECAUSE NO ONE LISTENS AND OR WILL GIVE ME AN HONEST ANSWER. I WAS TOLD IT WAS ILLEGAL FOR ANY BANKING INSTITUTION TO HOLD YOU MONEY PAST 72 HOURS ONCE IT HAS BEEN CLEARED. WELL IT TAKES 60 DAYS FOR FDIC GET INVOLVED.

Does any of this make sense? Hind-sight is better than fore-sight. No. I will not in the future do business with Bancorp Bank, Inc.

Moral of the story, if this happened to me, it will happen to you too. BEWARE!

To smoke or not to smoke? That is the question. 19th February 2012

To Smoke or not to smoke…That is the question?

For all intent purposes we will use my father for this blog.  He died from lung cancer in 1993. First question that many would be to ask, “Was he a smoker?” No. He was not. Did he ever smoke? Yes he did. He quit smoking 5 years before getting lung cancer.  See that is what his problem was. Wrong that is not how he got his cancer. My father had contracted Squamous Cell Carcinoma. According to MD Anderson (University of Texas Cancer Center Fact sheet 2012) “Lung Metastases; Cancer found in the lungs is sometimes another type of cancer that started somewhere else in the body and spread, or metastasized to the lungs. These tumors are called lung metastases, and they are not the same as lung cancer. They usually are the primary, or original, type of cancer.” (http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-information/index.html?cmpid=google_branded_ppc&gclid=CKGx9Kblqa4CFSleTAod4DWBSw)

You see my father had this huge mole on his chest that was always flesh color. One day I noticed it as turning black when he was outside working. He and I talked about going and getting it checked. He never did. During the early 50s just before many of our troops went to Korea, my father was involved in a cleanup in Washington State of “unknown test substances.”  In about 1986, my father also sold and changed a tire of two, to some Cuban dump truck drivers who were handling an unknown ecological clean up of some type of toxic materials just west of Sealy, Texas. The reason I remember this is because they were getting a tremendously large order of tires for this one specific job. In 1991, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer—unknown by the VA Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Years later after going over all of Dad’s records, before and after his death, I see that Dad died from a cancerous mole that spread into the lung then into the spine and brain. Meanwhile, my father’s cousin died (the age of 90) who smoked and drank her whole life. She died of “old age.”  Bottom line no matter what, when God takes you, you are gone.

The point I am trying to make sounds funny to a certain extent. “E-Cigarettes” the fashion of 2012! I started to investigate the E-Cigarette.  I looked at the websites below to get some information on them.  How many years has studies been done?

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/  http://www.thesmartstyleliving.com/ereviewb.asp?source=bing  http://www.electroniccigarettereviewsite.net/   

http://ecigarettesusa.com/

http://www.elixirliquid.com/

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15250593815/electronic-cigarettes-of-houston-katy

Is this the revolutionary “chic” method of smoking in the second decade of the new millennium?  Back in the 1960s, cigarette smoking was really marketed with some of the same information I had read on the websites mentioned above: words like “totally safe” “doesn’t seem to cause health issues” “acceptable indoors” (http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/tobacco-ads-1960s).   But wait, I have to ask how many independent studies have been done to see if these claims are true? Not near enough and yet as always, we good “ole’ American citizens” jump on the band wagon looking for a solution to something again. 

Use your brain. Lung Cancer can be caused also from living in an area prone to omit toxic chemicals in the air. We have EPA to take care of that. HAHAHAHA! According to the American Lung Association (http://www.lung.org/healthy-air/home/healthy-air-at-home/prevent-problems.html) cigarette smoking is not the number one cause of lung cancer in America today. It is RADON! Radon is a common radioactive gas found in nearly all soils. 

About 6 years ago, I had some x-rays done for a severe upper respiratory problem.  (No doubt caused from cigarette smoke.) Out of curiosity, I checked the box “NO” where asked do I smoke. Three days later the doctor called me and mailed me an x-ray report.  Lungs clear. In the doctor’s notation, “Glad to see you stopped smoking! See I told you your lungs would clear up fine.”  I stopped smoking about 2 hours before the x-rays. DAH! According to medical research, this is “likely” to cause that.

CURE:

Do not go hog wild and over use anything.  Stop doing everything that is not natural. No more living in houses, no more smoking anything manufactured. Only eat organically grown foods – laced with horse pooh because cow and chicken pooh has too much wrong with it. I understand bat pooh is the better of all of it.  But if you have to squat in the woods or behind a bush somewhere, make sure when you wipe it is not a leaf from poison ivy. (That hurts in the long run—painful too!)

But whether or not you smoke, know the dangers. When a doctor tells you the benefits outweigh the dangers…I am sure many patients who have ended up wanting to kill themselves while taking Chantix didn’t read the side effects label.  But be informed regardless that not all side effects are reported and you should consult your physician. He or she doesn’t know either. Call the pharmacist, who doesn’t know what side effects were not reported. Why don’t they know? Simple, it wasn’t reported.    

***I decided to use Julia’s method of source citing for this paper! I am boycotting MLA, APA, and XYZ.***(until I start my masters program.) 

In Search!

As long as I can remember, my father often commented every 2 to 3 years that you can never go back. We can reflect, remember fondly, look to where we have been to see where we are going, but we can never go back. Oh, how true that statement really was. One minute ago it was history. Unfortunately my father never took his own advice. Mother and he were looking for something from the past that gave them a remember of “wonderful encounters”; this is why we often moved about every 2 to 3 years from
Houston, Texas back to Mississippi or Alabama--in search of “something.” [Fast forward to 2011] I moved to Houston, Texas from ten years in North Carolina because (a) I was financially broke and in financial trouble, and (b) to further my education. Houston is and will always be a town to revitalize in as far as I was concerned. One day I went in search of Mickey.

Houston was where I grew up at. Although, I attended high school for three years at my mother’s alma mater, Murphy High School, in Mobile, Alabama, my impressionable years were in Houston, Texas. At the very beginning, of my senior year, my father decided he was not making enough money to support his family and moved the three of us, mother, himself, and me.  My two (much okder) brothers were own their own. I was not a happy camper about this and just recently (in the last 10 years) forgave my deceased father on this issue.  

Did I make an emotional mistake? Yes and no but I learned that I am a dinosaur and no longer fit in this town. Within two weeks, I had my daughter drive me down Airline Drive. Hundreds of ghost came up out of the streets. The first thing that I recognized was Cunningham’s pharmacy. In the past 90 days, I finally worked up the nerve to stop and go inside to take a look. Clyde was no longer the pharmacists; the restaurant was gone—the owners turned ½ the pharmacy into a doctor’s office.  All the wonderful “find everything” stock was no longer. There wasn’t a front counter. The original Pac-Man video machine was gone. I turned and walked away. Sitting in the car with my daughter, the Burkhalter brothers were scattered to the wind, the police no longer had their mid-night snack, and I felt as if I was in another time and Joe deceased. We all moved on.  

The next stop was to look at Peg O’Neal’s service station on the west corner of Little York and Airline. If Walls Could Talk there would have been many interesting stories that could have been told, including but not limited to– Virgie Hart and about her wild daughter (Anna Nicole Smith), Master Bates, practical jokes that of the early 80s police officers out of the North Shepherd Sub-station played on many, as well as some of my own secrets, not to mention my very best friends of the time--gone. If you have ever seen the Cheshire cat’s grin or the character, Deputy Dog – then you have seen Peg O’Neal. In 1980, many a criminal thought about robbing his gas station, but they thought again because of the .38 he kept under his jacket not to mention, Mr. O’Neal had the county contract to issue the sheriff’s office gas.

Grand-mother Auippa lived a block away from Peg O’Neal’s station. She was my best friend’s grand- mother. Pure Italian married to an Italian who had a nice Italian boy married to a “spit fire” Irish red-head who had my best friend and partner in crime. From another union of Daddy Roy’s he had a son. What attracted me so much to this family is their flavor—their zest for living a country/city life and being a rare “native” of Houston. For anyone who was anyone and lived in Houston in 1981, knew it was rare to find a native Houstonian due to a rash of in flux from the northern states—many industries has closed up north and people were looking for work. Along with this influx, came a mixture of undesirables as well with felony warrants circling their heads to make it a band writer’s paradise. I will tell you this about Grand-mother Auippa, when she said jump-- you asked how high and she had the “coolest” black and white photographs of men with machine guns, cars with running boards, and would always answer when asked,

 “Who are these men?”

“They are relations of my late husband. They all lived in Chicago.”

To this day, going to her house and walking through it, is like going back in time. The architectural structure and the 40-50s décor -- very priceless!

 I finally realized that life is forever changing. People will always be people, but the change is with ourselves and the evolution of the features in which we see. About a week or so later, I found myself with my daughter on Spencer Highway, in Pasadena, Texas. Before the Urban Cowboy, there was a really colorful honky tonk called “Gilley’s.” Down the road from it was “Johnnie Lee’s.” Over off of Interstate – 10 (on the north side of the east bound lanes), a way down past Uvalde on the out skirts of the city limits was a smaller place called “Charlie’s.” (It was more upper scale.) Those memories will always haunt me of fun. Fun, fun—fun, fun, fun! On February 4^th, we went in search of Gilley’s. As I was driving down Spencer Highway toward the east, I couldn’t find anything remotely resembling Johnnie Lee’s or Gilley’s. Of course Charlie’s is gone to the wind as well.

The Tele-Wink is still in my town—still thriving with old home cooking; the “old” Hobby Airport, the town of the delicate cock-tail, oil production, mink stoles, extreme high fashion and southern haughtiness is as gone as Lutheran High School on Winkler, Broadway Baptist School and the Gulf Gate Mall itself and many more.  I have been in search of Gilley who grew older and the building has been gone for more than 20 years. Try driving down Spencer Highway and asking, “Where is Johnnie Lee’s?”

The answer would be Johnnie Who? There are school buses on Sherwood Cryer’s dance floor. The image in my head is receiving a $20 bill bet for running through the dance floor, climbing on the stage and kissing the soft, sweet smelling, and smiling cheek of Mickey Gilley.