Michael Twitty has a link up to a piece on soul food. I like how he characterizes it as not necessarily West African, but a food of an enslaved people.
I recently made collard greens with chicken fat to flavor it….and I couldn’t believe the difference in taste. It took the bitterness out and added something sweet to it. I also put in chopped garlic cloves. Yum.
Teacher under Construction has this up on a documentary by a student asking the same questions that conscientious parents, teachers, and the public who care about education are asking.
“Why do people tell me to think outside the box when they barely ever let me out of it….??”
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….out of the mouths of babes…
This is funny….and yet….
“Relentless standardized testing is the ONLY WAY to stop children from learning to think for themselves….
….the children must ALL be taught to think ALIKE…they must not ask questions or use their imaginations…”
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I posted these links in a comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog yesterday, but they are still awaiting moderation….so I thought I’d post them here:
Bill Clinton’s Big Ideas for education. Note the mention of Eli Broad in the audience.
From the article:
One of his big ideas for U.S. education: “We have to move toward somewhat local operational control but a national commitment to a longer school year, better trained and better paid teachers, to principals and superintendents who can actually be held accountable for results
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What the hell does that mean? Oh, I forgot for a second that he’s a politician speaking doublespeak….let’s try to deconstruct, shall we?
“local operational control for a national commitment” = we have to be sure we have toadies willing to foist this crap onto the kids even when it’s evident that it is detrimental to them, by holding onto tax dollars paid by the public and not releasing them until these schools follow our mandates.
“better trained” = teachers that are pressured into teaching to the test so that their kids will pass (and not feel like idiots) so their school won’t “fail” and be closed…..to reopen with for charter profiteers.
“better paid” = bwahahahahahahaha
“principals and superintendents who can be held accountable” = what does “held accountable” mean, anyway? By what standards? Who decides? Gates? Broad? Clinton? Rhee?
Bill Gates and Clinton Global Initiative.
Note the Big Brother aspect of videotaping teachers….always done with a positive twist–to “improve” the teachers’ performance. Um-hmmm….to monitor the teachers to ensure that they teach only the rigid No Child Left a Mind.
And the final sentence says it all:
It is startling, however, to hear Gates state so bluntly the power of teachers.
He is concerned that they may be able to thwart his plans. And Gates isn’t someone who is used to being thwarted.
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Joanne Barkan’s excellent piece that I’ve posted before but bears repeating.
More news from Diane: Eli Broad secretly funded anti-public school, and anti-union initiatives. I see that Broad has the politician doublespeak down: he publicly states he is for something, but then he funds efforts against that very thing. Yep–keep people off balance and questioning, that’s the key. Note that Gov. Brown felt compelled to be “nice” to Michelle Rhee to keep in good favor with Eli Broad to get the tax increase passed. That’s how they work it, folks….kiss the toad and he just might turn into a prince….
This is also more proof that these folks are not paying enough in taxes if they have this kind of money to throw around….and why Citizens United needs to be overturned.
Someone posted this quote:
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Absolutely, Dr. King. Absolutely. And the ability to think critically with creativity with character is not going to be had with a for-profit school run by hedge fund managers who see kids as machines to be built with little regard for humanity, democracy, and potential.
Apparently, there is a square knish shortage due to a factory fire in New York. I had no idea what a knish was until this piece, so thanks for enlightening this writer. It sounds yummy.
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In other food blogs is Michael Twitty’s piece on the life of a slave. A great glimpse into history we don’t usually read about. It’s well written–puts the reader into the daily struggle for them. I was thinking when he wrote about catching the fish, that the fish must have tasted so good being caught in non-polluted waters. And even though the work was hard, it must have been nice to work outside in the sunshine….don’t misunderstand me–I know it was very hard, but I personally really enjoyed working on a farm. I even liked it when the rain came down. I would be weeding the old fashioned way of pulling them, and a grasshopper might leap onto a leaf nearby…..or a butterfly come floating past….birds singing….
Singing praise for judge’s ruling. SWN loses bid to continue injunction.
Drums are not weapons
Songs are not weapons
Here’s a good piece from the Guardian writer Martin Lukacs. He said there has been media coverage of the event…perhaps in Canada, but in the U.S.? Doing a quick search, I only saw one U.S. reference by a blogger. Otherwise….*crickets* It’s pretty telling when you see the nightly news plastered with commercials from BP and other energy companies. All the news that money can buy, folks…
Lukacs makes a good point with how the coverage is slanted towards painting the First Nations people as violent, but not forthcoming with the great harm fracking will cause….and how many people will die from cancer and other diseases caused by the benzene and mercury and other horrible stuff in the chemicals used. And of course, the media fails to mention the resulting earthquakes.
From Lukac’s article:
But Premier David Alward, hell-bent on opening up the province to shale gas, has spurned consultation with First Nations and the rest of the population. His latest step is demonization. “Clearly, there are those who do not have the same values we share as New Brunswickers,” he cynically announced on Friday. But the opposition to the Premier’s shale gas agenda is not just a supposedly isolated Indigenous community: it is two of every three people in Atlantic Canada. Little wonder he has repeatedly rejected a referendum on shale gas. It turns out the residents of Elsipogtog aren’t criminal deviants. They are the frontline of a fight for the democratic and environmental will of New Brunswick
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Now you’re talkin’. The taxpaying public does not want fracking!
Stephen Harper’s history is a little warped, eh? Um, I’m pretty sure there were people here before we ( “we” being Canada and U.S.) before there were lines drawn by the Europeans. And the people here were pretty much organized Nations. They were here for 10,000 years and were much better stewards of the land and water. You could drink from any stream. There was no trash strewn across the land. You could breathe.
Lukacs also brings up the repeated breaking of laws by those in power who then point fingers. Do as I say, not as I do….
The fishing rights battles are eerily similar to the same battles in the U.S. with the Native Americans, having their boats rammed, and state officials created an atmosphere of incitement by showing films of Native Americans fishing in areas to the commercial fisherman who thought it should be theirs. What was truly insulting to the Indigenous was the assertion by the Conservation Officers that the Native Americans would “overfish” the waters…when they had always practiced balance–they never took more than they needed. If anything, it was the commercial fisheries that were destroying the fish populations. The story is told in the book Now that the Buffalo is Gone by Alvin Josephy. Robert Satiacum was jailed for standing up for their rights. Meanwhile, his wife and other women warriors defied the state officials by continuing to fish, using their wits to evade capture. They were eventually caught, but I have to smile to myself in admiration of their wit and courage for fending them off as long as they could.
More pics here of the women warriors.
This was on instagram–a surveillance plane over a Chief’s religious ceremony.
The picture here of the First Nations female Warrior is quite stirring….
The eagle feather she is holding is a sacred symbol of the indigenous. It is a powerful symbol of the connection between God and Earth.
Crooks and Liars has this up on the protest. It appears that it didn’t turn violent until the police began assaulting the protestors. They claim there was a shot fired from the protestors….um hmmm….they all claim it was a peaceful protest.
More here.
While I’m looking at this, I’m thinking–these folks’ salaries are paid by taxes….and the taxpayers do not want fracking, for the most part….why are they going against what the taxpayers want?
More here.
Peacefully protesting:
The scene of confrontation:
They weren’t doing anything. As the woman said, the female Warrior was praying–not bothering them at all.
Why they’re there:
Act of Sovereignty:
This is like Church to them– a gathering where they sing songs to God. They see the fight for the environment as a spiritual thing–the Earth is seen as a part of God and their “Mother”—so to pollute the Earth is seen as disrespectful towards God. Also –they see everything on Earth as connected, so one has to consider every action in how it will impact another.
Balance is always sought…if you take something, you must also give something in return.
This will be coming our way if something isn’t done.
Eagle 
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