Hierlooms

 

Questions arise about the strength of ancestors.  

What motivation spoke to my ancestor to be a silver smith? What appeal was there to grapple with hard white metal to mold it and lovingly frame it into patterns unlike any other? From what part of the silversmith's memory or imagination did this image of dots and tiny pyramids begin?

It resounds with history of elegant hands that it once adorned and beautified. 

Why was it made with numerous parts that covered the wearer's entire hand? 

#silver

#NorthernIndia

#Temples

#Women

When faced with uncertainty, one thing is certain, that the most important thing is, life itself.

This is certainly uncertain!

April showers brings May flowers-or not! 

How does one cope with the effects shelter in place?  Do we just spend all our time online now?  Could this is really be challenging as it seems?  If you are already using an online platform for your social media connections, for communication with friends and family or to chide and disagree anonymously with people whom you will never meet face to face in this lifetime, then you are more than likely quite used to being online for hours on end.
For so many, everything is done on the internet, should we not already be accustomed to isolation and false sense of security of anonymity online platforms provide?   
For digital natives this is an opportunity to continue living they way they always have and if there are issues about something that they inherently disagree with, they just belt out their feelings, post a meme, and move on to the next comment section.

Mature minds?

But what happens to the elderly?  What happens when no one can visit when you are confined to the spaces of your assisted living facility? What kind of feelings are spilling over as the elderly are dismissed as dispensable.  As people who should sacrifice themselves for the good of the American economy.  What does it feel like if your life is summed up to be inconsequential?

What happens when one has no clue how to use technology to video conference with their family and friends.  Can the nurses and their assistants truly fulfill their duties and manage the use of such technology in nursing homes and assisted living facilities?

Spring time?
Is there a message from nature here?

Humans have no control over the weather so we adjust to survive it. Well the average human that is,  according to NOAA, the National Ocean and Atmospheric  and it seems that there are numerous attempts at increasing cloud cover and rainfall to alter rain water levels.  How come we fail at doing this in California year after year?

Rum Creek fire near Merlin, Oregon: August, 2022. (Robert Hyatt, NOAA’s National Weather Service)

We wear appropriate clothing and prepare our homes.  How are we preparing for this drastic change in lifestyle?  According to the National weather service, we have had the warmest September ever in 143 years! And this very topic, climate change is a divisive factor in this country. 

United we stand? 

And now it is ending of #2022 and the effects of the #Covid19 pandemic are leaving with with millions dead around the world, evolutionary lethal versions of the virus and  didactic break throughs in hygiene, common sense and a rip in the American fabric no it is two distinctly different parties that now vie for control of the #USSenate and the #WhiteHouse. 

How sad is it that now people are more poor financially and emotionally taxed than ever while a handful of people in Congress and big business are thriving exceptionally.

The second amendment and Gun control.  

School age children have witnessed the diabolic murder of #GeorgeFloyd and the already dwindling respect held for the powers that be, trickled down to blatant disregard for any kind authority, including teachers. To top it off, guns are everywhere, easily accessed by children.  Teachers have had to manage the transition of students back into classroom with their wide eyed remorseless, disrespectful, distrust of the leaders and the police in our country. All of which paves the foundation for a more unstable future. 

The pandemic while nightmarish was an opportunity  for good old fashioned economics to turn the cogs in the wheels of capitalism, the wealthy used supply and demand to leverage themselves.  As always everything is about timing, even in the old days,  Carnegie with the steel mills, Rockefeller with Standard oil, not to mention his perfect timing to miss that train that crashed and killed everyone onboard.

So now we face down one another in the fight for democracy, as fascism rears its ugly but welcomed head. How can one simply accept that it is normal for one class of people to have a stash of billions of dollars while the majority of hardworking Americans are struggling, year in year out! Isn't this discrepancy in the distribution of wealth and opportunity precisely what the original  European immigrant people came to this land to avoid? Yet we find their escape from high taxes, unfair taxes, unwarranted taxes, call it what you will, is in fact futile.  And ironically enough, the United States of America fails to provide for their own citizens but offers enormous amounts of money to foreign countries! #NATO Perhaps it behooves us to seriously consider nationalizing more of our manufacturing and energy producing entities or businesses, heck that would up the zero sum game, wouldn't it? Imagine the budget, the talent pool,  the idea of working for one's own government, like public officials do, and the amount of pride that the younger generations would have.  Seriously, this could work, the government already subsidizes utility and transportation/railroad already, why not shift to actually creating more jobs by creating and nationalizing companies? #POTUS #USDOT. This would be a precedent in capitalism, the public would own parts of these new companies-people already buy government bonds, and the government itself would be a part of competing for-profit 'entities.' 

Spinning on the Axis II

It was with gladness that we all welcomed the unusually warm, sunny days in the autumn this year #2020.  The beauty of golden sunlight days filled with alluring azure bright blues, blazing reds and golden bronzes of nature.  The gods must have given a gift, some Greek mythology enthusiasts would put it, to lift us as we carried the burden of the #pandemic for yet another season.  Was it not too long ago that we decided to shut down everything?  Ah yes, in the early signs of spring and yet it seems to so long ago-so without yet so within-within us all.  The inherent need for culinary conversations, companionship, and comradery culminated with yet another onslaught of #covid19. Were we supposed to have a handle on this pandemic sometime this past summer?  The burgeoning burden of solitude flanked by tiny glimpses of togetherness fostered a common desire for companionship is curtailed by crazed politicians.  Albeit aside from the paralysis fueled by poor leadership of this country, the #2020elections speak to the fact that people are ready for change. Students are again frustratingly forced to remain indoors and as they had already sacrificed enjoying the breezy, beautiful, balmy, spring air and they must now celebrate their respective religious traditions while socially distancing. Being at home and constantly working online is taking its toll on students and parents alike. Is it driving people out of their minds? At the risk of contracting the deadly virus, people were busily bustling around airports in an effort to briskly break free from the isolation, maybe those harrowing, holiday dinners would be specially savored this year. Who knows, perhaps in #2021, children will toss their devices in the dirt for a breath of fresh air, a game of touch football, tag, jacks, jump rope or sidewalk chalk drawing?  There will a different kind of welcoming of the #Newyear2021 and its ushering in will define us infinite ways, will we pour champagne and toast?  Will we mourn the lives lost?  Will we be rewriting the way this land is governed?  Should voters be a part of  the nomination of  judges of the highest court of this land?  Will we be willing to accept the truth-the truth that we are all one, that the potential of the human race is boundless and we can build a united nation-all we have to do, is choose to do so.

So what will your #NewYears resolution be? 

 

People are more than colors!

So many criticize #JoeBiden how did he fail as Vice President? Did Mitch McConnell allow any legislation that actually helps us to become a law?  Lets look at who we have to work with-a con artist! 

I do strongly believe and see that the charlatan in the #OvalOffice  is by far the worse of all Presidents in my lifetime and the worst historically, I believe is Andrew Johnson. Did our President truly plan on being in the #WhiteHouse?

Look at #JoeBiden I see a man who has dedicated his entire life, every effort and each and every aspect of Joe's career choices have been in #PublicService-a thankless job, to fight for democratic values.

This country is becoming archaic vacuum, a reflection of the lack of values and the disappearance of wholesomeness-it is filtering the youth into militia groups, similar to the Civil War in which young men were forced into fighting for a cause that they didn't even understand, nor did they benefit from it... #TheWidowOftheSouth is good book about it.  

Also, a tyrant is one who withholds public funds if he doesn't get your vote.  

Is this Constitutionally correct?

American citizens aren't #red nor are we #blue -we are humans, all belonging to the human race-all from the mother land-all born from #AdamandEve.

What we need now is love-we don't need Trump-cuddling up to #communist Russian Putin and #RocketMan Korean Kim Jong Un 

What is there to debate about? 

Speaking of which, during the #Presidential Debate, Trump had no position on Education, Medicare, Student loans, Building America, Building new manufacturing plants, solar power, hydro power (eg. The Hoover Dam) Wind Power -NOTHING-He BRINGS NO IDEAs to the fore -he is out to fill his pocket and support his lavish wasteful life style-don't waste your vote....#SusanBAnthony and #HarrietTubman and #RuthBadeerGinsburg will have fought for nothing-is that what you want? 

Capitalism or Fascism?

Did anyone see the shoes #MelaniaTrump #FLOTUS wore at the debate-they cost more than what most people have in their bank account!!!! #idontcare she told us how she feels didn't she? She isn't even an American born citizen yet she is #FLOTUS?! Okay so there is no stipulation in the Constitution about her per se. But lady can you please show some respect for us!  #Flotus is One who planarizes at that! #MichelleObama. And she blows off monogyny as locker room talk! Does she not know girls got to stick together?  She is in the White House without having a degree anywhere close to what #DrJillBiden has and she without the grace of Grace Kelly nor the Opalescence of Jackie O  and is weighted with the duty of being our First Lady-Despite the fact that the entire world already seen what Trump  grabbed when he grabbed her "by the pu$$y"- President's words! This woman is not White House worthy. #3rdLady

The future of Democracy is at stake!

So the agenda plays out-what will happen next now that the debate provided nothing substantial in terms of the future of the country and rebuilding the economy. #BuildBackBetter #BidenHarris  We know what Joe Biden's life is about, its about civil service and social justice.  We know his son, Beau died in call of defending our nation and we know that his wife won't be plagiarizing her speech! Vote for honesty and integrity #votebluetosaveAmerica #TheView #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica2020

Wrestling with work at home and e-learning

What does it mean to be a parent?

    One can hardly say the all the responsibility falls on the teacher to 'teach,' (I have heard that being said) but rather teaching and learning are reciprocal and when we started remote learning models across the nation, a sheer feeling of terror came over parents. Why? Why all this anxiety from parents? Who would not welcome working form the convenience of their home while clearly having the advantage of knowing exactly what their children were up to?

What is a teacher's job?

    Parents may argue that it is the teacher's job to 'teach' however, for the sake of illustrating the futility of that statement, consider the meaning of the word 'teach.' According to https://www.thesaurus.com/ and  the Oxford American dictionary and Thesaurus, teaching means: "give systematic information to a person or about a subject or skill, enable a person to do something by instruction and training.  

    The mere fact that teaching is an act that involves the pupil and it involves developing a skill through training means that students need to be actively engaged and that they are going develop their skills through practice and training. 

   

    For parents, remote e-learning means that they too must develop their parenting skills and they now have full responsibility to oversee the actions of their children.  yes, parents, these children are yours!  How is it that teachers have had mixed responses and sporadic completion of assignments? The students who diligently turn in their assignments are the ones who have already developed a sense of responsibility and a sense of accomplishment before we shifted to the remote e-learning model and those students who displayed apathy are caught in the crux of  gaining a sense of responsibility and taking ownership for their learning.  Apathetic attitudes from students may very well be a reflection of a fracture within their home environment, not withstanding that not one of us are perfect and therefore do not have perfect homes, there are some students who do not feel safe at home.  

    This is where technology comes in handy, can teachers video conference with their students and get an idea of how they are doing at home? 

What can parents do to help their children?

    The secret to successfully helping your child is for you, the parent, to manage their time.  Have a schedule for everything, from the first meal and television show to the time when they check emails and Google classroom. Can parents use this opportunity to grow close to their children?  Read with them or help with projects and research?  This trialing time could be a way to build stronger bonds between family and friends, of course with friends through technology since everyone is video conferencing but parents can now truly see what their children's needs are, their strengths and their weaknesses; and in most cases, their biggest need can be filled by showing them love! Tell your child you love them and that you believe in them.  

Bidding the daylight goodbye

https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/labreaguyl

Pastel paintbrushed skies

How you hasten shadows

gently darkness comes hither 

slivers of

 starlight

slowly darkness sweeps and ties

 and binds, thoughts

 hidden inside as deep as marrow

the wonton urges that forces and fuels us to follow

 fantasies- forbidden and formidable-fought

tho precarious and unpredictable 

the spirit stirs even in slumber

all through the sweet dark

the souls muses in nocturnal nuances

rise oh soul with the sun

forge with its upward rays 

another start

another day.

Spinning on the Axis

What lies behind all the apparent darkness?
What stirs within us to make us dare...
Dare to straddle any hurdle of fear
With trepidation yet powered by deep courage
How fast the human heart beats
thump-thump
thump-thump
What rare feat is it that pushes us to manage
that imagined darkness and any inkling of  despair
with urgent longing for light and patience...
we see the blue sky once again,
appear.