The Writing Is Done, The Umbrella Project Has Begun

     I have finally published the Do Better manifesto as a manual for community organizers looking for a long term plan that they can modify for their own communities, and use to work together with other projects and communities to help build a unified movement for the Common Good.

     The book,  Project Do Better: Enough For All, in Four Phases, comes in various sizes of PDF, as an epub, and as a mobi file from the stores that would allow me to set the price to Free, meaning that Amazon and the library systems, which require a minimum price well above that, did not allow me to publish through them.  Note that I personally prefer the ePub, since most PDF readers on the phone are not capable of showing the thumbnails or bookmarks that bring up the left hand side Table of Contents in the published PDF, so if reading it on a mobile phone without an eBook Reader, one may prefer the draft 9 pdf, which has the Table of Contents inside the document (but it looks much better using the left side tab, in a desktop PDF reader).  I can download and send about 20 different sizes of PDF if needed, and copies are currently available:

  as a 212 pg. PDF here on WP, 

or as an epub from The Archive,

or via Draft2Digital’s Book URL, free of cost here.

    Draft2Digital says that the distribution will shortly also include Smashwords, so that should also make the epub and mobi versions more easily accessible in a few months or so.

    I still need a logo for the project, and help with getting the word out about this project, from all willing hands.  I plan to start sending a copy of the book to each person cited in the notes, page by page, and then to look for communities and organizers who might be interested in collaborating with the project, or using the book as a starting point for their own long term planning.  I will happily send the editable version of this book to communities wishing to modify it and publish their own versions of this plan.

Thoughts, Fellow Writers?

—

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Project Do Better: A Call for Helping Hands

    Project Do Better works  to create a society where every child is safe, and that is more fully inclusive for all of us. 

…

       Feedback and  Reviewers needed on the community manual for Project Do Better. 

     Project Do Better presents a vision of a world in which we all work toward a full safety net, and a better tomorrow, for all of us. 

   I have a request to make:

   I believe that planning ahead is a good idea, so:

 

  We need, still,  a  central portal set up for the project.

Oh, and a logo, please, although a friend of a friend may be working on this, not verified yet.

   The sections, of the Do Better book were posted every Wondering Wednesday,  seek  to build up a Community of Interest around this vision to both share the idea, and eventually also help to share the work, as this project will obviously be inter-generational. I’ve tried to explain the entire idea in the post for the Preface to this book, which several readers found helpful in clarifying my idea.  I am  seeking other Willing Workers On Our Future, hopefully younger than I am, who wish to take up the baton.

So, any sort of way that anyone would like to participate is great, from

1. simply liking and commenting on these posts, to

2. re-posting or otherwise sharing any Project Do Better posts,  to

3. posting your own publications on The Educational Round Robin blog, if you wish, and I can give you publishing authority to do this, as I’ve already given others, to

4. actively collaborating on  the project detailed in the book, or even just reviewing the manual in places like GoodReads, or even on The Archive, as there are many areas to subdivide, between now and the next 60 years, and many hands will be needed.

 

   So, in terms of what you can do, there are as many ways to contribute to this work as there are individuals with their own callings to read and share, to write, to draw, to teach, to build, etc! 

   In terms of being a part of what works to make the world a more just place, certainly there are many ways. What is essential to hold on to is the idea that there is more than just the one song, strike, campaign, movement, or even decade: each action that we take must be tied to a larger picture, so that that movement will keep generating progress for the whole, and to remember that there is always a next step to take.

 

Action Prompts:

1.) Share  your thoughts on how this project  could be improved, in the comments, here, please.  Consider sharing some ideas you may have on how our society can solve homelessness and child abuse, starting right now.

2.) Share your thoughts on how we can build empathy in our society today

3.) Write a story, post or tweet that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Science Fiction/Fantasy Shows,  Lupin, or Money Heist

Holistic High School Lessons,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction

Thoughtful Readers, if you are on Twitter, please consider following   #Project Do Better.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Minbari Mondays becomes Ministry Mondays

Now that we have finished my favorite science fiction series, Babylon 5, I’m delighted to finally be properly reviewing my favorite portal fantasy series, which I have mentioned several times in the past: El Ministerio del Tiempo. This time travel series, which does not use high tech, but does use humor, social juxtapositions, and history to devastating effect, is originally from Spanish Public Television, RTVes. The videos were initially available on the RTVe website, then pulled when a deal was made with Netflix, and then put back again a year or two later, limited to viewers in Europe (or those with a free proxy set to Europe…).

This series has been helpful, as it comes with CCs, in brushing up on my Castillian Spanish, as well as my history of Spain and of Spanish literature. It is a gem of a show in so many ways that I can hardly wait to begin sharing, so here are some of the main characters!

🙂

Amelia, to start with, will be our first featured main character, and then we’ll meet:

Alonso de Entrerios,

Julian,

Subsecretary Salvador Marti

Ireni

***************** 

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sloping Prices, GED/HiSET Lesson Plan Day 38/67, and Public Legal Education

Understanding, on Day 38/67, Five Month GED, comparisons in literature and in math: Similes, and Slope in the middle of week 10/18, how slope relates the rise of prices over a run of a certain amount of time,

impacts our understanding of both food prices, and other changing values

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

These values, and the speed of their change, must all be understood in the context of real human needs

and understanding both mathematical logic and how to apply that logic to social situations and ideas,

and finding updated and accurate information,

are all crucial to the democratic process.  Free access to Public Legal Education, as part of Phase I’s Public Financial Knowledge Infrastructure section, in Project Do Better, is an integral part of these sets of learning needed for all adults, and the project has several free handouts available on the topic for all interested persons, especially volunteers wishing to share the information with others.  Please ask for details or updates.

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/Protector & Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Parashat Toldot 5783, With Mental and Physical Health Care Equally For All?

This parashah looks a lot at issues of impulse control, money and heritage control, and of the pain that derives from each.

Last year, we questioned  the need for hierarchy and birthrights in the first place, while the previous year, 5781,

we decided that impulse control is a big part of ‘Adulting,’  :

Etz Chaim

Empathy might solve both the impulse control and hierarchy issues in this parashah, the 6th in the Torah.   What do you think, Empathetic Readers?

While there are many ways to help increasing empathy,  Language Learning as a Fourth Tool for Empathy Building is both fascinating and practical.

Empathy building is a crucial task, particularly in our contentious society today.  The task is tiring, and cannot be done all at once, but with careful planning, education, and greater cooperation between the generations, it can be done.

Let’s Do Better.

–

Last week was Parashat Chayei Sarah 5783, And Do How Parents Met Affect Their Kids’ Mental (or Physical) Health? …

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Review: Le Tour du monde en 80 jours, by Jules Verne

I’ve listened to audio versions of this book in both English and in French, and I found the French version far more exciting.

Once again, thank you to Librivox.org.  Waiting on pins and needles, still, as I schedule this for Lupin Part 3 to start up again, with Omar Sy!!!

—

** spoiler alert ** A very exciting book, and entertaining, but in this case he didn’t actually take up any intrusive issues of social justice. It was merely an entertaining story, with the exception of the issue of sati (the burning of widows in India). That was an interesting issue, and proving the courage of his servant was a nice tip of the hat to the working classes, which I find that Verne tends to look down upon, it seems.

“Pauvre Passepartout !”

“CH. 17:. Passepartout a raison !”

“Vers Shanghai : mr. Fogg si a un Coeur pour l’amour ! Il se protége à mdm. Audie(?), la Dame Perse qu’il a sauvé d’une morte affreuse.”

November 3, 2020 –page 59, 17.82% “Mr. Fogg seems to think that money motivates men even in matters of a soldier’s honor. ☹️

Mr. Fogg semble croire que toutes choses même l’honneur, ça fait avec l’argent. ☹️”

November 3, 2020 –page 300, 90.63% “Wow, conclusion inconcevable !”

–

Sorry, this one was pretty fun, but M. Verne is still no Alexandre Dumas, pr..

***

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Transporter Thursdays -La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) Part 5, ep. 2

    Like the transporters the Prof. uses as intermediaries, this show may be a way to transport us to another place, but I think I prefer public transportation to transport us to a better place all together.

Why barefoot?  To show that they are unarmed?

  And the army is there

“…a tomar una position, no pensando en salvar vidas.”

                                          “to take a position, not thinking about saving lives.”

   These guys (and woman) are worse than the members of the French Foreign Legion!!!

And sorry to celebrate, but please tell me Arturito is finally dead!!

   Poor Prof.

Last  week  was Part 5, episode 1: Thinking Thursdays, La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) Part 5, ep. 1: Who Are The Good/Bad Guys?? Quienes son los Malos? ,

Next week is p5e3:    …

–   “Somos la resistencia.” “We are the Resistance.”     Now, yes… Shira

Action Prompts:

1.)  Share your thoughts on how we can be part of the Peaceful Resistance… 2.) Write a book, story, post or tweet that uses these thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Science Fiction/Fantasy Shows,  Lupin, or Money Heist

Holistic High School Lessons,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about   #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Library Book Review: Snow Storm in August, By Jefferson Morley

DCPL had several different editions of this book.  It has excellent and extensive work documenting the circumstances surrounding the Snow Riots in DC.   Read for my book: Stayed on Freedom’s Call.

StayedOnFreedomsCallGoodReads

:

I have written a bit about this book earlier,  “Snow-storm in August about how Moreley, in his book, Snow-storm in August : Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the forgotten race riot of 1835, edition of his book, not only puts together a sound context for the Snow Riots, but also draws together strands which began then, and still define, he claims, our politics today.  I found most striking his juxtaposing of property rights and individual vs. community as well as freedom of speech, and whether free speech is applied best for owners (elites) vs. the people (the 99%).

Snow, the almost unrelated star of the event, was in the habit of  placing very attention-getting, and mouth-watering ads to   attract customers, and was a manumitted former slave who’d established a very successful Epicurean Eatery in DC,    described in Morley’s excellent book, which I got from the DC Public Library.

He makes further interesting points in his fascinating book on DC´s 1st race riot (available via DC Public Library, but most certainly worth buying…).  He build some excellent arguments showing direct causal relationships between events and ways of thinking then, and events and ways of thinking now, worryingly.

A second version of his book (Snow-Storm in August: The Struggle for American Freedom and Washington’s Race Riot of 1835) This book needs to be read not only for the excellent analysis of how our political history led to our political present, but also for logic. The logic of mob mentality, the logic of blame, and the logic of ‘divide and rule,’ as our British friends say. White workers against Free men of Color rioted for mistaken reasons, but for understandable anger.

And another excellent quote regarding “The South’s violent reaction,” from page 174. Deliberate, even if indirect, incitement to violence is inimical to the cause of Democracy.

This book shows why when some are enslaved, none are free.

Excellent work.

Link here:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/snow-st…

ShiraDestinie

This is another work that needs to be resurrected from the forgotten oblivion to which our society has consigned it.

   Continuing Education is crucial to our republic, and to our future.  Reading and critical thinking on the work like this is crucial to how we vote, as well, in the immediate term.  Over the long term, empathy, built through tools like free adult education, probono legal aid, and #languagelearning, is crucial.

We really can Do Better.

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/Protector & Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  Guest post writers welcome.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Turkish Tuesday (Türkçesi salı günü): Sihirli Annem (s1e6) #LanguageLearning vs. Empathy for Stalkers??

  Last episode of Sihirli Annem, we asked about Voting TuesDay, Sihirli Annem (s1e5) : #LanguageLearning to Build Empathy via Ethical Elders?

  We also saw some ethical problems caused by hidden domestic abuse (not mentioned or shown explicitly, but the reason for a theft of self-protection…).

This week, we see bölüm/episode 6 from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

:

Fairy Eda is being followed by her old high school flame and seeks refuge in Betüs’s café. Betüs suffers from pain, and they go the fairy castle.

Stop stop, maybe there’s nothing wrong with me at all and you’re all worrying for nothing?

They find out that Betüs is simply pregnant. (Shira translation note: Eda and Dudu faint.  There is a word play going on here -the word bayıldı/fainted is used to mean that someone really really likes something, but in this case, it is used ironically, because they hate the idea!!)

Meanwhile her husband has, again, quit his job with Umur.

He is not too glad to hear that a third child is on its way, and Betüs is disappointed about his reaction.

(…meanwhile…)

At least he can’t make noise

Eda magics her persevering admirer Esmer into a sofa.

Her aunt Perihan  (Shira’s translation/cultural comment:  now they have started using honorifics like “Aunt” in the show, which is more traditional -Perihan is not necessarily Eda’s aunt, but rather, is being addressed respectfully by Eda…) reminds her that she doesn’t have the right to do this, does she not pity him? She seems to get more and more like her mother Dudu, who turned her father into a dog and wants to separate Sadik and Betüs.

Sadik and Betüs decide not to tell the children about the lost job, but only the good news about the baby. Sadik’s children, however, are not enthusiastic about the new family member. They are afraid that they will love the new baby more then them.

Ceren would have loved to say the truth, that they don’t want any siblings, but Cem is of the opinion it is better to fake enthusiasm.

let them be angry at their sibling and at me for now but don’t tell them you have no job

As the children are angry at their father, he wants to tell them that he does not have a job, but Betüs thinks it would upset them too much. Instead of upsetting them, she would rather they were angry at her and the baby.

…not just to make money but I also need this to feel good about myself.

The children decide to live with the housemaid, because they feel unloved. But Firuze tells them the truth about their father’s job. They immediately change attitude and even work with Betüs and Sadik at the café, and Ceren offers her saved money to her father.

But Sadik decides to return to his old job. It hurts him not to be able to provide for his family. Although he wishes he could turn the clock back to the moment his boss insulted him. Then he would not quit.

Let Time go back!

Perihan turns Eda into a fancy chair for what she had done to Esmer, and Dudu is locked into her own magic mirror for trying to break up Sadik and Betüs. Of course, all that will not have happened after Betüs turned the time back.

–

     Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for the vast majority of the content, today.

…

So my question, Thinking Readers, is about Eda: why was her action wrong, in dealing with her stalking ex-boyfriend Esmer?  Or was it not really wrong, and was Perihan Fairy wrong to punish Eda for merely defending herself (perhaps a bit aggressively…)? 

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to be more open to the needs, feelings, and happiness of others.

Next week will be blm/ep. 7:   ,

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Last Minbari Monday: Some Reflections on Babylon 5, and Hope

“Pause, and consider.” (a quote from the previous B5…)

 As I quoted last week, and continue to do.  This series has indeed given us much food for thought, and maybe also a ray of hope for our world.  People do, sometimes, nurture the angels of their better natures, and we do sometimes “do the right thing because it is the right thing to do,” as our Naval Leadership instructor taught at USNA.  But doing the right thing sometimes carries with it, as when refusing to follow an unlawful order, 

 

“Negative, Fleet Command. The Vesta will not engage in support of illegal orders.”

or, 

when standing up for a wrongly accused person,     

tremendous, even mortal, risk.

   There is also the importance of community, both of building community, as Delenn shows us, and of knowing when to sacrifice for the good of community, as G’Kar agrees to do, in accepting Londo’s demands to satisfy his torturers,  (and enduring long enough    to help accomplish) the freeing of Narn     by the Centauri under Londo, and later finds that he must do (ok, I think that happens in season 5, which I am not reviewing, but you could see it coming after the death of Emperor Catargia, which G’Kar is credited with near godhood for negotiating), when he leaves the station for everyone’s own good.

 

This series reminds us that even under the worst tyrant, while enduring the worst suffering, hope must still live, and that we are each obligated to use every gift and resource at our disposal to help keep that hope alive, and to help create tools that can contribute to the building of a better world.    

…

This series is about making the difficult decisions to do the right thing, and following through with those decisions, in spite of the cost.    That is what makes it such an important and inspiring series.

   This is what Project Do Better works to help accomplish.

 

  …

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

I come in peace, I am your friend.

 

May we Do Better…

Action Prompts:

1.)  Share your thoughts on how we Human Beings might start to build a more fully inclusive society for all of us, and how Babylon 5 could help that process.

2.) Write a book, story, post or tweet that uses these thoughts.

3.)  Back to The Beginning of this Letter from Minbar…

***************** 

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Legal Learning, GED/HiSET Lesson Plan Day 37/67, and Ancient Greek?

Adapting requires many different types of flexibility as with Day 37/67, Five Month GED, adaptations, and Adulting.

     Studying, or even mere exposure to, various languages helps people to become and to stay flexible both intellectually and even emotionally (in learning to see from other perspectives).

Adapting to a changing climate and world

are all crucial to the democratic process, as well.

Language exposure is known to increase adaptability, but why, then, have we abandoned the teaching of classic historical languages that explain the bases of western society, like Ancient Greek and Hebrew?  How can one adapt to changing situations without knowing how things got to be this way, and how can that be understood without some modicum of understanding of the originating ways of thinking that got us to this point?  A language, especially one which has been studied by those considered to be ‘cultured’ for many years, is important to understand at least in passing, no?  Or at the very least, Biblical Hebrew as a reference for a non-Indo-European language family, and modern Greek as a reference for much of the modern anglophone vocabulary.  These studies would provide a leg up for most of the standardized testing, and much more understanding of how differently others see the world, through the lens of different grammatical frameworks.

Or, Turkish?

Phase I of Project Do Better begins by encouraging both language learning and legal learning, for the long term benefit of society and individuals.

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/Protector & Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Parashat Chayei Sarah 5783, And Do How Parents Met Affect Their Kids’ Mental (or Physical) Health?

This year, building on the previous two years’ notes about where to meet a wife, and what to do with the kids, we wonder if how parents meet up has anything to do with how kids grow up, and how that all affects the mental/emotional and physical health of the kids.  What are your thoughts, Empathetic Readers?

Last year, we asked how to protect children who have no one to properly care for them, let alone family? 

   The previous year, 5781, we wondered if the ‘water the camels test’ was a good way to find a wife:

Etz Chaim

Empathy is a crucial point that seems to be lacking in this parashah, the 5th in the Torah.  A bit like the empathy that Cem and Ceren (of Sihirli Annem) are lacking in the image above, as Cem tells his little sister not to rat him out!

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

While there are many ways to help increasing empathy,  Language Learning as a Fourth Tool for Empathy Building is both fascinating and practical.

Empathy building is a crucial task, particularly in our contentious society today.  The task is tiring, and cannot be done all at once, but with careful planning, education, and greater cooperation between the generations, it can be done.

Let’s Do Better.

–

Last week was  Parashat VaYera 5783, And Standing Up For Others  and

next week

we ask about Parashat Toldot 5783, With Mental and Physical Health Care Equally For All? …

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.