Minbari Mondays, The War Prayer, and Empathy for the Other

This is the continuation of our fictional letter (reviewing each film and episode of Babylon 5) that I receive each week from Ranger Mayann.

Here is her 9th report:

—

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa, Greetings from Tuzanor:

In this report, in your Earth year 2258, it is the second year of operation of the station. This station which has so much of the love of my people, even when we were not loved there.

This report revolves around two intertwined incidents, both of which relate to the other, and to the need for empathy among all sentient species. You humans, just as we Minbari, continue to learn this lesson.

 

While one of our revered poets was on the station to visit with her old friend, Delenn, since before she was either Satai or ambassador, a terrible series of crimes was committed. The crimes affected not only the person of our Poet, but also the sense of safety, or lack thereof, for all of the vulnerable aboard the station. Even vulnerable humans, despite the attacks being carried out by human beings.

Attacks of hatred always carry a double message: one for those who were directly targeted, and one for those who were not directly targeted, but as members of the “in” group are also being reminded to “stay in line,” as you Humans put it.

Our Ambassador Delenn, and her friend, our well-known Minbari poet, were brought into closer contact with Ambassador Mollari. This series of incidents helped set Mollari, I humbly assert, on his path to possible redemption, as our Poet showed him a needed insight.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode is one of my favorite episodes!

I think of this as the tight shoes episode!

We get to see love and hate up close and personal, and a beautiful opening, with two friends discussing the maturing of a poem begun long ago. Garibaldi makes a still valid and saddening point about the hateful attacker, as he grunts that there are

“too many who agree with them, and too many more just don’t give a damn.”

I love the conversation between Mollari and the Minbari poet, where he snaps that

“I would expect such logic from a poet,”

and she comes back with a beautiful reminder that

“all sentient beings are best defined by their capacity and need for love.”

This episode has an excellent juxtaposition of love and hatred, with the consequences of both linked through an inter-generational exploration of an existence without love. That would be the existence of ambassador Londo Mollari.

This episode also shows the importance of the role of love and visits to the sick by their loved ones in healthcare.

That would be the empathy part of healthcare.

–

 

That was part of Ranger Mayann’s letter on the history of the Babylon Project.  It can be seen from another point of view by watching the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 7: The War Prayer, which I most highly recommend.

See Ranger Mayann’s eighth report, from last week.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on hate crimes, bullying, and cultural dominance, if you will.

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

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

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

ShiraDest

March, 2021 CE = March 12021 HE

(The previous lesson 67/67 , and the most recent lesson 1/67…)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…)
includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Free copies are available at https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…

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

Day 63/67 of GED in Five Months, sedimentary rocks, and Public Libraries

By now, we should all know how entropy connects with motion, so what can entropy possible have to do with rocks, since rocks never move in any way, or do they?  Maybe your local branch’s Reference Librarian can help you find out…

Today’s reading :

“ Sedimentary rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks or pieces of once-living organisms. They form from deposits that accumulate on the Earth’s surface. Sedimentary rocks often have distinctive layering or bedding. Many of the picturesque views of the desert southwest show mesas and arches made of layered sedimentary rock.

…”

 Week 17/18

Day 63 lesson plan

Grammar: Adverbs

Math: Linear relationships from a table of data

Today’s reading comes from where?

Please see the Lesson plan for Day 63’s Exit Tickets

Action Items:  

1.) Did you see any interesting facts about your home area, those who live in the SouthWestern United States?

2.) Please tell us where the information for today’s reading comes from, how you know that the sources are reliable, and who funded them,

3.)  Feel free to answer the exit ticket questions in the comments, or pose any other questions you may have about the lesson, if you wish.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind? 

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  &  for heavens sake: please #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19 (or even for good!)!:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa…

(RiP, Mira Furlan, aka Delenn…)

ShiraDest

January, 2021 CE = January 12021 HE

(Day 62 … Day 64)

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

Day 62/67 of GED in Five Months, Perpetual Motion, and graphic proof

If proof lies in seeing with our own eyes, then those ideas which you can graph and derive from laws must be true, or are they?

Like the moon forever in orbit around the earth, some proofs take a bit more time than others…

Today’s reading: Newton’s laws of motion need to be examined in greater detail in order to answer questions that derive from those laws, just as in mathematics, one derives a proof from various postulates and laws of mathematics.

“ As it turns out, the moon is very nearly a perpetual motion machine. It goes around the earth every month and has been doing so at almost constant speed for a very long time. Even so, with advanced instruments and careful measurements, we can determine that the moon’s motion is changing: it gets farther away from the earth on average by about two centimeters each year. Why? 

…”

 Week 17/18

Day 62 lesson plan

Grammar: Sentence Fragments Review

Math: Systems of equations with graphing

Science reading: Is it Newton, or something more?

Please see the Lesson plan for Day 62’s Exit Tickets

Action Items:  

1.) How many different primary sources can you find in 10 minutes that define perpetual motion?

2.) Please tell us where the information for today’s reading comes from, how you know that the sources are reliable, and who funded them,

3.)  Feel free to answer the exit ticket questions in the comments, or pose any other questions you may have about the lesson, if you wish.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind? 

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  &  for heavens sake: please #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19 (or even for good!)!:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa…

(RiP, Mira Furlan, aka Delenn…)

ShiraDest

January, 2021 CE = January 12021 HE

(Day 61 … Day 63)

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

Day 61/67 of GED in Five Months, language as a function of context, and Adult decision-making as a function of community

Our language varies based on the context in which that language is used. Mathematical language always has a very specific meaning and a precise context: the mathematical context.  We use words everyday that have different meanings, precise meanings, in different contexts.  An Adult must understand the specific meaning of a given word before making decisions that will affect anyone, including just themselves, since our decisions never really affect only ourselves, do they?

Today’s reading starts looking at functions as applied in our physical world:

“ force F as a function of time. …”

 Week 17/18

Day 61 Lesson Plan

Essay Writing -Continue working on your concluding paragraph

math: Identifying and evaluating functions

Science reading:

Please see the Lesson plan for Day 61’s Exit Tickets

Action Items:  

1.) Did you see any interesting new mathematics (for once you finish this course and move on to higher level learning) on the reading page?  Does it look interesting?

2.) Please tell us where the information for today’s reading comes from, how you know that the sources are reliable, and who funded them,

3.)  Feel free to answer the exit ticket questions in the comments, or pose any other questions you may have about the lesson, if you wish.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind? 

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  &  for heavens sake: please #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19 (or even for good!)!:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa…

(RiP, Mira Furlan, aka Delenn…)

ShiraDest

January, 2021 CE = January 12021 HE

(Day 60 … Day 62)

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

Minbari Mondays, Mind War, and Gatekeepers with Empathy?

This is the continuation of our fictional letter (reviewing each film and episode of Babylon 5) that I receive each week from Ranger Mayann.

Here is her eighth report:

—

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa, Greetings from Tuzanor:

In this very minimal eighth report, still in your Earth year 2258, the second year of operation of the station, there were two unrelated incidents which both came near to affecting the life of then Commander Sinclair. One, so we hear, is rumored to have almost cost him his life, as well as those of the quarter million other inhabitants of that station. The other appears to have involved Sinclair’s human mate, Miss Sakai, in an apparently simultaneous life threatening event. As the Anla’Shok lacks reports on either of the incidents in question, I can only confirm that no high ranking Minbari, and no Anla’Shok, were aboard the station during the time of these events.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar,

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode is all about control.  It introduces Bester, appropriately enough, and also, the soon to be infamous Jack. We also learn more about the PsyCorps, but it’s still one of my least favorite episodes, and I cringe every time I hear a certain word mispronounced during what ought to be a very tender scene. On the other hand, we do get another great Ivanova quote:

“Who watches the Watchmen?”

and an even better one:

“Good old PsyCorps! All the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper.”

We also get introduced to Garibaldi’s not so pleasant relationship with Al Bester:

“Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi, but…”

The really neat thing about this episode, from the Narn point of view, is how G’kar manages to take his role of gatekeeper for Sigma 957 and turn it on its head. He is a watcher of the planet, effectively, but actually uses his power to keep Miss Sakai safe. The PsyCorps, on the other hand, are the watchers and keepers of human telepaths, but not for the rest of us normal human beings, or mundanes, as the Teeps like to call us.  Garibaldi seems to feel the same way Ivanova feels about telepaths, saying “they look at you like you were some kind of bug.”  So this episode is all about control, watchers, and who gets to be the GateKeeper of what, and why, but not always in a bad way. And I do appreciate how the “Becoming” image of the guest star looks like something from an Octavia Butler novel.  Too bad Octavia Butler didn’t get any credits in the episode though.

And there is one other part of this episode that I really do like, which, along with Sakai doing a great mocking imitation of G’kar’s warning that “Sigma 957 is not a healthy place,” just before she realizes that she’s about to cook, shows G’kar starting to reach up toward his potential. Fortunately for Miss Sakai, and by extension, Commander Sinclair, some gatekeepers don’t like others to die embarrassed. Upon thanking him for her rescue, Sakai asks G’Kar what was that huge thing that knocked her into the planetary orbit and nearly cooked her. I love his explanation and I can always imagine the two ants, one looking up and asking the other

“What was that?”

And the other replying:

“You don’t need to know!”

 

That was part 8 of Ranger Mayann’s letter on the history of the Babylon Project.  It can be seen from another point of view by watching the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 6: Mind War, which I definitely recommend.

See Ranger Mayann’s seventh report, from last week.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on gatekeepers and who gets input into setting agendas and watching over those agendas and the people placed in the way, if you will.

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

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

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

ShiraDest

March, 2021 CE = March 12021 HE

(The previous lesson 67/67 , and the most recent lesson 1/67…)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…)
includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Free copies are available at https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…

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

Minbari Mondays, Parliament of Dreams, and empathy for religions?

This is the continuation of our fictional letter (reviewing each film and episode of Babylon 5) that I receive each week from Ranger Mayann.

Here is her seventh report:

—

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa, Greetings from Tuzanor:

This seventh report, is still in your Earth year 2258, the second year of operation of this station.  This report looks at an incident during the time of G’kar as ambassador, and several celebrations of near death.

     This first celebration of near death teaches much about how much potential Ambassador G’kar already had for making new starts, as he did with his still new attaché Na’toth. As the danger unfolds around this one, the other ambassadors present two other celebrations of death couched in new life. The Centauri celebrate the near death of their own species, and the actual deaths of all the members of the other sentient species with whom they once shared their planet, Centauri Prime. Though they insist that it was for their own survival, this genocide saddens us, even today. All life is sacred. Perhaps now, they may begin to learn this.

Miss Sakai helped Commander Sinclair begin to see more of his own new life, as she explained how our Rebirth ceremony brings new life couched in the taste of your own death, and that it can also double as a marriage ceremony.

  The primary incident in this report, that of a Narn sent to assassinate Ambassador G’kar, ends in a celebration of his life, with the help of his newly proven attaché, Na’toth. The time taken to unravel his mystery also ends with the death, happily, of an idea. Your Earth government had an idea to show each “dominant belief system.”  Sinclair, in his wisdom, killed that idea, by showing a way to give birth to a more lively idea: the idea that you Humans have a great long line of varying beliefs and traditions, represented by your many different peoples.

 

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode is one of my favorite episodes, and I cry tears of wonder and hope every time I see that very last scene. This scene turns “the Long grey line” into a long named line of all our human ancestors, and all human belief systems. Each of us has such a line of those who came before us saying “remember.”

This episode introduces us to Lenier, Natoth, and Catharine Sakai. I love how the Narn assassin’s guild guy wears reading glasses, by the way!  I also love that hint at foreshadowing by Sinclair of the relationship between Londo and G’kar!!

and

The mystery deepens, as we see Delenn insist that Lenier not use her title “Satai,” and the the first time, we see the Minbari idea that “Understanding is not required, only obedience…”

 

That was part 7 of Ranger Mayann’s letter on the history of the Babylon Project.  It can be seen from another point of view by watching the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 5: Parliament of Dreams, which I certainly recommend.

See Ranger Mayann’s sixth report, from last week.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on religion and cultural dominance, if you will.

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

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

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

ShiraDest

March, 2021 CE = March 12021 HE

(The previous lesson 67/67 , and the most recent lesson 1/67…)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…)
includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Free copies are available at https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…

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

Minbari Mondays, Infection, and Purity?

This is the continuation of our fictional letter (reviewing each film and episode of Babylon 5) that I receive each week from Ranger Mayann.

Here is her sixth report:

—

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa, Greetings from Tuzanor:

 

In this sixth report, still in your Earth year 2258, the second year of operation of the station, the only ambassador to be seen in this incident is one from the distant past of a dead world: an ambassador who is built to bring destruction.

As Mr. Garibaldi informed the human reporter, working for your news agency called InterStellar Network News, or ISN, how to navigate the station, Dr. Franklin was being offered an adventure by an old professor of his, while the esteemed professor’s subordinate was murdering a customs officer in one of the station’s docking bays.

The doctor showed what you humans call grouchy behavior both to Garibaldi and to his old professor.  Perhaps you humans could benefit from our Minbari meditation training?

The doctor, for some reason, missed signs that even one of my people would have noticed. It was clear from his arrival that the doctor’s old professor was lying.  Was it not also clear, that the professor was using the doctors own vice, his ego, to manipulate him?  Why do you Humans allow this?

I must admit that I am also mystified about the Martian war machine wanting to discuss the common cold: were not your Martian colonists also resistant to the human rhinoviruses?

Dr. Franklin, to his credit, questioned the motives of an Earth-based corporation, IPX, the one that financed the dubious adventure to which he was being invited, but yet again, the doctor allowed his suspicions to be talked away by his blustery old teacher.

Coming back to another Earth-based corporation, this one a network for news reporting,  ISN, we see Mr. Garibaldi attempting to save face for the commander, by talking around the commander’s delay in meeting with the reporter.  He informed the reporter how, after walking many miles through a desert, he became close friends with Commander Sinclair, but met only with a shameful attempt on her part to make Garibaldi lose face.  Such stories are what we Minbari treasure above all, to learn more about the history of Sinclair…

Commander Sinclair and Garibaldi were then forced to confront the professor regarding an artifact found on the dead planet from which it had been taken. Fortunately, they were less willing to be deceived than the doctor.  

As with Lt. Commander Ivanova, a word of warning from Commander Sinclair goes far.  But, his warning applied implicitly to the professor, without Sinclair having to say the words. Again, showing the wisdom which would later make up much wisdom from our world, the wisdom from which we would learn. Except, perhaps, for his early habit of performing duties which could have been delegated to his security personnel.

But then, the commander had to do that which only one of his wisdom could do: to convince a living machine that purity does not exist except in mathematics. You Humans would take a very long time to be able to learn that lesson from Satai Delenn.

In the end, the commander was successful, and the doctor had to confront his old professor, who tried, yet again, to stain the honor of your doctor, this time unwilling to be manipulated by his old teacher.

And Garibaldi risked their friendship to be honest with Commander Sinclair. True to his growing wisdom, the commander overcame his pride to thank his old friend Garibaldi.

Doctor Franklin, in reflecting on the problem of killing in the name of purity, was reminded of the words of Santayana by Lt. Commander Ivanova. Both the mistakes of the past and the survival in the future, of a species are connected to pride, ego, and purity not of flesh, but of motives.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode introduces us to some big movers and shakers in the B5 Universe, like ISN, and IPX.  I have always loved the play on CNN and on the large multi-national corporations that throw so much financial muscle around and force nation-states to bid for factories by giving out tax breaks.  That said, this was one of my least favorite episodes, with the exception of 1.)  the great Ivanova quote:

“Don’t. You’re too young to experience that much pain.”

and 2.) The Big Question, facing humanity about space. 

While I still find some moments in this episode to be cring-worthy, mainly that climactic scene with the over-acting of Commander Sinclair, I find that I like this episode much better now that I have gone back to look at it from Ranger Mayann’s perspective.  I also liked seeing the reference to H.G. Wells a bit better, this viewing around, though it suddenly strikes me that in that year, Mars is a human colony, so the reference to “the common cold” should no longer work, since a Martian war machine would now most likely be a battered old transport loaded with human colonists from Mars trying to escape oppression, if human history is any guide. 

The thing that has always troubled me, most likely, about this episode is that it touches a nerve for me.  As a kid, I was constantly being accosted by other kids, Black and White, asking me if I was “mixed” or “half and half” and even in college, about my folks not “keeping my bloodline pure.”  Ridiculous, of course, in the mouth of any of us here in the US, considering that every Black American has had ancestors from both Africa, probably from Europe, and often also from this very continent, especially for those of us whose ancestors arrived earliest.  Skin color is not a good indicator of ancestry, as one Black man found out the hard way: he deemed himself ‘pure’ until a DNA test showed that his either grandfather or great grandfather had been white! 

Heck, even the Puerto Rican girls in my Woodbridge, VA  Middle School didn’t see any common ground with me: they decided that it was imperative to follow me as I walked down the street, yell stupidities at me, and start a fight because I was ignoring them.  They both seemed to get a shock when I actually hit one of them back.  One sister stared at me in bewilderment as the other pulled out her makeup mirror to check her face! Meanwhile, I continued on my way to pick up my little step-brother from his baby-sitter.  By the time we got home, there was a large crowd of unhappy people, mostly Puerto Ricans, and the remaining one or two white, waiting on my front lawn.  None of us were what anyone would have called “pure” blooded, but this didn’t seem to matter to anyone, that day. 

“No one is pure. None of us”

Very true, but I doubt that those who need to hear that truth watch Babylon 5.

That was part 6 of Ranger Mayann’s letter on the history of the Babylon Project.  It can be seen from another point of view by watching the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 4: Infection, which I certainly recommend.

Ranger Mayann’s fifth report, from last week, can be read here.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on race and purity, if you will.

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

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

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

ShiraDest

March, 2021 CE = March 12021 HE

(The previous lesson 67/67 , and the most recent lesson 1/67…)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…)
includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Free copies are available at https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…

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

Day 41/67 of GED in Five Months, cycles, and, “Wh” questions

 Adulting often requires Public Library resources to answer important questions about issues ranging from the life cycle of an organism, as in today’s science reading, to election cycles.  Or resources like the old “Who’s Who…” books that recorded facts like the number of presidents who have been impeached, and why.  Questions like why, where, when, and of course, how, are key to understanding all sides of any issue, from biology to sociology, and our daily lives.

 Week 11/18

Day 41 Wk 11

Grammar: writing a paragraph

more Pythagorean Theorem

Day 41 Exit Ticket

Action Items:

1.) Why might it be important to understand the life cycle of various organisms?

2.) Please explain how it may (or may not) help citizens of a Republic…

3.) Write a book, story, blog post or tweet that uses those thoughts, and then, please tell us about it! If you write a book, once it is published please consider donating a copy to your local public library.

4.)  Feel free to answer the exit ticket questions in the comments, or pose any other questions you may have about the lesson, if you wish.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind? 

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  &  for heavens sake: please #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19!!:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GR button:

, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

Görüşürüz!

ShiraDest

January, 2021 CE = January 12021 HE

(Day 40 … Day 42)

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

Day 40/67 of GED in Five Months, cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse, and, standing like an Adult

 Adulting includes learning which languages work to help you learn best, such as the language of music: musical learning for facts vegetable, mineral, and mathematical, especially quadratical, and maybe even songs for finding out where your law-makers stand.  🙂    How, by the way, would you find out where your Congressmen and State Assembly/State Senate representatives stand on various issues of concern to you?

Start of week 11/18

Day 40, Week 11

Grammar: Frequently confused words: affect/effect and here/hear

Math: Pythagorean Theorem!!!

Day 40 Exit Ticket

(Extra points for online sources on “biogeochemical cycles” that do not come from ‘pedia! 🙂

Action Items:

1.) Where does this quote “…cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse…” come from, and do you like it?

2.) Please explain how it may (or may not) help learners…

3.) Write a book, story, blog post or tweet that uses those thoughts, and then, please tell us about it! If you write a book, once it is published please consider donating a copy to your local public library.

4.)  Feel free to answer the exit ticket questions in the comments, or pose any other questions you may have about the lesson, if you wish.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind? 

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GR button:

, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

 

ShiraDest

January, 2021 CE = January 12021 HE

(Day 39 … Day 41)

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

Minbari Mondays, Born to The Purple, and trained not to see?

This is the continuation of our fictional letter (reviewing each film and episode of Babylon 5) that I receive each week from Ranger Mayann.

Here is her fifth report:

—

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa, Greetings from Tuzanor:

 

In this fifth report, still in your Earth year 2258, the second year of operation of the station, Ambassador G’kar and Ambassador Mollari, with the mediation of Commander Sinclair, have been dancing around the issue of an important treaty for some time, telling enough untruths to make the head of your poor human telepath, paid to monitor the negotiations, spin with unease.

As talks around the Euphrates sector, indeed, possibly named for a key civilization on your world, falter, the two ambassadors mutual fondness of drink, of which we Minbari cannot partake, and romance, with which we Minbari are well acquainted, showed that Narn and Centauri were more alike than they wished to think.

At this same time, Lieutenant Commander Ivanova was learning that Mr. Garibaldi was a better sniffer of electronic truth than she might have first imagined. Her tale of Russian fighter pilots and gremlins did not stop the relentless comic from catching her in a sadly needed, yet still unauthorized misuse of station resources.

While then still new to the station, Vir Koto had his first taste of ambassadorial authority, if for only a few hours. In contrast, another Centauri experienced the consequences of lack of any authority, and what that could lead to for the powerless from their world.  Despite having the love of an ambassador.

As Commander Sinclair learned more about the resident telepath, Talia Winters, his two closest subordinates were coming to know each other as opponents in a game of ‘catch Lt. Gremlin‘ accessing the communication system. At the same time, a powerless woman is forced to access the system on behalf of her power hungry master. A saddening balance of abuse for good, and abuse for ill. Neither abuse of the system ought to have been made necessary. Only the solidarity among the less powerful prevented this incident from turning into an even greater tragedy for both parties.

This incident is an important introduction to the importance of appearances and of saving of face for the overly prideful Centauri, and it further shows that human telepaths had free will to decide to help other human beings, despite the power of your Psycorps, which ran their lives without mercy, for a time.  It also brings into sharp focus the lengths to which those who abuse the vulnerable will go to gain power, including lies, theft, and even murder, if permitted.

Knowing the station and those who frequented it were what allowed then Commander Sinclair to apply some of that wisdom which he would later use in full measure, upon becoming…

Sadly, even the oppressed run out of the solidarity that could save them, and the ruthless find strong arms with out conscience to do their ill bidding.

Fortunately, there is always a way around such problems, if we are willing to find creative solutions and act with courage to protect the vulnerable. And to forgive the broken of heart, when they are people of honor.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to her report, by Shira: My personal view of this episode is that while it is important for characterizing all of the main players, it really shows the power relations within the Centauri Republic-turned-empire. This will be very important later on.   I am grateful to Ranger Mayann for including these issues in her report.

  I also really enjoyed seeing how poor G’kar has to put up with his new attaché’s disgust with the dancing ‘establishment’ in sharp contrast to his own liking for it, and especially the glee with which Londo watches all of this.  It is fun to watch G’kar’s own ambition being used against him, in the end, to ‘save the honor of the Centauri Republic’ and his almost (but at this point, not quite, as far as he knows, anyway) arch-enemy Londo’s career!  🙂  At this point in the series, he seems to be setting up to become the villain, and it looking back on it, will be … ok, no spoiling!

  This is also a great episode from a human rights point of view, highlighting as it did, back in the 90s, the problem of sex-trafficking and showing how a woman can be coerced even when it is not obvious that that is the case, at first glance, anyway.   

  I also love the cat and mouse game between Garibaldi and Ivanova, with her never outright lying, but knowing that she is not being entirely truthful, either, and too proud to ask for permission to use the Gold Channels, even though Commander Sinclair would surely have authorized her use of that limited resource to talk with her dying father.  Garibaldi’s tact and empathy in dealing with her, once he had proof, was the highest example of kindness and even of humility, as he let her save face, and keep her honor clean.  The final bit of seeing her at last drop her pride to accept ‘that drink, some other time’ is almost like the moment in Harry Potter when Hermione lies to Professor McGonagal to save Harry and Ron from punishment: a turning point where the habitual behavior of a character changes, revealing that a key lesson has just been learned and acted upon with a new ‘self’ being born in that moment.  Or perhaps I go too far?

That was part 5 of Ranger Mayann’s letter on the history of the Babylon Project.  It can be seen from another point of view by watching the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 3: Born to the Purple, which I highly recommend.

Ranger Mayann’s fourth report, from last week, can be read here.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on inheritance and power, if you will.

2.) Share your first imaginings about how to change such cycles, if you like.

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

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

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button:

, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

ShiraDest

March, 2021 CE = March 12021 HE

(The previous lesson 67/67 , and the most recent lesson 1/67…)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…)
includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Free copies are available at https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…

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