Minbari Mondays, Grail, and Health as a Quest

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 17th report:

—

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

In this report, in your Earth year 2258, it is just past the middle of the second year of operation of the station. The Anla’Shok have used part of the official Minbari ambassadorial archives, some of which were salvaged from the fires during the Civil War, for this report.

An Honored Seeker from your world came to the station in search of a cup known to you Humans as the Grail.  So much conflicting mythology seems to swirl around this object that it is very difficult for a Minbari to grasp the significance of the object itself, but the search that it represents was well understood by Satai Delenn, who welcomed your Seeker in her role as ambassador from our planet, to Babylon 5.  I am pleased to report that this Seeker, derided though he was by you, his fellow Humans, found a worthy successor, as he was on the point of death, allowing him to  Go to The Sea in tranquility.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira: Excellent ending: Aldus dies, but his search, and his order, continues.  Thus, his essence lives on.

 And Sinclair’s character arc, from Garibaldi’s ‘blaze of glory’ talk to Delenn’s “then, you do not know yourself…seeking” talk, we now start to see a bit of what the Commander might be seeking.  Stay tuned for next season…

Oh, yeah, and:

this is a great episode for Lt. Commander Ivanova quotes, and for showing her perspective on perspective!

“…somebody’s got to have some damn perspective around here.

Boom.

Sooner or Later… Boom!“

– Ivanova to Garibaldi and Sinclair

“

Beautiful perspective, Lt. Commander! 

Garibaldi’s part of the episode illustrate the problems law enforcement has in protecting witnesses long enough to make sure that justice gets done.

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 15, which I  highly recommend seeing!!

 

See Ranger Mayann’s report from last week on questions and context…

-Shira Destinie

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the many possible forms of seeking.

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, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans offline)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, BsC, MAT, MPhil

our year 2021 CE =  1202 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

-one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button: ,  Please leave a review, if you can make a bit of time, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, TKO, and Health Defense: physical and spiritual

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 16th report:

—

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

In this report, in your Earth year 2258, it is just past the middle of the second year of operation of the station. The Anla’Shok has no official records related to the private life of Lt. Commander Ivanova at this point in the station’s history, although the title fight related to the Sho Rin Gior and Walker Smith of Earth is, of course, a matter of interstellar record.  While the two incidents which I have been asked about are undoubtedly important as individual experiences for both Humans, they are considered private, and thus not a matter for discussion, nor reporting.   Nevertheless, we Minbari consider rituals of this nature to be sacred.  Leave-taking rituals, such as sitting Shiva, and terror-facing rituals, like that of The Sands of Blood, as they call the arena of the Mutai.  Our Religious and Warrior castes both have many rituals, some like these two.  All rituals serve a purpose.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira: What the Rangers did not report on was one of the very few and very best examples of religion being dealt with extremely well in science fiction television, and I always cry my eyes out at the end as Ivanova says Kaddish (the Mourner’s Prayer), after so much resisting.  As Walker Smith needed Gior to show him where his heart was, so Susan needed her Uncle Yossi, R. Koslov, to show her where her heart was.

Before that, though, she shares an anecdote about her father, for whom she has finally being persuaded to sit  Shiva, which provides a fascinating glimpse into what she was like as a growing and inquisitive young teenager.  With, I must add, some rather exquisite language!

“…out of diapers.

… and I’d been out of diapers for many years, but the quality of his writing had yet to rise above the contents of those garments!”

Beautiful retort!

This is a fundamental episode for the Lt. Commander, as we see more of why she is so private, how she tends to deal with things.  We’ll see her strength really start to shine in the next year or so, sadly, being polished like a diamond after the pressure of years in a coal pit.  And we see a bit about Garibaldi, and more about the often uncomfortable relationships between Earth and the other worlds in the galaxy.  This episode in particular feels like Earth standing in as a proxy for critique of the US regarding our relations with developing countries, especially. 

This episode has always been a very uncomfortable one for me, but still a very fulfilling one, oddly enough.

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 14, which I  highly recommend seeing, with two boxes of tissues at the ready!

 

See Ranger Mayann’s report from last week on questions and context…

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr10.

-Shira Destinie

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the many possible forms of physical vs. emotional (or spiritual) self-defense, and the difference, and then:

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, Vote, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, BsC, MAT, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

-one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button: ,  Please leave a review, if you can make a bit of time, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, Signs and Portents, Questions and Context

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 15th report:

—

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

In this report, in your Earth year 2258, on the dates from Wed 3rd – Fri 5th August, 2258, to be precise, it is the second year of operation of the station.  From this  incident will be born the workings in preparation for the next great war, which for you Humans in your dominant culture’s Earth year 2021, is still to come.  You Humans have a word for this: Machiavelian.  It is a word that well describes the forbidden question, asked by one of your people who worked against his own interests and those of us all, even if he did not understand this until it was too late.

And now, Londo Mollari will begin to go down the path of accepting the first of many favors without asking the questions which could have saved us all from such pain, his own people most of all.   For all of their gifts of seeing into the future, the Centauri people, led by their pride and their thirst for renewed glory, continued to misread their visions and to ignore the warnings of the Seers, as Lord Kiro did, and as Londo Mollari did for too long.

Yet, the pain suffered by the Narn under the yoke of Londo’s people, which Mollari would see restored, also played a part in the events to come, and was also fully awakened by the events in this report.  Our own people, in insisting that Commander Sinclair be placed in charge of the station, continued to guard a great secret that also contributed to the pain to come.  Perhaps, had our Grey Council then been more wise, much of what was later to come might have been avoided.  Yet even Satai Delenn was still groping dimly in the darkness at that point, even as she prepared for the great change she would make, to help all of us come together.  At the cost of much pain for herself. 

And Sinclair, showing more of the strategic and tactical skill that he later and earlier (this will become clear next year…) teaches to our people, grows even further in wisdom as he guides Garibaldi, his best resource for ferreting out hidden information, as you Humans would say, and Lt. Commander Ivanova, his best resource for ferreting out hidden enemy fighter craft, and blowing them from the sky.  Wisdom, in choosing and placing people in the positions where they will shine most brightly, and wisdom, in knowing when not to pursue, and when to pursue.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This is where it all begins!!  We finally meet the famous Mr. Morden, one of the most complex and fascinating villains I have ever seen, asking the one question that all Minbari are taught to avoid:

“What do you want?“

Ranger Mayann, as a Minbari, refuses even to pronounce those words, yet claims that one should always follow the “calling of your heart.”  What is that, if not what you want?  So why refuse to ask that question?  Why fall back on duty, on obedience, and on faith, rather than using reason to illuminate the path?

But they are right in that what you want cannot be, must not ever be, the whole story.  The darkness in each of us wants only what it wants, rather than the ‘higher good,’ as some people call it.  And that is something that each person must take into account.  I want to eat that chocolate lava cake, but if I do, there will be a price down the line, both in terms of lasting “a lifetime on the hips” and also of a temporary setback to my immune system.   As someone whose family has a very very strong history of diabetes, I also know that the price I could eventually pay for too much lava cake includes an embarrassingly preventable death.  So, I abstain, except for one day per week, giving me the chance to celebrate my good fortune of being able to afford and enjoy the taste and smell of chocolate, while using self discipline, as the Minbari teach, to keep my duty to society and my honor, for I do not know for certain that this chocolate has not been picked by enslaved children far from where I live, clean.

Oh, and not to forget, of course, excellent fighter pilot and leadership skills by Lt. Susan Commander Ivanova!!  🙂  Later on, those skills will have grown to outstanding levels, and enable her to pull off near military miracles, at great personal cost.

And I love the way so many breadcrumbs are laid down now, starting a trail that we almost can’t even see, yet.  For Sinclair, for Londo, for G’Kar, for Delenn, and even for Ivanova, it all starts here.   Each of their paths now lies before them, and each has stepped onto that path definitively as of the end of this episode, even if we the readers, er, sorry, viewers, cannot see those paths and much less to where the paths lead: yet!

We also see the crucial importance of context, in this episode.  Yes, the station will indeed be destroyed at some time in the future, but only the context can tell us if it will be a good thing, or a bad thing.  A key Adulting skill.

And, G’Kar, be careful what you wish for…

And, just when you thought it was all getting perhaps a wee bit too heavy, here comes one of the funniest moments in the first season!

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 13, which I most highly recommend seeing, at least twice!

 

See Ranger Mayann’s report from last week on means and interpretations…

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr10.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the many possible forms of discomfort that a question can provoke, but why that question should be asked anyway, if you will, and then

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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, BsC, MAT, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, By Any Means Necessary, and Interpretation

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 14th 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  incident revolves around a twin set of events that seem, at first glance, as you Humans say, unrelated.  Yet, they are more alike than it would first appear.

We continue to watch the apparent rivalry between Ambassadors Mollari and G’Kar: turned, by Sinclair in his growing toward greatness, into an unwitting partnership, once again.  He did it when a Centauri woman’s life, and Mollari’s honor, was at stake, and he has managed here, when Centauri pride and G’Kar’s honor are at stake.

And the honor of Commander Sinclair shines as brightly as his wisdom in this incident.  Here we learn of the use of tactics, which will lay so much groundwork in Minbari culture as he helps us to win the last great war, and teaches us to cease our quarrels, in preparation for the next great war, which for you Humans in your Earth year 12021, is still to come.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  Ranger Mayann is wrong, by the way.  The A and B plots of this episode are in fact related -they share the same Inciting Incident, at the start of the episode.  When the Narn pilot panics and disobeys Ivanova’s order, the ensuing explosion sets off both the “last straw” strike by the Dockers Guild as well as the plant problem for G’kar.  In the end, a sleep-deprived Cmdr Sinclair essentially uses the same technique to solve both problems.  He shows that the interpretation of a word is extremely important.

Excellent way to fork two great plots from one starting event.

This episode is definitely my favorite episode of this season, and one of the biggest reasons that I love Babylon 5 so much.  Thank you, Workers’ Rights!   Since I hate summarizing already much-summarized episodes, I will quote the poster of the S1E12 video clip on how the title of this episode is a fantastic sign of things to come, in terms of the play on initial expectations:

“Instead of using security personnel to end the strike as the Senate intended, Sinclair finds a loophole in the orders that allows him to divert funds from the military budget (which had received extra funding when the dock workers did not) to hire new workers and upgrade the dock equipment, as well as to grant amnesty to the strikers. “

Oh, yes, and hey, look: Garibaldi has lots of hair!!

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 12, which I very highly recommend.

 

See Ranger Mayann’s report from last week on coping after surviving.

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr10.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the many possible ways that a phrase can often be interpreted, and why it is not safe to accept wishes from Djinn, nor to piss off your House Elf, 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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, BsC, MAT, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, Survivors, and Coping

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 13th 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  incident revolves around a drink that we Minbari cannot stomach, yet many humans seem to find impossible not to drink, and often to abuse: alcohol.  While there was no Minbari nor any Anla’Shok involvement in this incident, Susan Ivanova was a Lt. Commander at that time, and we learn more about her through her words to the chief personage of this incident, Mr. Garibaldi.

We also learn more about the apparent rivalry between Ambassadors Mollari and G’Kar: the rivalry was more of a partnership, as the years would show, than it then seemed, and this incident shows us the start of that deadly dance.

Our records are scarce, here on Minbar, with regard to this incident, but what we do know is that Mr. Garibaldi was very nearly made to take the blame for what was intended to be a major terror event on the station.  This would have affected both the station’s ability to function, and of course, also that of Mr. Garibaldi.  Had that happened, the Great War to come might have turned out very differently, with disastrous consequences for the entire galaxy.

 

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode has one of the funniest Ivanova quotes, because it can be taken as being rather condescending, yet it is simply a matter of fact response to Garibaldi’s comment that he is no longer surprised by anything that EarthGov does (implying, however foolish it may be…):

“That’s a very Russian attitude. I commend you.”

Apart from that scene at the beginning of the episode, this one is one of the most difficult for me to watch.  It’s about trauma, and surviving that trauma, and how we cope.  Coping by using alcohol to escape is more obviously problematic, but coping by shutting down nearly all emotions but anger, and using that anger to fuel a burning drive toward “success” is also not healthy, even if it looks that way for a while.  “I know.  I was there.”

 

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 11: Survivors, which I recommend.

 

See Ranger Mayann’s 12th report (episode 10), from last week on beliefs vs. lives.

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr10.

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the difficulty of seeing that a person has changed or learned to cope differently, 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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, BsC, MAT, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, Believers, and Health care vs. saving life?

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 12th 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  incident shows that we Minbari also had much to learn…

A pair of parents working to honor their beliefs, asking each of the ambassadors to intervene to protect their child from what their sacred texts forbid. A doctor working to save a child’s life over the objections and beliefs of those parents.

One of our informers mentioned a rumor that the following had been said by Ambassador Kosh: 

“The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.” 

Satai Delenn pointed out that for us, matters of the soul are private, and thus relayed the sad decision by our Gray Council that she was forbidden to intervene, since no one can prove which party’s belief is correct.  True, logically, yet still lacking in wisdom, as did that old Council.  Our new Gray Council is wiser.

And Garibaldi:

“Sure is for people with nothing on the line.”

Surprising that Mr. Garibaldi, in this case, might have shown more wisdom than one of our Gray Council.

And once again, Sinclair shows the wisdom of who he will become, as he points out that our beliefs give our lives meaning.

Ivanova here shows us her skill in battle, and her wisdom to know when to do battle, even when it requires temporarily ignoring previous orders, in order to obey the higher order.

Both displayed a start of that wisdom which made a crucial difference in the great war, still to come in your time.

And your doctor learned a difficult lesson:  the beliefs of a patient can never be treated as mere delusion but seen as valid.

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, or lack thereof for this week, by Shira:  This episode has some good character development, and a theme still, sadly, very much relevant to current events.

Saving life?  Where does the right of individual belief end and the duty to save life take over?

This is basically the Jehovah’s Witness episode for one life, intertwined with a subplot of Ivanova sent to save many lives, after offering to knit a sweater or something.

Yet, Sinclair is right:

“What we hold sacred gives our lives meaning.”

Sinclair is also right in that sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t change anything, but it has to be done anyway, and that what makes us human is that we care. 

G’kar is brutally blunt from a strategic point of view, where Londo wears a more pleasant face as he presents the economic point of view.  Both are eclipsed by the near hypocrisy of the Minbari reply: near, because they sincerely believe that no religion can be proven to be right or wrong, yet still hypocritical because a refusal to take a stand is a refusal to act, and remains wrong.

I love the juxtaposition of the individual boy, dead, and the little boy, alive, from the starliner (Asimov!!) rescued by Ivanova from certain death, at the very close-shave risk of her own life.

And I keep asking myself, is this the episode where G’Kar becomes the Cassandra of Babylon 5?  (“explain, Lucy!”  -he openly explains the fact that strategic value sets a limit on what help the vulnerable will or will not receive, foreshadowing the help that his own world, not deemed to be of sufficient strategic value, will not receive, shortly…).

That was part twelve 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 10: Believers, which I recommend.

 

See Ranger Mayann’s 11th report (episode 9), from last week on death, in context.

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr7…)

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on the rights of a parent to ruin or even effectively end the life of a child, versus society’s duty to protect children, 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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, Deathwalker, and Context for Understanding

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 11th 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  incident, though rumored within the Religious Caste to have had something to do with our Warrior Caste sheltering some sort of mad genius, has no report on record with the Anla’Shok…

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, or lack thereof for this week, by Shira (go figure that the WindSwords would have buried this one, somehow, to prevent the shame of admitting what the Minbari, like some Human Beings I know, remember, but won’t talk about…):  This episode has one of the most fascinating, and oft-cited, Kosh quotes in the entire series:

“Understanding is a 3-edged sword.”

We’ll come back to that one in a year or two…

This episode is all about context, which is probably 2/3 of that understanding which makes up the three edges of our comprehension sword.

And poor Talia winters.

The theme of Justice or immortality seems not to have anything to do with this telepath being psychologically tortured, but no one seems to understand what’s going on. Not Talia, hired for ‘cautious’ negotiations, nor those on the station who were trying to deal with the dilemma of the immortality serum.

Understanding comes only after the fact in both cases.

Interesting how “all secrets long kept” seem to take on a life of their own, and new victims. 

(Reminds me of an episode of my favorite Turkish show Sihirli Annem, where the littlest Fairy is suffering because she must keep her magic secret from her best friend, who is a human girl her same age…)

The survivors of atrocities have a right to justice, to truth, and to healing, but how to protect those rights from the greed of more powerful interests?

And Kosh and the Vorlons? What do they gain from all of this?

That was part eleven 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 9: Death Walker, which I thoughtfully recommend.

 

See Ranger Mayann’s 10th report (episode 8), from last week on Survivor’s Guilt.

To see all of her reports as an on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr7…)

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on context, understanding, and justice vs. revenge for war crimes, and on individual versus collective benefit , 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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

Minbari Mondays, And The Sky Full of Stars, and Remembering…

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 10th 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  incident revolved around the guilt of surviving when others did not, and why it is important to remember. 

It is important to remember, even when one has acted shamefully, as our Gray Council did that day in torturing Sinclair.

Delenn gladly gave the knowledge of our biology, while confirming the sacrifice made by your Doctor Franklin, for us when we were your enemies. She was also the first to know that the Commander was missing, and the one, after Sinclair saw her in his memories, to welcome him back home.

And to protect his lie of not remembering…

From the city of  Tuzanor, on Minbar

Earth year 2278,

Anla’Shok Mayann

–

  Addendum to Ranger Mayann’s report, by Shira:  This episode has one of the most telling Ivanova quotes:

 “Mr. Garibaldi, there are days I’m very glad I don’t have to think the way you do.”

And through Sinclair’s eyes, we see the absolute despair of volunteering to fight an unwinnable battle, and fighting anyway, in the hope that your death can buy just enough time to save a few civilian lives.

 

That was part ten 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 8, which I mildly recommend.  It’s an important episode, and those who like epic space battles will be happy with some scenes in this episode, but for me, as a survivor of long-lasting childhood trauma, it was hard, and is always hard, to watch this episode. 

I can feel the Commander’s grief at having lived when all of his friends died on The Line, and he alone of his squad, not to mention the vast majority of pilots who volunteered to “hold The Line” died.  I know that pain of wondering why I got out of it safely, when so many around me did not.  Events from the past can impact our current lives, and must be understood in context.

Also, do not borrow from knee-cappers!

Sorry, I did not shed any tears at the death of this idiot Ensign Red Shirt (does it seem like the gray guys from security always seem to get killed off in each episode, kind of like back in…).

On the other hand, this does remind me that we do need to do something about those predatory Pay Day lenders…

 

See Ranger Mayann’s 9th report, from last week on hate crimes.

To see all of her reports: https://shiradest.wordpress.com/b5-reviews/

(and the on-going PDF version: B5EpsThr7…)

-Shira

Action Items:

1.)  Share your thoughts on guilt, and surviving trauma, 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 Plan Book)! 

Nih sakh sh’lekk, sleem wa.

and my Babylon 5 review posts, if you like Science Fiction,

and

a proposed Vision on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

   

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil

our year 2020 CE =  12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call
(free copies at: 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.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

 

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

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 offline, but no links…)

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.