Spanish Sunday is now: fitting in by your own definition as Universal (self) Health Care, and building community via local currencies

We need a Universal health care system, but in the meantime, take care of yourself, and your mental health, by letting yourself fit in to your own universe: you get to choose who you are, since you are always there with yourself (and so you’d better get to like yourself).

—

For me, contribution is a major part of meaning, and that is what I want to have when I look back upon my life: contributed in some long-term meaningful way to humanity, just in some small area, in my own small way, but as much as I possibly can.

Here is where I am in my study of caring for myself as part of caring for others (so as not to be a burden to others): I measure my value by asking myself how I’ve contributed.  Here is a large part of my answer thus far:

–

 

I recall giving a class on Community Cooperation that had far more impact than I’d expected, generating heated discussion, and thanks.  I was surprised that folks thanked me for bringing up the topic of Community, and protection of the most vulnerable members of society, but I was also grateful to have been able to make that impact.  To reach people who otherwise may not have seen Community in that light.

I think it was actually the class I taught in 2011, but this class, in 2010, taught me how to teach in Community:

Page 1 of Handout:

Community Empowerment via Local Currencies “Mifnei Tikkun Ha-Olam”
Shira Jones, DC Beit Midrash, DC JCC, 16 August 2010, Ki Tetse
In Ki Tetse, Aliyah 5, (24:1-24:4 of Dvarim), a man is required to write a Get in order to divorce his wife.
Rabban Gamliel: Mishnah Gittin 4:21
“At first, a man would convene a court in a different location [from where his wife was living]and cancel the get [he had sent and not inform her of his actions]. Rabban Gamliel the Elderpassed a law prohibiting men from doing so, in order to repair the social order Mipnei TikkunHa-Olam.”
Other uses of the principle of Tikkun Ha-Olam occur with an apparently similar aim, accordingto Jill Jacobs2, namely the aim of protecting society and the most vulnerable members ofsociety.
In this vein, money which is created by and issued in and for the local community alsoconstitutes an act of Tikkun Olam, benefiting the most vulnerable members of society.
Local currencies are forms of money created by communities for local circulation in thosecommunities. These locally created forms of money accomplish three main objectivesrelated to protecting vulnerable members of society.
•When issued on the basis of local goods or services, they increase the amount of moneyavailable in local communities, further empowering communities to create sustainable localbusinesses and making more money available for loans, donations and local projects;
•They encourage buying local, thus keeping resources in local communities and reducingsupply and distribution chain travel distances, thereby reducing carbon emmissions;
•When issued on the basis of real goods or services, local currencies incentivize long-terminvestment in the local economy, rather than short-term investment in capital markets.
These currencies return monetary decision-making to communities directly affected bymoney (while by contrast, monetary decisions are generally made outside the community),and retain more overall money in the local community. Local currencies are often referred toas Green MoneyGreen MoneyGreen MoneyGreen MoneyGreen Money Green Money Green MoneyGreen MoneyGreen Money for reasons related to both Governance and Economic Benefit of Money.
1Drawn from “Annulment of Marriage”, Judith Hauptman, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/annul.html
2Jill Jacobs, The History of “Tikkun Olam”, http://www.zeek.net/706tohu/index.php?page=2
Shira D. Jones, destinie_jones@yahoo.com, DC Beit Midrash, “Green Money, Tikkun Olam”

Page 2 of Handout:

How do Green or Local Currencies provide (get, keep and grow) these benefits?
Governance of Money
Economic Benefit of Money
By increasing overall levels of available money, theyprovide more opportunities for community participationin economic decision-making and project development.
By increasing overall levels of available money, theyprovide more resources for donation, loans to theunemployed, the vulnerable, local businesses, etc.
By keeping more resources in local communities, theyallow greater (practical) economic priority-settingparticipation by more members of those communities.
By keeping more resources in local communities, theystop the draining of local resources to distant areas (sothe wealth is no longer accessible to the community).
By providing a stake in local institutions, localcurrencies provide incentives to ensure transparencyand accountability in local community institutions.
By providing a stake in local institutions, localcurrencies provide incentives to invest in long-termlocal production and to upgrade local infrastructure.
Local Currencies in Washington, DC:
Anacostia Hours, issued and accepted in Mt. Rainier, MD and accepted by some DC businesses
http://www.anacostiahours.org
Potomacs, exchanged and accepted at local businesses in Petworth, DC
TakomaTime, a Time Bank3 issuing Time Dollars in Takoma Park and Adams Morgan, DC
The Catalyst Bank, a Time Bank issuing Time Dollars in DC and VA
http://community.timebanks.org/group.php?mode=curr&sid=f0f0291be3a33d7b7729da4e03f57948
Currencies which are issued by community based institutions are generally easier to obtain,particularly for vulnerable members of the community who have difficulty accessing market-based (jobs or credit) means of obtaining more scare Federal money.
Local currencies also tend to allow greater levels of inclusion to members of the localcommunity in the decision-making processes of those currencies, while General PurposeMoney, such as the US Dollar, tends to have far more closed (non-inclusive) and lesstransparent and less publicly accountable decision-making processes. This lack of inclusionshuts out most of the direct stakeholders from governance, preventing most money usersfrom having a voice in money, which so vitally affects all of our lives.
Community-based currencies expand the number of Direct Currency Stakeholders who canexcercise participatory decision-making power over money. Thus more people can create,keep, and grow their own resources, to the benefit of the entire community, by building,using and investing in local community institutions.
3With thanks to Deborah Hittleman Flank for information on both Time Banks listed here…
Shira D. Jones, destinie_jones@yahoo.com, DC Beit Midrash, “Green Money, Tikkun Olam”

DC Beit Midrash Sources for 16 August class:
Mishnah Gittin 4:2
“Annulment of Marriage”, Judith Hauptman, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/annul.html
Jill Jacobs, The History of “Tikkun Olam”, http://www.zeek.net/706tohu/index.php?page=2
http://www.anacostiahours.org
http://community.timebanks.org/group.php?mode=curr&sid=f0f0291be3a33d7b7729da4e03f57948
Shira Destinie A. Jones, Mphil dissertation, 2010, University of Bath, http://opus.bath.ac.uk/18960/
Bio Blurb:
Shira Destinie Jones is a native Washingtonian, teacher of mathematics, Hebrew, and Greekfolk dance, and singing enthusiast with 12 years of Unix expertise. She holds a Master ofArts in Teaching Secondary Mathematics, a Masters of Philosophy in economic social policy,and is a published poet and author working to help restore the balance of justice in our damaged world.
(Now I am grateful to be working to build a Kinder world…)
Read, Write, Dream, Teach !

ShiraDest
29 February, 12016 HE

–

 

So, it turns out that …  More on my continuing striving with stuff next week, friends:

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different resources to translate the word “Hello” into your favorite language.

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, please.

3.) Share your thoughts on how you like each of the resources you found,  perhaps as an update on your GoodReads reading,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that uses your favorite word, tells a good story, and makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)

Library books on a Saturday, with money from far, far away…

This is one book that should be both in every library, and required reading for every person:

It’s finally the end of Sukkot 5781, time to get back to writing for change.

Here is a review of one of the too many books I read and lost notes which I found later, while doing my phd work on what the economic fuss is all about:

–

Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went by John Kenneth Galbraith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

-p.8 –Finally! A reputable/academic/economist citing del Mar: (2) Alexander Del Mar, History of Monetary Systems (London: Effingham Wilson, 1895; New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1969), pp. 1-2.’

…’In time it would be asserted that the debauchment of the currency caused the downfall of Rome. This historiography – the tendency to attach vast adverse consequences to monetary behaviour of which the observer happens to disapprove – is one which we will find frequently to recur. It should, needless to say, be regarded with the utmost suspicion.”‘
-I still agree with delMar and Keynes that the coincidence is too much to be accidental.

…'”Though willing to have banks for the purpose of deposit, Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed their issue of notes. Writing to John Taylor in 1816, he agreed that banking establishments were more to be feared than standing armies.”‘
–I have yet to find the full source for this in the Jefferson Archives (UVA), despite seeing it quoted widely as authoritative.

…”Most dangerous of all would be democracy. …none forsaw that farmers and workers would one day have the power that would make governments unwilling to impose these hardships even in so righteous a cause as defence of the currency. …the interests of the rich in these mattes could differ from those of others.”
–I contend that democracy (if $ is distributed fairly) is not a danger to fiscal discipline.

…quotes Ricardo: “He [the farmer], more than any other class of the community is benefited by the depreciation of money, and injured by the increase of its value.(20)”
—presumably by the higher ratio of land value to coin/money value? Back to H. George again…

p.53 Maj. CH Douglass predated by MD colony in issuing cit. div. (worked very well); p. 56 The Land Bank Manufactury Co. bank notes outlawed retroactively from London under the Bubble Acts; ended colonial banks

p. 60 gold == morality
p. 66 assignats backed by land worked until not backed at all… (financed Fr. Rev.)
p. 70 US Bank Finan. war (Am. Rev.) but w/hyperinflation (too bad, imnsho, that “the notes of the bank went out to a borrower at an interest rate that duly and directly rewarded the owners of the bank.”)
p. 80 re: The Money War Ch. 7: led up 2??? (on Bank paying off members of Congress to vote or make nice speeches about certain things…)
p. 94 “hard money morality”
p. 102 ‘Gilded Age’: gold==univ. money system
p. 105 #3 (Hildreth, ‘Banks, Banking, and Paper Currencies’ Boston: 1840 in Samuel Rezneck Business, Depressions and Financial Panics NY:Greenwood Pub. 1968): speculation good when succeeds, crime only if fails
P. 109 be happy and the money will follow (confidence==self-fulfilling proph.)

P. 111 a bank failure: 1. Hurts ppl w/$ in that bank, and also: 2. hurts (reduces and tightens simult.) the money supply overall

P. 117 #3(Samuelson, pp 272-273): Fed. Res. Open Mkt Com: ‘most powerful group of private citizens in America’; FDIC;
P.118 ref.#5: Fed=”purpose of the System is to foster growth at high levels of employment, with a stable dollar…” -failed miserably

p. 117 JKG -> ‘The Money Masters’ (see that cd on “The Creature from Jeckal Island” -via Altruists.org??) –says same thing re. creation of the Fed.; Also agrees that Fed. made Gr. Depression worse.

p. 118 “P is as p does”; ref.#5: BoGovs of Fed, The Fed Res Sys: Purposes and Functions (DC ’63), p2.; “Belmont Syndrome”
p. 127 varied defs. of ‘elastic money’ big problem: small banks left out of “club of the great and the strong.”
p. 128 ‘inflation could occur on a solid gold standard’
p. 132-133: Fed. is for big $

p. 145 –reminds me of Polanyi and his ‘Long 19th century’ as he and Galbraith end gold age in 1914
p. 147 -The 20’s: much of wrld gold had come to US, France had some gold: none left the US-> inflation and boom

p. 168: Churchill’s ’25 decision->Miners’ Strike; p. 175 Fed. caused Gr. Dep.: 1 July ’27 (imnsho);
P. 186 Austrian School economists all migrated to US just in time not to do anything about the Gr. Depr. for fear of non-existent inflation just because they saw hyperinflation in Germany under totally diff. circums. !!

p. 206: Keynes “Roosevelt is magnificently right” ref. 13, Schlesinger p.223
p. 209 on I. Fisher: equation of exchange (rules Quant. of money theory) and prices; warm praise-Keynes

p. 220 nixed Keynes won: 1.Say’s Law, 2. mkt. equib. w/out full empl. is possible
p.223 Hobson prev. fr. teaching to ‘question the virtue of unlimited thrift’ is ‘sin’
–JKG on Keynes: 1. must *enforce* spending 2. made it ok to contradict Says Law or discuss ‘oversaving’ as a problem
p. 230 “common sense…always been believed” but not nec. right

P. 255 (Ch. 18 Good Years: The Preparation) —imho he’s wrong about Keynes being ==Bretton Woods. I’ve read Keynes lost to the Ameri. delegation on most of his ideas (i.e. Bancor)

p. 262 censoring Keynes name out of JKG’s article review for Forbes…
p. 267 says Keyserling’s lost push for full-empl. led to/prep. way for later gains (else wouldn’t have even tried for more later…) –so always persevere…

p. 270 again confidence -> self-fulfiling economic pred.
p. 276 “in practice intervention was essential” for full employment… but economics myths tend to win out
p. 278 Keynsian antidote to inflation=taxes. Esp. on rich. hard to do –Ricard’s ‘monied men…’
p. 279 “rich prefer inflation” -imho because infl==higher prices->hjigher profits; Fed’s mon. policy makes it worse
P. 280 rediscount rate and open-mkt ops mythology still rules; -mon. pol. more convenient -fiscal pol.. M. Friedman saw Fisher’s (quant. eq.) as best option; GNP <- M (one of M-M4, take your pick dep. on whether counting savings as money, etc.) but !=Fiscal pol.
p. 283/4: but if infl. target == q. no infl. -> no price incr. -> no bus. expansion

P. 284 “archeology” of economics 🙂
p. 289 “reputation of capitalism” –this is important??
p. 299 OPEC embargo luchy: had inflation to help the OPEC nations (i.e. w/out infl. embargo wouldn’t have worked…)
p. 300 Prof. Richard N. Cooper at Pres. Ford’s Summit Conf. on Inflation in autumn, ’74:
1. “surrogate tax” -back to JFKennedy’s cursing U.S. Steel re.Guideposts 2. admits that he didn’t see it at first, either

P. 302 “good tailor” better than curiosity

—WHY on earth does he keep linking corp.s and unions together as having so much power??!! Oh:
P. 303: ‘union and corp.’ power i.e. monopolies vs. Cesar Chavez (who actually used to report Mexican illegals
(one artificially keeps prices up; other artif. raises wages; both are outside normal market forces, unlike smaller players…)

p. 304-307 Afterword: in 1975 currencies already outside national ability to control, much more now w/internet: mon. policy can’t control so must use fiscal policy; imho need more progressive tax on rich to gain revenues from luxury items and keep down inflation (which only hurts the poor, since wealthy put money in other curr/comm. to protect it); JKG says Fed should stop mon. pol. (i.e. int. rate fidling) and do Lender of Last Resort (stop bank failure) work, control speculation. Notes M can’t be measured or controlled.
(ref. 1: A. Hayes ‘Testing Time for Monetary Policy’ address NYstate Bankers Asso. NYC Jan. 20, ’75…); Must be firm on raising taxes.

This guy was certainly no socialist.

Last sentence: In other words, ‘those who yearn for the end of capitalism should pray for…’ Alan Greenspan!

Read, Write, Run, Teach !

ShiraDest
17 February, 12016 HE

View all my reviews

–

Interesting how, just a year or two ago, I recall feeling guilty for being angry with the US Navy for burying this particular gr. gr. grandfather with honors, while my other gr. gr. grandfather was accused of suicide and his family chased off of their land in OK.  Guilty for having to believe that this man who was honored by the military did not deserve what the other grandfather did deserve, but never received.  And yet neither family prospered: the two families met and members married and died during the Gr. Depression of TB.

Yes, we can do better than this.

  More on my continuing striving with family of choice next time, friends:

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different reasons to study your thoughts.

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, if you feel safe enough.

3.) Share your thoughts a book from your GoodReads reading list on self-reflection,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that explores, tells a good story, or otherwise makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)

Mass transit with Grandma on a Saturday, 54 years ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Actually, it was on the East Coast, which sometimes feels like another galaxy even after almost 3 years here in California. Especially given the better mass transit systems back East. We took the bus, since the Metro didn’t yet exist, but the subway in DC has always been too expensive for most normal people. I’ve always been shocked at the level of segregation in the metro, as the prices got higher relative to bus fares, and you began to see a big difference in ridership between train and bus lines, between 2004 and 2017. Grandma Marie always took me on the bus everywhere, even to her church, Mt. Zion UMC, all the way over in Georgetown (which by the mid-1970’s was already gentrifying) from Regency House aka The Old Folks Home, on Connecticut Ave & Nebraska Ave, NW.

It’s also the end of Sukkot 5781, which again feels like another planet, growing up going to church, but now looking in from the periphery of a chosen religion, although honored to be asked to chant in public, still not always feeling at home, and feeling a bit guilty for missing the vibrancy of church music, once in a while. But I feel no guilt for missing my adoptive great grandmother, my idea of a Saint in the nation’s capital:

a Grandmother not of my blood, but certainly of my heart and soul…

Here is a snipett of thought that has since been corrected, as apparently My 2xs gr grandfather on that side was not quite the “crazy drunk Cherokee” that I recall hearing about:

-2008-06-20 14:05:00
Happy Past Experiences
Alot of my past is best left forgotten, but I am grateful to have had a Great Grandmother who adopted us (my mom’s mother died when grandma Laverne was 8) and looked after me when I was very small. 
That was Grandma Marie. She always saved me The Mini Pages from the Washington Post and seeing her was always a peaceful and interesting time. She told me the story of my great great grandfather the crazy Cherokee Hayes Wheeler Mayo who went missing for three days when the Maine blew up. The Navy apparently thought he was dead until he turned up drunk with some interesting and apparently inplausible excuse that Grandma Marie seemed to think was characteristically colorful and odd. She also mentioned my taking somewhat after him, being a ‘rambunctious child’ and never staying still. She always had a smile when she told me about him, and frequently looked at me with that same slightly mischievious and ever so slightly almost shocked look. It’s hard to explain, but I always felt that she stood somewhat in awe of him, whilst looking just a tiny bit askance at the same time, and wondered just how closely I took after him. Whatever the case, I nearly felt like he was a hero as she told funny stories about him which I’ve forgotten details to, but remember the love with which she told all of his descendents about him. Grandma Marie, to my knowledge, never had children of her own, but my grandmother, mom, and I were like her own descendents, and I am proud of that. She taught me how to sew on an old black Singer treadle sewing machine, stitching the words I Love You onto the cloth, explaining how she had been a seamstress and her husband, Adolphus Johonson, a very kind man, had been a tailor. She once told me to make sure to carry at least $50 at all times because one day years ago Grandpa Johnson had been arrested for Jay Walking and he didn’t have the money to make bail. She laughed as she told me how she had to go down to the jail and get grandpa out, lecturing him on the way home, as she was known to do. She was such a strong personality, and so loving and bright. 
And a wonderful Great Grandma. 
 Marie Nash Johnson. 
Bright Blessings,
shir. 
 Read, Write, Dream, Teach !
 ShiraDest 
22 February, 12016 HE

–

Interesting how, just a year or two ago, I recall feeling guilty for being angry with the US Navy for burying this particular gr. gr. grandfather with honors, while my other gr. gr. grandfather was accused of suicide and his family chased off of their land in OK.  Guilty for having to believe that this man who was honored by the military did not deserve what the other grandfather did deserve, but never received.  And yet neither family prospered: the two families met and members married and died during the Gr. Depression of TB.

Yes, we can do better than this.

  More on my continuing striving with family of choice next time, friends:

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different reasons to study your thoughts.

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, if you feel safe enough.

3.) Share your thoughts a book from your GoodReads reading list on self-reflection,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that explores, tells a good story, or otherwise makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)

Study Saturdays, gullible or not, and what’s belief got to do with change and health, anyway?

Remember how inspiring the slogan “Yes, We Can,” became? It had to do with belief: if you do not believe a thing to be possible, for most people, you will not attempt it (and even those of us who throw ourselves into the breach still do so in the hope that our disbelief is wrong…): belief and hope are intertwined with mental health and healing, are they not?

Here is a gathering of thoughts from my study of my earlier journal entries, to see if I’d changed:

–

A classmate at Annapolis told me that they’d taken out the definition of ‘gullible’ in the dictionary and replaced it with my photo one day. I was furious, because shipmates aren’t supposed to bilge each other, and that to me was bilging.

But I want to believe that a better world is possible, a kinder world:
Perhaps the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would be a good ‘summation’ of what I want to see in the world?

[An aside: what I personally want may be quite different from what others want, of course. I would personally like to see a world where every person is free to travel anywhere, and where every person has a key to a very small flat -consisting of one room, well insulated, with a small kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and a bed. For free, with absolute lifelong rights. Also free would be brown rice (or similar equivalent grain), green leafy vegetables, and dried beans. That is the bare minimum that a person needs to live, and that (along with free Public Library borrowing rights and Health Care) should be totally free without question to every person at all times. Whether they work or not, deserving or not. No paperwork, no hassles. But for anything else a person may want, above this (deliberately quite Spartan and barebones) minimum, a person must contribute to society -i.e. work.  That is what I would like to see eventually, not going into political views…]

I look back 20 years on, now I see that I’ve always been accused of being gullible and naive, yet to be gullible, I think, is not from foolishness or stupidity, but from a stubborn refusal to believe that anyone could be dishonest.

Read, Write, Run, Teach !   ShiraDest,   16 February, 12016 HE

(update Edit from 2008 LJ entry: Yet every time I’m taken in by those who talk of dedication to ideals, and every time, I have wanted to believe. I went to Cambridge, as I came back to Bath, expecting nothing, yet finding other dedicated souls in places I had not looked before. Perhaps it is the expectations, desire to believe, desperation for drive, which brings the disappointment. Perhaps it is not only drive, not even a little rest, but mostly detachment that helps one fulfill full potential, live up to that long grey line. To be able to report with pride to those who have gone before us that we lived up to our calling.
No, work and determination must play the largest part, along with reflection.

(maybe this is why my fellow JROTC cadet Mahlon called me “overmotivated” all those years ago… I wonder if that’s why Monica and the other kids assumed I was dating my Tanzanian running partner at the DC Army National Guard youth camp, and Dawn thought I was dating my friend Shedrick from the NAI flight camp; wonder if their perceptions have changed over the years, despite little contact;)
Yes, hearing what you want to hear and believing it…
(But it’s hard to say ‘No, you are not being entirely truthful’…)
Read, Write, Dream, Teach !

ShiraDest
22 February, 12016 HE

–

 

  More on my continuing striving with self- study next Saturday, friends:

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different reasons to study your thoughts.

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, if you feel safe enough.

3.) Share your thoughts a book from your GoodReads reading list on self-reflection,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that explores, tells a good story, or otherwise makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)

Sacred Study Saturdays,study slacking, and what’s the Bible got to do with change, anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a true believer, but I find the biblical era and languages fascinating, as well as so ingrained in Western culture that it is important to understand on a more than cursory level. So, I slack off, but I always end up coming back, because I think that understanding what shapes our culture(s) is a crucial step in understanding how to change our paradigms from competition and individual importance to cooperation and and serving the community.

Here is where I am in my study of Biblical Hebrew this week!

I’ve nearly given up on this year’s Torah study cycle, finishing the end of the book of Deuteronomy, and looking forward to restarting Genesis shortly.

My notes thus far:

–

October 9, 2020 –

page 1194

 

76.59% “Back to the last Parashah of the year, Parashat Haazinu. After finishing the last of many warnings, Moshe Rabbeinu is summoned to his permanent rest, whether he wants to or not. The Rabbis say he passed on with a kiss from the creator.”

–

  More on my continuing striving with Bible study next week, friends:

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different resources to translate the word “morning” into Hebrew.

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, please.

3.) Share your thoughts on how you like each of the resources you found,  perhaps as an update on your GoodReads reading,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that uses a Hebrew word, tells a good story, and makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)

Thoughtful Thursdays: learning of Underground RR sites and race riots, when gatekeepers rule…

I’ve been reflecting on my time as a tour creator in DC, and wondering how slavery still influences us, today.   I loved giving the first tour of my Underground Railroad and Black History series Singing Community Cooperation tours back in DC, and then writing about them.

Interesting points that I tried to make during my tours, from a fascinating book about DC´s 1st race riot, by Moreley, in his new book, Snow-storm in August : Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the forgotten race riot of 1835, 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 eatery in DC, described in Morley’s excellent book, which I got from the DC Public Library.

 

With my DC Black-Jewish Walking Tours, I started by melding the Black and Jewish DC histories, which was way too big, and looked at how other groups give their walking tours to try to cut down my tours while keeping the essential, and then shared that information (yes, I was severely criticized by one person, acting as gatekeeper for me, I suppose, without my approval, for not keeping my sources secret, but that goes against my principles), hoping to attract allies and build a cooperative.  

Tying the past to the present:  Do gatekeepers enslave human potential?

In Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839 Frances Ann Kemble points to the reactions of slave owners and overseers in the capacity of gatekeepers, preventing the voices of slaves from being heard.

More generally and in the same vein, Voices of Dissent’s C. Heifetz and Sarah Ariste (magazine article from abt. 2006 now unfindable…), ask in “Voices Without Authority” whether our gatekeepers are preventing us from living up to our values as a society.

I further that question:
Are our gatekeepers, and particularly, those who choose the gatekeepers, preventing humanity from reaching its full potential? For, if we fail to live up to the values we profess as a society, such as freedom for all, or equality before the law, then are we not also limiting the potential contributions of some, and thus failing to achieve all that we could, as a whole?

I realize the need, in certain situations, for gatekeepers. However, when the gatekeepers act on the basis of privilege or perception, rather than on the actual needs of the given situation, they can be counter-productive. They can artificially prevent access, resulting in uneven or misleading outcomes, or in simple outright injustice. This reduces our effectiveness as a society in providing each person the opportunity to contribute fully to the creativity and productivity of the human race, and that, is a shame for all of us.

Gregorian Date:           Thursday, September, 2020AD 

Holocene Calendar:  Thursday, September, 12020 HE

Action Items:

1.)   Think of how you, personally, have been affected by gatekeepers?  How did you feel about that process?

2.)  Do you know of others who went through similar experiences, and how did that seem, to you?  Did you get to see the process from the other person’s point of view?

3.)  What do you know of other gatekeepers?

4.)  What do you think is the use of gatekeepers, and why? 

Let’s #EndPoverty , #EndHomelessness, & #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four key parts of our #PublicDomainInfrastructure:
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !

In Service to Human Community,
ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

5Month High School, Day 19: charts, radicals, Khan. 12020HE (Holocene Era)

Making charts, working through complex lower mathematics, and writing about it in a journal all hone the skills of problem-solving and critical thinking, skills as essential for being a competent citizen in our modern society as they were in a changing 1838 Baltimore.  Many thanks again to Sal Khan for his free public service education site Khan Academy.

Day 19, Tuesday, March 5th, 12019 HE

Grammar: Caps Review, Intro. to Essay Writing

Math: Exponents ARE Radical!!

Day19ExitSlips

Lesson Plan, 6-9pm, Tuesday, March 5th, 12019 HE

In our Learning Toolbox: this thought:
Vocabulary:
Copy into your notes, and Mind Map each word:
Reading Comp.
Vocab.
Grammar
Vocabulary
Math Vocabulary Test-taking Skills
Multiple possible
interpretations of a
text/passage
Capitalization,
review, Essay
writing outline
introduction
Radicals in relation
to exponential and
radical forms
Organizing your
information/choices/forms
of data or expression/pros
and cons (T-Charts…)
Various Common Nouns Radical as exponent substitution
Interpretations Proper nouns, I Fractional Exponent Different forms, same #
Express an idea, or
express a number
Brand name, Titles Negative Exponents Process of elimination
In terms of… Thesis & conclusion Fractional Exponents Listing varied possibilities
Quote/citation Pros and Cons of…
Rebuttal/To Rebut
Adding/multplying
Exponents
Most likely possibility
6pm: Spend one minute remembering a misunderstanding you had at some time in your life.
Write one or two sentences explaining: Write two sentences explaining various
possible interpretations of this song quote:
“…but I know what I am,
and I’m glad I’m a man,
and so is Lola…” (citation: the Rolling Stones)

6:02 Continue on work from your folder (on Reading/Literature/Science/Social Studies).
7pm: Stand up & Stretch, if you wish…
7:00 to 7:07 Reading Comprehension
7:07 to 7:15 Grammar lecture, using the passage below.
7:15 to 7:25 Math lecture, also using this same passage.
7:25-7:30 We do 1st question/problem from each online worksheet together, then you finish
the online activities from all lectures individually on the classroom computers.
Mathematics work online and/or in books from 7:45 until 8:45.
7:00-7:07: Reading Comp.: Capitalizing and Essay organizing
Today’s Passage: the dropping of the atomic bombs in japan marked the beginning
of the nuclear Age. in august 1949, the soviet union exploded its first atomic bomb. The
world’s two superpowers battled for supremacy and demanded that other nations take sides.
(Today’s reading comes from P. 289 in Peterson’s Master the HiSET, 2nd Edition…)
What are some possible interpretations of the phrase “battled for supremacy?”
Where are the Grammatical errors?
7:07 Grammar lecture part1/2: Capitalizing review
Rules: Capitalize These Words
1. Proper Nouns (and Brand Names)
2. Titles (except articles and prepositions)
3. First word in a sentence and the pronoun I
(source:
https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/languageartsworksheets/free-grammar-worksheets/capitalization-worksheets/)
(Extra help on capitalizing:
https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-grammar-worksheets/capitalization-lesson.mp4)
Now let’s do a Grammar exercise question (using Chrome Browser…) from
https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-grammar-worksheets/capitalization-practice-3/
Grammar lecture part2/2: Four main parts of an Essay
We’ve introduced the Thesis sentence, now we need to know that an essay should
have at least four paragraphs (¶):
Introduction, with your Thesis Sentence,
Body paragraphs, with your pros and cons, and
Conclusion paragraph, summarizing your argument or topic.
(https://www.uvu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/writing_process/basicessayformat.pdf
has a nice summary…)
Next week we will start writing an essay together.
7:15 Mathematics Topic: Exponents and Radicals, good friends that go together.
Why would we want to convert between forms of expression? Sometimes a problem
is easier to solve in an equivalent form…
Exponents rules and properties
Rule name Rule Example
Product rules
a
n
⋅ a
m
= a
n+m 2
3
⋅ 2
4
= 2
3+4 = 128
a
n
⋅ b
n
= (a ⋅ b)
n
3
2
⋅ 4
2
= (3⋅4)
2
= 144
Quotient rules
a
n
/ a
m
= a
n-m
2
5
/ 2
3
= 2
5-3
= 4
a
n
/ b
n
= (a / b)
n
4
3
/ 2
3
= (4/2)
3
= 8
Power rules
(b
n
)
m
= b
n⋅m
(2
3
)
2
= 2
3⋅
2
= 64
bn
m
= b(n
m
) 23
2
= 2(3
2
)= 512
m
√(b
n
) = b
n/m 2
√(2
6
) = 2
6/2 = 8
b
1/n
=
n
√b 8
1/3
=
3
√8 = 2
Negative exponents b
-n
= 1 / b
n
2
-3
= 1/2
3
= 0.125
Zero rules
b
0
= 1 5
0
= 1
0
n
= 0 , for n>0 0
5
= 0
One rules
b
1
= b 5
1
= 5
1
n
= 1 1
5
= 1
Minus one rule (-1)
5
= -1
(Source: https://www.rapidtables.com/math/number/exponent.html and
https://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/md/division-repeated-subtraction.php)
Notice that a negative exponent jumps the fraction bar, so b
-n
= 1 / b
n
Multiplication is repeated addition, so a
n
⋅ a
m
= a
n+m
Exponents are repeated multiplication, so (b
n
)
m
= b
n⋅m
Division is repeated subtraction, so a
n
/ a
m
= a
n-m
Let’s look at radicals, which are the flip-side of exponents:
m
√(b
n
) = b
n/m
b
1/n
=
n
√b
(Source: https://web.northeastern.edu/seigen/1250DIR/Handout-ExponentsandRadicals1.pdf)
So, exponents really are just radicals in a different form!
Now, let’s do the first online math worksheet problem together:
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/rational-exponents-and-radicals/alg1-radicals/e/root
s-of-decimals-and-fractions
7:30
1.) Please do the rest of our online grammar worksheet: (using Chrome Browser…)
https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-grammar-worksheets/capitalization-practice-3/
and
2.) Please do the remainder of online math worksheet:
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/rational-exponents-and-radicals/alg1-radicals/e/root
s-of-decimals-and-fractions
8:40 Exit Questions: 1. Please write one sentence explaining how you can use a chart to
show various forms of the same number.
2. What is a rebuttal?
3. What is the Distributive Property?
4. Show, using exponents, why the square root of five, multiplied by
itself, is equal to 5.
8:45 Turn in Exit Slip, Dismissal

Action Items in support of literacy that you can take right now:

1.) Search for two different resources for learning mathematics online (for free).

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, please.

3.) Share your thoughts on how you like each of the resources you found,  perhaps as an update on your GoodReads reading,

4.) Write a blog post or tweet that uses a math vocabulary word or story (like the Djinni’s gold offer), tells a fun story, and makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of 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, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans) !

ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the next lesson plan…)

Libraries and Language learning on Moody Mondays, from FORTRAN to Python! And may we all be Inscribed for a Good New Year, 5781. Shannah Tovah (Happy New Year 5781)

Ask Tamar, Ruth, and Scheherazade.  Even ladies in the Bible had to learn new languages, and sometimes, languages as ancient as FOTRAN or old Hebrew, to as new as Python or modern Arabic, hold the key to successfully charting a course in new waters.

רֶגַע… Rega… Wait, you say:
Scheherazade is not in the Bible, she is from the Thousand and One Nights, originally in Arabic, or maybe partly in Persian, but certainly not in Hebrew;
This, you remember!

Ok, point taken, her book was not in Hebrew, but Arabic is a sister language.  More on this shortly…

Tamar was a Canaanite woman, and so had to learn Hebrew, or Judah’s dialect of Hebrew at the very least.
Ruth, a native of Moab, had to learn the Hebrew of the time of her mother-in-law, Naomi.
Scheherazade, at the palace, had to learn the hardest languages of all: the languages of heartbreak, of story, and of love.

So, you see, returning to those sister languages, Scheherazade’s story, in one Semitic language, really is the same as that of her Biblical sisters, in another Semitic language: she was a clever lady faced with a survival situation in a man’s world. And she, like her sisters, had to learn a language in order to survive.

Each one of these ladies had to live by her wits in difficult times, and to use the tools available to her at that time. Nowadays, they would surely go together to the Public Library to learn to use the power of modern tools like computers and smartphones, especially using Unix to navigate this new world.   In the here and now, any one of us can learn a bit of a language to pass on to another young woman, helping her to succeed.  Any language will do, whether it is a natural language, like Hebrew or Arabic, or a programming language, like FORTRAN or Python.   Either way, libraries, online or physical, are a key of help and hope for finding this information.  And as they succeeded then, so could we all succeed again, using adaptability, daring, and hope.

Hope for us all.

Action Item:

1.)  Check out a book on coding in any language from your Public Library,

2.)      …find the first “Hello World” page, and  try it out yourself, and then

3.)      …share it with a friend!

4.)  … or, just write a story about a strong lady who has to learn some new skill in order to adapt to difficult or dangerous circumstances?  🙂

Let’s #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness, & #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four parts of our good #PublicDomainInfrastructure:
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !

#PublicDomainInfrastructure #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19
ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE

image: By Wikimedia – Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55282489

Thoughtful Thursdays: learning a language to smile at others, or not?

Short story: glad I smiled at someone I did not know -who thanked me, and made me grateful to be alive, back in 2005. And even more recently.

Less short version of the story:
When I lived in Izmir, that summer I took long walks on Saturday afternoons. I had the habit of smiling, or at least nodding, to every person I saw because frankly, I hoped someone would smile or nod back at me. At least acknowledge me as a fellow human being, as I tried to do, even passing the homeless people lining the streets as you go into the Metro (in DC).

So, I nodded at a lady in passing, never met her, just kept going because I was too tired to say Gunaydin (Good Morning/afternoon in Turkish), and my Turkish was only rudimentary any way.
Then I heard a call behind me. I turned to see that woman walking back toward me, and her eyes were glistening.
She put her hand on my chest, nothing scary, nothing sexual, just an ordinary safe contact, and said, in very simple Turkish that was clear and slow, that in five years in Izmir, no one had ever greeted her. She thanked me, and I nodded in return, too moved to get out even one word of Turkish. We both turned and went our own ways. And now, over ten years later, I am glad that I smiled at a random person whom I had never met, and never saw again.
I hope that I can share that joy with …    Everyone.

Action Items:

1.)   Consider:  Do you, personally, greet, or don’t greet, people you do not know?  How did you feel about strangers greeting you?

2.)  How do you think this appears, from the other person’s point of view?

3.)  What do you think about the idea of greeting everyone, stranger or not, and why? 

Let’s #EndPoverty , #EndHomelessness, & #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four key parts of our #PublicDomainInfrastructure:
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !

In Service to Human Community,
ShiraDest

scheduled in September, 12020 HE

Thoughtful Thursdays: learning, teaching, and adulthood?

Winning glory on today’s battlefield: The Modern Mind

Renault’s excellent book The Persian Boy shows the difficulty of learning, and of teaching. Both would probably be easier if our society understood what it takes to teach a person a useful and necessary skill from start to finish. Hence my proposal for a modern universal
Adult Rite of Passage.

   What we need our children to prove, upon recognition of adulthood, is not their prowess in battle or the hunt, not their virility, not their adeptness at social maneuvering, but their ability to contribute meaningfully to society by teaching another member of the community, from level 0, how to do something that is both difficult and absolutely necessary in our society today. By requiring our children to teach some other person, child or adult, a needed life skill, over the course of about a year, this pre-adult shows persistence, perseverance, discernment, and of course, the key skill in question. A useful side effect of this is also that it would effectively increase (dramatically) the number of available tutors, and also lead to every adult in our society coming away with an understanding of the challenges involved in teaching anyone anything non-trivial. Thus we provide an esteem building exercise and respect building accomplishment all in one go. We then reward that accomplishment with full adult status, whatever the age of the pre-adult in question. This obviously assumes that the pre-adult has had opportunity to prove his or her good judgement in other ways as well, prior to seeking said recognition. This might help as one step of a series of steps implemented by and through local communities which could lead to more long-term thinking in society at large, given a critical mass and good faith in the ability of human kind to rise above our instincts, and learn to cooperate. In other words (from Lenier in Bablylon 5): to be better than we are.

Action Items:

1.)   Think of how you, personally, showed that you were an adult: did you go through any sort of ritual, rite of passage, or testing period?  How did you feel about that process?

2.)  Do you know of others who went through rites of passage, and how did that seem, to you?  Did you get to see the process from the other person’s point of view?

3.)  What do you know of any currently used rites of passage (Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the cutting of the T-Shirt for soloing student pilots, etc)?

4.)  What do you think the above suggested Modern Adult Rite of Passage would accomplish for our society, and why? 

Let’s #EndPoverty , #EndHomelessness, & #EndMoneyBail starting by improving these four key parts of our #PublicDomainInfrastructure:
1. #libraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare , and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!!!, Walk !

In Service to Human Community,
ShiraDest

September, 12020 HE