Finally, a Glimmer of Global Health Light

    This spark needs to be fanned into a global health care flame of hope for all of us, through learning, and through persistent caring about all of us:

“This is a long overdue technology”

From NPR, by Fran Kritz

   Indeed, it is long overdue.  With no need for cold storage, medical bio hazard waste or the sharps disposal infrastructure needed, not to mention the trained medical staff, needed to deliver vaccines via shots, and no clean water for rendering the concentrate into individual doses (which I had never read about until now, and that requires even further training and staff time…), and no wasted doses.  Why has this not been done far, far earlier?  Yes, I know that the big pharmaceuticals and other groups benefit from costly supply chains, need for electricity, transportation requirements, and even from the wasted doses, but really, people, where is the humanity of all of those few who benefit from the suffering of so many?  If enough citizens of countries which are supposed to be governed by the consent of those citizens would make enough noise, and also be willing to sacrifice enough of their own over use and excess wealth, then this would not be a difficult problem to solve.  If enough of us had the sense of solidarity, the willingness to walk, and the empathy to put ourselves into the shoes of the ‘other’ who suffers, we could easily do so much better.

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

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Click here for:

Learning through story:

and here, for

Learning via Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or here, for

 Learning from Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

     Empathetic Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.    Please help me share the work of this project.

Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

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

Old Friends, Old Poems, Financial Self-Defense, Mass Transit, and Un-Affordable Health Care

The common good, or the general welfare, means we must become more fully inclusive for all of us.  Especially those of us who are car-free, either due to inability to drive, for whatever reason, or because driving is so mentally unhealthy that some drivers would be a danger to themselves and other drivers.  Many people seem to feel threatened when friends go car-free, and also react with anger at the frugal lifestyle choices of low-consumption friends, oddly enough.  Would it help to explain how important preventative thriftiness is, and how crucial a good mass transit system is to help those who cannot drive, in a world where those battling mental health issues are blamed for their own illnesses?  Here was how I put it, just over ten years ago:

–

I am going to die young

I eat organic, so I spend more money
I walk and ride metro, so I have less time
I refuse to build weapons, keep secrets,
support unjust policy, enforce coercion,
contribute to oppression, so I have less money,
I compost, recycle, taking more time,
I speak out, so I am less liked,
I refuse chit chat, so I am alone
therefore, I will die, with meaning, but young.
This is quite possibly the worst poem I have ever written.

(12023 HE update: worst in terms of verse rhythm quality, but most important in terms of outcome, which was #ProjectDoBetter… see ‘blamed for their own …’ linked above, please)

–

So, it turns out that posting this poem was not a good idea, as my friends did not like it, at all, and criticized me for  being negative.  Never asking what was behind it at all…

If we had
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport

 then this would be a different world, wouldn’t it?

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

Review: L’herbier Toxique: Codes Secrets Pour Plantes Utiles, by Bernard Bertrand

    I got this book as a gift when I lived in France, but lent it to someone, and never got it back.  Yet another reason to either borrow from or buy and gift to your local public library, since I could at least go back to the library to read this book again, were I still in that library circulation area (yes, I know, many libraries simply sell copies of donated books if they are not popular with the normal patrons in that local area, unfortunately, merely putting the book back into private hands, but at least the local library would have benefited from my donation of that book that I will never see again).

Excellent summary of many plants which range from mildly toxic to instantly fatal, with enlightening commentary on how (i.e. P. 7-8) fear is used to control public use of herbs and plants. On p. 10 and 12 the author poses wonderful questions about intellectual poisoning by authorities who grant power to the big pharmaceutical companies.

P. 15, 33 and 136 were positively shocking -why prohibit natural pesticides?

P. 152 gives a good warning on why one should cook potatoes whole and unpeeled

I wish I had a copy now to look up those interesting questions and at least list them for those without access to this book.  If all state/county/city public library systems had automatic free ILL exchange agreements with other library systems, like the BNF (Biblioteque National de France), we would have at the very least, the French copy of this book accessible to borrow, if there is no English translation yet available (though I’d be surprised if there were not one by this time, as it has been nearly a decade since I read this one in Brittany).   Yet another reason to learn other languages besides Esperanto, although a translation into Esperanto as an automatic default would make a worldwide library system far more accessible to us all.

  (As Project Do Better works to help accomplish…)

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts on how medicinal plant knowledge can again empower not only women as healers, but all of us in this world, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

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

Click here to read, if you like:

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

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about and sharing #ProjectDoBetter.  This novel is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

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

US Health Care Policy is Humiliating: We Can Really Do Better

       We could Do Better if we cared.  This is why Public health care is a key part of Phase I of #ProjectDoBetter:

“Many people don’t know that we are in a maternal and infant health crisis in… Our country is currently the least safe to give birth and be born in among industrialized countries, and…not having access to high-quality maternity care…”

(from NPR By Rachel Treisman…)

     While these are difficult problems to solve, maternal health care and the long held biases that lead to these outcomes, the problems can be solved.  But, working together across issue interest divides to connect all of our work together is crucial:

 

     We really can Do Better

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Thoughtful Readers, share your ideas for health care solutions, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment here, that uses those thoughts.

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

Click here for:

Learning through story:

                                                   Babylon5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin,  La Casa de Papel/Money Heist, or El Ministerio del Tiempo Reviews

Learning via Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or

 Learning from Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about Phase I of #ProjectDoBetter.  This work is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

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

Black Maternal Health: We Could Do Better if We CAREd…

     This is why Project Do Better starts by emphasizing public health care and self-education for advocacy, starting now, in Phase I:

“Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to white women.”

(from NPR’s April Dembosky, and others at NPR, several times since October…)

And it’s preventable…

       While not all of our problems can be fixed immediately, education is the common denominator for solving them, which is why independent and learner-led education forms the bedrock of Project Do Better’s Public Health Care advocacy:

starting in Phase I, particularly via the free Holistic High School and college algebra lesson plans linked below, and then becoming even more personalized during Phase II.  Health care, education, and other key infrastructure issues all come to bear on one another in an interconnected way.

     We really can Do Better

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Dear Readers, share your thoughts on long term problem-solving solutions, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

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

Click here for:

Learning through story:

                                                   Babylon5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin,  La Casa de Papel/Money Heist, or El Ministerio del Tiempo Reviews

Learning via Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or

 Learning from Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This work is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

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

Review: Ma Bible des Huiles Essentielles, by Danièle Festy

Ma Bible Des Huiles Essentielles by Danièle Festy

My rating and review was initially on WorldCat: 5 of 5 stars, because this book shows the important knowledge gathered by women, often ignored by the male establishment, yet essential for human development, like what Project Do Better works to help us all learn, in various stages, both for public health, and for that public store of knowledge held in libraries of all kinds, in various languages.

Huiles Essentielles, huiles végétales qui viennent avec et même les voies d’administration pour chaque maladie ! On ne peut pas terminer de lire ce livre, cars c’est trop bon, trop plein et trop utile !  (p. 448: sinusit, mais pas de EU. radie…)

(Sorry, not sure if this book has been translated in to English, but I certainly hope that it has, by now!)

Essential oils, vegetable oils that go with them, and even the best ways to take each oil for every illness! One can never finish reading this book because it is too good, packed full, and useful! (good for sinus infections…)

Read, Write, Run, Teach !

ShiraDest
originally posted 12 February, 12016 HE

Dear Readers, do you have ideas to share on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness, & achieve full potential for All HumanKind?

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Click here to read about:

Learning Empathy Through Film and TV Reviews,

Independent or Classroom Learning via Holistic High School and College Algebra Lesson Plans,

           or Learning With Long Range Plans, & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BsCs

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

Parashat Bo (בֹּא) 5783, Unnecessary Deaths, and Equal Access to Health Care

        This week’s parashah is Bo (“Come!”), the 15th parashah overall, and third portion of Shemot/Exodus.  The last of the plagues, the first Pesach/Passover, and the Exit from Egypt are all in this week’s annual cycle of the portion for this week.

  Last year, we asked about Parashat Bo, and when Come really means Go,  from a linguistic and other points of view.   From an access to health care point of view, such a basic human right and whether everyone has actual access to that right shows the status of a society, and partly, how just or injust that society is.  This, in turn, shows how stable and prone to revolution or violence that society might be at a given moment in history, which is important for preventing violence, by checking inequality in various areas.

  The first pass-over is not what I would consider an example of justice, nor is it what I would want to hold up as an example of fairness, since the First Born who died were mostly, if at all, not implicated in the decisions and policy-making of that Pharaoh, even if some of those eldest children probably had a hand in upholding the unjust system, as overseers, inheritors, and heads of families.  It is, however, an excellent example of unequal distribution of resources, from information, to wealth, and an unhappy example of the consequences of injustice, that we can avoid in the future.  We really can Do Better.

–

     Last week was the start of the book of Names/Exodus: Parashat Vaera 5783,  looking at the role of humility in public decision making and health care outcomes.

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

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

     We can really Do Better, and Project Do Better proposes a long term plan.

–

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

Click here to read, if you like:

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

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

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

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

Shira

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

Parashat VaYechi 5783, Favoritism vs. Family Mental Health, and The Common Good

        This week’s parashah is VaYechi, the 12th and final portion of Bereshit/Genesis, and first Torah portion of the secular year 2023 CE/ 12023 HE.  In this parashah, Joseph swears to bury his father up north, gets the double inheritance, promises not to kill his brothers for what they did to him, and then, dies, after making them swear to bury his bones up north, some time in the future.  Once again, we see the effects of favoritism, jealousy, and rigid inheritance rules on family relationships, and how harmful this can all be.   Here is another reason that long term planning and access to basic survival and equal health care resources for everyone is essential to the democratic process, right?

     The common good requires both rule of law and an acceptance by all to refrain from taking personal vendettas to their individually desired conclusions, while trusting in a system of justice that will both resolve existing cases of injustice, and also prevent future wrongs.  This makes favoritism bad both for the general welfare in terms of law and order, and also for public mental and even physical health, due to both fear and threat of violence, as well as the public health menaces which are increased when sanitation, food and water access, and other services are disrupted by ongoing lawlessness.   When a family, especially a ruling or powerful family, does not set the best example for the common good of all without distinction, society degrades into a set of competing groups which then prevents all of us from solving common problems together in a more efficient way for everyone.  Thus, the difference that Joseph shows us between justice (as he got a double portion) and vengeance (as he refrained from taking revenge on his brothers) set an example for later society.    Even if his taking of the land and persons of Egypt were less than just, some progress takes longer…

   Last year we looked at this portion, Parashat VaYechi, from the point of view of Endings.

     Last week was  Parashat VaYigash 5783, Land vs. Public Health, and Tightening Belts.

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

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

     Let’s Do Better.

–

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

Click here to read, if you like:

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

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

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

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

Shira

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

Parashat VaYigash 5783, Land vs. Public Health, and Tightening Belts

       In this week’s parashah, Vayigash, the 11th in the Torah and last of the secular year 2022 CE/ 12022 HE, Joseph ends freedom and begins the slide toward feudalism by taking ownership of almost all of the land in Egypt in exchange for releasing the stored grain to the very farmers who had planted and harvested it, but lacked storage space.  See why long term planning and access to basic survival and equal health care resources for everyone is essential to the democratic process?

   Last year we mentioned R. Hillel‘s comment on responsibility   .

     Last week, we looked at reverse engineering solutions to prevent famine, in Parashat Miketz 5783, Famine Prevention as Public Health, and More Dreams:

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

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

Let’s Do Better.

–

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

Click here to read, if you like:

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

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

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

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

Shira

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

Legal and Health Sciences Learning on GED/HiSET Lesson Plan Day 42/67, and Why Words are Important

Understanding health/life sciences,  distinctions between meanings of the same word, and local legal details, on Day 42/67: Five Month GED, “Discrete What?” & Health Terminology includes being able to tell apples from oranges, and knowing where to find up to date answers.  The local public library is there to help.

Photo by RP Photography on Pexels.com

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

Shira

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

Click here to read, if you like:

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

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

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