New Moon, New Post November 16, 2009

It’s the first snow here in Topeka, KS, and I love winter.  I love all the seasons really, and I’m fascinated by science learning because we can explore what we observe.  The weather does not have to be at our comfort level in order for us to explore what kind of effect today’s weather will have on tomorrow.  No, not because the roads may be slick or because I may be put out (trying to drag my patooty out of bed earlier) but because this snowy winter will be beneficial for the spring plow & sow.  I hope this is not the last snow, but the first of many.

I suppose this is why I could never truly be a pessimist: I have Hope.  Not hope in any Diety per se, but hope that we (mankind) can someday find Nature’s balance between our knowledge & our intuition.  It is the Human Condition to understand both Science and Philosophy.  It is unnatural to put a Wall between the two, when we homo sapiens are both.  So when I catch another thread about Creationism v. Darwin’s theory I wonder: aren’t we done with this bit yet?

I mean, seriously,why couldn’t God have given us Evolution?  I personally think it was the other way around, but that’s my belief.   Can we move on and accept that It is what It is no matter if It was Created or not.  Religion is to the World stage as Opinions are to you and me.  Isn’t it enough that we are here?  Think about the Experience of life, and not so much about Who or What it came from.

I had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Richard Jackson, of UCLA, speak in Topeka in October, and he shared plenty of new information on Nature’s role in human health and wellness.  Dr. Jackson is an advocate for walkable communities and limiting urban sprawl, but our group spent almost two hours discussing how & why to get children and adults outdoors away from the TV (and here I sit at the other Zombie Box).  Our group mostly consisted of folks from KDHE, and one of the points we discovered about society today is that parents do not know how to be outdoors.  This fact is one that is quite disturbing to me as an educator.  Part of my professional duty is to educate parents as well as their children, and I cannot stress enough how simple it is to spend 30 minutes outdoors with your children, everyday.  Do not fear your neighborhood; it takes good people to make a neighborhood good.  As to what to do with your children once you do get to the park or to the backyard: explore.  No toys necessary.  If you do have a backyard, or even a balcony: garden.  While I understand there are some neighborhoods, even here in Topeka, KS, where one should not take their children outdoors, I’ve seen some poor slums thrive with children outdoors in the afternoons and evening hours.  Parents, if you need to relieve stress for a moment go outdoors with your children.  Grow flowers.  Grow herbs on a balcony.  And all you brown thumb naysayers I tell you this: growing a plant, or a garden, is as simple as caring for pets.  More simple, really.  And its food.  It is this inter-dependent relationship we Humans have with Flora & Fauna that make our existence truly unique, as a creature on this Earth.  Savor Life.

Heart on my sleeve October 27, 2009

Now, some of you have called me ‘preachy’…well, many do, but I speak what I understand is Truth, and if you disagree then by all means share your thoughts.  Please, no cussing wars, this is a family room!  Today’s events in  Topeka are quite alarming.  A woman was gunned down at a community center across the street from a middle school.  My heart goes out to the family of 34-year old Marini McKnight, and I light a candle for this tragedy.  The murderer is 20 years old, and this area of town is definitely the ghetto.  Please do not misunderstand, Dear Reader, as a hippy I got nothin’ but love for mankind.  My idea of ‘ghetto’ is inspired by Elvis.  “An angry young man with a gun in his hand.”  This is one of the worst kinds of violence (ghetto wars) and I am confused as to why people are reduced to living with violence?  My stepson (who thinks I’m the Devil) went to Jr. High here, and I can’t help but think: What IF this event had happened at that time?  He could have been at the center… I also have an almost 20 yer old daughter, and while I did not raise her I also have to wonder: what did these children learn that our gunman did not?  Yes, he’s 20, an adult legally, but still so young as to be some mother’s son.  I won’t get too deep into behavioral psychology, but think about this, Dear Reader: What did this young man grow up with to feel justified in murder?  What threat did this woman pose to his way of life that he felt it necessary to shoot her dead?

Who is brave and bold will perish;
Who is brave and subtle will benefit.
The subtle profit where the bold perish
For Fate does not honour daring.
And even the sage dares not tempt fate.

Fate does not attack, yet all things are conquered by it;
It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
It does not call, yet all things meet it;
It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.

Fate’s net is vast and its mesh is coarse,
Yet none escape it.

Tao Te Ching 73

I will admit recently I have been too preachy.  But when I hold my tongue stuff like this happens.  I understand this event has nothing to do with me directly; it’s some bad thing that happened in my school community.  But I also believe there are no coincidences.  What could community members do for this child, this individual, that he would not have considered murdering another human?  Let alone someone’s mother?

I believe school community gardens are a solution to the issue of reducing neighborhood violence.  Throughout history every large city has had its share of violence, and this Truth is brought home today.  Murder is a moral issue of Good and Bad, Right and Wrong.  And yet, ghetto violence, the Mob, Gang wars, and the like are a result of a community’s social order.  We as a people can act immediately to get violence out of school neighborhoods.  However, our society honors a schedule that is not beneficial to families and children.  School gardens are benefical in several ways, too many to list here.  Check out Ten Benefits if you haven’t yet Dear Reader.   

I understand how difficult it is for any community to come together, when We have become very diversified within neighborhoods.  ’Community’ is no longer exclusive to ‘Home’ because the working class (near poverty) isn’t at home.  The poor have been neglected, and have lost Hope, as evidenced in today’s woeful misfortune in my hometown.  I believe it takes Good people to create a Good community, and the one place we can come together is in our schools.  I urge residents of Central Topeka to come together and build Robinson a garden.  A FOOD garden.  I hope our city leaders can make this happen, cause lip service just don’t fly no more.  Schools don’t have money because parent’s don’t have money because mom’s have a full-time job and pay someone else to co-mom, and education is undervalued in the current social order.  Before entering the workplace, Mothers played a crucial role in society.  This role is just not realisticly achieved in modern society, and it is time for Us to Help One Another.  When an individual’s basic needs are not met, he cannot concern himself with morality.  He’s in survival mode.  How many of us honestly know about survival mode in an urban ghetto?  I’ve been there, and I am thankful for learning to Love. (right now I’m working on esteem and cofidence, thanks Maslow)  Help a child learn to Love by volunteering in your neighborhood school.  Whether or not you have children, whether or not you live in a large community.  Employers: support your workers in their community, and offer volunteer incentives.  Citizens: see about a tax credit for volunteer hours. 

Let’s Work Together

How to grow your own fresh air October 13, 2009

A group in India has found a mathematically correct way to use plants for fresh indoor air in a sealed building

Ted Talks

Light Bulb To The Dome September 21, 2009

Parents & Teachers, I believe it is our responsibility as adults to correct and protect the environmental damage wreaked on the planet by previous generations, and the current Energy Elites.  The children we care for today will have a bleak future as adults if we do not act.  Please do not misunderstand me, I struggle with my own flaws and weaknesses every day.  I’ll admit giving up a convienient lifestyle has been terribly hard.  I have a deep respect for working moms who cook the whole week’s dinners on Sunday.  But it’s the shopping on Saturdays that cannot be the bread & butter of this country’s economy much longer.  I’ll admidt I miss eating at Wendy’s, or driving the kids thru McD’s when we’re running late, or the convenience of frozen lasagna.  Yet this lifestyle change (how & where I spend my few pennies) is simple because I know in my heart its the right thing to do, not merely for the environment, but for the community and my family’s health and wellness.  That is why I hope to urge you to write or call your congressional representatives and insist upon them to support the President’s environmental agenda.  “Greening” our infastructure will provide new jobs for generations to come.  I hope that when my boys graduate high school they can go to tech school and know their career choices will not involve the promotion of shady backdoor politics or endanger their own lives just to put food on the table. Republicans have not considered the people, but only their people, since the Regan era.  Today, the GOP wants a moratorium on the EPA’s regulation of “heat-trapping emissions from stationary sources like power plants and industrial facilities.”  They propose that the EPA only be granted regulation of mobile sources of pollution (as though one is any more viable than the other).  What it really boils down to is that the cronies have all their gold invested in non-renewable resources, and supporting renewable energy sources would cost billions of dollars in structural changes.  Yet this issue is not the same choice as, say, letting your old junker car drive itself to death and then buy an economy car.  The government must also shift its spending.  Instead of investing one more dollar into coal, it must invest dollars in wind and solar.  We the people need to insist that government stop spending our tax dollars wrecklessly, and consider the constituents they represent, the ones that do not have $10,000 or more  to contribute to a campaign fund.  We the people can also vote en masse  for individuals who do not represent The Corporation’s machine.  The time for apathy has passed, even Zen masters know that there is time for action, as there is time for non-action.  To everything there is a season, and the change is now.

Obama’s Kitchen Garden September 15, 2009

I am so glad to have greenies back in the White House!  They’re methods are not as progressive as you’d think, and several times I have wondered how our society got the idea that consumerism was conservative.  Michelle Obama is bringing back the traditional kitchen garden, and just in time!  The people need to understand that this one simple step, growing a garden specifically for use in your own kitchen, is a step toward a healthier self and a truly conservative society.  Growing your own food saves money, energy resources, and prevents obesity while teaching healthy habits to children.  Our GOP only fights this because organic gardens do not put money into Big Ag’s pocket.  As I’ve said before, it’s not about the money!  Kansans would be wise to continue to vote for true conservatism by getting back to our roots and growing a garden.

Kids Gardening How To September 14, 2009

…involve kids in the necessities of maintenence.  This article, from the experts at National Gardening Association, has such wonderful, simple tips and tricks to help you get kids into the garden and keeping it healthy and sustained.  Think of the garden as your child’s exploration into the web of life, and let him journey to discover bugs, dirt, weather, food, and how each organism is connected right in your own backyard!

Kalanchoe August 25, 2009

I acquired two varieties of Kalanchoe from a friend cleaning out the small campus greenhouse for use this fall semester.  This plant was everywhere! It had taken over.  So at first, I was wary to bring it into the preschool classroom, where it would shed its babies onto other potted plants, and takeover the room.  Then I thought of a simple experiment that made the plant worthwhile: soil structure.  One container of sand, one container of soil, and one container 50/50.  What will the children think of this experiment?  And will their patience hold out to wait and see which type of soil the plant thrives & survives in?  What if I could avert their attention to Geography and discuss the area of the Earth in which this plant does grow wild?  Hmm…. Observing plant life, the possibilities become numerous.  We could count how many teeny-tiny sprouts each plant produces.  We could measure how far the Kalanchoe actually spreads its stem.  We could observe that one plant has thin leaves, and one plant has broad leaves.  Hey! Why is that?  Teachers, just remember that its ok for you to learn alongside your students, no matter their age, about the wonders of the natural world. 

Harvesting Lessons August 20, 2009

This article by Carrie Madren shares the story of the Shady Side Elemetary school garden club and their experiences in the gardening world.  Children are learning that food doesn’t start in the grocery store, and are planting foods in ways that are historical to their environment.  For example, planting corn with squash and beans, as the Native American’s did.  The garden club is spearheaded by–who else?–community volunteers.

Recycle City August 16, 2009

This site is fun for parents and children, and a great source for classroom internet research.  Activities and games teach how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

The Lorax August 16, 2009

This Dr. Seuss story has been my favorite since childhood, and may have been my first seed of thought for being a responsible steward of nature.  This CyberGuide developed by Barbara Edwards and Amy Heckman extends the story into an active learning unit where children can explore information on the web.  Parents and teachers, check out this excellent source of environmental education!