‘We should have died’
BEIRUT — Nothing but death all around the place. Chunks of human flesh can be seen everywhere — a hand, a leg, half a body. Dozens of people are wounded, some covered with blood and shaking in shock after the twin suicide bombing that struck the entrance of the Iranian Cultural Center in southern Beirut on Feb. 19, killing seven, along with the two suicide bombers.
via ‘We should have died’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.
she who risks her life
seeking life in the snow
mother’s warmth
*
warm your arms
serving with no complaint
broken, impatient
Each of us have been recipients of the selfless care of others. As I face surgery on Wednesday and more weeks of recovery from my accident, I am grateful to family and friends who are taking care of all the details in my life.
And thanks to Kristjaan for the haiku journey toward Selflessness
A post by Peter Jordens.
For Jamaican Neila Ebanks, dance is a vehicle for expressing freedom. Tanya Batson-Savage of Caribbean Beat (the in-flight magazine of Caribbean Airlines, January-February 2014 issue) talks to the celebrated dancer and choreographer about her joy in crossing physical boundaries.
Neila Ebanks’s forearm is a clue to her personality. It bears the tattooed words “integrity is freedom,” an open reminder of a hard-learned but valuable lesson, on the importance of being true to yourself. “The only way to be really free is to be aligned with what your truth is,” she says. “Not what you say it is, what you know it is.” She goes on: “It’s a way of wearing my heart on my sleeve. You meet me. You know.”
Dancer, choreographer, and academic, Ebanks is considered one of the Caribbean’s most innovative performing artists by her peers. She has performed with Jamaica’s top…
View original post 702 more words
The California Department of Public Health announced on Friday that the number of influenza-related deaths during the 2013-2014 season has increased by 41 to a total of 243.
An additional 41 deaths are under investigation, and not yet confirmed to be related to the flu.
via California’s confirmed flu deaths reach 243 | Vaccine News Daily.
Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi offers us a raw insight into what it must feel like to “argue” for the Palestinian cause in settings where excessive(ly politicized) political correctness silences basic human rights.
This divestment bill
hurts my feelings
That Caterpillar bulldozer
ended life in the body of
an American citizen. drove
her bones into the ground while
a company cashed in on the sale
The claws of D-9 bulldozers unearth
the livelihood of occupied Palestinians
uprooting their crops and cemeteries
to make way for illegal settlements
But we need a positive
campus climate
While HP’s stock rises on division
producing technology to segregate
Palestinians. Biometric ids at checkpoints
equipment. enhancing the naval blockade
of an open air prison
Palestinians on campus listen to words
like climate, positive, hurt feelings
knowing their tuition invests in companies
reigning terror on loved ones
that suffering, like their voices
is non-existent to student…
View original post 308 more words
Nestle is voluntarily recalling two of its Hot Pockets products as part of a larger meat recall.
The food maker said Tuesday that it is recalling an unspecified number of “Philly Steak” and its “Croissant Crust Philly Steak and Cheese” Hot Pockets in certain sizes.
Nestle says the products may have been affected by a meat recall by Rancho Feeding Corp. that was announced last week.
Rancho is recalling more than 8.7 million pounds of beef products after regulators said that it processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full inspection. The USDA says the products were unfit for human consumption.
No illnesses have been reported.
Nestle says a small quantity of meat from Rancho was used at a California production facility that makes Hot Pockets.
via Nestle Recalls Hot Pockets.
Stage set for neo-Maoist retro-lution?
Reminds me of flight of monied classes from Russia after 1905 revolution failure and from China in 1948-49 era…
It is possible to make a great deal of money under “Chinese-style socialism” – either legally, or illegally. Last year the Boston Consulting Group, a management consultancy, estimated that there were more than one million Chinese dollar millionaires. This means that, in the ranking of countries with the most millionaires, China is in third place.
Now, a poll of 400 of the Chinese millionaires has revealed that 65 percent want to leave the country where they made their money, or are at least trying to get a residence permit to live elsewhere. Often, they send their families on ahead. According to the poll by the Shanghai company Hurun, 30 percent already have a permit to live abroad.
So what is it that’s driving the millionaires to flee? In an interview with DW, Kristin Kupfer from the Mercator Institute of China Studies in Berlin cited three main motives. “Legal uncertainty is one reason,” she said. “Then they are looking for a better educational environment for their children, and a third reason is the very bad environmental situation in China.”
Competition for capital refugees
Countries around the world are paving the way for these Chinese wealth refugees, offering special programs that issue residence permits in exchange for investment. Australia, the US and the EU are effectively competing to welcome moneyed Chinese.
via China’s rich beat a path to foreign shores | Asia | DW.DE | 19.02.2014.
Women will decide the future
The Kurdish party PYD has also introduced a women’s quota of 40 percent, and the party’s executive is half women. Co-chairwoman to Asya Abdullah is fully dedicated to her political work and equality. She is convinced that “women have become the benchmark.” And she continues, “In some sectors, women have become so dominant that now men are demanding a quota.” Not every man is happy about that, she says, laughing. Even the male member of the regional parliament who’s sitting beside has to laugh at that, but he doesn’t contradict.
The Kurdish women’s great role model is the rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in a Turkish jail since 1999. The leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who spent 20 years of his life in exile in Syria, repeatedly demanded the liberation of women. Many Kurdish families still display his photo in their living room, and Öcalan’s nickname Apo is sprayed on numerous buildings. In their fight for autonomy, the Kurds may turn out to be the winners of the Syrian conflict – as long as they aren’t pulverized amid the conflicting interests of Syria’s neighbors.
via Women join the Kurdish fight in Syria | World | DW.DE | 19.02.2014.
Instead of facilitating my obvious desire to learn and be challenged, my teachers tried to control me and stuff me into a box. As a result, by the end of my time in organized education, I couldn’t stand school and I looked at authority figures as cowards instead of role models.
Educators spend a lot of time being stifled by limited resources in their classrooms. They also don’t feel like they get the respect they deserve from their students. And the entire education system reeks of missed opportunities.
We have to understand, kids are smarter than us. We can’t teach them the same way we used to. They are now the ones teaching us. And if we can get over our pride and pay attention to what’s in front of us, we can give them just the right push to help shape the future of powerful young leaders.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
~ Margaret Mead
Here are 5 things I learned from my students that have made me a better person and a much better educator.
via 5 Things Adults Can Learn from Children. | Rebelle Society.
Culture War is Class War disguised. The Wealthy Elite--the "Filthy Rich"--foment Culture War in society to distract and cover their real economic motives. Culture War, Class War explores the resulting cultural divide--how it was instigated and kept alive for fifty years in America by certain elite powers and how and why they choose to benefit while tearing families in two and keeping America paralyzed.
an A to Z guide to Vaccines
Arabic Literature and Translation
Second Look Behind the Headlines
Why people hate the truths of the world.
that all men are created equal
THOUGHTS FOR THE POST-2008 WORLD
Wellness Leadership Education
Essays on economic crisis, decoding dominant ideologies and creating a better world
Foregrounding voices of colour
"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine
living in the shoes of a woman
A Letter Never Received
His mom, kind of.
A Unique Decade in American History
words infused with art
"The silence of the night awakens my soul"
