Perspective on Reading

I randomly listen to talk programs. I happened upon a program on Literacy. It was inspiring. Brought me to tears. It included stories about adults making the commitment to read and how this commitment and the reading transformed their lives.

I took away this new perspective on Reading.
The transition from Learn to Read to Read to Learn is where many non-readers get lost in the system. This transition most commonly happens in about the 4th grade.

Celebrate Wallingford Weekend-Freeman

So I wore the big blue Penguin costume again today to promote the cause protection of free speech. I greeted children. I encouraged adults. It was exhausting. My hope is that I made a dent in the sphere of possible. That there will be a ripple that can become viral. That we can begin to make the station a force for good.

quake & waves --- the world became even smaller

Of the Sea - it is hard to imagine the magnitude of the ocean horizon so the tremors of that same ocean is even more remote a plausibility to imagine. But the mother in me suspects its vastness does not compare to the distance created by not knowing about someone dear who is in harms way. I am blessed not to have a child in a war, or ill, or desperately lost in circumstances ... but today I was given a taste of what if. It is so crushing.

Prayers seem an inadequate but appropriate response.

For those in harms way today, I will add my prayers.

[Response to American Samoa - Towering tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake.]

Revisit and reevalute the learning

In 2005, I scribed these as life lessons learned more than a decade prior.
I was dealing with a vendetta scenario. As this is a life lessons blog, I will recapture them here.
(revisited 2.7.2012)
Public Lynching is a tool of those that believe they have right on their side. Many innocent people have been hung from righteousness. Cats have 9 lives, so purr.

If accused of something with much untruth it is likely that the accuser has some affinity with the untruth. Figuratively, put the accusation on the foot of the accuser and if it fits -- It may help determine root cause of the pain point and derive a survival strategy.

Respect and trust once, if once is too much, remember that you are the type of person that chooses respect and trust; then apply caution as needed.

Taking cover is an act of sanity, not failure. Some natural disasters include the effects of persons with mental defects on their surroundings. It helps to remember that Mental Health is the challenge for the individual at the eye of the storm.

Reality is a challenge. Some factors are the reliability of the source, the timing of the encounter and then there is the predisposition of recipient. We must respect that people may know, differently. When information does not change behavior, you must adjust to take down the wall.