Boo!

Bragança, Portugal region

Here in Europe Halloween isn't really a big deal but as the world becomes more of a global village cultures and festivals are crossing.

Yesterday my English B students were doing a bit of research on Halloween and we established that there were festivals held at the this time of the year by the Celts (from the 5th century BC) and they believed that "spirits of all those who had died the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess. The Celts thought that by dressing up in ghoulish costumes they could frighten the spirits away."

Portugal has Celtic origins and funnily enough way in the north in a region sparsely populated (Bragança) near the border with Spain there is a tradition of donning costumes and masks on October 31.

So beware the 31st of October wherever you are. . .

Happy birthday to me . . .




Another birthday, not mine.
Although I am the child on the right in this photo, I was standing on the left. Funnily enough  I'm still very much to the left these days - lol.

 1951 was the year that:

• Harry S. Truman was President,
• Alben W. Barkley was Vice President,
• Nuclear testing began at the Nevada test site,
• The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, limiting a President to 2 terms, was ratified,
• Second Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty,
• Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I opens on Broadway and runs for 3 years,
• The 23rd Academy Awards ceremony is held; All About Eve wins Best Picture,
• Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau,
• In Joplin, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument to honor an African American,
• Walt Disney's 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, United Kingdom,
• The American soap opera Search for Tomorrow debuts on CBS. After over 30 years, the show switches to NBC on March 26, 1982. Search for Tomorrow airs its final episode on December 26, 1986,
• Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan to formally end the Pacific War,
• Tennessee Williams's adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire premieres, becoming a critical and box-office smash,
• MGM's Technicolor musical film, An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, premieres in New York. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli. It would go on to win 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
• I Love Lucy made its television debut on CBS,
• Judy Garland begins her legendary concerts in New York's Palace Theatre,
• CBS' Eye logo premieres on TV,
• U.S. President Harry Truman declares an official end to war with Germany,
• The first military exercises for nuclear war, with infantry troops included, are held in the Nevada desert,
• Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States,
• John Huston's drama film, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, premieres in Hollywood,
• The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

After WW2 there was a sharp rise in the US population.  There were 3,820,000 babies born in 1951.  I belong to a group called Baby Boomer cohort #1 (born from circa 1946 to 1955), who epitomized the cultural change of the sixties.  

Memorable events: the Cuban Missile Crisis, assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., political unrest, walk on the moon, risk of the draft into the Vietnam War, anti-war protests, social experimentation, sexual freedom, drug experimentation, civil rights movement, environmental movement, women's movement, protests and riots,Woodstock, mainstream rock from the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix

Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented  - yeah, this sums it up nicely!

Someone called me Arrogant today . . .

Arrogant? Me? I don't get it so I looked it up online and came up with the following definition thanks to: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arrogant.

Arrogant: adjective
1. Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.
2. Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one's superiority toward others: an arrogant contempt for the weak.

 Am I/Was I arrogant when I:

• finally listened to others and started night school to further my education and earn a degree?  No, I would call that : Industrious.
• applied to study abroad for a semester when I was 39?  No, I would call that:  Curious and Risk-taking.
• decided that in order to live and work in Portugal that I needed  to earn a graduate degree in Education (which wouldn't have been my first choice if I were living in the States but my best option for living abroad and was financed thru loans and financial aid that I am still paying by the way - lol) and get my teaching certificate?  No, I would call that:  Realistic and Committed.
• offer someone my time, ideas, effort, support? No, I would call that: Available, Thoughtful, Generous, Interested.
• developed an interest in Educational Technologies as a way to develop my skill set and improve my chances for opportunities here in Portugal?  No, I would call that: Practical and Mature.
• continued to upgrade my skills by taking a Publisher course and was consequently offered a small gig editing a local newsletter for 2 years?  No, I would call that: Persistent and Tenacious.
• approached the international schools in my area with an idea for an afterschool activity for grammar school kids that would combine learning English with learning basic computer skills (This by the way led to a full time teaching position at one of the schools)?  No, I would call that: Imaginative and Resourceful.
• argue my point based on evidence and research and not "just makin' it all up as I go along"?  No, I would call that: Prepared.
• reveal a lot of my life with this "tell-some" blog for all of cyberspace to critically read and comment on?  No, I would call that:  Brave.

One of the things that I have learned (really learned) in my life is that I need to support what I am saying.  This is true in the scholastic world, the business world and in our personal lives. I try to pass this message on to my students.  You can say whatever you want or hold any opinion that you have but you MUST to be able to support your message/opinion/thesis based on research and evidence with  facts, examples, statistics, and/or quotes.

So, based on the above definition and supporting information, I conclude that I am NOT arrogant.  Now, if someone called me opinionated or suggests that I am stubborn  - Well, that's another post entirely . . .

Sound advice . . .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28016498@N00/3931122112

The New Math . . . lesson 1



Low income + High tax = Undernourishment/Poverty/Despair


Here in Portugal we have 3 catagories of sales tax (called IVA) and we will see changes in the categories and a tax increase beginning January 1, 2011. 

The catagories:
1.Essential items (food) and medicines fall into the group with the lowest tax rate.  It was 5% and was recently increased to 6%.
2.  The second group includes other basics like cleaning products, personal products like shampoo/toothpaste and wine. The tax on these items was recently increased from 12% to 13%.
3.  The third catagory includes everything else from clothing to furniture to household appliances.  These items were taxed at 21% and will increase to 23% in January.

Can you imagine?  23% sales tax on just about everything else including shoes, coats and school clothing for kids.  The young and the old are going to take a beating on some of the changes.  Items like chocolate milk and fruit will move from the Essential food items list (6%) to 13%.  For many young families with low incomes this will hurt and limit their purchases for home consumption while the tax on wine remains stable  (good idea, limit healthy food options and a treat for kids and encourage everyone to get soused).  The "new" poor in the 21st Century are the young and the elderly (society's Hope and Wisdom).

Here's the equation:

Low income  +  High tax = Undernourishment/Poverty/Despair

Buffoons, morons and idiots - oh my!

Last night I half-watched part of an episode of a relatively new and extremely lame sit-com called Parks and Recreation and got really chipped off. The story line of this mockumentary involved a Valentine's Day Dance for senior citizens and reuniting Leslie's mother with a long lost love. Actually, the episode involved deriding senior citizens - period.  (Check out this clip which NBC lauds as a "HIGHLIGHT" : http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/video/ladies-love-mouse-rat/1200953/) 

Like what the hell is that all about? Don't we have anything better to do with our free time than ridiculing and marginalizing portions of our population?  How can we teach kids NOT to ridicule other students when they watch this happening over and over again and disguised as "entertainment" and assume that if all the grown-ups are doing it, then it must be acceptable. It's no wonder there is a lack of tolerance and empathy for others when our "role models" scorn the elderly (and the not-so elderly as well - since when is 63 old?  Seems to me that we are still working and supplementing our kid's-who by the way are pushing 40- incomes at that age . . .) all the while waiting to inherit.

Parks and Recreation is not clever, smart or funny.  What are they thinking?

Since adding "senior citizen" to the list that defines who I am is not that far in the future, I feel that I have earned the right to complain. . .

The morning after . . .

I usually walk on weekend mornings.  There is a 5 kilometer (approx 3 mile) esplanade near my home that offers a pleasant place to promenade along the shore. 

Due to the heavy rains Saturday, this morning's stroll was a shocker. A torrential downpour and high waves took their toll and left a path of destruction that I was surprised to see.  Clean-up crews were on hand at 9am to begin removing rubble and debris.

Too bad there's not a pill for this . . .

Happy birthday John

This song deserves a replay.

My favorite stanza is:
Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.
Last night the wife said,
"Oh boy, when you're dead
You don't take nothing with you
But your soul - think!"

Good advice. . .