motherhood

What 5 things do you like (or dislike) about being a mother?

Read On Motherhood from the blog, Funny Magic.

Be Nice

Read Be Nice if you have a moment!

give a look

Read What Money Can't Buy

(Heavy Sigh)

World Malaria Day



Check out Malaria No More

stir it

Watch Karma Tube

Stir Your World

Lack of a Samaritan

If you haven't seen this video yet... let me just tell you about it to spare you the actual viewing:

An obviously "not in his right mind" Naked Wizard is asked by police to please put on his robes. He refuses; the cops put on gloves; the cops take out their taser; things get ugly.

At what point did this guy stop being a fellow human being?

At what point did compassion disappear?

Why didn't anyone from the crowd help?

We live in a civil society. We, as a democratic group, agree upon our rules and the consequences of breaking those rules. What happens when we don't live up to that bargain?

What if one of the rules to attend this concert was everyone must wear clothes. What if we all agreed to that? Then, logic would conclude that if you break those rules you can not participate in the concert and are escorted from the facility. That makes sense.

But to repeatedly taser a non-violent individual... To knee drop a naked wizard because he won't put on his robes... it's foley; it's ridiculous.

Naked Wizard Taser Video

care2

Care to make a difference?

go to care2.com

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

How will you celebrate?

A Cultural Revolution

Grace Lee Boggs on Bill Moyers

the joy of it

I'm busy doing things, making plans, gathering energy, moving forward... when someone points out a flaw, a tiny crack.

I'm not good at analyzing details while I am moving mountains. I'm also not good at the opposite: when someone brings up the mountain while I am analyzing details.

The disruption is the same; and I immediately think, "Why can't everyone think like I do?"

And then the answer comes...

For the fun of it. For the joy of it. For the expansion of it. For the growth of it. For the difference in it. For the desire producing value in it.

Kid's Causes

Check out this article: Six Causes that Kids Love

Engage your child's innate sense of empathy and wonder.

Half Full?

remembering

Remembering the students and teachers who died at Virginia Tech.

Take a moment to send some good thoughts to Blacksburg.

Days with my father

Days With My Father

Click above.

(you'll need to click to scroll through this amazing story)

Fabulous!

Good Work

In the Sunday New York Times this week, I read Frank Rich's op-ed "Awake and Sing".

The article has me thinking this week...   What would you do, just for the love of doing? What would you do if you weren't working "for the money"?

Rich quoted Drew G. Faust (Harvard's 28th president, an inspiring leader, and an accomplished scholar) in her first baccalaureate address last June, "Find work you love, the most remunerative job choice may not be the most meaningful and most satisfying."

What, if anything, have we learned from this decade's man-made economic disaster?

Will money continue to come first, last, and in between in our lives?

I'm hopeful that we will not return to the excesses from which we have come, from the slicing and dicing of our debt into financial products and derivatives.

Go out and do some good: innovate, create, participate.

Day Lost

Happy Poetry Month

Count That Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun

And count the acts that you have done,

And, counting, find

One self-denying deed, one word

That eased the heart of him who heard,

One glance most kind

That fell like sunshine where it went - 

Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,

You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay - 

If, through it all

You've nothing done that you can trace

That brought the sunshine to one face - 

No act most small

That helped some soul and nothing cost - 

Then count that day as worse than lost.

--George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

now

Last Thursday my grandmother passed away at the age of 92. I was able to be with her for the last 6 hours of her life. This was very lucky... but I realize now that I was probably only present 10 minutes of that 6 hours.  

My mind was on over-drive. I was in the past with memories, and worries, and fears. I was running through "would have", "should have", and "could have" until I had exhausted myself. 

My mind was in the future chasing the uncatchable "what if..."

It felt impossible and uncomfortable to stay in the present. There was security and comfort in the imaginary world of memories and fantasies and plans. It goes against the grain to stay present.

My grandmother left teaching me a wonderful lesson...

Come back to the present moment, not with effort, but with a light touch. Relax the struggle. It's like touching a bubble or blowing on a feather.

TBD 09



Operation Teen Book Drop 09

TBD '09 is being held in celebration of Support Teen Literature Day, April 16th, 2009. Download a Bookplate and insert it into the book you leave behind. Teens are leaving books at school, the park, a coffee house, and hospitals.

Teens encouraging other teens to pick up a book and read!

Boise Bicycle Project

The Boise Bicycle Project is a community-oriented effort promoting the personal and environmental benefits of bicycling.

BBP is a bicycle recycling center and free educational center for all those in need, including low income families, in-coming refugee families, and Boise's homeless population.

The BBP will be at the Boise Co-op April 6th-17th raffling off a bike. Raffle tickets are $5 and are available at the customer service desk at the Co-op. All proceeds will go to the BBP.

For more information, please visit www.boisebicycleproject.org

Sunday Children's Book

We Are All Born Free

To Make Sense ...

Watch Poetry Slam Champion, Anis Mojgani, perform his poetry.

Nonnie

i honor today.

for me, and for you,

i wish for peace. within and without.

i wish for clarity and acceptance of who we are. 

for the ability to acknowledge and enjoy our strengths;

and for showing loving kindness towards our weaknesses.

A Return to Nature

Last Child in the Woods

Our elementary school book club will be reading Last Child in the Woods over the summer break.

Check out these fantastic web sites for more information

richardlouv.com

greenhour.org

April Food Day

Today is April Food Day - Bloggers Fighting Hunger

If you are able, please consider contributing to your local food bank (Idaho Food Bank) or Feeding America.

Due to unemployment and underemployment, people who never would have dreamt that they would need help are now showing up at local food banks.

The Element

I'm reading Ken Robinson's book The Element.

Here's an excerpt I thought I would share since I double underlined it:

Left to their own devices, what are your children drawn to? What kind of activities do they tend to engage in voluntarily? What sorts of aptitude do they suggest? What absorbs them most? What sort of questions do they ask, and what type of points do they make?

Robinson's book is a brilliant look at creativity, and the path to succeed in the global world of tomorrow. It's a fantastic read for educators.