Weekend Wisdom

"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason
-J.P. Morgan

Belt Test Time (again)

Okay well back in June it was belt test time. A has one more brown level before testing for junior black, X received his first brown and D received her yellow

Wordless Wednesday

It's Kind of Like Science

but more like an easy way to separate me from $12 (total)

Solar powered fans attached to your sun visor...
We will see how long they last.

Here's a Vote We Can All Agree On

A couple of wonderful friends of mine are on the board of Ethiopian Orphan Relief, a group dedicated to improving the conditions for the children who remain in Ethiopia. We privileged to be a donor for EOR and the work they do is amazing.

They are competing for a Classy Award in the category of Most Innovative Use of Social Media By A Charity. Please take a minute and pop over to the
Classy Awards website
and scroll down to
"Most Innovate Use of Social Media By a Charity"
and vote for them.

Here's more about the project:

Ethiopian Orphan Relief’s Project Gena Makes Holidays Merry

Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. launched the Project Gena 2010 campaign in September of 2010 through various social media platforms. Supporters were asked to make Christmas merry for a child in Ethiopia by filling a backpack. In a 3 month window, 156 backpacks were stuffed and shipped to the orphans of Children’s Heaven and Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (two of the 5 orphan care centers EOR serves).

While the primary goal of Ethiopian Orphan Relief is to to ensure that every child in Ethiopia has a warm bed, a loving influence, and sufficient education to better their lives. EOR’s focus on infrastructure (facilities, meal programs, health clinics, etc) sometimes makes it difficult for donors to feel connected to the orphans we serve. Sending backpacks filled with toys, clothes, school supplies, and letters gave donors an opportunity to connect with the children in a very immediate way. While the logistics of transporting the backpacks to Ethiopia (no direct shipping means that we rely on travelers to bring our donations to Ethiopia) made it impossible to send backpacks to every orphan care center we serve, there was no end to the support and enthusiasm for this project. Ethiopian Orphan Relief, like Edmund Burke, believes, “Nobody made a greater mistake than one who did nothing because he could do little.”

Project Gena 2010 made it possible for even small-scale donors to make an impact, and as a result, these donors felt more invested in the work of Ethiopian Orphan Relief, increasing the likelihood that they would give again during the year. We kick off Project Gena 2011 in August of this year. It will be annual event, bringing joy to people on 2 continents. Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. appreciates all of its donors, both big and small. Every gift is a generous one, no matter the size.

That is Very Scary Indeed

One of the things that perpetuates ongoing racism is the belief that African Americans in general and Black men in specific, are violent and dangerous. And white America believes this-despite crime statistics that don't support it. Want to know why....
Because the media wants us to believe it.

WBBM reported recently about a shooting in a Chicago neighborhood that was witnessed by several young children. As part of the story, they interviewed one of those young witnesses and then aired the interview on their nightly broadcast.

The video contains both the edited interview that ran on the broadcast, followed by the whole interview uncut. Note the comments by the anchor leading into the child's interview
"and kids.....had a disturbing reaction" (at 0:37)
and after the interview portion ended (at 0:56)
"That is very scary indeed"




There is NO reason that the media should have EVER interviewed this young child. Particularly after he witnessed a shooting. The only reason to interview him was to get the "how horrible that little child is already planning on being a gang banger" response from their viewers.

(Never mind that fact that what he is really planning on being is a police officer)

A response that allows white America to write off Black children living in poverty because clearly their path of violence is self selected before they even start school. If we believe that they are prone to violence from an early age so they are going to end up in jail (or dead) anyway- then we don't need to worry about our underfunded schools, or poor nutrition or any of the other things that plague low income neighborhoods.

And just to make sure the message comes across as intended- a little creative editing and editorializing never hurts either.

That is very scary indeed- just not for the reasons they might think

Maybe You Misunderstood the Seriousness of This

So, as my followers know, we flew home from Texas a couple of weeks ago. On our first leg out from San Antonio about 45 minutes from landing we appeared to be skirting the edge of a thunderstorm.
All of a sudden we hit major bad air- like altitude dropping, air brakes screaming, drinks spilling everywhere turbulence.
As we start to level back out, the plane is silent as everyone understands that this is not a normal situation.
Everyone understands that this might be serious

Everyone but my girls.

With their arms in the air and grins on their faces they are both yelling

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

(and making the story thankfully somewhat anti-climatic- we landed with no other issues.)