FEMA issues Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans

8 Jul

As the Sandy Hook massacre demonstrated, unfortunately, schools have to prepare for school violence and school emergencies. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides the following statistics in School Violence: Data & Statistics:

Fact Sheets
Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet  [PDF 254 KB]
This fact sheet provides an overview of school violence.
Behaviors that Contribute to Violence on School Property  [PDF 92k]
This fact sheet illustrates the trends in violence-related behaviors among youth as assessed by CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). YRBSS monitors health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among young people in the United States, including violence.
Understanding Youth Violence  [PDF 313KB]
This fact sheet provides an overview of youth violence.
Youth Violence: Facts at a Glance  [PDF 128KB]
This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on youth violence.
Data Sources
School Associated Violent Death Study
CDC has been collecting data on school-associated violent deaths since 1992. This data system, which was developed in partnership with the Departments of Education and Justice, monitors school-associated violent deaths at the national level. Information is collected from media databases, police, and school officials. A case is defined as a fatal injury (e.g., homicide or suicide) that occurs (1) on school property; (2) on the way to/from school; or (3) during or on the way to/from a school sponsored event. Only violent deaths associated with U.S. elementary and secondary schools, public and private, are included.  Data obtained from this study play an important role in monitoring and assessing national trends in school-associated violent deaths, and help to inform efforts to prevent fatal school violence.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety
The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice publish a report on school crime and student safety each year. The report provides the most recent data available from many independent sources, including findings from national surveys of students, teachers, and principals. The report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, and student use of drugs and alcohol. The indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are also offered as a point of comparison where available.
School Health Policies and Programs Study
The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) is the largest, most comprehensive assessment of school health policies and programs. It is conducted at state, district, school, and four classroom levels across the country. The CDC-sponsored study provides data to help improve school health policies and programs. SHPPS is conducted every six years; the first administration was in 1994 and the most recent, in 2006. The study assesses eight components of school health programs at the elementary, middle/junior, and senior high school levels that are related to adolescent risk behaviors, including violence. These components are health education; physical education; health services; mental health and social services; school policy and environment; food services; faculty and staff health promotion; and family and community involvement.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
CDC monitors risk behaviors, such as violence, that contribute to the leading causes of death among youth in the United States. CDC administers a nationwide survey every two years in public and private high schools so investigators can examine behaviors related to fighting, weapon carrying, bullying, dating and sexual violence, and suicide.
Youth Violence National and State Statistics at a Glance
This web site provides statistics that illustrate trends and patterns in youth violence. Users will find national and state-level data on youth homicide, nonfatal assaults, and violent crime arrests.
References
1.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992–2006. MMWR 2008;57(02):33–36.
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/data_stats.html

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.

Jaclyn Zubrzycki and Nirvi Shah write about FEMA’s guidelines for emergencies in schools in the Education Week article, Feds’ Advice on School Intruders Worries Some Experts:

New guidelines from the Obama administration for planning for emergencies at schools following the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., touch on everything from school design and storm shelters to planning emergency drills and balancing privacy and safety.
But one facet of the plan, released June 18, is on active-shooting situations, and some of the recommendations in those scenarios make school safety experts nervous—namely, a suggestion that school employees try to fight an intruder when given no other choice.
While the White House document says this should be done as a last resort, that message is easily lost, said Michael Dorn, the executive director of the Atlanta-based Safe Havens International, which advises schools on safety and emergency planning. In his experience, when school employees are given the idea that in rare circumstances, fighting or disarming a shooter is an option, it’s the only thing that comes to mind for far less serious scenarios. In drills, school employees have become so focused on fighting a shooter they have forgotten to take the basic step of locking their classroom doors.
“Though [school shootings] are catastrophic, they’re rare,” Mr. Dorn said.
The new guidelines were written jointly by the U.S. departments of Education, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
What’s Inside
President Barack Obama promised the agencies would join forces on the advice as part of a larger set of promises and recommendations he made in January on curbing gun violence. The 75-page guide deals with prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery from technological, human-caused, natural, and biological threats.
A student helps block the classroom door with furniture during a mock lockdown drill in January at Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas. “This is our first time empowering [students] not to be victims,” said Principal Sandra Clement of the drill.
—Rachel Denny Clow/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/AP
The document is meant to be a guide and contains no mandates for schools. It compiles lessons and best practices from agencies and schools that have had to cope with various emergencies in the past and from previous federal guidance on school emergency planning.
The publication details a six-part process for schools looking to develop emergency plans: forming a collaborative team, understanding threats, determining goals and objectives, developing specific courses of action, reviewing plans, and implementing and maintaining the plan. Schools are encouraged to reach out to other local agencies as they assess the threats they face and their capacity to respond. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/07/10/36safety.h32.html?tkn=UPTFcbIk8VXWICr054xiiTeDXhOZPalcsoT0&cmp=clp-edweek

Citation:

Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans  [open pdf – 2MB]
“Each school day, our nation’s schools are entrusted to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for approximately 55 million elementary and secondary school students1in public and nonpublic schools. Families and communities expect schools to keep their children and youths safe from threats (human-caused emergencies such as crime and violence) and hazards (natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and accidents). In collaboration with their local government and community partners, schools can take steps to plan for these potential emergencies through the creation of a school Emergency Operations Plan (school EOP). Lessons learned from school emergencies highlight the importance of preparing school officials and first responders to implement emergency operations plans. By having plans in place to keep students and staff safe, schools play a key role in taking preventative and protective measures to stop an emergency from occurring or reduce the impact of an incident. Although schools are not traditional response organizations, when a school-based emergency occurs, school personnel respond immediately. They provide first aid, notify response partners, and provide instructions before first responders arrive. They also work with their community partners, i.e., governmental organizations that have a responsibility in the school emergency operations plan to provide a cohesive, coordinated response. Community partners include first responders (law enforcement officers, fire officials, and emergency medical services personnel) as well as public and mental health entities. We recommend that planning teams responsible for developing and revising school EOPs use this document to guide their efforts. It is recommended that districts and individual schools compare existing plans and processes against the content and processes outlined in this guide. To gain the most from it, users should read through the entire document prior to initiating their planning efforts and then refer back to it throughout the planning process.”
Publisher:
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
Date:
2013-06
Copyright:
Public Domain
Retrieved From:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov/
Format:
pdf
Media Type:
application/pdf
URL:
https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=739248

School EOP dissects the guide in High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans:

Lessons learned from school emergencies highlight the importance of preparing school officials and first responders to implement emergency operations plans. By having plans in place to keep students and staff safe, schools play a key role in taking preventative and protective measures to stop an emergency from occurring or reduce the impact of an incident. Although schools are not traditional response organizations, when a school-based emergency occurs, school personnel respond immediately. They provide first aid, notify response partners, and provide instructions before first responders arrive. They also work with their community partners, i.e., governmental organizations that have a responsibility in the school emergency operations plan to provide a cohesive, coordinated response. Community partners include first responders (law enforcement officers, fire officials, and emergency medical services personnel) as well as public and mental health entities.
We recommend that planning teams responsible for developing and revising school EOPs use this document to guide their efforts. It is recommended that districts and individual schools compare existing plans and processes against the content and processes outlined in this guide. To gain the most from it, users should read through the entire document prior to initiating their planning efforts and then refer back to it throughout the planning process.
The guide is organized in four sections:
1.The principles of school emergency management planning.
2.A process for developing, implementing, and continually refining a school EOP with community partners (e.g., first responders and emergency management personnel) at the school building level.
3.A discussion of the form, function, and content of school EOPs.
4.“A Closer Look,” which considers key topics that support school emergency planning, including addressing an active shooter, school climate, psychological first aid, and information-sharing.
As the team that developed this guide began its work to respond to the president’s call for model emergency management plans for schools, it became clear that there is a need to help ensure that our schools’ emergency planning efforts are aligned with the emergency planning practices at the national, state, and local levels. Recent developments have put a new emphasis on the process for developing EOPs.
National preparedness efforts, including planning, are now informed by Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8, which was signed by the president in March 2011 and describes the nation’s approach to preparedness. This directive represents an evolution in our collective understanding of national preparedness, based on the lessons learned from terrorist attacks, hurricanes, school incidents, and other experiences.
PPD-8 defines preparedness around five mission areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery.
Prevention,2 for the purposes of this guide, means the capabilities necessary to avoid, deter, or stop an imminent crime or threatened or actual mass casualty incident. Prevention is the action schools take to prevent a threatened or actual incident from occurring.
Protection means the capabilities to secure schools against acts of violence and manmade or natural disasters. Protection focuses on ongoing actions that protect students, teachers, staff, visitors, networks, and property from a threat or hazard.
Mitigation means the capabilities necessary to eliminate or reduce the loss of life and property damage by lessening the impact of an event or emergency. In this document, “mitigation” also means reducing the likelihood that threats and hazards will happen.
Response means the capabilities necessary to stabilize an emergency once it has already happened or is certain to happen in an unpreventable way; establish a safe and secure environment; save lives and property; and facilitate the transition to recovery.
Recovery means the capabilities necessary to assist schools affected by an event or emergency in restoring the learning environment.
Emergency management officials and emergency responders engaging with schools are familiar with this terminology. These mission areas generally align with the three timeframes associated with an incident: before, during, and after.
The majority of Prevention, Protection, and Mitigation activities generally occur before an incident, although these three mission areas do have ongoing activities that can occur throughout an incident. Response activities occur during an incident, and Recovery activities can begin during an incident and occur after an incident. To help avoid confusion over terms and allow for ease of reference, this guide uses “before,” “during,” and “after.”
As schools plan for and execute response and recovery activities through the emergency operations plan, they should use the concepts and principles of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). One component of NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS), which provides a standardized approach for incident management, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity. By using ICS during an incident, schools will be able to more effectively work with the responders in their communities. For more information on ICS and NIMS, please see the Resources section.
While some of the vocabulary, processes, and approaches discussed in this guide may be new to the education community, they are critical. The vocabulary, processes, and approaches are critical to the creation of emergency management practices and plans that are integrated with the efforts of first responders and other key stakeholders, and that incorporate everything possible to keep children safe. If a school system has an existing plan, revising and adapting that plan using the principles and process described in this guide will help ensure alignment with the terminology and approaches used across the nation.
http://schooleop.org/

Unfortunately, schools are forced to think about and prepare for the worst and the unthinkable.

Where information leads to Hope. ©  Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that ©
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART©                      http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews ©                                             http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda ©                                                                                                    https://drwilda.com/

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 07/07/13 Joy Jar

7 Jul

Moi went to the salon this weekend and got a conditioning treatment. One of the women who worked there was wearing a sequined tank top. That wardrobe choice brightened up the salon and everyone there commented on how much they liked it, particularly because the sequins were worn in the daytime. Really, why not brighten your world and the world of others. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar are sequins.

Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is.
Mae West

When you’re around me, you’re going to get glitter on you.
Kesha

“Note to self: Never leave home without glitter.”
Adrienne Kress, The Friday Society

I always try to balance the light with the heavy – a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.
Bette Midler

They are the literary equivalent of sequins on an evening dress.
Stefan Kanfer

“And now, I’m just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time.”
Lady Gaga

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stupid is as stupid does: Problems with pro sports players begin in grade school

7 Jul

Here is today’s COMMENT FROM AN OLD FART: Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports reported in the article, NFL considering not inviting ineligible players to combine:

The NFL is considering not inviting players who are academically ineligible in college to the scouting combine, a league source told CBSSports.com.

The move is being discussed because of the increased scrutiny on the maturity and commitment of the prospects entering the NFL, the source said, adding that if this measure was in place in 2013, a sizable group of players would not have been invited to Indianapolis for the combine. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/bruce-feldman/22663965/nfl-considering-not-inviting-ineligible-players-to-combine

Really. The problems with athletes begins long before they are being considered for a pro draft.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an intriguing article by Libby Sandler about whether coaches should be responsible for the academic performance of their players. In Making the Grade Sandler reports:

Head coaches hold significant sway over the athletes on their teams. So why not hold those coaches accountable for the academic performance of the athletes they recruit?

After a year and a half of tinkering, officials of the NCAA have rolled out a new database that they hope will accomplish just that. The first-ever Head Coach APR Portfolio, as the data set is called, includes single-year academic-progress rates—the NCAA’s metric for gauging how well a team does in the classroom—for head coaches in six Division I sports. (The database will be expanded to include the rates for head coaches in all NCAA sports at the conclusion of the 2010-11 academic year.)….

Unfortunately, in this win at all costs culture, schools will recruit a cube of Swiss cheese if the cheese could score some points. Brian Burnsed of US News has an article about player graduation rates.

In NCAA Basketball Graduation Rate Disparity Between the Races Grows Burnsed reports about the costs of sports pressure on kids.

Coaches have a great impact on players, but parents have a great influence as well. Too many players have pressure put on them to succeed in athletics because they are living out a parent’s failed dream or the parent feels the child is a lottery ticket out of miserable circumstances. The outcome of these failed dreams is often devastating.

Most kids will never appear at the Final Four or Superbowl. For kids who possess extraordinary talent and desire to achieve at the top level of sports, of course nurture their talent and their desire. But, society and their families owe it to these kids to be honest about their chances and the fact that they need to prepare for a variety of outcomes.

The NCAA has compiled a probability chart.

Athletes
Women’s Basketball
Men’s Basketball
Baseball
Men’s Ice Hockey
Football
Men’s soccer
High School Athletes
452,929
546,335
470,671
36,263
1,071,775
358,935
High School senior athletes
129,408
156,096
134,477
10,361
306,221
102,553
NCAA Athletes
15,096
16,571
28,767
3,973
61,252
19,797
NCAA Freshman Positions
4,313
4,735
8,219
1,135
17,501
5,655
NCAA Senior Athletes
3,355
3,682
6,393
883
13,612
4,398
NCAA Senior Athletes Drafted
32
44
600
33
250
75
Percentage: High School To NCAA
3.3%
3.0%
6.1%
11.0%
5.7%
5.5%
Percentage: NCAA To Professional
1.0%
1.2%
9.4%
3.7%
1.8%
1.7%
Percentage: High School To Professional
0.02%
0.03%
0.45%
0.32%
0.08%
0.07%
The National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, has estimated that the chances of competing in your chosen sport at the college level is not great. For example, only 3% of high school senior basketball players will play NCAA sponsored basketball. These figures do not take into account the opportunities that are available to compete in the lower divisions of the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA.
Read more. What are my chances of playing college sport?

In other words, most kids need to prepare for a life outside of athletics and for parents who are living out their dreams and hopes through their children, to tell them differently is reckless.

As anyone who has lived a few years knows there are no sure things or guarantees in life, as the NCAA probability chart illustrates. Athletes can be injured or cut from teams. A promising star high school star may never make it to a high paying professional position. Many “adults” were certainly not giving many children a good grounding in reality which they will need especially if they are successful. Successful will need all their wits about them to keep away from the scamps and scoundrels. And don’t forget the groupies who want to become WAGs and Baby Mamas. Some players have so many Baby Mamas they are literally looking at being called the “sperm donor,” not father of a nation. Successful people need to be grounded.

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

Abigail Van Buren

We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.

Bill Maher

We should all be glad that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not choose to dribble a basketball.

Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART© http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews © http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda © https://drwilda.com/

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

U.S.D.A. has new rules for snacks in school vending machines

7 Jul

Moi has been following the school vending machine issue for awhile. In Government is trying to control the vending machine choices of children, moi wrote:
The goal of this society should be to raise healthy and happy children who will grow into concerned and involved adults who care about their fellow citizens and environment. In order to accomplish this goal, all children must receive a good basic education and in order to achieve that goal, children must arrive at school, ready to learn. Ron Nixon reports in the New York Times article, New Guidelines Planned on School Vending Machines about the attempt to legislate healthier eating habits. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/new-rules-planned-on-school-vending-machines.html?_r=1&hpw
There have been studies about the effect of vending machine snacking and childhood obesity.
Katy Waldman wrote the Slate article, Do Vending Machines Affect Student Obesity?

Despite all the recent handwringing (even pearl clutching) over junk food in schools, a study out this month in the quarterly Sociology of Education found no link between student obesity rates and the school-wide sale of candy, chips, or sugary soda. The finding undermines efforts by policy makers to trim kids’ waistlines by banning snacks from the classroom. And it must taste odd to the many doctors and scientists who see vending machines as accessories in the childhood obesity epidemic.  
The study followed 19,450 fifth graders of both sexes for four years. At the beginning, 59 percent of the students went to schools that sold “competitive foods”—that is, non-cafeteria fare not reimbursable through federal meal programs. CFs tend to have higher sugar or fat content and lower nutritional value (think the indulgences at the top of the food pyramid, like Coke and Oreos). By the time the students reached eighth grade, 86 percent of them attended schools that sold competitive foods. The researchers, led by Pennsylvania State University’s Jennifer Van Hook, then compared body mass indexes from the 19,450 students, including those who’d spent all four years in junk food-free environments, those who’d left such schools for vending machine-friendly ones, those who’d transferred from vending machine-friendly schools to junk food-free schools, and those who enjoyed access to vending machines for all four years. Regardless of which data sets they contrasted, the researchers were unable to find any sort of connection between obesity and the availability of “unhealthy” snacks in school. In other words, children who could theoretically grab a Snickers bar after class every day for four years were, on average, no heavier than those who couldn’t.
While Van Hook speculated to the New York Times that the findings reflect our tendency to “establish food preferences… early in life,” she also noted in her paper that middle schoolers’ regimented schedules could prevent them from doing much unsupervised eating. (I guess that means that the students didn’t have time to utilize the junk food options they had, which is an issue for another day). In any case, the takeaway is clear. You can’t solve childhood obesity by outlawing vending machines. The obesity epidemic (if it is one) depends on a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Maybe a full-court press of school regulations plus zoning laws that encourage supermarkets to come to poor neighborhoods plus government subsidies for fruits and veggies plus crackdowns on fast food advertising plus fifty other adjustments would begin to make a dent in the problem. (Maybe a saner cultural attitude towards food, weight, and looks in general would also help). http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/01/24/junk_food_in_school_do_vending_machines_make_kids_fat_.html

https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/government-is-trying-to-control-the-vending-machine-choices-of-children/
See, Rising Childhood Obesity and Vending Machines http://www.medicaladvices.net/Child_Health/rising-childhood-obesity-and-vending-machines-a14.html
Nirvi Shah writes in the Education Week article, Rules for School Vending Machines, Snacks Unveiled:

Long-awaited rules that regulate the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in snacks and vending machine foods sold in schools were finally released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture today.
The rules take effect during the 2014-15 school year. Nutrition advocates have been pressing the USDA to issue the rules this month. Any later, and they wouldn’t have taken effect until the 2015-16 school year.
The new rules are the first update to school snack regulations since the 1970s. The existing rules only limited “foods of minimal nutritional value,” which didn’t keep candy bars, snack cakes, and sugary, vitamin-fortified sports drinks, from being regulated, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Despite some high hopes for the rules, which come on the heels of strict rules for school lunches, they won’t completely wipe out sodas, chips, or sweets from schools. But they will make a dent.
“Millions of students currently have widespread access to snacks and beverages that are high in sugar, fat, and salt, but limited access to nutritious options such as fruits and vegetables in school stores, snack bars, and vending machines,” said Jessica Donze Black, director of the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. “With many students consuming up to half of their daily calories at school, these new standards represent the kind of positive change we need to help reduce obesity rates among children and teens.”
Many of the rules are adapted from those that were originally proposed by the agency, which received about 250,000 comments.
What happens if schools don’t comply? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he hopes schools do, though there aren’t explicit penalties if they don’t, unlike rules for the school lunch and breakfast programs. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2013/06/rules_for_school_vending_machines_snacks_unveiled.html?intc=es

Here is the press release for the “Smart Snacks in Schools” rule:

News Release
 
Release No. 0134.13
Contact:
USDA Office of Communications (202) 720-4623

Printable version
Email this page

 
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Highlights New “Smart Snacks in School” Standards; Will Ensure School Vending Machines, Snack Bars Include Healthy Choices

 
WASHINGTON, June 27, 2013 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that under USDA’s new ” Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards, America’s students will be offered healthier food options during the school day.
“Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Parents and schools work hard to give our youngsters the opportunity to grow up healthy and strong, and providing healthy options throughout school cafeterias, vending machines, and snack bars will support their great efforts.”
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools — beyond the federally-supported meals programs. The “Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards, to be published this week in the Federal Register, reflect USDA’s thoughtful consideration and response to the nearly 250,000 comments received on the proposal earlier this year.
“Smart Snacks in School” carefully balances science-based nutrition guidelines with practical and flexible solutions to promote healthier eating on campus, drawing on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and existing voluntary standards already implemented by thousands of schools around the country, as well as healthy food and beverage offerings already available in the marketplace.
Highlights of the “Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards include:
More of the foods we should encourage. Like the new school meals, the standards require healthier foods, more whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and leaner protein.
Less of the foods we should avoid. Food items are lower in fat, sugar, and sodium and provide more of the nutrients kids need.
Targeted standards. Allowing variation by age group for factors such as portion size and caffeine content.
Flexibility for important traditions. Preserving the ability for parents to send their kids to school with homemade lunches or treats for activities such as birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations; and allowing schools to continue traditions like fundraisers and bake sales.
Ample time for implementation. Schools and food and beverage companies will have an entire school year to make the necessary changes, and USDA will offer training and technical assistance every step of the way.
Reasonable limitations on when and where the standards apply. Ensuring that standards only affect foods that are sold on school campus during the school day. Foods sold at afterschool sporting events or other activities will not be subject to these requirements.
Flexibility for state and local communities. Allowing significant local and regional autonomy by only establishing minimum requirements for schools. States and schools that have stronger standards than what is being proposed will be able to maintain their own policies.
USDA is focused on improving childhood nutrition and empowering families to make healthier food choices by providing science-based information and advice, while expanding the availability of healthy food.
America’s students now have healthier and more nutritious school meals due to improved nutrition standards implemented as a result of the historic Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
USDA’s MyPlate symbol and the resources at ChooseMyPlate.gov provide quick, easy reference tools for parents, teachers, healthcare professionals and communities.
USDA launched a new $5 million Farm to School grant program in 2012 to increase the amount of healthy, local food in schools.
USDA awarded $5.2 million in grants to provide training and technical assistance for child nutrition foodservice professionals and support stronger school nutrition education programs.
Collectively these policies and actions will help combat child hunger and obesity and improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children; a top priority for the Obama Administration. The interim final rule announced today is an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to combat the challenge of childhood obesity.
#
Additional materials available:
High-resolution version info-graphic
Questions & Answers
TV Feature
Interim Final Rule
For more information on Smart Snacks in School, please visit http://www.usda.gov/healthierschoolday
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

The issue of childhood obesity is complicated and there are probably many factors. If a child’s family does not model healthy eating habits, it probably will be difficult to change the food preferences of the child. Our goal as a society should be:

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood ©

Related:
University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity https://drwilda.com/2012/08/13/university-of-illinois-chicago-study-laws-reducing-availability-of-snacks-are-decreasing-childhood-obesity/
New emphasis on obesity: Possible unintended consequences, eating disorders https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/new-emphasis-on-obesity-possible-unintended-consequences-eating-disorders/
Childhood obesity: Recess is being cut in low-income schools https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/childhood-obesity-recess-is-being-cut-in-low-income-schools/
Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com

Dr. Wilda says this about that ©

Blogs by Dr. Wilda:

COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART© http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews © http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda © https://drwilda.com/

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 07/06/13 Joy Jar

6 Jul

Moi’s plan was to watch the entirety of ‘Frances Ha.’ It turned out to be a bad movie. Moi would have loved to say that it was deliciously bad in the way the 1950s monster movies are bad, but NO, it was just bad. The movie is around 90 minutes, moi got through about an hour. That is an hour of her life that moi will never get back. This story of vapid twenty somethings prattling on about their rudderless lives made moi wonder why? Moi began the day with a quote from Alexander Hamilton:

“He who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
Alexander Hamilton

Still, even bad fims can teach one many things like, how much one is willing to endure before declaring an activity a waste of time, a point to compare other work, and the subject matter may make one think, even if the presentation is not that deft. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are bad movies.

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
Alfred Hitchcock

Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.
Walt Disney

There’s only one thing that can kill the movies, and that’s education.
Will Rogers

A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
Orson Welles

Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?
Samuel Goldwyn

The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.
Mary Schmich

Movies are a complicated collision of literature, theatre, music and all the visual arts.
Yahoo Serious

A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.
Alfred Hitchcock

Nobody makes movies bad on purpose.
Roland Emmerich

Tags: , , , , ,

The struggle to educate students in rural America

6 Jul

Moi has posted several articles about the struggle to provide children in rural America a quality education. In Rural schools, moi said:
A significant number of children attend rural schools. According to The Rural Assistance Center, the definition of a rural school is:

Question: What is the definition of a rural and/or small school?
Answer: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the definition of rural schools was revised in 2006 after working with the Census Bureau to create a new locale classification system to capitalize on improved geocoding technology and the 2000 Office of Management and Budget definitions of metro areas that rely less on population size and county boundaries than proximity of an address to an urbanized area. Small schools do not necessarily mean rural, and rural does not mean small. A small school could be an urban school with a decreasing population. Rural schools can be large due to the center school concept where students are bused in to one school to save on costs. Some schools are considered small when compared to the mega-schools of several thousand that are common in some districts. A small school could be one designed to accommodate a specific population of students and their unique needs or a private school. Rural and/or small schools have similar needs and concerns.
According to The Condition of Education in Rural Schools (U.S. Department of Education, 1994), ‘few issues bedevil analysts and planners concerned with rural education more than the question of what actually constitutes “rural”.’ In the Federal Register published December 27, 2000, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the Standards for Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. These new standards replace and supersede the 1990 standards for defining Metropolitan Areas. OMB announced definitions of areas based on the new standards and Census 2000 data in June 2003. The lack of a clear, accepted definition of “rural” has impeded research in the field of rural education. When defining the term rural, population and remoteness are important considerations as these factors influence school organization, availability of resources, and economic and social conditions.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the definition of “small rural schools” are those schools eligible to participate in the Small Rural School Achievement (SRSA) program. SRSA includes districts with average daily attendance of fewer than 600 students, or districts in which all schools are located in counties with a population density of fewer than 10 persons per square mile, AND all schools served by the districts are located in a rural area with a school locale code of 7 or 8. http://www.raconline.org/topics/schools/schoolsfaq.php

Rural schools face unique challenges. https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/rural-schools/
Sarah Carr of the Hechinger Report writes in the Time article, Plight of Rural Schools Laid Bare in Dying Delta Town:

One promising young teacher decided she wanted to start a family outside of the Mississippi Delta. A second teacher left abruptly in the middle of the first semester with little explanation. A third took one spin through town before the school year started and never came back.
Schools across the country struggle to attract and keep good teachers. In this fading Mississippi Delta town of 1,200, a place with a storied history and a slender chance of economic revival, it’s an epic quest. Some residents have even allegedly set their own homes on fire, hoping the insurance money will enable them to start over elsewhere.
“Experienced teachers who don’t live here say they have very little reason to come,” said Pauline Rhodes, the superintendent of Coahoma County School District, which includes Friars Point Elementary, a school of about 150 students–down from 200 two years ago–and the town’s only elementary school. “If you are a really good applicant, you can select what district you go to.”
All of the school’s students come from families living below the poverty level; 97% are African-American. Although the school, which runs from kindergarten through sixth grade, has made some academic gains, in 2011-12 less than half of the students scored proficient on the state’s standardized tests, according to figures from the Mississippi Department of Education. In a typical year, the school has to replace at least a third of its teachers; some years, it’s as many as half, said Sherry Coleman, the school’s hard-working principal. She will have to fill at least five of 13 teaching positions for the 2013-14 school year, and possibly more if some teachers make last-minute decisions to leave over the summer.
There are more rural schools in America than city or suburban ones: During the 2011-12 school year, the U.S. Department of Education reported 33,000 schools in rural locations, 28,000 in suburbs, and 27,000 in cities. But the current approach to school reform in America, which centers on getting the best teacher in front of each classroom, and then holding them accountable for student results, often neglects rural schools’ unique needs. It is rooted in corporate principles of competition and change: If a teacher fails to get the job done, replace him; if a school fails to meet its bottom line (defined by test scores), close it.
As Friars Point shows, this strategy, designed largely with struggling urban school districts in mind, breaks down in impoverished small towns. These are places with little civic or economic infrastructure and a shortage of educated professionals. There’s often no qualified teacher available to take the place of a colleague who does not make the cut, no charter school operator poised to swoop in and take the reins of a “failing” school, and little left to keep the community alive if the school closes outright…. http://nation.time.com/2013/07/03/plight-of-rural-schools-laid-bare-in-dying-delta-town/#ixzz2YIlh6B4k

In Rural education: Dwindling after-school options, moi wrote:
Diette Courrégé writes in Education Week about the challenges rural educators face in the article, Rural After-School Efforts Must Stretch to Serve:

For after-school providers in rural communities, much like their urban counterparts, the economy is an ongoing challenge to their ability to provide high-quality programming to enough students, said Ms. Rinehart, citing recent studies.
“The indication is that rural communities seem to be right in line with the overall after-school picture, which is not optimistic,” she said.
A 2011 Harvard Family Research Project report found that out-of-school-time programs in rural areas had positive effects on students, but they face problems that urban and suburban programs did not.
The report, “Out-of-School Time Programs in Rural Areas,” highlighted high family poverty, low funding, lack of transportation, and a shortage of qualified workers as some of the biggest issues facing rural communities.
On funding, rural areas generally have smaller populations that limit financial resources. They receive less federal, state, and local money for after-school services compared with urban and suburban areas, according to the study.
Another report, “Uncertain Times 2012,” released this year by the Afterschool Alliance, found that nearly four out of 10 programs reported that their budgets were worse today than at the height of the recession in 2008.
That lack of money is huge for Sherry Comer, who has directed an after-school program in Camdenton, Mo., for 14 years. Her program was one of the original recipients of the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, and it’s relied on a combination of sources, such as federal Title I and economic-stimulus money, to keep afloat since then….
Out-of-School Enrichment
Many rural communities rely on 21st Century Community Learning Center grants to serve their students. The program offers funding for centers that provide academic-enrichment opportunities during nonschool hours for children, especially those who are considered poor and attend low-performing schools.
The $1.2 billion program is formula-based and allows states to decide how to distribute the money. There’s no mandate for a rural set-aside, although some states award grant applicants more priority points if they are rural.
An estimated 8.5 million children are in after-school programs nationwide, and more than 1.5 million are in those funded by that pot of federal money, according to the Afterschool Alliance.
Sylvia Lyles, the director for academic improvement and teacher-quality programs in the U.S. Department of Education’s office of elementary and secondary education, which oversees the 21st Century grants, has rural areas on her agenda because they face so many difficulties. She has worked closely with some states on solutions…
In some communities, the lack of money can lead to a lack of access, which is troubling for rural after-school advocates. One national study found that 57 percent of rural parents who said their children didn’t participate in after-school programs cited the unavailability of such programs, compared with 37 percent of suburban parents and 36 percent of urban parents…
The isolation of rural communities can make transportation to and from out-of-school programs a costly and time-intensive prospect. Rural areas typically don’t have the public-transportation systems available in more-populated areas.
“It’s harder to keep the kids here and to get them home,” said Ms. Comer, the Missouri after-school provider. “Transportation is a huge barrier.”
Ms. Comer spends roughly 15 percent of her program’s budget on transportation, but that’s still not enough to be able to deliver students to their front doors. The program trimmed costs by creating drop-off points, and those work well until later in a given month, when parents run low on money, she said. When parents can’t afford the gas to get to work, much less pick up their child from a drop-off point, the child can’t stay after school, she said.
Finding the staff needed to run out-of-school programs can also be difficult. A smaller workforce, low education levels, and high poverty rates make it tough to recruit and retain employees.
In Wyoming, it’s hard to find employees who are willing to come in and work for two hours in the middle of the afternoon with no benefits, Ms. Barton of Lights on in Lander said.
Finding Success
It’s also hard to find money or time to offer additional training, and there’s no money set aside to provide for cost-of-living adjustments or raises, which Ms. Barton called a flaw in the federal 21st Century grant program.
“How do you run these programs effectively and meet the requirements that are becoming much more demanding in terms of expectations?” she said. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/12/12/14rural.h32.html?tkn=LSRFlCqaxp1eMa22PBXdX5i10FfLeHcyffT4&cmp=clp-edweek

Here is the press release from Harvard:

Volume 6, March 2011
Research Update 6: Out-Of-School Time Programs In Rural Areas
Erin Harris, Helen Malone, Tai Sunnanon
Download a PDF of this publication (111 kb) | View all publications in this series

Article Information
• Full Text (HTML)
• Full Text (PDF: 111 kb)
• More about this series
• Request reprint permission
• How to cite
• Download Acrobat
Inside this Research Update: The benefits, challenges, and successful strategies of OST programs in rural areas.
Out-of-school time (OST) programming can be a crucial asset to families in rural areas where resources to support children’s learning and development are often insufficient to meet the community’s needs. OST programs that offer youth in rural communities a safe and supportive adult-supervised environment—along with various growth-enhancing opportunities—can promote academic, personal, social, and recreational development. However, programs located in rural areas face a number of challenges in implementation and sustainability. This Research Update highlights findings from evaluations and research studies of nine programs located in rural areas, all of which have been profiled in HFRP’s OST Database.
The rural programs profiled in the OST database represent a diverse range of geographic locations across the U.S. These programs mainly serve elementary-age children, but some also serve middle school grades. Some of the programs focus on a specific demographic, such as Spanish-speaking children or struggling students, while other programs provide services to any interested child within the local community. They also provide a variety of program offerings, from academic supports to recreational activities.
This Research Update addresses the benefits, challenges, and successful strategies of OST programs in rural areas, based on data from the nine programs, and supplemented by other OST research examining programs in rural areas. In addition, the Appendix provides listings of all of the research and evaluations about rural OST programs that we are currently tracking in our OST bibliography.
About this Series
The Research Update series provides insight from the evaluations and research studies profiled in Harvard Family Research Project’s Out-of-School Time (OST) Program Research and Evaluation Database. Research Updates highlight new and innovative topics, methods, and findings in the increasingly sophisticated, growing field of OST research and evaluation.
Free. Available online only.

All children have a right to a good basic education
Related:
Rural schools and the digital divide https://drwilda.com/2012/06/21/rural-schools-and-the-digital-divide/
Gifted students in rural areas https://drwilda.com/2012/08/05/gifted-students-in-rural-areas/
STEM education in rural schools https://drwilda.com/2012/10/09/stem-education-in-rural-schools/
Where information leads to Hope. © Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that ©
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART© http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews © http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda © https://drwilda.com/

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 07/05/13 Joy Jar

5 Jul

Moi say the movie ’42’tonight. It is the story of the great Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey The baseball executive who hired Robinson as baseball’s first major league African American player. Rickey was a man of faith and the movie didn’t gloss over that. Moi’s favorite quote from the movie as to why Rickey hired Robinson in particular was, ‘I’m a Methodist, He’s a Methodist, and God’s a Methodist.’ On this 4th of July weekend, moi salutes those with a conscience and the courage of their convictions. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are those individuals with conscience and courage.

“I don’t like the subtle infiltration of ‘something for nothing’ philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that ‘Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face’ was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.” Branch Rickey

Baseball Almanac has a great collection of quotes by and about Branch Rickey

Quotes From & About Branch Rickey
Quotes From Branch Rickey
“A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.” Source: Baseball Greatest Quotations (Paul Dickson, 1992)
“Baseball is a game of inches.” Source: Quote magazine (July 31, 1966 Issue)
“Baseball people, and that includes myself, are slow to change and accept new ideas. I remember that it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms.”
“(Ty) Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day.”
“Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.”
“Fill in any figure you want for that boy (Mickey Mantle). Whatever the figure, it’s a deal.”
“He (Leo Durocher) had the ability of taking a bad situation and making it immediately worse.” Source: Baseball Greatest Quotations (Paul Dickson, 1992)
“He’s (Mickey Mantle) the best prospect I’ve ever seen.”
“How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer.” Source: Baseball Greatest Quotations (Paul Dickson, 1992)
“I am alarmed at the subtle invasion of professional football, which is gaining preeminence over baseball. It’s unthinkable.” Source: New York Times (Arthur Daley, August 20, 1959)
“I did not mind the public criticism. That sort of thing has not changed any program I thought was good.”
“I don’t care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I’d want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I’d want to be the best at whatever I do.”
“I don’t like the subtle infiltration of ‘something for nothing’ philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that ‘Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face’ was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.”
“I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places – uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me – I find fault.”
“If things don’t come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.”
“It (a baseball box score) doesn’t tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day.” Source: I Never Had It Made (Jackie Robinson, 1997)
“It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.”
“Jackie (Robinson), we’ve got no army. There’s virtually nobody on our side. No owners, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I’m afraid that many fans will be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I’m doing this because you’re a great ballplayer, a fine gentleman.” Source: Giants of Baseball (Bill Gutman, 1991)
“Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil.”
“Let’s not get panicky.”
“Luck is the residue of design.” Source: New York Times (Arthur Daley, November 17, 1965)
“Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run.”
“Never surrender opportunity for security.”
“Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and spirit of the game.” Source: The American Diamond (Branch Rickey, 1965)
“Our pitching staff is a conspiracy of ifs.”
“Problems are the price you pay for progress.”
“The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.” Source: AP Wire During the Signing of Jackie Robinson (1946)
“The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.”
“There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than (Jackie) Robinson.”
“Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil.”
“This ball—this symbol; is it worth a whole man’s life?” Source: Sports Illustrated (Gerald Holland, 11-71)
“Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.”
“Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late.”
“When (Rube) Waddell had control and some sleep, he was unbeatable.”
Quotes About Branch Rickey
“I realized how much our relationship had deepened after I left baseball. It was that later relationship that made me feel almost as if I had lost my own father. Branch Rickey, especially after I was no longer in the sports spotlight, treated me like a son.” – Jackie Robinson in I Never Had it Made (Jackie Robinson, 1997)
“It was easy to figure our Mr. Rickey’s thinking about contracts. He had both players and money-and just didn’t like to see the two of them mix.” Chuck Connors in Baseball is a Funny Game (Joe Garagiola, 1960)
“I went into Mr. Rickey’s office and sat across the table from him. He told me he had scouts watching me for months. There was no question I could play. What he couldn’t tell was my habits. Did I drink? Did I run around with women? Would I embarrass the club with my conduct? That’s what they had to be sure of before they signed any Negro player.” – Roy Campanella in Bo: Pitching and Wooing (Maury Allen, 1973)
“Mr. Rickey had great insight into everyday life as well as baseball. In one of our player meetings he once said, ‘Never play checkers with a man who carries his own board.’ I never forgot it.” – Bob Purkey
“Mr. Rickey went out of his way to do so much to put blacks in the major leagues. he could tell you so many things, Mr. Rickey, just like my mother or father reading a book to me as a youngster. He made me a better catcher, a better person on and off the field. He made me a completely changed individual.” – Roy Campanella
“The scope of his thinking constantly surprised even those who knew him well…He relished digging into something and then sharing his insights with others. He was always lecturing, tutoring, motivating, cautioning, and inspiring.” – Grandson Branch B. Rickey
“The thing about him was that he was always doing something for someone else. I know, because he did so much for me.” – Jackie Robinson
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quobr.shtml

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 07/04/13 Joy Jar

4 Jul

Typically, when one writes about the 4th of July, one writes about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Moi also writes about those things. Today, all three locations of the Seattle Art Museum were FREE, FREE, FREE. Moi took advantage of that and went to all three, the Asian Museum at Volunteer Park, the Sculpture Garden on the waterfront, and SAM downtown. Talk about a feast for the eyes, the brain, the intellect, and the soul. That got moi thinking about artistic freedom. Mfiles writes about Dmitri Shostakovich, the great Russian composer:

Dmitri Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad) and died in Moscow. His entire musical career was therefore spent within Russia’s Communist system, and in many ways it is clear that he had to strike a balance between his own artistic inclinations and the demands of the state. He was taught by Glazunov among others, learning piano and composition and graduating from the St. Petersburg (Petrograd) Conservatory at the age of 19 with his first symphony. This is a youthful, precocious work demonstrating his musical talents in no uncertain terms, with some similarities in approach to Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.
Though this was an early success, his music didn’t always enjoy the approval of the Soviet authorities. His opera “The Nose” received some criticism and “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” received oven more. In later years he was to enjoy more artistic freedom, but under Stalin composers and other artists ran the risk of their work being labelled anti-state “formalism”. In some cases this could lead to “disappearances” so the threat was very real indeed. Shostakovich withdrew his 4th symphony before its premier for this reason and it wasn’t performed until later under more liberal times. Some of Shostakovich’s work seems to be simply paying his dues as an upright citizen but in many cases, although his music might outwardly be conforming with the party line, there is nevertheless the feeling that he is rebelling against this…. http://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Dmitri-Shostakovich.htm

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is artistic freedom.

“It is impossible to be truly artistic without the risk of offending someone somewhere.”
Wayne Gerard Trotman

There is no must in art because art is free.
Wassily Kandinsky

An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, a prisoner of style, a prisoner of reputation, or a prisoner of success.
Henri Matisse

To blossom forth, a work of art must ignore or rather forget all the rules.

Pablo Picasso

When there is no freedom, there is no creativity.

Soud Qbeilat

Art is to be creative without any rules or limitations, it is somewhere where freedom can be found.

Salwa Zahid

A work of art is a scream of freedom.

Christo

The creator’s eye is watching us and blessing all of our creativity and hopefully hiding from us our shortcomings, so that we are more free to really blast about the dirt yard with our compositions, our canvases, writing pens, singing a new anthem to the Universe, one that will proclaim that our artistry will save us, the planet, the people… Mankind is One, God is One… let us all agree at least on that.

Sonya Bennett

A free spirit takes liberties even with liberty itself.

Francis Picabia

An artist discovers his genius the day he dares not to please.

André Malraux

Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start.
Jason Mraz

Art is the journey of a free soul.
Alev Oguz

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The 07/03/13 Joy Jar

3 Jul

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and aside from celebrating this country and all it represents, moi is turning the 4th into a day of rest. She is going to the Seattle Art Museums which are FREE, going to read and get a big ice cream cone. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are days of rest.

“Rest and be thankful.”
William Wordsworth

“Silence

It has a sound, a fullness.
It’s heavy with sigh of tree,
and space between breaths.
It’s ripe with pause between birdsong
and crash of surf.
It’s golden they say.
But no one tells us it’s addictive.”
Angela Long

“I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it.”
Shirley Conran

“There are hours for rest, and hours for wakefulness; nights for sobriety and nights for drunkenness—(if only so that possession of the former allows us to discern the latter when we have it; for sad as it is, no human body can be happily drunk all the time).”
Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

“God never asked us to meet life’s pressures and demands on our own terms or by relying upon our own strength. Nor did He demands that we win His favor by assembling an impressive portfolio of good deeds. Instead, He invites us to enter His rest.”
Charles R. Swindoll

“If I’d waited until I was well rested to read, I never would have read anything.”
Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club

“Everything needs a break.”
Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

Tags: , , , , , ,

The 07/02/13 Joy Jar

3 Jul

 

The Fourth of July which celebrates America and the aspirational goal of what America means. There is a constant fight to preserve the traditions of democracy which so many take for granted or don’t even have a clue that thwy have. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the idea of democracy.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Winston Churchill

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
John F. Kennedy

Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
John Adams

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
George Bernard Shaw

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →