April 2010

  • Skin Again

    By sarajean on 4/27/10 1:14am
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    Recently I’ve been perusing books specifically about peace, tolerance, the environment, and values I’d like to teach my daughter about at the library. It’s not that generic kids’ books aren’t “good” enough—we still check those, out, too; in fact, right now she will check out anything about dragons or chickens—it’s that I’m really interested in making these concepts a part of our lives early on. What better way to do it than though the books we love to read so much?

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  • Money Isn't Edible

    By sarajean on 4/23/10 1:17am
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    “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.”  -- Cree Indian Proverb

     

    Recently, I had an epiphany that I should have had a long time ago. It really shouldn’t have surprised me; after all, we learn from an early age that money is the root of all evil, money makes the world go round, everything is about money…

    And yet, I just now learned that everything is about money!

    I don’t mean it the way we usually do—about politicians, businesses, etc. I mean it about normal, everyday people.

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  • A Random Act of Kindness

    By Thoreson on 4/21/10 11:42pm
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    Pearl StreetPearl StreetThe sun was beginning to make its way below the Rocky Mountains in the foothills of Boulder.  I had just helped an incredible, old farmer dig out an irrigation ditch on his plot of land, so I was a bit dusted.  My trusty turf shoes accompanied some old pants, a ratty, holey, gray, long-sleeved shirt, and a stocking cap was atop my head. A razor hasn't seen this face for some time, and some sweaty, dusty, locks found their way out from beneath my cap.  During the dig, the end of a pitchfork, used to get the leaves out of the ditch, had fallen off, and in my attempt to put it back on, it had slipped, so there was a bit of blood on my hand from a cut on my finger.

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  • Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Rapists

    By sarajean on 4/15/10 7:37am
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    “Don’t let ‘em drug women and throw 'em in trucks,

    Make ‘em be civil and respectful and such!”

    Until I’d read Alice Sebold’s memoir Lucky, I never realized what rape culture, blaming the victim, or any politics surrounding rape actually entailed. I’ve known people who experienced sexual violence; I experienced it myself as a child when I was attacked at a daycare center. That does not surprise me, though; statistically, 1 in 3 women will experience sexual violence within her lifetime.

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  • Study Finds Spanked Children to be More Aggressive

    By sarajean on 4/14/10 8:14am
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    Next month’s issue of Pediatrics magazine will feature a new study conducted by Tulane University that indicates something that shouldn’t be very surprising: spanking children at age 3 can make them more aggressive by age 5. Most of us are aware the violence begets violence; men and women who are raised in violent homes often grow to become violent people, continuing the vicious cycle.

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  • To What Remains

    By Thoreson on 4/8/10 11:05am
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    RiverRiver

    I got to the peak, a place I had never been, stood for a moment, and looked around.  I realized I was all alone.  I stepped down, took in the moment, gave it one last glance, and moved on. 

    I stood on the edge of the lake and threw it with everything I had into the cool water.  It entered without a splash or sound.  I tied it on the wings of a dove and watched as it flew away into the sky.  I set it next to the willow tree whose branches gently touch the water, and tossed it into the raging wind and watched it drift away, further and further from my grasp. 

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