F is For FREEDOM – April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

What happened to freedom in the USA?  When did we begin to lose it again?  There are those who would go back to the days of McCarthyism, which apparently they consider “the good old days.”  Today’s scapegoats are no longer “communists”.  They are women, poor people, and gays – basically anyone who might take away money or power from the “haves.”  I’m not talking about just the financial “haves.”  I’m talking about the biased and bigoted “haves” as well.

The “haves” are the ones who would make it a potential felony to demonstrate in the presence of the Secret Service.  This country was FOUNDED on dissention and demonstrations.

The “haves” are the ones who would make it illegal the videotape the police, or audio tape a court session. 

The “haves” are the 1%.  They are the people who believe they should pay a lower tax rate than the middle class.  After all, they are worth more financially so doesn’t that make them worth more socially?  They are the ones who expect extra tax breaks on the premise that they will “create jobs” then they outsource to other countries and put hundreds of people out of work.

The “haves” are the hyper-religious, and even sometimes the moderately religious.  They feel threatened by anyone and everyone who doesn’t believe in their version of god.  More than that, they fear and hate anyone who doesn’t believe in God.  Basically they fear that which is different.

The “haves” are the people (mostly conservative men) who want to control women by limiting their access to health care, contraception and, yes, abortion. 

The “haves” are the people who believe they can, and have the right to, “close down” Planned Parenthood.  NEWS FLASH!  Planned Parenthood is not a public agency and you don’t have the authority to close them down.

The “haves” are the people who can afford their medical insurance or to pay out of pocket, so they don’t see why anyone should need a safety net. And no, there really is no medical safety net unless you are in abject poverty with children to raise, are disabled, or are over 65 – or you’ve been elected to the US Congress or other high office.  (I’ve actually heard someone say, “If they can’t afford medicine, they shouldn’t get sick.”)

The “haves” are the people who don’t have to worry about their Pell grant being cut off mid-semester, not because they aren’t doing well enough in classes, but because they are progressing too quickly, or who are told they have already “received their limit” when they were counting on the money they were promised to pay their rent and buy food.

Mostly, though, the “haves” are the people who fear that someone will learn that they aren’t perfect. 

I have news for you “haves.” There are more of us than there are of you, and we already know you’re not perfect.

E is for Ed-U-Ka-Shun– April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Sorry I'm falling behind in my quest. Maybe I'll finish this April challenge some time in May.

Please excuse me while I step up on my soapbox.

Education, or the frequent lack thereof, is one of my major pet peeves. Uneducated education can come in several forms: home schooling, religious schools, private (often elitist) schools, and substandard public schools.

My problem with home schooling is twofold. First, I honestly don't believe there are many people out there who are truly qualified to teach a child everything he needs to know. As a reasonably well educated person, with an associates in Computer Science and a BA in English, I would never presume to believe I could teach a child, for example, higher math. Yes, I had quite a bit of math in college, but that doesn't make me an expert. And as for the sciences, forget about it. I am a “literary” type of person and, although I know enough about most of the sciences to appreciate them and (hopefully) discuss them intelligently, I could never answer the more in-depth questions that could arise – nor would I have adequate access to other educators who would have the needed information. Second is my distrust of home schooling. Almost everyone I have known who home schooled their children has done so in an attempt to control the information they receive, whether that is ideological, social, racial, or any other “al” you can think of. I've heard people who home schooled their children say they don't want them exposed to “unacceptable” ideas like evolution, other religions, racial equality, etc....

Next on my list is religious schools. For the most part, religious schools exist for the sole purpose of indoctrinating their students in the guise of education. In many of these schools, science is considered evil unless it can be presented in a way that promotes the religion of the founders of the school. I dare you to find a Southern Baptist school that teaches evolution instead of creationism – or a Catholic school either, for that matter.

On down the list of non-educational education is the elitist private school. In some of these, the children are so insulated against other “classes” that they have no idea what real life is. In their world everyone has a vacation home and a trust fund. This can be as bad as, if not worse than, religious or racial separatism. By virtue of their elevated financial status they may well be some of the leaders of our future, which does not bode well for lessening the gap between the haves and have nots.

Last, but not least, on my list is inadequate public schools. While there are quite a few magnet or charter schools out there that provide an excellent education, there are also many schools that are hanging on by the skin of their teeth, educationally speaking. If a child lives in an area with inadequate schools and his parents aren't motivated or, in many cases, able to personally transport their child to a better school, that child is cheated. On top of that, we have all heard about the push by certain groups to eschew teaching evolution in favor of creationism. Personally, I don't think that creationism has a possibility, at least equal to evolutionism rather than a sole fact-based concept.

I have one last point to make. Isn't our job as parents, grandparents and/or educators to teach children to think instead of just telling them what to think?

Think about it, then encourage them to think for themselves.

OK. I'm off my soapbox now,

C is for Contraceptives – April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Ah, the hot-button subject. EVERYONE should have easy, if not free, access to contraceptives if they want them. I win!

What? You say that there is still debate about it? I heard a reference today to contraceptives being “against the Catholic church's conscience.” How in the hell can anyone with half a brain think that what is, effectively, an un-taxed corporation has a conscience? That is utter, unadulterated bull!

Of course the leadership of the Catholic church doesn't want its members to have unfettered access to birth control. With it there would be far fewer gullible people to support the church! It's the same with Mormons. What is the one thing (other than Mormons) that you see more of in Utah than anywhere else? Twin strollers. This isn't because they have more twins. It's because they have more stair-step kids. Take it from me, unless you are independently wealthy, stair-step kids are damn hard to feed, clothe, and educate!

Why, you ask, should I be considered an expert on this topic? Hmmm... Maybe because I had 4 kids, 4 and under and, nearly 4 years later, 5 kids 8 and under! What they didn't tell us back then was that antibiotics frequently interfered with the pill's effectiveness, and I was often on antibiotics because I was prone to incessant earaches and tonsillitis, so it never quite worked right for me. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids and wouldn't change a thing . But shouldn't women – no, FAMILIES – have at least a chance of deciding how many children they want and how far apart they are? Do these idiots who want to make it difficult, if not impossible, for women to get contraceptives know what pregnancy after pregnancy does to a woman's body? What about abstinence? They're already bitching about there being so many one-parent families that need help. Try cutting your husband off from sex so that you don't get pregnant and see how long the marriage lasts. Presto, more one-parent families!

When it comes right down to it, shouldn't readily available contraceptives be considered a boon to men as well? How many poor, lower middle, and middle class men are child support poor? If anything you would think men would want more effective birth control! And not just condoms. Aside from everything else, people in a truly committed relationship generally hate having to use condoms.

And then there is the topic of overpopulation! Haven't we been hearing for years that Earth is overpopulated? We still hear dire predictions of what will happen if the population keeps growing like it has. Not that I hold 100% to everything about overpopulation. I think that in some cases (China) it has been taken to ridiculous extremes.

Another thing. I know people who honestly believe they are not cut out to have children. So should they be denied the basic comfort of close interpersonal relationships? If a person doesn't want a child, or genuinely believes that he or she would not be a good parent, he or she shouldn't be forced to abstain from all sexual contact to avoid becoming a parent solely because of a bunch of uptight men? (And a few women, I might add.)

In short, to all those contraceptive naysayers out there....... GET A LIFE!

A is for Atheist -- April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge (Unofficial)

WARNING -- BLASPHEMY ALERT!!!  If you think this might offend you, it probably will.

A is for Atheist.

That's what I am.

So please do not send me

Your religious spam.

I trust what is proven,

Things scientists show,

Not “heaven” above us

Or “hell” down below.

No book only proven

Within its own pages

No evidence needed

Just myths from past ages.

And if in the end

I am wrong, which I doubt,

You go to your heaven

And please leave me out.

For endlessly praising

Some self-centered god.

Sounds terribly boring

And quite smacks of fraud.

For why would a deity

So desperately need

Millions of people

His ego to feed?

So pray me no prayers

And leave me no tracts.

Just treat me as equal,

And show me true facts.

I is for Ideas -- Day 9 of the "A to Z Blogging Challenge"

I give up. Ideas are a writer's bread and butter and I have lots of ideas. Unfortunately I don't always follow up on them. Even when I do the core idea often changes. No matter how thoroughly I outline my thoughts in advance, the story comes out differently, and if I try to force it back to its original form, it balks and becomes awkward. Its like my writing takes on a life of its own. I start out to say something specific but end up saying something else altogether. I can start out to write about going to college and end up with a piece that obsesses about ink pens. I may start to write a funny story and end up with something heart-wrenching. I once started a story about the house I grew up in and it turned into a piece about my mother, which I consider one of my best to date. I wonder if anyone else has this problem.

A is for ASL

Welcome to my first entry in the "A to Z Blogging Challenge." 

A is for ASL
　
Background: ASL as a Language

ASL, or American Sign Language, is the most commonly accepted form of communication for deaf and hard of hearing Americans.  In fact, many high schools and colleges now offer ASL as a foreign language option. According to www.signmedia.com, "American Sign Language... meets all of the requirements for human languages - it is a rule-governed, grammatical symbol system that changes over time and that members of a community share."

Learning to Sign: Reasons and Resources

Even if you are not hard of hearing yourself and don't know anyone who is, it is good to know a little ASL. After all, who among us has never lost his/her voice and had to find alternative methods of communicating? Yes, a pencil and paper are a good way, but ASL is quicker if both parties know how to sign. At very least the sign language alphabet can enable you to communicate with anyone who knows it. I, for one, tend to forget my ASL when in a position where I must use it to communicate with someone who is hearing impaired. In fact, the only time I am actually fluent in ASL is when I'm in a bar with a friend who also knows ASL, I've had a couple of drinks, and the bar is noisy. This tells me that I know ASL, but I'm not confident with my knowledge. I'm working on fixing that.

Since I'm currently going through one of my semi-annual bouts of laryngitis, which have been known to last for 12 weeks or more, I figured this was the time to brush up on my ASL and force.....er..... encourage my family to learn some. Since ASL is very difficult to learn from pictures in a book, I went looking online for ASL sites. The first site I hit upon, ASLPro (www.aslpro.com), turned out to be an excellent resource. It has extensive word lists, ASL idioms, a quiz feature, and even an ASL for Babies section.

For anyone who hasn't heard about Signing for Babies, its an awesome way to teach your young child to communicate before they can speak. Since babies are hard-wired for learning, and especially for learning language skills, ASL works wonderfully. I wish I had thought of it with my own kids. I'd rather my little one be able to express his needs than having to resort to the "why am I crying" guessing game.

Speaking of teaching very young children to sign, look at a site named  "Signing Time." There are DVD's books flash cards, and many other products available at the Signing Time website (www.signingtimecom). Also, episodes of the Signing Time show is aired regularly on many PBS stations. It's a good way to learn to sign along with your little one.

Conclusion

I hope you have found something in this that piques your interest in learning American Sign Language.

At very least, the infamous American middle-finger salute (aka "giving them the finger") is not ASL. I can curse at you in many ways in true ASL, but that is not one of them.

Resources

www.alspro.com

www.signingtime.com

www.signmedia.com

Gearing Up

Ok.  I'm getting ready for the A-Z challenge.  I've already got ideas set out for several of the letters and am working on more even as I'm writing this.  I'm so glad that my nephew has given me a bit of a push to write more. 

Thanks, Don.