Juan thought he heard her say, "I love you!" as he walked away, but he wasn't sure. He could hear his screaming heart beating and feel his blood pumping throughout his body. Was it her voice, his blood, or the rain?
It was windy
It was cold.
It was raining hard
He was under grey skies. They both shuffled away in opposite directions carrying withdrawn dreams turned to cash.
The air between them cold and wet.
He walked from the ATM to the bus stop. Tears filled his eyes and he kept wiping them with the sleeve of his black Independent trucks hoodie.
"Fuck, it’s always freezing here!" Juan thought to himself as he walked down the street. He had two thermals on under his shirt and hoody, denim pants and a black Dogtown beanie on.
Oregon/Washington winters were still something hard for him. Even after 10 years. His fingers reached to make sure he still had his wallet in his pocket. He couldn’t believe this was all he had left. HIs backpack, his skateboard and his wallet with few hundred dollars...
The bus finally came and he was soaking wet. It was cool though, he thought to himself. The bus was warm and he had over an hour to ride and then transfer to his next ride. It was a long ride on the bus from Vancouver, WA to Hillsboro, OR--his new residence.
Juan looked through rain splattered windows--his eyes searched for the sun.
Then he reached into his backpack and pulled out his moist book...
Things were almost completely dry when he got off the bus at his stop in Hillsboro. It was still raining. Now he only had to walk 2 miles uphill to his new place.
“I need some sun!” Juan he repeated to himself as he began his walk.
He thought about his hometown of San Jose, CA--its warmth and sunshine as he trudged through the rain into his new life.
This week's review is on a pain balm. I don't usually go in for these things--the only ones that work seem to make you stink and just kind of burn. This product actually gets hot and then the cannabis properties kick in and it relieves pain. I have degenerative disc disease in my neck, and back. Sometimes the pain is almost unbearable. Instead of taking a pain pill, I can rub this into my neck and alleviate the pain. This also works well on my arthritic knees and ankle.
When you first put it on it gets hot and smells of cinnamon and menthol. The menthol smell dissipates quicker than most--in about 10 minutes it goes away. It leaves a hint of cinnamon smell on your skin after that.
You don't have to get stoned to alleviate your pain. Products like this can be used before work, or anytime really. This is non-psychoactive and really is made with love. The owner tells me she received the recipe from her best friend's mother way back when. Now she is trying to help people alleviate their pain with a natural, non-narcotic, non-psychoactive balm.
This balm gets an A+ rating from me.
If you are in the Portland area, you can get this product at the Human Collective dispensary. It is 18.00. Or you can order it direct from the website for 20.00.
2 ounce container contains balm with this breakdown: THC: 13.04mg CBD: 65.02mg
Here is the description from their website:
The original all natural formula was developed in the 1980'sby Massage Therapist, Midwife and Author Sharon K. Evans. In 2014 the recipe was gifted to Leslie Miller. With some minor changes and adding a few new ingredients to the mix we have the Royal Pain in the Neck Balm today. There are two versions of the balm; Original formula without any added cannabinoids.While the second has a non-psychoactive, high CBD cannabis extract.
So, if you have aches and pains and are in need of relief please pick up a container of this wonderful balm to get some relief.
[This is the last installment of a three part series on Whiteness.]
Whiteness is a concept that describes the
cultural, lingual, institutional beliefs, practices and behavior that maintains
access to power and reinforces power for White people and people of lighter
skin tones. This colonial system was created for and by Europeans for the
benefit of Europeans. Everything was in relation to the European--this is
a hallmark of the concept of Whiteness--that everything is judged in relation
to Whiteness and not something else.
Whiteness is embedded in the fabric of everyday life in the US
The use of patrols to capture runaway slaves was
one of the precursors of formal police forces, especially in the South.
Slave patrols were organized groups of three to
six white men who enforced discipline upon black slaves during the antebellum
U.S. southern states.
The police are still seen by many people to be
racial enforcers, they are seen as the colonial strong arm in black and brown
neighborhoods--they are most often occupiers--not public servants.
Mistreatment, beatings, rapes, robbing, bribe demands
and other behavior is expected by many communities of color when they encounter
the police.
I worry that I will be pulled over and shot by a
police officer on my daily commute far more than
Famous image of African American flood victims lined up to get food & clothing fr. Red Cross relief station in front of billboard ironically extolling WORLD'S HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIVING/ THERE'S NO WAY LIKE THE AMERICAN WAY. Location: Louisville, KY, US Date taken: February 1937 Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White
African Americans have never been accepted as White.
They have been ostracized from the American Way of life for
the most part.
They are colonized subjects within the colony.
Segregation, lack of educational resources, lack of opportunities
are all hallmarks of being Black in the US.
It behooves those who don’t want these hallmarks to adhere to
Whiteness as much as possible. We see this exemplified in too many POC
who have achieved ‘success’ in this society.
This is a screenshot I took from an article on Slate.
What is the implicit message here?
How does it relate to the previous image?
South Bronx 1970’s/slaves quarters, Colbert Co. AL
Things don’t change much in a society based on Whiteness.
Please think about these images for a moment.
Baltimore or Saskatoon
Contemporary racial disparity based on Whiteness in
Baltimore on the left.
Contemporary racial disparity based on Whiteness in Saskatoon on
the right.
Please think about these images for a moment.
This is how Black and brown kids are often treated at school.
Our kids are ‘over disciplined’ from an early age--sometimes from
preschool on…
Even after Brown Versus Education schools are still segregated.
Black and Brown schools are patrolled by police and brutality
occurs often to students of color.
This can take the form of detentions, or suspensions or other
academic marginalization ‘consequences.’
Or it can take the form of violence. As in the case above
(Spring Valley HS in SC), or as seen in several other recent videos of police
officers brutalizing students of color.
This cop was fired.
Schools should be a place where everyone is welcome.
Schools should and must be supportive of people.
Schools should be accepting, edifying and challenging for ALL
students.
Schools need to have disciplinary actions that are non-violent.
Schools should not hold up Whiteness as an ideal of education.
Adheres to and believes in Whiteness.
One other thing about Whiteness is that it can
be adhered to by non-white people.
Many people of color and those who purport to
want to help people of color adhere to the system of Whiteness that the
educational system upholds, supports and requires of POC who want to succeed.
I say that this is why we have made little to
no progress in equity, diversity and inclusion in our school systems and our
society.
Embedded Whiteness
The brutalities that were used to enforce the
racial hierarchies of yesterday are still with us today.They used to come in
the form of lynchings--back in the days of Jim Crow....
Now they come in the forms of Police shootings
of unarmed African Americans and Latinos in far greater numbers than Whites.
They come in vigilante shootings of unarmed
African Americans, for example--the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
So,
what does this have to do with Education?
Please
think about these questions:
· How do you see
Whiteness relating to Education?
· Can you think of some
examples of Whiteness in Education that you have seen?
· How can we mitigate
Whiteness in Education?
· Should we mitigate
Whiteness in Education?
· How does Whiteness
impact Educational Technology?
·
Does Whiteness come in between the truth and investigators?
I
had no idea (other than it is a poetic form from the middle east) until I read
the introduction to this wonderful work. I didn't look it up because I
was enthralled with the content of this beatific book! I didn't know James Foley, but my friend Yago Cura was his good
friend. Hinchas press (Yago Cura publisher) just recently published a
book of Poetry entitled Ghazals for Foley. This is a striking collection
of poems written by people to James Foley posthumously. The book also
includes a short story written by Foley that is utterly fascinating, intriguing
and beautiful. I feel like I got to know Jim Foley via these poems and
his short story. The intensity of a life so well lived is reason for a
celebration.
The
poems vary in quality according to my taste, but there are some really striking
and personal words here. They are all beautiful and in deeply
personal. The poets range from well-known writers, to other war correspondents,
to writing teachers and students of James Foley.
I've
got a bad Sufi feeling, Jim.
That
road-those trees-
The
light shifting in the Mountains-
Don't go, Jim.
Please-don't
go.
It
was a Thursday,
And
you were on your way home.
Jim,
I have a bad Sufi feeling.
Bad
Sufi Feeling by Claire Morgana Gillis
Even
if you aren't much of a poetry fan, the emotion of these poems is striking and
hits home.
Through
these poems I learned that James Foley was a Journalist, a Friend, A Lover, a
Student, A Teacher, an artist and a great American among many other things.
What
does it mean to be American?
What
does it mean to be human?
What
did it mean to be James Foley?
This
works gives you just a bit of an insight into this brave soul.
These
poems are ALL full of love for humanity and for James Foley.
This
collection is describes the real man, not the man who was used to manipulate
world hatred against Islam. It seems like every political, religious and
other faction wanted to use James Foley’s death for his or her own
benefit. This work helps mitigate that in my mind. It
humanizes and reclaims Mr. Foley for his friends, his family and for people,
like me, who didn't even know him.
James Foley: Writer
The
short story at the end of this book was the best thing about it for me. I
had never really read anything by Mr. Foley and his work does not fail to
impress. The story is artistic in the sense that it touches on human
emotions like love, loneliness, fear, adventure and respect. It also
gives one a snapshot into what life is like in a "green zone."
I often wonder what people do in such places, what people think while
behind these walls and how they interact with locals. This story
satisfies and piques many of my curiosities. I don't know many people
who have been to the wars in the Middle East, and have not asked those who have
what it was like.
I
was going to write more about this book, but you will get much more from it by
ordering it and reading it here:
