Welcome to WORDY WEDNESDAY

So on lots of blogs, I often come across "Wordless Wednesday" posts where the authors of blogs simply post a picture. I get this idea as Wednesday can be a trying day in Western Society. It's the middle of the week and any rest saved up from the previous weekend has been spent. At the same time Friday is just too far away to seem like it is within our grasp. Hence, brain cells are fried.

But here at Bicycle Built 4 Two, I have once again decided to swim up mainstream and from this day forth declare every Wednesday as Wordy Wednesday in which I will post quotes or poems or both from people in the world who have at some point expressed themselves in such a way as to make it unforgettable.

Feel free to post quotes or poetry you enjoy in the comments or e-mail me some of your favorites and I'll post 'em.

I'm just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing its understanding of being human. John Trudell Native American Activist, Poet & Musician

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. Albert Einstien US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. Edgar Allen Poe US Author (1809-1849)

Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau US Author (1817 - 1862)

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. Chinese Proverb

If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning. Carl Rogers US Psychologist (1902 - 1987)

If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space. Anonymous

Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving can be a wonderful time of getting together with family and reflecting on all the things we have in life to be thankful for, but there is one thing I hate about this holiday. It plays a huge part in continuing our stereotypes of Native Americans. Recently, I found myself cringing when it was mentioned that a child I know had dressed up as an Indian at school last week, because her teacher had told the students to come to school dressed as either an Indian or a pilgrim. I could not bear to ask for a description of what was worn by her or her classmates. I can only imagine... How many "Hows" do you think were uttered during the course of the day? It makes my head spin.

It infuriates me how ignorant so many classroom teachers are. I used to hate the month of November when I was a public school teacher as I watched so many of my colleagues perpetuate stereotypes and not even bother to teach the real story of Thanksgiving or discuss differences between the many tribes of the Americas. When I made my concerns known, I was always met with a glazed silent expression or an, "Oh, but the kids think it's so fun."

One of my favorite poets, Joy Harjo recently posted on this subject on her website. A portion of the post states the following:

THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
"Young children's conceptions of Native Americans often develop out of
media portrayals and classroom role playing of the events of the First
Thanksgiving. That conception of Native Americans gained from such early
exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others," says
Debbie Reese in "Teaching Young Children About Native Americans," an
ERIC Digest (May 1996).

For example, a visitor to a child care center heard a four-year-old
saying, "Indians aren't people. They're all dead." "This child," Reese
says, "had already acquired an inaccurate view of Native Americans, even
though her classmates were children of many cultures, including a Native
American child."

Check out her entire post here www.joyharjo.com

Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!
(the immigration holiday)

The Campaign to Protect Children's Nutrition

Corporate profiteers and their backers in Congress want to privatize Food Stamp eligibility determination, which means auctioning off nutrition for needy children, the elderly and disabled to corporate bidding.

Food Stamp privatization results in multibillion dollar contracts for big corporations like IBM, MAXIMUS, Accenture and others. But for millions of needy children, elderly and disabled Americans, it means their next meal could depend on the whims profit-seeking CEOs, not professional, experienced caseworkers whose only motivation is to help those in need.

In July 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for language in the Farm Bill that prevents the Administration from allowing states to bypass the existing prohibition that prevents companies from taking over the process of deciding who is eligible for Food Stamps. Now the Senate must act.

The Food Stamp program has its origins in the 1940s, as many American families struggled to put food on the table due to harsh economic conditions. Enacted into law in the 1960s, the modern Food Stamp program now enables as many as 26 million Americans each month to afford the nutritious food they need for good health.

To guard against corruption, federal law required that only qualified, merit-based civil service employees would determine who was eligible for Food Stamps. But in the mid-1990s, major corporations began lobbying for huge state contracts to take over most of the eligibility determination process for Food Stamp, Medicaid and other public welfare programs.

These efforts failed miserably in Texas. And despite the Texas disaster, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels seems determined to force his State down the same road. So to protect accountability and the integrity of the Food Stamp program, a coalition of anti-poverty, anti-hunger, women’s, children’s and labor groups created the Campaign to Protect Children’s Nutrition.

The campaign won a provision in the 2007 Farm Bill that bars the administration from allowing states to auction off nutrition for needy Americans to corporations. The House approved the language in August and the Senate will act soon. But big corporations are now doing all they can to strip the Farm Bill of the anti-privatization provisions.

Make your voice heard on this matter and protect those in our country who are greatly in need of the Food Stamp program. Head to www.needovergreed.org and sign the petition. Call or e-mail your congress people. If enough of us speak out, I believe we will be heard.

Hat tip: Left in Aboite
Thanks John for the post!

Samantha Power - The Age of Genocide

Last night I attended the Omnibus Lecture Series at IPFW with two great friends. It was better than a night out at Henry's. :) The presenter was Samantha Power and the topic was the Age of Genocide. Power is a fantastic speaker.

When she was just in her mid-twenties she covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia for U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe, and The Economist. Holy cow! Let's not even discuss what I was doing in my mid-twenties! She states, “The fact that you could see those men, in real-time, looking just like those black and white pictures we had all seen from the Holocaust, made a profound difference on whether people were prone to call their congressman. Congress, in turn, made a profound difference on the executive branch to respond.”

Power's lecture focused on genocides throughout the world in our recent history including Rwanda and she discussed the "tools in America's toolbox" that our government has to try and deal with such atrocities. She explained how the toolbox was never even opened to prevent the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE! Power told of remarks made by a congress person to the press during the 1994 mass killing in Rwanda as the press wondered why nothing was being done. The congress person stated that their office had received many calls on the threat to the endangered gorillas in Rwanda during this time, while not one call had been made by constituents concerning the people of Rwanda. Makes you kind of ashamed, doesn't it?

Powers continued her lecture discussing the current atrocities in Darfur and how she believes that one of the reasons the people of our country are reacting now and putting pressure on our government in regards to Darfur is a result of the lack of awareness and reaction during recent past genocides. Throughout her entire lecture, Power remained adamant that it is the pressure from citizens not just in our country, but in countries around the globe that forces governments to open their "toolboxes" to try to put a stop to genocide.

Throughout the lecture though, I kept wondering where was the media coverage of Rwanda while the genocide was taking place? Why wasn't every citizen who tuned in aware? Why were most of us only acutely aware after it was too late?

And then I started thinking about the blogosphere. I have heard countless journalist complain as of late about bloggers who are "reporting the news". I'm tired of this. Why shouldn't we blog about about what is going on that we are aware of, that we are passionate about, that is often on page 9 in the newspaper or isn't covered at all, that we want to share with the people who subscribe to our blogs? We should.

I have become a blogoholic in the last few months and almost every blog I check daily is a news blog. And the best thing about blogs is that you can, if you are so inclined and I hope most people are, check blogs from various points of view. Hey, some of them aren't easy to read, but I still do. The other great thing about blogs is that they are written by people like me and you. Our views may be slanted, but at least we're passionate! Can we say the same about our media? Slanted? Yes. Passionate? I'll leave that up to you.

Power's lecture touched on many other things which at this point I am still processing, but overall, her lecture focused on how you and I as individuals can make a difference by calling up our representatives and voicing our concerns. Technology has made it easy for us. You can call 1-800-GENOCIDE to connect with your reps today. 1-800-GENOCIDE? Ya, I know it's disturbing, but you can't deny it's easy to remember.

Samantha Power's book Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer for general non-fiction, the 2003 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for general non-fiction, and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Prize for the best book on U.S. foreign policy. Check it out. It's next on my list. Let me know what you think.

Quiet...

I've taken a few days off after the election to "regroup". I put so much of my time, energy and heart into working to get Tom Henry elected that I think I went through some sort of emotional free fall the end of last week.

Election Day comes and goes and suddenly so many of us are left with a lot less to do... But not really, because I spent last week seeing some friends I hadn't spent time with for awhile, watching some movies with my family, sleeping, getting "back" to work at my store, reading my blogroll daily, thinking introspectively and figuring out what "projects" I want to put my energies into next.

We all need some time to rest and reflect. The result is that hopefully it will help move us forward.

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog, Bicycle Built 4 Two. This is a blog my husband and I will share as we throw our perspectives about life upon the blogosphere (you have hereby been warned). We started this new blog because as duly noted, our blog Gathering Up The Pebbles was originally started to share the adventures of our family with our family and friends. But as I am sure you have noticed (if you are an avid reader) I have been filling this blog the last few months with info regarding local politics. Once I got started, it was truly hard to control myself! But control myself I have, because trust me on this one, there have been lots of thoughts spouting from my over active brain that I have NOT blogged about.

As a result, we have created a vehicle for such thoughts to spare many of you who just want to see pics of our kids, hear about our adventures as a family and share our world minus the politics and such. Now, don't get me wrong, because of course, our views and actions do effect the lives of our children and will continue to. So, every now and then, you may see a post on Gathering Up The Pebbles that you love or irritates the pants off you. Nonetheless, you will from this day forward find most of the topics you love or irritate the pants off you written about here.