Group items tagged

"A new vocabulary emerged, allowing users to evade admissions of racism. It still holds fast after all these years. The vocabulary list includes these: law and order. War on drugs. Model minority. Reverse discrimination. Race-neutral. Welfare queen. Handout. Tough on crime. Personal responsibility. Black-on-black crime. Achievement gap. No excuses. Race card. Colorblind. Post-racial. Illegal immigrant. Obamacare. War on Cops. Blue Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. Entitlements. Voter fraud. Economic anxiety."

a set of the key things any person needs to learn: How to predict consequences How to read [effectively] (how to see under the surface to what each piece is doing; and to distinguish the 4 types: description, argument, explanation, definition) How to distinguish truth from fiction How to empathize How to be creative How to communicate clearly [i.e. how to write effectively; how to use the 4 types] How to learn How to stay healthy How to value yourself How to live meaningfully

"Our youngsters respond keenly, and usually responsibly, when given a big say in the things that affect them. For instance, a couple of years ago, when we needed to appoint pastoral care staff, we decided to ask the children what qualities such a staff member should have. After lively discussion they came up with: calm (not wind us up); confident (not scared of us); firm but fair (able to deal with things when they happen and not put it off till later); able to listen well (to hear what it is we really have to say); able to help us sort out problems and learn for ourselves (give us help with options, not tell us what to do); able to treat us as individuals (not seeing all behaviours as the same); able, most of all, to treat us in the way you yourself would want to be treated. These requirements now appear in every job vacancy we advertise, whatever the position."

"Step 1: Face Facts "This is the toughest one," said White. "And it can happen a little at a time or all at once." For White, it was the realization that his leg "wasn't growing back. That I wasn't a starfish." Step 2: Choose Life This step differentiates those who remain victims, and those who do not - "those who could imagine a positive life, that my life is more than my body, perhaps, more than this date," said White. "If you make yourself about the date, you'll get stuck in that date. In fact, one of the number one signs of victimhood is living in the past," he said. Step 3: Reach Out "You're tempted when you're bummed out and you're going through trauma to start to sink, to isolate, to go into a shell. But isolation will surely kill you," said White. "And we need people. You can't survive alone. No one survives alone. It's up to survivors as well that they need to do the reach-out, and hopefully there are also people reaching out back." Step 4: Get Moving As White recovered in an Israeli hospital, a nurse was going to let him go to the cafeteria for the first time. He got into a wheelchair.  "And the nurse, she looked down at me and left," he said. White's advice: If you want to move, push. "No one's going to do your recovery for you. No one's going to actually make you better. It's your life," he said. Step 5: Give Back"

"Can we stop thinking about the civil rights era, or any era, as a saga of a few lionized male leaders, and conceive of it instead as the story of thousands of everyday people going about their unsensational lives until, when necessity calls, they show up, line up, shout out and do without, individually and together, for the good of all, even for a good that they are aware they may never personally experience?"

"In this exceptionally positive and encouraging book, Stephanie Dowrick frees the journal writer she believes is in virtually everyone, showing through stories and examples that a genuine sense of possibility can be revived on every page. Creative journal writing goes way beyond just recording events on paper. It can be the companion that supports but doesn't judge, a place of unparalleled discovery, and a creative playground where the everyday rules no longer count. Proven benefits of journal writing include reduced stress and anxiety, increased self-awareness, sharpened mental skills, genuine psychological insight, creative inspiration and motivation, strengthened ability to cope during difficult times, and overall physical and emotional well-being. Combining a rich choice of ideas with wonderful stories, quotes, and her refreshingly intimate thoughts gained through a lifetime of writing, Dowrick's insights and confidence make journal writing irresistible-and your own life more enchanting. Included in Creative Journal Writing are: u stories of how people have used journal writing to transform their lives; · inspirational instructions, guidelines, and quotes; · key principles, practical suggestions, and helpful hints; · 125 starter topics, designed to help even the most reluctant journal writer; · more than forty powerful exercises; · and much more!"

"The Artist's Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist's life. Still as vital today-or perhaps even more so-than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist's Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist's Way for a new century."

""And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life - achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one's life as well, when one can feel that one's work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.""

""Eat Pray and Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert: "Instructions for Freedom" 1. Life's metaphors are God's instructions. 2. You have just climbed up and above the roof.  There is nothing between you and the Infinite. Now, let go. 3. The day is ending.  It's time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful. Now, let go. 4. Your wish for resolution was a prayer.  Your being here is God's response. Let go, and watch the stars come out - on the outside and on the inside. 5. With all your heart, ask for grace, and let go. 6. With all your heart, forgive him, FORGIVE YOURSELF, and let him go. 7. Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering. Then, let go. 8. Watch the heat of day pass into the cool night. Let go. 9. When the karma of a relationship is done, only live remains.  It's safe.  Let go. 10. When the past has passed from you at last, let go.  Then climb down and begin the rest of your life.  With great joy."

"It's a moment of peril as well as one of opportunity. I keep thinking of a phrase from Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction": reception in a state of distraction. Benjamin associated this phrase with the loss of the possibility for a contemplative response to works of art. He connected that loss to the evaporation of "aura," the trace of art's religious origins that he claimed is destroyed by the reproduction of unique and stationary objects as ubiquitous, portable photographs. Distracted reception strikes me as an unavoidable consequence of the conditions under which today's poetry is produced and consumed-the general conditions of our wired lives as well as specific conditions of publication, distribution and so forth. It doesn't bode well for my commitment to poetry as a contemplative genre that I've actually been thinking of the Showcase as a chance to get up to speed with current poetry."