LEE GABOR'S OPINIONS

Pluto in the 6th House

2012-03-01T11:19:00.000-06:00

Since I've recently endured this, I can say it is very difficult as it finally moves to the Descendent. It was like being dead for months, in a coffin, no energy, no desire, just existing. Pluto has now moved over my Descendent and the day it hit, I felt the jolt of life returning and that day, made sure there was total truth between a friend and me. Isn't that what Pluto does? Brings out what was hidden. And, it was so easy to do.

I'm working on the Aquarian Age novel, so doing very little blogging. Perhaps soon, I'll be doing more.

Another Year

2012-03-01T11:15:00.000-06:00

Just stating I haven't been on here since last August (2011). I got involved in completing a great amount of research and the days passed by so quickly. I wasn't on Facebook; really wasn't available to the world. Am back now, so perhaps will be more opinionated soon.

The next project is lobbying for a natatorium (indoor olympic size swimming pool) in Waxahachie. Ellis County needs one and Waxahachie is the largest city and also county seat, so that seems to be a great place for a swimming center.

The new library in Ferris opened and I took my youngest grandchild to the ribbon cutting. She spent a lot of time at the old cramped-space library and this was a wonderful new place to be. I'm so proud of everyone in Ferris, Texas, for pushing to get it built.

It seems that writing will be my major focus from now on and the research was related to that.

Today's my birthday and it is so nice to receive the happy birthday wishes.

A Story of Leo, A Person with Dyslexia

2011-08-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

I was asked by an educator to email him a few documents I had written on dyslexia. I sent three docs: the story of Leo, a form I created to help teachers quickly identify children who may be dyslexic, and a copy of a letter to the editor I have used in Ellis County, TX, where I live.

The following is the story of Leo, "Who is the Student in My Classroom? Could He/She Be dyslexic?"

By Lee Gabor, M.Ed.

Leo is an interesting child. Unfortunately, he has severe dyslexia. But we don’t know that when Leo comes to our school. Since we are not trained to recognize dyslexia in our students, we don’t look for characteristics that could lead us to test Leo.

The school district would like to offer staff development in dyslexia, but with reading, math, science, and social studies so important, there simply are not the resources to give teachers even a one-hour class.

Leo’s school has almost 1000 students. There is no doubt that teachers there lack time to learn about dyslexia at their own expenses during the evenings or weekends. They care, but their most precious commodity is each minute of each day. The career demands on them are enormous, even over-whelming. And most have families who deserve quality time and attention.

Teachers are only human. They do the very best they can. Education is a profession full of caring people. However, when we are stewards of many children, it is difficult to deal individually with Leo’s apparent problems. He isn’t on track with the class and can actually be disruptive.

In the primary grades, it is not Leo’s behavior that frustrates teacher as much as the fact that he won’t pay attention and he draws during class. Other students find his illustrations attracting and want to pay more attention to Leo’s contribution than to Teacher’s. Teacher gets upset with Leo.

He does not want to complete his lessons. Since he avoids reading and certainly doesn’t write much, Teacher may not have the evidence that he sometimes flips his letters.

Obviously, Leo is becoming more shut down and more of a behavior problem. Although he is not learning well, the system moves him up from primary to upper elementary grades. Since he cannot read well, Teacher takes him out of art classes and places him in the remedial reading classes. Is it possible he has been labeled LD (learning disabled)?

Leo is very energetic in the sense of looking around the class. He pays too much attention to what is happening outside. He seems to be day-dreaming. Parents have also seen this and, after discussing this with other educators in the school, a decision is made to put Leo on drugs. His records now show he has attention deficit disorder. The drugs help him to phase down somewhat during the day. The chemicals change his behavior but do not help him to learn. At least he does not adversely affect the classroom environment as much as before.

Even with the drugs, Teacher sometimes gets irritated with Leo. He is doodling on his notebook or on the paper inside. He is drawing sketches of machines and cars or, perhaps, people. We tell him to pay attention and quit messing with his notebook. We are frustrated that the other students want to see what he has drawn. Leo is an interesting and unique character and magnetizes the energy of his peers. This makes Teacher’s job doubly difficult.

Leo is day-dreaming AGAIN. As the days go by, we begin to mention to him more times to pay attention. As our frustrations build, so does our vocal volume. Soon we are yelling at Leo more than once a day. We may even send him out of the room to sit in the hall.

We have decided Leo has very little future potential. Teacher examines his record from previous years and recognizes in 3rd grade, he failed the TAKS (Texas) Reading test. Teacher doesn't know it, but Leo's failure was noticed in Austin. The State’s Penal Authorities marked a tally for him. They predicted he will go to prison and that tally meant a cell was scheduled to be built for him. State Corrections people think by the time Leo is about 16, he will quit school.

Unfortunately, Leo's reading problems cause him to receive low grades in elementary school, in high school, and on any academic university pre-inventory test.

What will happen to Leo? One of two things: he will either move down the road to quitting school, doing manual labor, and possibly going to prison OR on his own volition, he will struggle to use his abilities in some to create a successful life that reflects his talents of unique perspectives on his surroundings and the ability to put those into some visual form.

Leo is not a student in a local school these days, but the behavior patterns in school are the same for the Leo in our writing as they are for dyslexic students in our schools. What can we do? The goal is to identify students with dyslexia and intervene. Other documents from Lee Gabor include methods of identification. Parents must insist that the school board, the school principal, and the teachers identify and provide intervention. Nothing less is acceptable.

Fortunately for him, the Leo in our writing lived hundreds of years ago. Since he was, at that time, free of the constraints, labels, and drugs we use in modern education, he was able to develop the talents he possessed. Also, at that time, careers in art were considered as important as those in banking, education, medicine, etc.

We know him as Leonardo da Vinci, one of the world's greatest artists and inventors. He had such severe dyslexia that his writing was mirror-image backwards.

THE POINTS:

With dyslexia affecting 10% to 15% (according to experts in the US; some experts in Europe estimate 5%) of the general population, EACH class MAY have a child with this challenge. We must observe closely, use interventions, and refer students for testing.

Students who are identified as dyslexic can receive specialized training to alleviate the effects. This is NOT a disease, so there isn’t a CURE. We must modify the degree of difficulty the child has with learning.

With dyslexia no longer a major limitation, we all are able to see the many potentials and opportunities of our children for successful careers and futures. This, along with the newer ease of and confidence in learning, helps the student to build/gain self-esteem. We must encourage.

Districts and individual schools who offer training in dyslexia identification can help teachers recognize this potentially devastating challenge early in the student’s educational path. We must train educators AND parents.

Software for Writing Projects and My Writing Career

2011-08-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

Jennifer asked me about software - here is a quick explanation as well as info on how I have started my new writing career:

For the screenplay, I used an old version of Movie Magic Screenwriter (I also do Astrology and knew back in 2006 I would be writing a screenplay, so bought software in preparation). Any software dedicated to screenwriting automatically sets margins for descriptions as well as for dialogue, etc. This, to me, is much easier than trying to set Word. In fact, I tried to use Word and had such a hard time with it, I quit and went back to MMS.

I think I bought MMS when it was on sale at The Writers Store, online.

I am using Word for both the screenplay logline (finished) and synopsis (working on today). The logline goes directly into the query (whether hard-copy letter or email to producers and/or agents). Once finished, I will convert the synopsis into PDF format so that I can attach it to an email or print it, if hard copy is desired.

I use Cute PDF for converting text written in Word into PDF. Years ago, I downloaded CutePDF free from the Internet and use it ALL the time!. Also, since I wanted the finished 120-page screenplay with Title Page in PDF format (as well as printed hard-copy), I used Cute PDF to convert it.

On my computer, When I click on Print, I can choose PDF as a conversion or print onto copy paper. When I downloaded the program and installed it, Cute PDF automatically set itself as a print choice.

MY WRITING CAREER AND MORE SOFTWARE INFO
I grew up wanting to be a newspaper reporter and began college majoring in journalism. After three years, I left college, was married, and had my son, Rocky (and later, a daughter, Kristina).

Shortly after Rocky was born, I needed a job and begged the managing editor of the local newspaper in our town to give me a chance as a reporter, stating I would work without pay for a week to show him I could do the job. He immediately hired me and I was a reporter on a daily for four years, covering a lot of political and business news as well as writing features (just had a nose for news, so didn't have to be told what features could be written).

After four years as a reporter, I had the opportunity to return to college. I graduated with a degree in elementary education (the school didn't have a journalism program). Since teacher pay was so low and I had two children to support, I became a full-time entertainer and opened a talent agency.

Those careers continued for the next 25 years. When I closed the agency and retired from performing, I did free-lance technical writing. Then, I was (I almost want to say kidnapped, since I never really planned to teach) drafted to teach by a principal with DISD - they were desperate.

I taught, returned to college to get a Masters degree, and became Academic Coordinator for two years, then resigned in June, 2008. Before resigning, I started writing again, only my interest was fiction. I had already been offered the job as News Editor at the Ellis County Press, but my dad had been ill and I didn't take the job. Also, I had already experienced working on a daily and didn't need to re-experience covering county politics.

I wrote my first short story in 2006 (Zigzags) submitted it to an online contest at WritersNotebook.com and won first place, earning me a software program geared more for planning and writing short stories and novels as well as non-fiction books.

I have that short story somewhere in a file on my computer. Until a few months ago, it was available on the contest website, but that site appears to have been terminated.

With that software program, Page Four (a great program), I wrote a romantic novel based on the Vietnam War. I write fast and am wordy. When I wrote the novel, Love Never Dies, it expanded to 130,000 words. When I tried to sell it, everyone I contacted rejected it, stating nobody would read such a lengthy novel from a first-time novelist. They want initial novels to be about 90,000 words.

I tried my hand at editing it, but found the task too difficult at the time, since I was so close to the novel. I put it on the backburner. When I finish the screenplay sales attempts (hopefully next week), I plan to go back and either re-write the novel as a screenplay OR severely edit to 90,000 words, or, as my granddaughter said, if the screenplay sells, fiction publishers may be willing to read a 130,000-word novel from a newbie.

How did I get started in screenwriting (and this is my first attempt)?

I started the short story about 9 pm and wrote very quickly. The deadline for the contest was at midnight and I submitted it a few minutes before the contest closed. With that success, which thrilled me, I next wrote the novel over the 2005 Thanksgiving weekend plus a few weekends after that (wish I had stopped with what I had at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend - I had about 90,000 words at that point).

I started sending query letters and hard printed copies of the novel (expensive to do) and hoped for the best (all eventually rejected - too long!)

In the meantime, in January of 2006, I joined Dallas Screenwriters Association and attended a workshop they sponsored featuring William (Bill) Martell, who has had 18 of his screenplays produced as movies. The workshop was fabulous and gave me the confidence to try screenwriting in the future. Among my photos on Facebook, there is a pic of me with Bill. Also, one can Google him, go to his website, and sign up for his newsletters, which are full of tips for screenwriting.

During that time, I was still employed by Dallas ISD and stayed very busy. With the novel rejected, I stopped writing. After resigning from the district, I got into various activities and put writing aside. The photo of me with the camel in my FB albums contains a description of my activities since leaving DISD.

In early June of this year (2011), in my own astrological chart, my Midheaven (career) finally moved from Taurus to 0 degrees of Gemini, which is the communication and writing sign. I've known I would start writing more diligently once June of 2011 came around. Therefore, over these past years since June 2008, I've been writing down ideas and getting prepared for this next stage of my life.

On June the 11th, I began the screenplay and the plot easily flowed. The first draft was very easy to write (both descriptions and dialogue). It totaled almost 160 pages. To make myself create a quality work, every day I read lots of articles on the Internet and also read books I had purchased (a few years ago) on screenwriting.

After writing the draft, the hard part was going over and over and over the pages to whittle it down to 120 pages and to strengthen the dialogue. Editing is not the fun part, but it is necessary. It has been difficult for me to do, but has helped me develop discipline.

I just recently finished the screenplay and, as mentioned, have had to write the logline and, now, the synopsis of 450 words. Both of these have been very difficult for me. I think they also get easier over time..

To summarize, I loved the four years I spent as a reporter. Winning the short story contest was unexpected and thrilling and spurred me on. I enjoyed writing the novel and will do something more with it. The screenplay is finished, logline is finished, and synopsis is almost finished. I WILL sell the screenplay to somebody. The rest of my life will be spent writing and I have tons of outlines and ideas ready to go.

My philosophy about the writing: I am a great believer in trying something and if it doesn't work, practice, practice, practice until a quality product is the result. Therefore, if the screenplay queries don't incite someone to request and read the screenplay, I will know 1) either my logline and synopsis aren't good enough or 2) the concept is not good enough. At that point, I'll continue working on the screenplay until it becomes something that can sell.

I think writing is 1) having something to say, 2) not being afriad to say it (after all, God listens and reads and if what we do is good enough for God, it doesn't matter what others say), 3) not allowing the self to stop trying, and 4) at some point some level of success will come. Any finished product is worthwhile.

If one reads how many rejections famous writers have received, it is easier to realize we jsut have to keep going. Also, recently, I re-read James Michener's Workbook and it is astounding how he had to tear apart his work and re-write. And, Michener actually did physical cutting and pasting. We have it easy when we use comptuers and word processors.

One can Google "free writing software" and there will be lots of full, unrestricted programs, as well as trials of programs. If screenwriting is a goal, I strongly recomment joining Dallas Screenwriters Association, at least for awhile and attending both any workshops, all the meetings, and all the readings, to get a hang of what screenwriting entails.

There are lots of writing websites and many offer free newsletters with tips.

All of that is fine, but the only truly meaningful action is to write, write, write!

I hope this info is helpful. The most important words I can write are: just do it - like everything else, writing improves with practice.

I watch a lot of movies, many really stupid, so I know there is somebody out there who will want to produce my screenplay. It may take awhile to find that person, but I'm persistent.

Refusing to be defeated by a logline

2011-08-24T11:20:00.000-05:00

In the world of Hollywood scriptwriting (or even writing screenplays for documentaries), a logline is written to "sell the qeury letter."

When one completes a spec (speculation, not asked to write) script, one sends a query letter to appropriate producers and/or agents to tantelize them to request to read the screenplay. The query letter cannot be more than one page and includes a logline, very brief description of the characters and plot, as well as very brief bio information. Loglines are typically about 28 words.

If the query letter, with the logline, are written well enough, the scriptwriter hopefully will have one or more requests for the screenplay. Once read by a Hollywood "reader," a form is typically completed that either recommends the script move on up the pipeline for others to read or recommends a rejection letter or email be sent to the submitting scriptwriter.

It is said that the logline makes or breaks the potential sale and the purpose of selecting a script to buy and movie to produce is "high concept" or "something that will put butts in the theater seats on a Saturday night."

I've written my first screenplay, Texas Trilogy: The Legacy, and that was hard enough. For most of us, it always is challenging when we attempt to do something we've never before done. I'm thrilled I finished the script, especially since it usually takes about three months to write one and I completed mine in two months.

Ice cream and a small piece of dark chocolate were my reward for finishing the project. At my age, I always reward myself with food, kind of like giving treets to a dog when it behaves well!

I'm anxious to move on to the next script. However, there is business to complete before doing so!

Writing the logline is causing me to want to tear out my hair. The pressure is on. If my logline isn't good enough, nobody will want to read the script and I think it is a very good story, with strong characters (espcieally El Limpiador, The Cleaner), interesting localities (in Dallas, of course), and lots of conflict.

To better aquaint the reader of this blog posting with quality loglines, which are those written by professional screenplay writers who have experience, let's look at five samples.

"Seabiscuit" - 29 words - The extraordinary story of a thoroughbred racehorse - from his humble beginnings as an under-fed workhorse to his unlikely rise and triumphant victory over the Triple Crown winner, War Admiral.

"Pirages of the Caribbean" - 39 words - A 17th Century tale of adventure on the Caribbean Sea where the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow joins forces with a young blacksmith in a gallant attempt to rescue the Governor of England's daughter and reclaim his ship.

"Spy Kids" - 43 words - After segueing from a life of espionage to raising a family, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez are called back into action. But when they are kidnapped by their evil nemesis, there are only two people in the world who can rescue them... their kids!

"My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding" - 47 words - Toula's family has exactly three traditional values - "Marry a Greek boy, have Greek babies, and feed everyone." When she falls in love with a sweet, but WASPy guy, Toula struggles to get her family to accept her fiancée, while she comes to terms with her own heritage.

"Titanic" - 19 words - A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea.

These samples range from 19 words to 47 words. My understanding is a new writer submitting a first screenplay should keep the words to about 28. This information comes from the many books I've read on screenwriting, as well as the many articles on the Internet I've downloaded and reviewed.

Also, notice some of the samples include names of characters, but the one for Titanic doesn't.

Where am I today on the logline for my script? Here it is:

An epic tale of the struggle of a good-hearted daughter, overpowered by guilt, to keep the family’s drug trafficking empire from the clutches of the Mexican cartel who murdered her kingpin father. 33 words, which is five more than 28.

Since this is a trilogy, there are two more screenplays to write that feature some of the same characters (along the timeline, various people are murdered - drug trafficking is a very dangerous business, which is the theme of and reason for the trilogy).

At this point, since I must complete the synopsis of about 450 words (some producers and/or agents require that with the query letter), I may have to go with the logline I've written. I don't feel totally satisfied with it, but them I'm well aware of the many interesting characters in the script, as well as all the action. It is so hard for me to convert a 120-page screenplay into about 30 words. It is difficult enough to whittle it down to 450 words.

The relevant question is, IF you are someone who likes crime adventure movies, "Does my logline make you want to read the synopsis or the 120-page screenplay?" If not, my logline needs more work.

I want to get these query letters out this week. Therefore, the logline must be finished today and I'll give myself through Thursday to finish the 450-word synopsis.

And that means rewards of ice cream and dark chocolate both today and tomorrow. Arf, arf!

Stupid Things I Do and Did They Really Do That?

2011-08-23T13:04:00.000-05:00

One thing I do that is absolutely not smart: I write something on the computer, I do research for someone, or I look at something on the Internet and copy and paste it to Word on my computer, then, when saving it, I STUPIDLY just save it to the desktop, knowing later I'll come back and move it to the correct file folder.

Today is one of those times when I'm moving files to their respective folders. Almost everytime I do this, I promise myself that next time when I initially complete the action, I put the results in the correct file right then and not save to desktop.

I've made and broken this promise to myself many times. I get into a rush and, yes, it is faster to save to desktop. Is faster the same as smarter? Absoltuely not. Why? Because with some of these docs or items I saved quickly with some crazy name, I must now take the time to open the doc to figure ot what it is and, therefore, to where it should be moved! That is NOT an efficient use of time. Sometimes I have to rename the file as I move it to a folder. It would be more efficient to at least get it into the correct folder, even with a crazy filename. When I'm searching for it, I would at least start in the right place.

I'll try to do better, but won't promise to do so regarding this matter, since I've broken this promise so many times. I'm not proud of breaking promises to myself, but I only do so regarding a few issues - won't eat more chocolate, will lose weight, will file correctly, will get rid of some of the thins I have that I no longer need. (like the size 8 clothes that are too small, but just in case I lose weight, I need them!).

Breaking promises is stupid. If I'm going to break them, I shouldn't make them to begin with. So, I promise to try to do better in this area!

So what do I think is really stupid and I hope I am absolutely wrong! On a newscast last night, the announcement was made that the new Martin Luther King Memorial in D.C. is open and, among the 16 or so sayings of Dr. King is NOT anything from the "Dream Speech." Could this possibly be true? I cannot believe they would leave out that great line about looking at character instead of a person's skin color. The reporter must be wrong.

At the same time, the original sculptor for the statue was eliminated because he refused to create a huge, overpowering piece of art, stating (I'm paraphrasing) that Dr. King was a humble man and would never have wanted his image to be so "out there." Instead, Dr. King would have wanted the words to stand, not the image. I can agree with that.. I think when people reach the place of being truly great, they have lost a lot of their own ego and their beings are broken into pieces that others can easily absorb.

I'm sure we'll hear more about the memorial over the next few days, since it is suppose to be dedicated (with grand opening) on the anniversary of the Dream Speech and March on Washington, which, to my regret, I didn't participate in.

If the reporter is correct, I can only say, 1) as stupid as I am sometimes, I'm not as stupid as to leave out Dr. King's MOST FAMOUS words and 2) is everyone on drugs except for my very close friends and me?

Appreciating Life in America

2011-08-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

Today, millions of people of all ages all over the world are carrying buckets as they walk various distances to community wells, or to rivers and lakes, many polluted, to obtain the water they will need for cooking, washing, etc. I do not know if they have to pay for the water. Many, however, probably struggle to carry the heavy weight of liquid.

Most Americans, however, can walk into the kitchen, bathroom, or to the front or back yard, turn on the faucet, adjusting the temperature from hot to cold (typically only cold water outside the house), and let pour as much water as is needed for the task. We do pay for the water, but it is brought right to our homes. Also, we receive reports on the quality of the water and, if a pipe breaks, we can usually get help right away.

Today, millions of people all over the world are washing clothes and other items as they stand in the lake or river and scrub by hand. Then they hang out the items on the line to dry.

Most Americans, however, can walk to the washer, throw the clothes in, add detergent, set the machine, and walk away, enjoying an automatic cleansing of items. When the washing has finished, we toss the clothes into the dryer. We pay for the appliances and we pay for the electricity or gas to run them. We once had to separate clothes by colors and now there are chemically treated paper cloths available that will absorb any dyes that run from clothing/items. Whites can go in with reds. That's both good and bad. Good that we advanced to that and bad because it always was fun to see guys that washed red t-shirts with white underwear end up wearing pink briefs! Of course, items are still separated by weight - heavy jeans not washed with delicate silks. And some people in our country do wash by hand and hang out clothes. Most of us, however, who have had to do that (and I have), find a way to buy the washer and dryer. After all, we need time to watch our favorite TV programs.

Which brings us to television. Many people in the world do NOT have televisions, much less computers, cellphones, even land-line phones, etc., although more and more people are getting cellphones, even in third-world nations. I think radio may be where most third-world nations start, since it is cheaper.

In America, we have access to all types of technology, including Ipads and Iphones with cameras. We even have those big screens on the walls that present us with fabulously clear and detailed pictures. Of course, for we chocoholics, it is overwhelming to see an M&Ms package that is 2 feet by 9 inches.

People around the world have no way to keep their foods cool.

In America, we have refrigerators and freezers. Sometimes, I remember the icebox in the old Jackie Gleason TV show. Did somebody, using those big pincers, drag ice up all those stairs to their apartment? How much did the ice cost? Before electriciy, where did the ice come from? Did people go on ships to the Arctic, cut out ice blocks, transport them back to the big cities, and sell the ice in those horse-drawn carriages the moved through the streets? What a far cry from the refrigerated units we now enjoy. We can even get ice from the fridge door!

Around the world, people suffer with the heat and cold, not to mention all the bugs, snakes, and other critters.

In America, we have window air conditioners, space heaters, fireplaces, or, if more fortunate, central air and heat. We have lots of cans of chemicals we can spray to kill what we don't want in the house or we can pay someone to come protect us from yucky things, except for fire ants, that is!

My mind wanders - I think fireants came to the U.S. from South America. Their bites are horrible. Many illegal drugs also come from there. Maybe the fire ants were sent purposefully so that people with lots of bites would use illegal drugs to erase the reality of itching and burning. Another conspiracy!

Getting back on track - around the world, people walk, ride camels, ride horses, ride in wagons that are pulled by oxen, horses, even people, or endure some other more difficult type of transportation.

In America, we climb into our cars and pickup trucks and go wherever we want, depending on how much money we have for fuel and maintenance. Hopefully, the license tag has been paid for, the vehicle has an up-to-date inspection sticker, and there is insurance. In America, trucks of all sizes transport stuff we want to stores at which we shop for food, clothing, furniture, etc.

Around the world, people live in villages with no doctor. They suffer with no prescription drugs.

In America, we have doctors everywhere and many so specialized they can fix almost anything wrong with us. We have drugstores in every town. Maybe we even have too much availability of prescription drugs.

Around the world, people can't vote for their leaders. In fact, in many places, they wake up and go to sleep listening to gunfire.

Oh, should have left out that last sentence. Unfortunately, we have that in America, although we can vote for our leaders. Of course, many Americans are too lazy to read about the issues, make up their minds, and go to the trouble of going to the voting booth.

Around the world, millions of children get no education.

In America, every child gets an education that is free for them (although taxpayers pay for it). As I told my students during the four years I taught in a public school, if you don't like it here because you have to study and do homework, I can guarantee you there are many children who would be very happy to switch lives with you, even if they had to do 10 times the work!

There are very ugly things that happen to many people around the world.

We have some of that, but we do have law and order and most laws are enforced and most law enforcement people are good and honest and care about protecting and serving society.

The point - shut up all the complaining. Yes, we have high unemployment - 9.1% unemployed, means 90.9% employed, on average. As bad as it is for there to be 50% unemloyment among teens in Chicago and Detroit, at least 50% do have jobs.

Yes we have inflation in food and energy prices. But we have food and energy available to us.

I'm not trying to negate the pain of people who have lost jobs and who are having a hard time paying for food and gas, mortgages, and other bills. You have a right to complain and more power to you. Scream as loud as you want to!

What I am saying is, for my friends who complain even though they live in nice and clean homes, have jobs, cars, running water, appliances, and so much more, please realize even the poorest people in America are richer than who are considered the richest people in some third world nations. If your guy or girl dumped you, there are more possibilities out there. Unless you have a really good reason for complaining, please keep your petty complaints to yourself and share with us friends the really serious issues.

Today, I'm washing clothes in my washer and will toss them into my dryer. Today, I water the plants in my cottage with water I obtained by simply turning on the faucet. This morning I drove to the bank, the post office, and Wal-mart in a car that got me there safe and in much faster time than I could have walked, ridden a horse, camel, elephant, ox, or dinosaur. I haven't yet met any aliens from other planets who would zap me up from my cottage and zap me down at my target errands.

As bad as this heat is for us, I think it was worse for the pioneers, who tilled the fields and, when they came into their houses to rest, they had only breezes (if there were any) through open windows (without screens) to enjoy.

In America, we have it great. Yes, we have problems. Our citizens have brains and if the complainers would stop complaining and start coming up with solutions to our problems, wouldn't we all be better off?

I greatly appreciate being an American and having access to so much. I especially appreciate that my children and grandchildren are healthy and if an accident happens, we can call an ambulance or we can drive down the road a few miles to a hospital. And, I appreciate that I can write this as my washer does its work.

I am so proud to be an American. And, I am so NOT a socialist or communist. I don't want to give up what we have so that someone else can have it. I'd rather just see all those millions of people all over the world come up to our lifestyle (the postiive parts of it) without our having to lose what we have. The more educated and informed those people become, the better the chance they will work for what we have. If you don't believe that, look at China and India! I believe in Capitalism and those nations that are reaching and passing us are doing it through Capitlism.

Education and information are key, as are the opportunities for entrepreneurs and inventors to bring their ideas into practial technology that can be freely available and purchased.

Washer shut off - time to toss clothes into the dryer and for me to move on to the next project. Think I'll go to the refrigerator and fill my glass with tea. How I appreciate being so fortunate!

Old South Slavery and Modern College Football

2011-08-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

People who know me are well aware I do not keep up with professional or college sports. In fact, I see much of it, especially football, as similar to the old gladiator fights of the Roman Empire in which testosterone-laden people exhibited their blood-thirstyness. I am astounded that it has taken so long for the NFL and other leaders in all levels of football to FINALLY become aware that players can receive head injuries that devastate their lives and FINALLY intervent.

Players have a hard time saying no to the money they receive for their participation. Owners know there are plenty of other potential players, so, if someone gets hurt, there will be a replacement. Fortunately, enough evidence of brain injuries is coming forth to make changes in equipment and observations of players.

As a person who promotes education, I despise seeing high school coaches make enormous pay while teachers receive much less and academic programs take the back burner to blood-and-guts football.

All that is said to emphasize I come to any discussion of football with a prejudice against it. So please take what I say with a grain of salt.

What bothers me now comes from a recent conversation with my son, Rocky, who is a football expert. In fact, he is an expert in almost all sports. When Rocky was a kid and I let him come to the Shamrock Hilton in Houston (I played piano and sang in the lounge), he so impressed members of the LA Dodgers that I personally was told by some of the team members that Rocky knew more about their records than they did. Even Steve Garvey came to meet this kid who knew so much. And players were very happy to provide Rocky with free tickets to Dodger games when they came to Houston to play.

I think people who play this Fantasy Football with Rocky also are well aware of his expertise.

So, what did he tell me that made me so angry? Simply, that college football teams make a lot of money from their football programs and are not allowed to give money to players. So I looked up the 2010 stats.

UT grossed $93,942,815 and, after paying coaches salaries, for equipment, and for other expenses, they netted $68,830,484 in profit for the college.

U of Georgia grossed $70,838,539 and profit was $52,529,885.

Penn State grossed $70,208,584 and profit was $50,427,645.

Michigan grossed $63,189,417 and profit was $44,861,184.

And Florida (the school that I asked Rocky about because of recent news regarding illegal spending on players) grossed $68,715,750 and profit was $4,258,193.

That is over $1 billion in profit from just those five colleges.

How does this relate to the old plantation owners, IN MY MIND?

I grew up in the Deep South, in Georgia. The 1950s and 1960s were filled with us trying to figure out the Old South Slavery issue. I personally marched for Civil Rights in the 1960s. I made a point of making appointments with the pastors of various African-American churches to ask why all the fuss. I attended services once at Dr. Martin Luther King's church. I remember the pain in the eyes of the African American teenager who registered at Roosevelt High School, where I attended in Atlanta, when she was snubbed by so many students and spoken to by very few of us Anglo kids.

I believe in equal rights, the equality of all humans, and, like Dr. King, that we should look at character and not at skin color, gender, ableness, IQ, etc.

Also, a student of history, I'm very acquainted with (from various sources) life on plantations. Slaves were African Americans and slave owners were Anglos.

Slave owners gave slaves a place to sleep.
Slave owners gave slaves food to eat.
Slave owners provided tools for slaves to use.
Slave owners required work of the slaves and did not allow them to be educated, to learn to read or write, etc.
Slaves were not paid money, which would have given them freedom to buy what they wanted.
All financial benefit from the work of slaves went to slave owners.

In my opinion, how does this compare to College Football programs?

Colleges give scholarships to players (of all races), part of which is providing a place to sleep (called room, as in room and board).
Colleges give players scholarships, providing food to eat (called board, as in room and board).
Colleges give players equipment to use.
Colleges require players to work by performing on the football field, whether in practice or in games.
Colleges to not pay players money, although, if on scholarship, they do give them books and provide them with education. I don't have the stats on how many college football players are on scholarship (full or part) and how many pay for their own education.
All financial benefit goes to the colleges.

The only difference I see, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, is that slaves were imprisoned in the system for life, whereas, colleges let go of students who are players, giving them the freedom to be where and do what they want for the remainder of their lives. Certainly, this is better than the Old South.

But, what is NOT better, in my opinion, is that these young college football players, whether on scholarship or not, need money for cars, clothes, dates, etc., and are not given any pay by the college so they can avoid stepping into the clutches of the fans who circumvent the rules and provide them with things they need. I understand one isn't even allowed to give a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a player. I don't know if that is an extreme, but I did hear that stated.

The colleges tell us they don't pay players so that the field is even for all colleges. In other words, the big high-monied colleges, if allowed to pay players, could pay more, thus encouraging players to come there and eliminating the better talent from smaller colleges.

I haven't done enough research to learn how much the smaller colleges gross and net, but wouldn't it be possible to select an amount of money that even they could pay players so that all players, across the board in college football, received some pay that would allow them to buy cars, date girls, buy clothes, get a shake at Sonic, etc., without having to take money under the table. Of course, some would still go the illegal route. There are always people who like to cut corners. But at least MOST players would be fairly paid for their work.

According to the 2010 Report from the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports,

"In Division I football, African

That tells me almost half of all football players in Division 1 football are Black. So half of the students not being paid are, for the most part, descendents of slaves. Where are Jesse Jackson and other Black leaders on this issue?

And just as bad are the White players, Latinos, and Asians. Where are the leaders of these groups on this issue?

If you look at the entire 2010 report, you see that in college football, there is a much higher percentage of Whites in the administrative, coaching, and other leadership roles for the colleges.

I believe God gave humans brains so that we can make life more fair. To me, it certainly is NOT fair for the colleges to make so much profit on the backs of these players while not sharing some of that bounty with them. Again, young people need cars, clothes, and spending money for dating, etc.

Further, it is grossly unethical to place these young people into positions of having to make moral decisions on where to obtain such money. These students have enough to deal with as they study, stay healthy, stay away from drugs, learn to interact successfully with their peers and with others. Why set them up to skirt the rules?

Can't people see by tempting them to travel down the negative brain path of breaking rules, that we are creating a future for them that may make it easier for them to break many other rules.

The point is, change the NCAA rules and pay these young people something. Don't continue this style of Old South Plantation Slavery by taking advantage of students.
In case you are interested, The Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports has many documents available online about all level of sports.

At some point, things will change and student players will be paid. That may happen only in the distant future as people stop paying for tickets and stop watching football on TV as they realize they are promoting this inequality and demand fairness. The sad thing is, every viewer and every attendee at these college football games is unconsciously (or, for some, even consciously) giving an OK to this behavior. So, if you don't like it, email the NCAA and ask them to change the rules (that is called lobbying, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term).

Obviously, I have another reason for not watching college football. Give me blood-and-guts chess tournaments any day (that is sarcasm)!‐Americans account for 45.8 percent of the athletes and whites hold 45.1 percent, indicating the levels of participation between these two races continue to remain very close."

Parents Who Are Divorcing - The U.S. Congress

2011-08-01T12:52:00.001-05:00

Children who grow up with parents that fight are recognizing the relevance to the current activities in Congress. The bickering among the two parties in Congress remind me of a couple on the verge of divorce. The Mediator/Leader, President Obama, is smart enough to realize this is a no-win. Nobody is truly attacking today's problems. Instead it seems to be the same old whining about what got us here.

Many of us can see positives in both sides and negatives in both sides - nobody is totally right or totally wrong. People who are members of the party of Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln (the Republican Party, yes, surprise, surprise, why they don't make this their brand) DO care about others. At the same time, most Republicans are Capitalists who like entrepreneurship and obtaining goods and success on one's own merits, rather than being entitled to everything.

And Democrats DO care about others and lean heavily to the entitlement side. I could never be a Democrat because I grew up in the Deep South years ago where many Democrats also were members of the Ku Klux Klan. I was a Republican for most of my life, but this past year left the party to become an independent.

And I am sick of this fight. I said in the early 1970s we would get to this horrible economic situation if we allowed manufacturing to leave our country. I wanted to see a law passed requiring that one-half of everything purchased in the U.S. had to be manufactured here. I was laughed at by people in Congress who didn't believe things in America could fall apart. I now believe it is too late for the U.S. to recover. There are too many problems and the parents (two parties) are fighting over how to get well.

If I could, I would put all the Republicans on one-half of the country's landmass and the Democrats on the other half. I would let each create their own country and see which one works the best. For myself, I believe people who cannot take care of themselves should be helped, but this doesn't apply to people who don't want to work and they label that not being able to take care of the self.

I certainly would want every child to appreciate the free education and forget about what happened a hundred or even ten years ago. All that is water under the bridge. It is painful to see a student turn his or her back on a good education because he or she doesn't like the race of the teacher. That is very stupid to do, but it is done everyday. Idealistically, I hope this changes. Realistically, I doubt it will, at least anytime soon!

The Assassination of Usama or Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-04T12:59:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about whether or not I would have ordered a kill of UBL, if I were in the position of President Obama. Both killing UBL and not killing indicates a no-win situation.

After a lot of consideration, I've decided I would NOT order the kill and here is why:

Truly, UBL is a dangerous person to the United States. About 3000 people died on 9-11 alone due to Al Qaeda's bombing of the Twin Towers.

There has been no doubt that other attacks would be coming to America. A few already have been thwarted. Should those attacks have happened, a few hundred people would have died. These piece-meal attacks would have killed a few hundred people at a time. The Intelligence community has been able to prevent attacks and for that, I think all of us are grateful. We don't want even one American, or anyone else for that matter, murdered by these terrorists.

However, Al Qaeda's top henchmen have stated for quite some time that, should UBL be captured or killed, they would detonate a nuclear bomb inside the U.S. A nuke will kill many more than a few hundred people.

Was killing UBL or taking him out of Pakistan the only choices available? I think now. It is stated that the compound at which UBL lived in Abbotabad, Pakistan had no Internet or telephone connections. The means of communicating was through couriers. Had UBL been left alive in that compound with this family and the people who lived there, BUT without the ability to communicate with anyone else, how much damage could he order? His cohorts wouldn't know what to do. They couldn't get direct orders from him and wouldn't know why. This would leave them without the idea of using a nuke on Americans, although they probably would continue with small attacks.

There are American servicemen who speak the language of that area of Pakistan. They could have been placed as guards around the compound (dressed as Pakistani military) so that it appeared the guarding was being implemented by the Pakistan government, not the U.S. Further, with as much money as the U.S. provides to Pakistan, those government authorities probably could find loyal police or military to guard the compound.

These are just a few thoughts and I'm sure there are many more ideas I could come up with as time allowed.
At this time, I simply think the retribution for the death of UBL will be a lot worse than anything that would have happened had he been left alive, but with his communication abilities stopped.

Another thought - why didn't they bring the wife out? She would have had so much information to share about the comings and goings at the compound.

Also, why didn't the Seals drag UBL into another room if they were ordered to kill him so that all those children didn't have to witness the shooting? His wife and, apparently, about 10 children were in that room watching the killing. Of all those children, only one has to grow up wanting to revenge his dad's death for us to continue to be threatened for decades into the future.

Right now I'm listening to comments about the press briefing to occur shortly regarding releasing the photograph of UBL after his death and showing the gunshot wound. Apparently, President Obama will NOT release the photo and thinks because there hasn't been any retribution so far, there won't be. Therefore, not releasing the photograph helps to stop any attack. To release it, according to the President, could inflame people and cause retribution. This is bizarre to me. If revenge is in the plans, the photo will not make a difference, one way or the other. I never quite understand where the President is coming from.

Most people in this country know that the Al Qaeda leadership and members are EXTREMELY patient and plotting. Many probably are scattering since they data has been confiscated and the Al Qaeda people don't necessarily know what information the U.S. Intelligence community now has. However, they will settle and they will plot and I do believe we will get hit hard unless all of them are found and captured.

If many more Al Qaeda people are arrested, the mission has completed a double duty - kill UBL and gain information. However, if many of those others aren't arrested, simply killing UBL with the potential ramifications for a nuclear attack is NOT, in my opinion, worth it.

Of course, the President must consider his billion dollar re-election and this assassination is a boon for that.

It could occur in the future that this whole thing turns on the President and is more of a negative than a positive. We shall see! I do think President Obama makes a lot of decisions that are of a self-sabotage nature.

Getting Ready to Reveal the new Astrology

2011-03-14T13:24:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile since I've been working hard on getting the new Aquarian Age Astrology ready to reveal. If anyone reading this blog is interested, that website is http://aquarianageastrology.com/. The blog for it is http://aquarianageastrology.blogspot.com/. My email there is Lee@AquarianAgeAstrology.com and the Facebook is http://Facebook.com/AquarianAgeAstrology.

I'm now commenting on world events at that blog.

I am very sorry to see the mess we have in education now, but it has been coming - there was no doubt. You can't waste money and think it always will be there and, believe me, I saw tremendous waste when I was teaching in public schools. In my opinion, the important thing is to keep teachers IN THE CLASSROOM.

In the War on Ignorance, firing teachers is like getting rid of front-line Soldiers and Marines. Really think you can win a war that way? Looks to me like some people in administration need to be educated! This is all SOOO SAD!

Busy, busy, busy

2011-01-17T13:56:00.000-06:00

I have not posted since August, 2010. Just too many projects I am completing. Soon, I hope to be back on schedule with blogging. The best to all.

Importance of Education

2010-08-12T11:51:00.001-05:00

Last night I finally watched the movie "Monster" about Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer. I have not seen the documentary regarding this person. Apparently, she was sexually abused while living at home.

I happen to believe behavior is a result of the mixture of nurture and nature. My belief is based upon my research into astrology, especially Aquarian Age Astrology, in which we may be locked into specific boxes called genetics, but our experiences help us in determining how to deal with the situation.

This woman's life goes to show me a few facts about which I already am adament - 1) the system needs to respond in a more effective way to children who are sexually abused, 2) education in the primary and then all elementary grades needs to be strongly based upon skills that can help one manage his/her life and NOT based upon theoretical ideas put forth by educators with PhDs and EDs whose intent is solely upon developing the "upper intellect." I know many people with highly developed "upper intellects" who can barely manage their lives from day to day. Fortunately, many of my friends in this situation are married to or have significant others who are partners or even families who take care of practical matters. Also, 3) when people whose job it is to protect individuals instead use and abuse them, they need to be prosecuted themselves. In most law enforcement agencies, people typically know who are the good guys and who are the bad, yet, just as in the medical profession, legal profession, and many other professions, people protect their co-workers and peers instead of having the courage to "out" them for behavior outside the rules or accepted boundaries. I did NOT say unethical because that is a subjective matter.

Do not think I am EXCUSING her behavior. I am not. She had no right to murder others. What I am saying is there should have been interventions into her life many years before this killing spree began - interventions that could have helped her move down a different life path and better handle her circumstances. I don't remember hearing in the film, but I wonder if she quit school before graduating or how her grades were. Even bright people have a hard time making good grades when they are being abused at home.

The key to a well-managed and civil life is what we go through as young children, older children, then teens. We build neuron pathways when we are young and those become habits, which later become behavior patterns that are difficult to break.

Watching the movie hurt - it was very sad to see what happened to everyone involved in this woman's life. This woman seemed to have become a monster because of what was done to her, but many steps led to that moment.

How do we find the individuals who will be the next "monsters" and do something about that now? When I taught and was an Academic Coordinator, it was easy to see which children were problematic even in Kindergarten. I wanted us to intervene into the lives of those young children in order for them to have what I considered a better future. Others wanted to give the kids gifts (which I knew would immediately be pawned by the people with whom children lived). Some of us called CPS regarding children. Some of us pushed for better testing - my big push related to dyslexia. However, as nice as many of the teachers were, many were simply overwhelmed by the educational system and did not have the energy to do anything about any problem.

Education is EXTREMELY important in our lives - we must do better with the system and that means less waste of resources, more practical curricula, getting rid of ineffective teachers and administrators and district managements, etc.

We are an intelligent nation and we could do better than we now do. For that to happen, everyone would have to actually spend time getting involved in what is going on in our country. At least with the current financial downturn, more residents appear to be anxious to get involved.

For the most part, the brains of serial killers work the same way as the brains of the rest of us (in terms of neuron development and function). More training on brain chemistry and function should be taught to educators so educators can better help students learn to monitor and alter, when necessary, their own behaviors.

When I taught, I showed my students a PowerPoint I created to show them how their brains developed and how neuron pathways became stronger as behaviors were repeated. The lessons were 1) you have choices, 2) don't even start bad behaviors, and 3) if you do activate a negative behavior, don't ever repeat it!

I absolutely believe astrology charts and consultation help us to identify stresses and find ways out. We all experience negative situations - it is how we handle them that makes the difference.

Transferring my energies back to Astrology

2010-08-09T09:34:00.001-05:00

Lots of changes these days. I was heavily invested in Astrology for most of my life, first as a student when I was a child, then as a Professional Astrologer with both individual and corporate clients. Being high-energied, I also owned and operated the talent agency and other endeavors plus was involved in a lot of activities.

Then the time came to pull back from the Piscean Age Astrology so that I could get a better perspective of the big picture and research the Aquarian Age Astrology. I did so, followed my own chart, did everything I believe I was supposed to do, and now the time is coming for me to close down everything else and go to ONLY Astrology and writing. For Astrology or any writings regarding that topic, I use the DBA Lee masters - the masters is used as a verb because I, like everyone else on this planet, is here to master Life.

The Astrology website is http://aquarianageastrology.com/ and the blog is http://aquarianageastrology.blogspot.com/. I may or may not type opinions in this Lee Gabor blog very often - simply depends on time available.

I always will lobby for what is right and will continue those efforts. The music, photography, etc., are fading significantly. I even sold my baby grand piano and getting ready to sell Boze sound system, stage lights, etc.

Eventually, I also will sell all the teaching items I bought and used during those years as an educator with Dallas ISD.

It especially feels great that my ruling planet (in my Astrological natal chart) Moon is finishing its trip through the 12th House in my natal chart and, in 3 months, will move into House 1 for a whole new 28-year phase. I've been looking forward to this all my life. I now have about 3 months to finish up all old projects, get rid of all the stuff I no longer need, and be ready.

Blessings to you.

Update on Missouri Bus Crash - would seatbelts have helped

2010-08-06T11:18:00.001-05:00

According to news reports today, the young lady that was killed in the bus crash was sitting in the last seat on the right side of the bus with the girls, which was the bus that struck the pickup truck and then moved up onto the cab of the tractor-trailer truck (no trailer, just tractor cab). The other bus, on which sat the boys, rammed into the rear of the bus with the girls. State Troopers in Missouri state that the young girl that died would have been a fatality even if she had been wearing a seatbelt. Apparently, the last three rows of seats were pushed forward at least three rows. The statement by the Trooper is that a seatbelt would not have helped in this case.

My question is, what about all the kids that were thrown around and injured? Obviously, seat belts would have helped them. I can't speak about the girls in the last three rows of the front bus, but all the other children probably could have been helped.

The National Traffic Safety Board states that about 1700 kids are in bus accidents every day throughout the U.S. However, hospital records of children being seen in emergency rooms as a result of school bus accidents indicates the number of children seen is higher. In my opinion, there is no doubt that kids who are not wearing belts are thrown forward, upward, and/or to the side when the bus in which they are riding is in an accident. However, the NTSB believes differently. They state that buses are safe due to "compartmentalization." On their website, they say "An average of only 7 passengers are fatally injured each year as school buses carry over 23.5 million children daily."

ONLY 7 PASSENGERS? These are someone's kids. These are the students of teachers who, hopefully, care. These are kids with friends. How dare they think that it doesn't matter since ONLY 7 fatalities of kids on school buses occur. The cost per bus is $7000 to $11,000 to provide seat belts. Each bus carries about 50 kids. The cost for belts is a one time purchase over the life of the bus. If the bus is used for 10 years, the cost per year is $700 to $1,100. Divide that by 50 children riding the bus ONE TIME That is about $14 to $22 added for each child who rides that bus that ONE TIME. Would a parent pay that to keep his/her child safe? But, children don't typically ride ONE TIME. Those buses are used every school day plus for after and before school activities. As the NTSB states, school buses carry over 23.5 million children DAILY.

In my opinion, mathematically, when looking at the life of the bus over time, the cost is minimal to provide belts. Also, many school buses are used for more than 10 years. They get sold to churches or other non-profits and some districts have to keep them for many years.

As with everything in life, it is wise to look NOT just at the up-front cost of something, but to spread that cost over time. If we are looking at a higher quality product, what are we paying each year for that extra quality? At least this is the way I consider every purchase. How much more should we be considering the purchase of seatbelts on school buses.

Only a few states require seat belts. Missouri is not one of those states, although it may be that the parents of those injured children begin to lobby for seatbelts on buses. A Massachusetts legislator is lobbying for a change in the law there.

A company that manufactures seat belts for buses has animations of what happens to children when an accident occurs. Children restrained by seat belts stay in their seat. Those without belts are thrown around and at risk of severe injury. Even with these animations, people fight the expense of putting belts on buses.

It is 2010. I began lobbying on this issue in the early 1970s. In all that time, there has been little progress, although Texas did pass the law and I'm very grateful for that and believe every moment I spent contacting state legislators was worth the effort. I just have a hard time believing that, in all the other states without seat belt on school bus laws, the cost of belts is too high. Taxpayer money pays for these buses and many taxpayers have children riding those buses. Why isn't every parent lobbying on this issue? People just don't know how much power they have, if wiling to be persistent. I guess it is more important to spend time on Facebook or to watch one's favorite TV show than to consider the risk our children may endure daily.

PLEASE get on board regarding this issue. You may save a child's life and never know it! You may save a child from severe injury and never know it. However, God knows what we do and watches our works.

Blessings to all! I do hope readers make the effort to lobby the U.S. Congress about passing a law requiring seat belts on school buses in every state of our Union.

Fatal bus accident in Missouri

2010-08-05T17:56:00.000-05:00

It is a sad day to recognize that, apparently, a young teenage girl has been killed in the bus collision in Missouri. According to the news, the driver of the first school bus, which carried the girls, was changing lanes and took her eyes from the road in order to look into her rear view (side) mirrors. In front of her on the road , a pickup truck had hit the cab of an 18-wheeler and these vehicles were stopped on the highway. The bus with the girls slammed into the pickup, crushing it (which killed the driver), then travelled up onto the 18-wheeler cab (there was not a load being carried - only the cab in the accident).

The bus with the boys on it then slammed into the bus with the girls. Was that driver following too close? I don't know.

The reason I'm writing is because of my belief that ALL school buses should have seat belts. There was no indication that either of these buses had seat belts. Would the girl that died still be alive if she had been wearing a seatbelt? Would the other students have been safer? I can't answer those questions, but I would like to know the truths. The news stated that many students were taken to hospitals.

In the early 1970s in Indiana, I began lobbying for seatbelts on buses and I continued that for many years, including the time I've lived in Texas. Year before last year, the Texas legislature finally passed a law requiring that, as of 2011, all school buses in our state have seatbelts.

Thank God for that, but there are still many states in which seatbelts are not required. The cost of a seatbelt is nothing compared to the emotional toll of losing a student.

I ask all of my friends to email their federal legislatures (and state legislators in states other than Texas) to request that the law require seatbelts on buses. Please do this!

Changes - I'm left brain and pro-active - don't deal well with them

2010-07-19T16:54:00.001-05:00

Can't believe it has been almost a month since I posted. The time has flown by. My daughter and granddaughters were here from Missouri and we had a July 4 event at my oldest grandchild's home - that is the beautiful Anna that was on Good Morning Dallas, Channel 8, recently. I love to look at the old snapshots of Miss Anna. As a baby, she did hand-painted silk scarves and even had her own label. She was a joy to watch as she would pick up a brush, put it back, contemplate which of the others to choose, then finally grab one and begin painting. Many of us still have our scarves and ties.

Anna also worked in my office when she was a little girl - she filed, straightened up the desk, threw items into the trash can, those types of tasks. I paid her by check and then cashed the checks for her. She loved sitting at the desk as a business person. She would pick up the phone and pretend to talk.

Rox and Lene are getting so grown - I hardly recognized them. They are doing very well in their school in Missouri - both play sports. I just can't get over how grown they seem.

It was great to see my daughter Krisy, especially to enjoy a steak dinner at a local restaurant. Krisy has always been a steak lover and we had a great time. I try to call her Kristina when in her presence, but she will always be Krisy to me.

Some of us who taught together at Silberstein Elementary and Gonzalez Elementary Schools in Dallas (2002 through my final year 2007-2008) recently enjoyed an evening together, along with families, at the Asian Buffet in Mesquite. The place is huge and had lots of different dishes, including steak and sushi.

It was super to see everyone. I do miss the teachers and the kids. There are truly some of the world's best people associated with Dallas ISD.

I'm hoping on Monday, Aug. 9 that we can do this again and that more of our friends can join us. I put the info on my Facebook page and this is not last minute, so hopefully I'll get to see lots of the terrific people I miss. The Aug. 9 event is right before the teachers return for the 2010-2011 year.

Now, my changes complaint - when I set up a program, I like to be proactive, to think of all possible ramifications, effects, etc., and only THEN draw up my plans and documents. Lately, it seems I'm involved in situations in which the opposite happens - we get into something, act on information we've received, then we're told the policies have changed. That is difficult for me, especially AFTER I've acted on the previous information.

It will be quite a nuisance to constantly ask, "Are you sure you want to do it this way?" or "Are you sure these are the guidelines we use" and other questions. It will be easier to just withdraw from all that and do my own program. Maybe this and maybe that is a right-brain way of thinking and it works extremely well when one is an artist, writer, entertainer, and in many other professions that require creativity. It just doesn't work well for some of us when rules are made and then constantly changed once we're in the program.

I try to be balanced, using both left and right brain - left brain for step-by-step activities, balancing checkbook, being accountable, keeping my calendar up to date and right brain for all the creative activities I truly enjoy. I just like my actions to be "grandfathered" in, IF I've already been completing things and someone decides to change the requirements. I do understand reasons for the changes and, in many cases, applaud the need for them. I just don't accept that changes should be made in the middle of a project.

I seem to be quite a misfit these days. I am going with the flow of that to the greatest extent I'm capable. Of course, I'll absolutely be more careful in the future about activities in those groups. I don't like feeling frustrated or irritated. I wonder how many people really enjoy those emotions?

I've asked myself, "Why is this happening to you?" I've answered, "Maybe I need the lesson." Therefore, I will become much more careful to be 100% authentic and up-front with people with whom I'm involved in any project, association, business venture, etc. This isn't always easy for me in the sense that I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where we were taught to always be polite and sweet, no matter what was happening. I learned from that to not always express myself when something bothers me. I need to improve in the area of letting others more clearly become aware of my dislike.

Life is growth and I do think, as long as we're on this planet, there is more opportunity to learn. My desire is to become the very best person I can be. The recent frustrations are giving me a nudge toward being more objective.

That's all for today - will try to get back to this soon. On Wednesday, I'll be working more volunteer hours at Kirby Creek in Grand Prairie as I earn my Master Composter certification. Also, need to pick up worms in GP. The worms are for Thursday when I'm doing a 2-hour program at the Ellis County 4-H camp. This is through the Master Gardeners association. We're making Worm Towers as one of our parts of the program. The kids always love anything that includes red wigglers.

Will let you know how that turns out and, as always, I'm glad to know your thoughts.

Another mis-speak - comes down to lack of respect, in my opinion

2010-06-22T12:54:00.002-05:00

General McChrystal and some of his aids gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine. Unfortunately, a number of statements were made that showed immense disrespect for the administration in Washington (President Obama and Vice President Biden, for example) plus comments on where we are in the war effort.
The General's aid that set up the interview already has been fired.

I know from PERSONAL experience that when I don't respect someone, I am apt to make statements that show my disdain.

I think General McChrystal is simply one of the many of us who think President Obama, for all of his academic intelligence, is in way over his head regarding the practical management of this country and, especially, the military and wars. When this is the situation, it is hard for some of us to keep shut our mouths and avoid stating our opinions regarding operations and where they are leading us down a wrong path.

One of two things happened with Barach Obama. Either he is a puppet of George Soros and out to consciously transform this country into a socialist nation OR he is smart, thought President Bush was doing a lousy job, and thought he (Obama) could do better. I think I know which, but will avoid saying. However, regardless of the reason he became president, he simply wasn't prepared, in my opinion. Unfortunately, none of us truly knows how difficult things can be until we "walk in the shoes of those in command." I don't think President Obama had or has now a clue how to run the country, but he did run a great campaign. Being a Mayor, Governor, or other government administrator could have helped him greatly to be ready to be President.

When I was with Dallas ISD, there were times I disagreed with my principal. It was only after earning my Masters degree in Educational Leadership and doing all the hands-on activities required that I realized what a big job it is to lead a school, its faculty and staff, its students, and ALL the stakeholders, while following the practices of the district. I gained a great deal more respect for my principal once I moved into the Academic Coordinator position.

We do not know what General McChrystal is going through every day in the war zone. Certainly, President Obama may visit there, but until he puts on a uniform, picks up a gun, and fights for his life over there, he doesn't truly understand what is going on. I think this is true of any of us. We get it WHEN we walk in those shoes.

I think General McChrystal probably will lose his job over this. He should not have spoken out against the administration. As I told my students many, many, many times - you can think what you want to, but be careful what you say. Sometimes, however, we are just bursting with frustration and we "poop" from the mouth. So, I think I understand what was going on - sort of the same thing as General MacArthur in Japan at the end of World War II - just had to say what he thought - just couldn't contain his irritation anymore. The sad thing is, this is just another example of the mess we are in that seems to show people in the rest of the world that things in America are out of control.

I've been working outside today as well as filing photos on my computer. In a few minutes, I'll clean up and go vote. At least we still can do that in this country.

NEWS FLASH - Judge ruled against Obama administration regarding moratorium on Gulf drilling.

Lee Asks: Does this mean those 150,000 jobs won't be lost and those companies won't abandon the rigs in the Gulf and move to other, more friendly nations? I hope so. I don't like paying $3.09 a gallon for gasoline for the Audi and $2.79 for the Focus. I certainly don't want to pay more than that.

Finally, I have a Twitter follower who is a dear friend and one of the finest teachers and people I have ever known. I just have to now figure out how to use Twitter AND keep what I say to 160 characters. Oh PLEASE! I am so thankful for this free blog on which I can say all I want.

I am supporting Brian Birdwell for Texas State Senate

2010-06-20T16:57:00.002-05:00

So, where was David Sibley during the recent Republican Convention in Dallas? I didn't see him anywhere and I constantly heard other Republicans asking the same thing. However, I did see Brian talking to everyone, explaining his viewpoints on the issues.

Apparently Sibley is and has been for some time supporting Democrats with donations. Because I am pro-life, I can't support the Democratic Party. Why would a Republican support Democratic candidates against Republican candidates? I don't have a good guess about that.

What I do know is that I received a mailout the other day from Sibley campaign stating, if elected, he would introduce a bill to limit property tax increase to maximum of 5% a year. The mailout stated Brian Birdwell has spoken at a Republican Women's meeting and supported a max of 10% a year increase.

Lee Asks, did Sibley sandbag Birdwell? I don't know. I wasn't at the Republican Women's meeting, so I didn't hear the actual statement. I have emailed Brian for clarification. Could it be somebody asked a question and an answer was given offering a maximum, then this was construed as "support?"

At the convention, I did tell one of Brian's supporters that I am not swayed emotionally by his service to the U.S. and his injuries when the Pentagon was hit by terrorists on 9-11. I appreciate his service and feel compassion regarding the damage caused to him by that attack. But, when I vote in an election, it is over issues and character, not just that someone suffered. Is the candidate honest, dependable, responsible for what he/she does, maintain integrity and consistency, and how does he/she treat the "little people" ? (woops - got to watch that phrase now after the Chairman of the Board at BP used "small people" to explain the company is going to be responsible to those damaged by the oil spill.)

For decades of my life, I've interpreted the phrase "little people" to mean those of us who are not rich and cannot donate massive sums of money to campaigns. I support candidates who listen to me and other middle and lower class people as well as those who donate a lot. I consider myself one of the "little people," although certainly no longer in physical size - love all that chocolate, banana pudding, and ice cream TOOOOOOOO MUUUUUUCHHHH.

Money alone does not make one intelligent. Education is great, but so is life experience and hands-on work.

I liked the fact that Brian Birdwell, at the convention, stood and listened to people I know who are plain middle class (and fixed income now) citizens who CARE about the direction in which our country is moving. It so happens that I agree with Brian on the issues. His website is http://brianbirdwell.net/. Of course, I always suggest people study BOTH or ALL candidates for an office and make up their own minds. That is what I do and I think that shows respect for the fact that God gave us very advanced brains with which to analyze, reason, and implement action.

One more thing - and this goes out to my dear friends - if you are NOT voting, I really don't want to hear your opinion about what is wrong with our country. But then, you know that, because I say it often. If you don't care enough to vote, you just don't care.SM

April 22 is the election day for the Republican Senate Seat for Texas District 22, which is quite a few counties. That is this coming TUESDAY! PLEASE VOTE. Now, I'm going to email my Republican friends just to make sure they are voting Tuesday!

Bill O'Reilly Says He Doesn't Care

2010-06-20T15:23:00.001-05:00

I watch news on all stations, especially Fox on Cable, since they usually are first with breaking stories. I also get emails from all over the world regarding news and events there and, especially, economics and politics.

My U. S. Congressional Representative, Joe Barton, made the statement during the Congressional hearing of British Petroleum's CEO Tony Hayward that he apologized to BP for President Obama's "shakedown" for forcing BP to put $20 billion into an escrow account. I don't think Rep. Barton was apologizing for the fact that BP set aside the money, only in the manner in which it was done, which apparently was the Obama administration's saying, "we are filing criminal charges against you, if you don't do this." Making such a faux pas is unusual for Rep. Barton, since he normailly is right on top of issues. Of course, the Republican Party then forced Rep. Barton to apologize or lose his seat on the powerful committee. To me, it is a shame this BP issue has become so politicized when it is having such a negative effect on people and the ecology. All this talk and finger-pointing is NOT solving the problem.

Anyway, in talking about this story, Bill O'Reilly said on his program (repeated again today) that "I don't care how Obama did this." Another mis-speak, I HOPE. I would not like to think that anyone on Fox Cable News has the opinion that whatever someone in government does to achieve an action is OK. I would like to think Bill means, "in this case, I don't care." He didn't say that. We all mis-speak by commission or omission. To me, the only point of the BP situation AT THIS TIME should be getting the spill stopped and financially supporting those people who are losing income NOW.

The sad situation about the latter is that some of those fisherpeople and other workers took cash monies over the past years and did not claim all the monies on their taxes. Therefore, they can't provide the requested tax return copies to prove their income was the amount they are now trying to get BP to pay. I know it is tempting to avoid paying taxes on all the money one makes, but it is those taxes that keep our military strong, keep our government running, keep highways paved, pay for Medicaid to help people who need help, pay for Social Security benefits to those people who have only that income upon which to live, etc. For all its faults, this is still the greatest nation IN THE WORLD and we do more to help others than any other nation I know of. For me, paying taxes is an honor, even though I don't agree with the way Congress always spends the money, and certainly not the out-of-control spending now being done. I love this county and the CONSTITUTION which limits executive power, gives me freedom of speech and the right to protect myself and myfamily, gives us freedom of religion, makes our nation great, etc.

Regarding the immigration law in Arizona, I've been watching the teacher in LA who is sponsoring a trip of his students to travel to Arizona and protest the new law. It is correct for young people to get involved and, especially, to understand BOTH SIDES of an issue so they can make up their own minds. In this situation, what if the teacher and kids were traveling to that section of Arizona about which the U.S. Government states Americans should NOT visit because it is dangerous due to the drug cartel people with their automatic weapons. Should the kids go there? I think not. However, if the teacher took them to that area, would they all understand how desperate Arizona citizens (Hispanics as well as non-Hispanics) feel. Not all Hispanics are against the new law. Some of the supporters are Hispanics who entered America legally or were born in America. Also, for many decades, ALL aliens have been, by federal law, required to carry citizenship papers with them at all times. I certainly carry my driver's license, car insurance, and auto registration info when I travel. The issue in this case is protecting the border. Arizona citizens have a right to that and we, in Texas, have a right to protect our border also. The shame is not doing this in a smart way (years ago) so that it isn't an issue not that is splitting our country and causing a lot of good people such grief. And one more point, we have yet to see how the law enforcers in Arizona will apply the law. To assume all of them will do racial profiling is an insult to the good people who put their lives on the line daily to protect and serve the people. Yes, there probably will be a few jerks, but they are the minority and it is up to the people in Arizona to stop them and CONVICT them of their wrongs.

And how awful that the Governor of Arizona had to learn from an interview in Ecuador of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton that the U.S. Government is suing Arizona over this law (which doesn't go into effect until the end of July). I guess another change of President Obama is for the White House and Attorney General's office to no longer give courtesy calls to governors regarding issues that relate directly to them.

I absolutely understand the thinking of my dear friends who voted for Obama in order to achieve the changes he touted in his campaign. However, the changes I am seeing are not the ones he spoke of - more transparancy, etc. I can only say I'm such a realist about politics, since I've been involved in issues since I was a kid, that is was obvious Obama couldn't do what he said he could do. He is a brillian Academic, but not a practical person or realist. As Gov. Huckabee said, "he has never even operated a lemon stand." Being a community activist does not give one the management and business experience to operate this big country.

I used to joke that I supported "Miss Piggy for President." It seems to me a lot of what is happening is just as bizarre.

I hope SOON we get back to the REAL problems: putting Americans to work, stopping the huge deficit that can potentially destroy and bankrupt us, stopping the spill in the Gulf and getting the spill cleaned up as soon as possible (where are those Dutch ships and Saudi tankers that the federal government stopped from coming to the Gulf to help?), and much more.

Composting and Community Gardening and a Mentor Party

2010-06-20T14:41:00.001-05:00

Miss Margaret and I went Saturday to work at Kirby Creek in Grand Prairie. We are doing our volunteer service hours in order to become certified Master Composters. It was HOT, but a great day. It is wonderful to see local people come to the garden to weed, water, compost, pick veggies, mow, etc. Glenda was out the other day to water and Vijit waters often. We appreciate his leadership at the garden. Enjoyed seeing Ameeta (Vijit's wife) again. The squash bus seemed to have lessened. We started 2 new bins. The greens were cut down as the guys (Vijit, Bruce, and Earl) cut the honeysuckle to free the A-frames on which the butter beans could be twined. Bob and Billy had mad the frames and they are great. We also were able to get grass clippings when Earl and Margaret mowed. Bruce did a lot of weedeating and pulling weeds. Liz and Glenda really spruced up the veggies and sunflowers. Vijit and Ameeta did some of everything. I work too, but always impressed with how much the others can accomplish. Our rest and eat time was delicious. We enjoyed chips and sala, bean dip, quesadillas, and chutney. Hands-on is really the best way to master gardening and composting.

From Kirby Creek, we went to Miss Margaret's (actually, that is a Mrs., but we just call each "Miss" as though we are teens living a century ago) beautiful home where we showered and changed. Then we went to Ginger and George's home for the Master Gardener Mentor event. As always, everything was perfect. Ginger gave a tour of her garden, hen and goat pen, bee keeping area, etc. She is Mother Earth personified.

Being in Master Gardeners and Master Composters is truly a blessing to me. The people are great and I love learning so much and getting back to nature.

Remembering someone who disappeared in the Vietnam War

2010-06-17T13:02:00.001-05:00

On Mother's Day this year, I had the privilege of visiting the traveling Vietnam War wall while it was in Ennis, TX. It was heart-breaking to see all the names and know these 58,000 plus lives were cut so short by that war. I looked up three people - one I knew growing up, one the person who crashed with my friend in 1970, and one the MIA-POW I "adopted" in the 1990s and about whom I added information on a website I published during that decade about these three young men.

All three of these young men became MIA-POWs and a symbol is next to their names on the Wall indicating remains were never recovered.

After coming home on Mother's Day, I wrote an article about the visit and about my friend and his buddy. The newspaper in the buddy's hometown, Prophetstown, ILL., published the article and someone in the area who read it, cut it out and sent it to the sister-in-law of that buddy of my friend.

That sister-in-law, Judy, emailed me and gave me information about her late husband's brother and it was very good to know more about him. It was wonderful to hear from her and to know my words touched people and let them know there are people who still remember those who gave of themselves in the Vietnam War.

I am so grateful that my parents taught me to appreciate service people and to study and enjoy history. Growing up in Atlanta, GA, the Revolutionary War and Civil War (known there as "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The War for Southern Independence") were a major topic during my youth. It was wonderful to be taken to the many battlefields and those trips gave me a lot of knowledge and appreciation of those who died for us, over many, many decades.

Also, my maternal and paternal ancestors came to America shortly after Jamestown and were active in various wars. One, John Langston (my maiden name is Langston) was a member of the House of burgesses and participated in Bacon's Rebellion, which was the first rebellion against the British.

I must have military in my genes because this is always an issue in which I remain active - especially the MIA-POW issue. We do not have an accounting of everyone and a wonderful journalist wrote an article on the 10 reasons we may still have service people in captivity in Vietnam and surrounding countries. If you, the reader, is interested in learning more about this, you can Google "MIA-POW" and find some of the wonderful associations who stay involved with this issue.

Our service people have in the past and continue to give their all for us. It is such an honor to be an American, even with all the problems that now seem to be at the forefront of our psyche. Thank God for our military and God bless each of them and America. I pray God also will bless all those family members of those three young men whose names I stared at on the Wall.

Working at Kirby Creek Community Garden in Grand Prairie

2010-06-17T12:46:00.001-05:00

Saturday the 19th will be fun since we are having "salsa day" as we take a break from the gardening and composting tasks.

About a dozen of us showed up Wednesday June 16th to work. Many of us are working on our volunteer/service hours in order to earn our certification as Master Composters and to receive the Shepherd's Compost bin with aerator insert.

At the garden, the plants that looked wonderful the Wednesday before looked pretty bad today, either from lack of water or chlorosis or a fungus. The leaves had turned yellow and mottled and a few plants just looked deadish. We are checking to determine exactly what caused the problem.

Squash bugs had really taken over the squash plants. We washed them off, trying to drown them, but they are survivors!

We weeded, pruned damaged leaves, mulched, and did other tasks to make the garden better. Vijit and Tracy have been watering, but that takes a long time with as many beds as there are. Hopefully, the city will be able to fix the irrigation system so that the veggie beds will be watered through drip irrigation instead of hand watering. As we learned in Master Gardening, drip irrigation is always superior.

There were lots of cherry tomatoes and we had those at our "rest and eat" time. Liz brought the zucchini quiche and it was delicious. We enjoyed the cherry tomatoes with the chutney Viit brought that his wife made. Margaret brought strawberries and blackberries - it was a fun break and we got to hear more about Billy's document that lists all the planting dates, harvesting dates, etc., on one page. Vijit is going to make a copy for each of us.

Looking at the two tiny cantaloupes (one golf ball size, one tennis ball size), Billy pointed to a flower and the bee pollinated it and said a new cantaloupe may grow there. This was very interesting to me.

Saturday, we're also going to cut away vines that are growing around two more bean/cucumber frames and move those so that the butter beans can grow upward. Some of the cucumber vines were growing horizontal along the ground under those frames currently in place in the cuke bed and Billy and I weaved the extensions into the fencing on the frames so they will grow upright and, hopefully, the squash bugs won't get into the cukes.

We discussed placing Savin around the perimeter of the cuke bed to kill baby squash bugs and a more toxic insecticide around the perimeter to kill adult squash bugs. However, we decided not to do that, since the insecticide would be sucked into the roots of the cukes, thus negating the organic emphases of the garden.

We are going to plant pumpkin, zucchini, and watermelon Saturday. We pulled weeds from beds with nothing growing in order to prepare for planting. There is a gas tiller that can be used to till those beds, but if we do a lasagna garden in one or more, we won't need to till that/those.

We also know to plant radishes at random among plants. I checked resources and nasturtiums and some marigolds also help. This is called "companion planting."

All in all, an interesting day - not much breeze and hot, but it feels good to learn.

We may experiment with one bed by doing it as a lasagna garden, as suggested by Liz.

We are hoping to see the grass, both in the bedded area as well as around the outside of the fence, mowed so that we can rake up clippings and start a second compost bin soon plus add more browns and greens to the one there now. There is a fenced in area in the SW corner of the community garden that contains lots of leaves.

Another task for Saturday is to do something with the triple wood slat compost bins that have been ignored for a long time.

We did harvest beans, squash, peppers, and there are a few eggplants growing (we didn't harvest the latter).

Community gardens are becomming more and more popular and one great advantage to working in one is learning from experienced vegetable gardeners. I appreciate everything I'm learning. Having been a city girl all my life and leading a non-domestic type life, I am really graining an appreciation of the basics and pratical tasks that can make us feel terrific as we succeed at them.

Republican State Convention

2010-06-15T12:20:00.001-05:00

Yes, I am a Republican and have been my entire life, even though my family members were mostly Democrats. I am pro-life and both fiscally and socially conservative. There are parts of the platform with which I don't agree, but they are few compared to those with which I do agree.

I do believe we need more miniorities in the party. Last year, I suggested that we begin to advertise our Ellis County party as "the party of President Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King." I didn't get far with that locally. I don't understand why making this statement is unacceptable, especially since the party was started in order to fight slavery.

Recently, I read the 2008 Democratic Party platform, which mentions Abraham Lincoln and his emphasis on establishing the trans-continental railroads. This mention of him, which is near the mention of President John F. Kennedy, infers he was a Democrat. That party uses President Lincoln and the Republican party doesn't! Strange to me.

The convention this past Friday and Saturday was interesting, especially to someone like me who loves technology. The party needs to move into this century and use more technology. I hope to see that happen.

What surprised me most was that the 2008 platform was not used as the basis for the 2010 platform, taking those planks and "red-lining" them (crossing through what is no longer important and adding new text in red ink). This would have allowed delegates and alternates to immediately compare now to 2008. Instead, the committee apparently started from scratch. This not only wasted lots of time, it created a lot of arguing during the general business meeting Saturday afternoon. Some people wanted to trash the entire 2010 platform and go back to the 2008. Had the 2008 been "red-lined," only the few areas of disagreement could have been addressed, rather than suggesting trashing the entire 2010 platform.

What also bothered me was that the amendments to the platform, which were submitted in writing, were not typed into a computer so they could be flashed on screens for all of us to read. With thousands of people in the room, some clapping, yelling, laughing, talking, etc., it was NOT easy to hear amendments as they were read. It is difficult to vote for something when one doesn't accurately hear the content.

Regarding voting, I am hoping before the next convention, a remote voting system can be leased or borrowed so that we are NOT handwriting on slips of paper, which are then hand counted. When I taught in public school, I used remotes for almost all of my tests and the kids loved using them. A great advantage was that scoring was instantaneous.

If you've never used one of these systems, a screen at the front of the room lists choices (this screen is connected to a computer, sort of like viewing slides on a PowerPoint). With the infrared or radio frequency remote, you press your choice (A, B, C, D) while holding the remote toward the antenna at the front of the room. The choices are immediately calculated and the results shown on the screen next to the choices. There is a fail-safe function to determine that EVERYONE'S vote is counted. This is much superior to voting by yelling or for thousands of people to stand for either "yes" or "no," since the numbers cannot adequately and accurately be counted in less than 60 seconds.

When I taught, my students learned cumulative averaging by using the remotes. They could easily understand this concept and they learned how to do this for themselves. For voting at the convention, we don't need cumulative average. Instead, we do weighted scoring. Most of the remote systems can be programmed for this.

The weighted concept means if a county has 20 delegates at the convention, but only 10 are there, those 10 vote for the 20. This is important so that every Republican voter in the county is represented at the convention. I understand this and that, because of the cost of attending the convention, some delegates and alternates simply cannot be present.

Since cost is a major consideration, and to rent the Dallas Convention Center for a week for this most recent convention probably cost A LOT, wouldn't it be more efficient to use web conferencing and skyping that could go to each county? This would not leave out representatives who can't afford to attend a distant convention. Most of us from Ellis County paid only the $35 facility fee to attend last week. However, most delegates and alternates had to stay in hotels PLUS pay the fee. Apparently, the convention was paid for, but I still think we need to investigate using today's technology to reduce the cost to the individual and make the convention available to EVERY DELEGATE AND ALTERNATE IN EVERY COUNTY!

Yes, I know I am before my time. That has been my life! This will someday happen, but it takes people like me bringing up the subject to get it into the mainstream of possibilities.

The speeches were wonderful - Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, etc. I especially enjoyed that from Attorney General Greg Abbot. We must win in November! I am absolutely against more and more socialism.

When it came to campaigning for immediate votes at the convention, it was distressing to see how many people can be swayed emotionally by the speechmakers, rather than voting with reasoning and logic. As one group of candidates finished their speeches, I told everyone around me that one of the people had the proven experience for the position but was not the "extremely talented orator" that another person was.

The orator won. Later in the day, that orator stopped all business in order to do a big ego trip for 15 or 20 minutes. I was glad to hear people around me, who had voted for the orator, say they wished they had voted for the experienced person. My comment was, "this is just the beginning." People are still very much swayed by personality - even Republicans who constantly criticize the Democrats who voted for Obama because of his personality.

I believe God gave us brains in order to think smart and hearts in order to be kind and loving. Many will not agree with me, but I personally think this should be a 50-50 combination, which is my interpretation of words from Jesus Christ, "As a man thinketh in his heart........"

I am very glad I attended the convention Friday and Saturday. I especially applaud those Republicans, for instance, Michael, who attended Friday and Saturday, but also was there earlier in the week to observe what the various committees were discussing. Will I attend again? That remains to be seen. Time is more and more precious and I'm not sure if I want to spend 20 hours doing what could have taken 5.

But, that is just me - analytical, before my time, and wanting our great country to continue along the right path!

Learning to be a Master Composter

2010-06-15T11:32:00.002-05:00

For a year I heard about the Master Composter program sponsored by the City of Grand Prairie. Finally, I was able to work out the class dates and had a great time attending recently with three very smart ladies who are also in Ellis County Master Gardeners.

Larry Wilhelm, who helped create the Master Composter program in Texas, was our instructor for the classes on Thursday and Friday night and all day Saturday. Since he has been involved in the program for over 15 years, he has lots of fun stories to share. At the classes, we received the Rodele book on composting, a t-shirt, a compost thermometer, and we were fed dinner on the two nights and lunch on Saturday. The visit to the Grand Prairie landfill was very educational as was the demonstration of building a compost bin at one of the community gardens.

The three ladies and I are now fulfilling our service hours by working at the Kirby Creek Nature Preserve and Community Garden in Grand Prairie. We turn the compost bin and will create more bins and we weed, prune, and pick ripe veggies from the bountiful plantings. We also may help set up their rainwater harvesting system.

Once we volunteer 20 hours, we each receive a free Shepherd's Compost bin (cubic yard size) with the aerating insert and after the additional 20 hours, we become certified Master Composters and will be recognized by the Grand Prairie Commissioners. In other words, to become certified, we volunteer a total of 40 hours.

The program in Grand Prairie is through the Solid Waste Department, under the direction of Vijit Singh, and through the Special Projects department, headed by Tammy Chan. These are terrific people and very helpful to us from Ellis County as we registered and began to participate. Two of us worked the Grand Prairie Mayfest with Vijit and found him to be very gracious.

Composting is extremely important both from adding much-needed nutrients to the soil as well as to our becoming better stewards regarding landfills. Trains bring trash from New Jersey and other northern states to Texas. We don't want their garbage. In my opinion, this needs to stop. We also want to stop throwing grass clippings and tree limbs into the landfills. Both are ingredients for composting.

Grass clippings contain the nitrogen that is vital to compost. Brown leaves and tree trimmings provide the carbon. Other ingredients include food scraps (NO MEATS, CHICKEN, FISH, OR OILS), dryer lint, shredded paper, cardboard, cotton and other natural fabrics, etc.

I will be teaching a class on Backyard Composting in the fall at the Lighthouse for Learning, which is Waxahachie ISD's adult learning program. I'll also be working with other Master Gardeners to teach composting (including worm or vermi-composting) to 4-H young people on July 22 in Waxahachie.

I hope you are composting - it is very important!