Global Citizen

From The Huffington Post - 

I didn't growing up knowing I was Black or having to deal with the idea of Blackness because I was born and raised in Nigeria. In a country where "Black" is the default, it doesn't need to be defined or spoken about or made a topic of discussion. I knew I was Yoruba and Nigerian for the first 9 years of my life. I did not become conscious of my color and all that came with it until I moved to the United States with my family. 

It was my first time feeling that being born Black could be a liability. It was my awakening to doubt. It was my introduction to race as an influence. Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-Black racism and oppression in the US, and my Blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for Black folks.

Through the struggles, I see so much beauty, and the grace of melanin cannot be overstated. Plus, the work it does to keep us from cracking deserves all the praise. We stay looking 25 at 50 years old, thanks to the gods of moisturizer, shea butter and noir blessings! But most importantly, I am heartened by the connection of Black people everywhere. 

Being a global citizen and lover of travel has recently taken me to over 20 countries so far, and one thing that always moves me is how I see home all around me. 

You can go to Brazil and find natives speaking a language close to Yoruba. You can be in Ghana and see someone who looks like someone you know in Chicago. My Trinidadian friends can suck their teeth in a way that makes me think of my Mom doing the same. Some of my Black American friends look like my cousins, betrayed by those high cheekbones that won't quit. I can go to a club in Nigeria and listen to Hip Hop and R&B. The way we move, the foods we eat, and our power connects us, and I carry that with me and it finds me wherever I go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luvvie-ajayi/global-blackness-and-diasporan-dopeness_b_9180678.html

Brr! It's Cold!

That's not something you hear often coming from these neck of the woods, but it's true.  The temperature had been hovering just above 40 for the past week.

I know.

I know.

That may seem mild to many of you, but it's down right frigid here.

This little town sits on the water, with very few structures to block the wind coming off the sea.  Add a strong gust on most days, and you have all for an excuse to bundle up.

I spent the day in a floor length sweater, covered with two quilts (thanks Deb!) and still I was cold.

Of course, there is no heat in the buildings.

I had a small space heater that was faulty, so I ditched it.  I started to buy another one, but really, you only it for a about a week, so I decided to tough it out.

Side note - This town, like most others, has several names, all official.  The sign on the main road that leads to the exit names it "Baya Sila."  I was told that "baya" refers to water, so folks passing buy will know that this town sits next to the water.  Good information for those traveling through the desert.

I'm a Monkey!

According to the Chinese Calendar, 2016 is the year of the monkey.

Click on the link to find your animal.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/

Le Petit Chef

H/T Forrest

“Super Bowl Babies Choir” feat. Seal | Music Video

Living With AIDS

The Daily Show - The Big Game's Quarterback Matchup

Coming Soon

Lego will soon release a figure that uses a wheelchair.

http://www.upworthy.com/legos-new-minifigure-may-be-tiny-but-its-impact-will-be-huge?c=upw1

Kids Leading the Way

The Heavy Price of Success

Football’s Polynesian moment: Samoa’s athletic outliers are paying a steep price for their commitment to the game 

The things that make them so good at football also make them most vulnerable--as embodied by the great Junior Seau

~~~~~~~~~~

An Excerpt From Salon - 

Football has reached a crossroads, its future imperiled by the very physicality driving its popularity. The number of boys playing Pop Warner and high school ball plunged over the last decade as the neurological, physical and fiscal costs of the game became more troubling. That’s on top of the already severe decline in the game’s scholastic ranks in the Rust Belt—football’s original heartland—during the 1980s and ‘90s.

But one group has bucked that trend—Polynesians, especially Samoans in American Samoa, Hawaii, California and Utah, as well as in pockets of Texas and the Pacific Northwest. American Samoa is the only place outside the United States where football has taken hold at the grass roots, the only one that sends its native sons to the NFL. In just a few decades, the sons of Samoa and Tonga, mostly young men who came of age in the States, have quietly become the most disproportionately over-represented demographic in college and professional football.  

Football has become the story Samoans tell about themselves to the world. But the narrative has grown bittersweet. While creating a stunning micro-culture of sporting excellence, these athletic outliers are paying a steep price for their commitment to the game. Sadly, that which makes them so good at football—their extraordinary internalization of discipline and warrior self-image that drives them to play with no fefe (no fear)—also makes them especially vulnerable. Nobody lived and died that irony more than Junior Seau, who became the first Samoan in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a 20-season NFL career in which, inexplicably, he was never diagnosed with a concussion. Not long after retiring, Seau shot himself in the chest, unable to live with the demons of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the tragic downside of playing with no fefe.

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/05/footballs_polynesian_moment_samoas_athletic_outliers_are_paying_a_steep_price_for_their_commitment_to_the_game/?source=newsletter

The President Remembers Maurice White

From Entertainment Weekly - 

President Barack Obama eulogized Maurice White on Friday, the day after news broke that the Earth, Wind & Fire founder had died at age 74.

“Michelle and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Maurice White,” Obama wrote of the seven-time Grammy winner in a message posted to social media. “With his brothers and bandmates of Earth, Wind and Fire, Maurice fused jazz, soul, funk and R&B into a quintessentially American sound that captured millions of fans around the world. Their playlist is timeless, the one that still brings us together at birthdays and barbecues, weddings and family reunions.”

The president continued, “Only Maurice could make such sophisticated songs so catchy. Only he could inspire generations of such diverse artists. And only he could get everyone — old and young, black and white — to let the groove move them on the dance floor. Our thoughts and prayers are with Maurice’s family, friends and bandmates. He is the shining star in heaven tonight.”


White died in his sleep Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Earth, Wind & Fire are set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys later this month.

~~~~~~~~~~

Side note - As a young woman coming of age in the 70's, Earth, Wind & Fire's music served as the anthem for my life. As I enter my sixth decade, it continues to be. Their greatest hits album is my go-to playlist when I need to get something done.  RIP Maurice. 

Forgotten Super Bowl Gems

Too Close For Comfort

MILES AHEAD (2016) - Official HD Trailer

MUST SEE: Against the Tide - SHOWTIME Sports Documentary Film - Trailer

The Word is Out

Everybody Hates Ted . . . Cruz

This a quick read.

The more you know, the less you like/trust or want to have anything to do with him.

https://newrepublic.com/article/128808/everybody-hates-ted?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%202/4/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All

Another Damn Shame!

This is an excerpt from an interview with Bill Marler, a lawyer specializing in food-borne illness.

The story he tells below hits home because my nephew was one of the very young e coli victims, getting seriously ill after drinking Odwalla juice.

~~~~~~~~~~

You keep telling me that you have all these crazy stories—all these things I wouldn’t believe. Can you share one of them?

I actually have the perfect one, which I told at a recent conference, and really floored people.

Do you know the juice Odwalla? Well, the juice is made by a company in California, which has made all sorts of other juices, many of which have been unpasteurized, because it’s more natural. Anyway, they were kind of like Chipotle, in the sense that they had this aura of good and earthy and healthful. And they were growing very quickly. And they had an outbreak. It killed a kid in Colorado, and sickened dozens of others very seriously, and the company was very nearly brought to its knees. [The outbreak, which was linked to apple juice produced by Odwalla, happened twenty years ago].

If you look at how they handled the PR stuff, most PR people would say well, they handled it great. They took responsibility, they were upfront and honest about it, etc etc. What’s interesting though is that behind the scenes, on the legal side of the equation, I had gotten a phone call, which by itself isn’t uncommon. In these high profile cases, people tend to call me—former employees, former government officials, family members of people who have fallen ill, or unknown people giving me tips. But this one was different. It was a Saturday—I remember it well—and someone left me a voicemail telling me to make sure I get the U.S. Army documents regarding Odwalla. I was like 'what the heck, what the heck are they talking about?' So I decided to follow up on it, and reached out to the Army and got something like 100 pages of documents. Well, it turned out that the Army had been solicited to put Odwalla juice on Army PX’s, which sell goods, and, because of that, the Army had gone to do an inspection of a plant, looked around and wrote out a report. And heres what’s nuts: it had concluded that Odwalla’s juice was not fit for human consumption.

Wow.

It’s crazy, right? The Army had decided that Odwalla’s juice wasn’t fit for human consumption, and Odwalla knew this, and yet kept selling it anyway. When I got that document, it was pretty incredible. But then after the outbreak, we got to look at Odwalla’s documents, which included emails, and there were discussions amongst people at the company, months before the outbreak, about whether they should do end product testing—which is finished product testing—to see whether they had pathogens in their product, and the decision was made to not test, because if they tested there would be a body of data. One of my favorite emails said something like “once you create a body of data, it’s subpoenable.”

So, basically, they decided to protect themselves instead of their consumers?

Yes, essentially. Look, there are a lot of sad stories in my line of work. I’ve been in ICUs, where parents have had to pull the plug on their child. Someone commented on my article about the six things I don’t eat, saying that I must be some kind of freak, but when you see a child die from eating an undercooked hamburger, it does change your view of hamburgers. It just does. I am a lawyer, but I’m also a human.

That Odwalla story is one of the crazier stories I can think of, but there are many others, and there would be many fewer if the way we handled food safety here made more sense.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/02/why-a-top-food-safety-expert-doesnt-eat-oysters-and-always-orders-meat-well-done/?wpisrc=nl_rainbow

True Crime

From Now I Know - 

D-N-Nay

In the fall of 1994, the United States was introduced to a new tool in the world of crime solving and prosecution -- DNA evidence. The O.J. Simpson trial had captured the nation’s (if not much of the world’s) attention, and a large part of the trial’s outcome hung on DNA. At the time, the use of DNA evidence was still emerging, and the science wasn’t well understood -- or trusted -- by juries. (In September of 1994, the New York Times explored the issue. It’s a fascinating, contemporaneously-written glimpse into the history of law and science.) Even though the DNA evidence found at the crime scene in Simpson’s case was, by contemporary standards, almost certainly enough to secure a conviction, well, that's not what happened.

But today, DNA evidence is almost always trusted and its findings dispositive. If a suspect’s DNA is found at a crime scene, he or she better have a good reason as to why. And on the flip side, the presence of someone else’s DNA (and the absence of the accused's) can be used to demonstrate that the accused didn’t commit a crime. (Here’s a list of convictions overturned because of later-processed DNA evidence. There are a lot.)

So to summarize: if your DNA is at the crime scene, you’re in trouble; if someone else’s is there and yours is not, you’re in pretty good shape.

Usually.

In January of 2009, a three-man jewel thief team pulled off a near-perfect crime. They broken into a Berlin department store named Kaufhaus des Westens and walked out with $6.8 million in goods. As TIME reported, the break-in was something straight out of a movie; “[the] masked, gloved thieves were caught on surveillance cameras sliding down ropes from the store's skylights, outsmarting its sophisticated security system” -- they couldn’t be identified on the security footage -- and their latex gloves hid their fingerprints. 

But one of the three robbers made a small and almost fatal mistake: he left one of those latex gloves behind. Authorities were able to pull a bead of sweat from it, and from that, get a read on the alleged thief's DNA. Police ran the DNA through their database hoping to find a match. They didn’t find one. 

They found two.
 

Specifically, they found Hassam and Abbas O. -- their last names, pursuant to German law, were not released. But something more important was: the fact that they are identical twins. The brothers, age 27 at the time of the jewel heist, both had criminal records (a history of theft and fraud), and were therefore both in the database. Authorities knew that one one of them had left the sweaty glove behind, and, in hopes of determining which brother was the guilty party, arrested both.

The police didn't get very far. Neither brother was willing to rat on the other -- and their lawyers did not want them held in custody indefinitely. So the brothers went to court, demanding they either be formally accused of the crime or released. ABC News reported on the court's finding: "From the evidence we have, we can deduce that at least one of the brothers took part in the crime, but it has not been possible to determine which one."

Unable to avoid the genetically-built-in "it wasn't me, it was him!" excuse, the court had no choice: the brothers were set free.
 

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/152ac3eea600c617

More Proof

From Vox - 

Most teachers are overlooking huge numbers of gifted black students

For high-achieving students, gifted education programs can have great benefits — more challenging coursework, smaller class sizes, and individualized attention. But not all students have equal access to gifted programs at school.

It turns out black students were about half as likely as white students to be placed in gifted programs, according to a national study released last month by researchers at Vanderbilt University. This might be due to the process of identifying which students are gifted, whether it's through testing, a subjective panel, or teacher referrals, which are where the discrepancy really sticks out.

The study also found that black teachers were three times more likely to recommend black students for gifted services than nonblack teachers.

But it's not simply a matter of black teachers being sympathetic. A 2015 paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, for example, found that when a school district screened all its students for giftedness (rather than relying on teacher referrals), there was a 180 percent increase in the number of disadvantaged students who qualified.

So the problem may be with the process — and nationally, it's an inconsistent one. So how do you define a "gifted" child, and is one system more equitable than others?

The US Department of Education says gifted students show strong intellect, creativity, artistic capability, leadership skills, or strength in specific academic fields. Those guidelines say kids like this need "services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities."

Continue at:

http://www.vox.com/2016/2/3/10905466/gifted-black-students

100 Years of Beauty: Dominican Republic

Fathers With Daughters Can Relate

WOW!

H/T - Forrest

Political Cartoons

A couple of my favorites:

http://theweek.com/cartoons?sort=publish_date&page=4

Lance's Legacy: Another Cheater

From The Huffington Post - 

Secret Motor Found On Cyclist's Bike At World Championships

"It's absolutely clear that there was technological fraud."

 02/01/2016 02:37 am ET

YORICK JANSENS VIA GETTY IMAGES

The motor was discovered inside the frame of the bicycle being used by teen Femke Van den Driessche, pictured.

(Reuters) - Cycling was being forced to confront a new controversy on Sunday after the sport's head confirmed the first top-level case of "technological fraud" with a hidden motor being found on a Belgian cyclist's bike.

The motor was discovered inside the frame of the machine being used by teenagerFemke Van den Driessche at the world cyclo-cross championship in Zolder, Belgium, Bryan Cookson, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), said.

"It's absolutely clear that there was technological fraud. There was a concealed motor. I don't think there are any secrets about that," Cookson told a news conference.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/secret-motor-cyclist-bike-world-championships_us_56af087ce4b00b033aafa518

Today's Google

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/todays-google-doodle-is-honoring-frederick-douglass_us_56af74e9e4b00b033aafc15f

Christmas in February

Andra Day - Rise Up [Live Acoustic Video]

Elephant Love

Throwback Babies

Another gem from Sactown Magazine - a retro clothes line for little ones.

http://www.sactownmag.com/Style-Watch/2016/Maisha-Bahati-baby-onesie-line/

Have One For Me!

From Sactown Magazine -

My Sac folks - Somebody has to have one of these for me!

Start the presses: Midtown coffeehouse The Mill is now serving up made-to-order Liège-style Belgian waffles. Ask for it “in-hand” (to go) and you’ll get the piping hot waffle lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar wrapped in a paper coffee filter.

http://www.sactownmag.com/Whats-Cooking/2016/Craving-of-the-week-The-Mills-waffle-in-hand/

How "bout That Commute?

Unbelieveable Sights From My World

This lends credence to the "Playground of the Middle East" moniker.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/7-dubai-locations-that-defy-their-desert-setting?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=2f4532f587-Newsletter_1_25_20161_22_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-2f4532f587-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_1_25_20161_22_2016)&mc_cid=2f4532f587&mc_eid=866176a63f

Second Chances

Fun in Death

An Inventor

http://www.upworthy.com/glass-cars-sentient-spoons-and-an-inventor-whos-challenging-our-idea-of-normal?c=upw1

Addressing Ignorance

Neil deGrasse Tyson appears at about the 1:50 mark.

Gerry-Rigging: Manipulating the Outcome

A trick old as dirt.

From Wired -

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA spent the last chunk of his 2016 State of the Union Address talking about how to “fix our politics.” His first solution? Stop gerrymandering, the shaping of congressional districts to guarantee electoral outcomes. “We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around,” he said.

http://www.wired.com/2016/01/gerrymandering-is-even-more-infuriating-when-you-can-actually-see-it/?mbid=nl_12816

Truth Be Told

New from Howard University -

Howard University’s School of Communications recently launched the first fact-checking service dedicated entirely to claims about the African-American community. The website, TruthBeTold.news, publishes student investigations into commonly spouted bullshit like the idea that Planned Parenthood is strategically planning black genocide.

https://www.good.is/articles/howard-students-fact-checking-tool-for-journalism?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood

http://truthbetold.news

Michael Jackson Interview With Oprah (Part 3/6)

At around the 4:00 mark, Micheal responds to Oprah's question about a white kid playing him.

This is being recalled now because Joseph Fiennes, a white guy, is set to play him in a new film.



http://www.vox.com/2016/1/28/10862226/michael-jackson-joseph-fiennes

If You Have to Explain It, You Don't Get It

GET OVER HERE, MAN: DECODING THE BRO-HUG

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/get-over-here-man-decoding-the-brohug?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=c2f46bec40-Newsletter_1_29_20161_28_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-c2f46bec40-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_1_29_20161_28_2016)&mc_cid=c2f46bec40&mc_eid=866176a63f

Kindness Wins

Fight Club Rules

From The New Yorker -

Park Slope Parents’ Fight Club: A Friendly Reminder of the Rules

BY GLENN BOOZAN

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/park-slope-parents-fight-club-a-friendly-reminder-of-the-rules?mbid=nl_160129_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8488969&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=843293050&spReportId=ODQzMjkzMDUwS0

"The Man and the Dog"

We're the Only Ones

From The Atlantic - 

“It's really strange that only humans have chins,” says James Pampush from Duke University. “When we're looking at things that are uniquely human, we can't look to big brains or bipedalism because our extinct relatives had those. But they didn't have chins. That makes this immediately relevant to everyone.” Indeed, except in rare cases involving birth defects, everyone has chins. Sure, some people have less pronounced ones than others, perhaps because their lower jaws are small or they have more flesh around the area. But if you peeled back that flesh and exposed their jawbones—and maybe don't do that—you'd still see a chin.

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/were-the-only-animals-with-chins-and-no-one-knows-why/431625/

How the Iowa Caucus Works

Looking For a Job?

5 Best Job Sites to Have a Profile On

http://www.lifehack.org/355334/5-best-job-sites-have-profile?mid=20160126&ref=mail&uid=789627&feq=daily

Vinyl - It's Still Around

A cutting machine etches a groove into a lacquer or DMM copper disc,
the first step in creating the master record

EIGHT-TRACKS GAVE WAY to cassettes, which gave way to compact discs, which gave way to streaming audio and hi-res files. If there’s one constant in the music biz, it is that every format eventually yields to newer, better technology. All but vinyl, that is. Somehow, records have not only endured, but lately they’ve enjoyed a renaissance.

It’s odd when you think about it. Records are archaic technology, a format that is not at all portable and subject to all manner of degradation, from scratches and skips to pops and clicks, if it isn’t properly and lovingly cared for. But audiophiles insist vinyl offers superior sound. We’ll stay out of that debate, but you have to admit it is pretty cool how vinyl works.

http://www.wired.com/2016/01/alastair-wiper-record-industry/?mbid=nl_12616

Street Genius

An excerpt from Nautilus -

The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic
Walter Pitts rose from the streets to MIT, but couldn’t escape himself.

BY AMANDA GEFTER

Walter Pitts was used to being bullied. He’d been born into a tough family in Prohibition-era Detroit, where his father, a boiler-maker, had no trouble raising his fists to get his way. The neighborhood boys weren’t much better. One afternoon in 1935, they chased him through the streets until he ducked into the local library to hide. The library was familiar ground, where he had taught himself Greek, Latin, logic, and mathematics—better than home, where his father insisted he drop out of school and go to work. Outside, the world was messy. Inside, it all made sense.

Not wanting to risk another run-in that night, Pitts stayed hidden until the library closed for the evening. Alone, he wandered through the stacks of books until he came across Principia Mathematica, a three-volume tome written by Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead between 1910 and 1913, which attempted to reduce all of mathematics to pure logic. Pitts sat down and began to read. For three days he remained in the library until he had read each volume cover to cover—nearly 2,000 pages in all—and had identified several mistakes. Deciding that Bertrand Russell himself needed to know about these, the boy drafted a letter to Russell detailing the errors. Not only did Russell write back, he was so impressed that he invited Pitts to study with him as a graduate student at Cambridge University in England. Pitts couldn’t oblige him, though—he was only 12 years old. But three years later, when he heard that Russell would be visiting the University of Chicago, the 15-year-old ran away from home and headed for Illinois. He never saw his family again.

http://nautil.us/issue/21/information/the-man-who-tried-to-redeem-the-world-with-logic

Fighting For a Seat At the Table

An excerpt - 

Why Doesn’t Silicon Valley Hire Black Coders?

Howard University fights to join the tech boom.

By Vauhini Vara | January 21, 2016

Photographs by Christopher Gregory

From 

Legand Burge, the chair of Howard University's computer science department.

In the fall of 2013 a young software engineer named Charles Pratt arrived on Howard University’s campus in Washington. His employer, Google, had sent him there to cultivate future Silicon Valley programmers. It represented a warming of the Valley’s attitude toward Howard, where more than 8 out of 10 students are black. The chair of the computer science department, Legand Burge, had spent almost a decade inviting tech companies to hire his graduates, but they’d mostly ignored him. Pratt began teaching computer science classes, helping to revamp the department’s curriculum, and preparing students for Google’s idiosyncratic application process. It was one of several initiatives meant to get the school to churn out large numbers of engineers. Two and a half years later, that hasn’t happened. The slow progress reflects the knottiness of one of Silicon Valley’s most persistent problems: It’s too white.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-howard-university-coders/

Holy Reefer

From Good - 

The Sisters of the Valley are nuns who grow cannabis. They then use that cannabis to make cannabidiol (CBD)-infused oils, skin creams, and supplements for the ill and ailing. These products contain minimal to no amounts of THC, the chemical in marijuana that gets you stoned. Sister Kate, a 56-year-old mother of three, runs the operation out of her Central Valley home in Merced, California.

The city of Merced, however, is trying to stop them. In early January, legislators there introduced an ordinance that would ban the sale and cultivation of medical marijuana, a law that would decimate Sister Kate’s business. The Sisters of the Valley, however, are fighting back. They’re circulating a petition to challenge the ordinance.

“We are bringing badly needed revenues from outside the county, into the county,” writes Sister Kate in the petition. “We are paying badly needed sales tax revenues. And there are many others, like us, working in the chain to supply Mother Earth’s children with Mother Earth’s finest medicine.”

The sisters say they’re in the healing business. A number of studies reveal that CBD has powerful therapeutic effects for those who suffer from seizures, cancer, chronic psychosis, anxiety, and other problems. For the nuns, who sell their products on an Etsy page, the process of growing and cultivating marijuana, and then using it to help people in pain, is a spiritual experience, though they are not associated with any organized religion.

“We spend no time on bended knee, but when we make our medicine it's a prayerful environment and it's a prayerful time,” Sister Kate told ABC 13.

Their order touts the tenets of environmental justice and gender equality.

“It's more for me about the sisterhood and the feminist movement ... to live and work with other women and to do a positive thing for the community—and obviously for the world, since we ship it everywhere,” Sister Darcy, an apprentice, told ABC 13. 

https://www.good.is/articles/cannabis-nuns-launch-petition-against-medical-marijuana-ban-in-merced?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood

Why Yankee Doodle called it "macaroni"

Amazing Talent

This kid sat down at a piano in the mall and started playing.  He doesn't read music and has never had lessons.  He plays by ear.

I'm not on Facebook, so I couldn't access the video only, but you can see it embedded in the article linked below.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/25/michigan-mall-piano-viral-monntel-west/79289368/

Maasai Men

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/01/21/463709275/the-real-goal-for-these-cricket-crazy-maasai-men-ending-the-cut?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

Mapparium | 100 Wonders | Atlas Obscura

Obama 2.0?

From The Upworthy - 

He used to be homeless. Now he's a mayor. And he's only 28.

Myrick was elected mayor of Ithaca in 2011, making him the youngest mayor in the city’s history and the first African-American to hold the office.

http://www.upworthy.com/he-used-to-be-homeless-now-hes-a-mayor-and-hes-only-28?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f

The school-to-prison pipeline, explained

Why They Fight

So Few

Ben shared an article about the dismal number of Black and Latino kids in gifted and talented programs.

I was reminded of the struggle we went through as I fought to have both he and Frankie identified as gifted almost thirty years ago.

I knew as black boys, the first thought when they walked in the schoolhouse door was that they would be behavior issues and be behind academically.  I was going to make it my business that they were neither.

Of course, they did not have behavior issues.  They knew they would have to answer to me if there were any problems, and I was a lot tougher than an school administer would be.

I also made it my mission in life to supplement their learning at home, so that when they walked into class, they had already been introduced to the concepts at home. This simple act of having them do the next year's work in the summer preceding their next grade, made a huge impact in keeping them ahead of the pack.

As much as I could, I wanted to control the labels assigned to them.

We were living in Tulsa, Oklahoma when Ben started school.  I inquired about the gifted program and kept getting the run around.  The next year we move to the suburbs of Tulsa, to the small town of Broken Arrow, and again, my request to have Ben tested were ignored.  It was a small district, with the central office located on the main drag in town.  One day I stopped and asked to see the superintendent.  I was ushered in and told him I was new to the area, and wondered what the procedure was for getting a student tested for the gifted and talented program.  He explained that I had indeed followed the correct process, and he would look into why it hadn't happened yet for Ben.

Low and behold, the next day I was called in to the principal's office, letting me know that Ben would indeed be tested, and it was scheduled immediately.

He comfortably passed the prescribed benchmark, and from that day forward was identified as gifted.

Again, I knew these classes and programs would not be a panacea, but I wanted to be sure that this label - gifted student - would be permanently assigned to him.  I knew it would open doors and set him on track for a more rigorous and challenging school experience.

With Frankie, getting him identified was an easier process.  One because I knew what to do, and two because we were in California by then.  On the surface things were easier, but I also knew that narrow-minded attitudes were not just relegated to the Southern states, and that racism in California had the potential to raise it's ugly head at any time.

First goal was accomplished though, when both boys were identified as gifted.

Then the "fun" began when I had to deal with their teachers, who felt they knew my children and what they needed better than me.

The condescension exuded from many of them was an ever present fog hanging over every interaction.

I will never forget a popular grogram at Ben's school in Oklahoma that made this huge deal of kids who were able to complete 300 math problems (100 addition, 100 subtraction, & 100 multiplication) in 10 minutes of less.  Successful students were presented with an award at a special assembly and their picture was hung in the foyer for all to see.  This program was for third thru sixth graders.  Ben was in second grade at the time.

He repeatedly asked his teacher if he could compete, and she told him no.  I went to see her and made the same request, and she asked me why I was pushing him.  I asked her if she would have asked that same question to an Asian parent, and of course, she had no reply.  What she didn't seem to grasp was that I wasn't pushing Ben.  He had an internal drive to compete and be the best.  I was simply advocating for him to have the chance.

Long story short, Ben was finally allowed to compete and became the youngest student to not only complete the task in 10 minutes, but he also completed all the problems correctly in less than 8 minutes, moving to an even higher level, that very few mastered.

He was given a certificate in the assembly for this achievement, but for some reason, his picture never made it up in the foyer, or any other place else in school.

Not to worry though, I stopped by the local paper and shared Ben's achievement as the youngest student to achieve this mark, and he was featured on the front page of the next edition.

I share these experiences not to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate the ongoing fight in advocating for my boys.

I wish I could say that these were outliers, but instead, they were just the beginning of years of fighting and advocating.

I also wish I could say things have changed, but this article that I referenced at the top of this post, suggest otherwise.

You decide.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/why-are-there-so-few-black-children-in-gifted-and-talented-programs/424707/

The Science Behind First Impressions

From Lifehack - An excerpt:

Experts Call It “Thin Slicing”

The human brain’s ability to reach conclusions based on just a momentary exposure to someone is known by experts as “thin slicing.”

“Thin-slicing is not an exotic gift. It is a central part of what it means to be human,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, author and journalist. “We thin-slice whenever we meet a new person or have to make sense of something quickly or encounter a novel situation.”

Thin slicing is not something that we consciously think about or choose to do. It’s something that’s built into the very fabric of being human.

“We thin-slice because we have to,” Gladwell continues, “and we come to rely on that ability because there are lots of situations where careful attention to the details of a very thin slice, even for no more than a second or two, can tell us an awful lot.”

Trustworthiness Is Determined In One-Tenth Of A Second

According to research, people judge your trustworthiness within a tenth of a second. This conclusion was reached by a group of Princeton researchers who gave a group of students 100 milliseconds to rate different factors – such as competence, attractiveness, and trustworthiness – based on images of actors’ faces.

After rating these factors, another group was given as much time as they needed to determine these traits. While other traits differed significantly, the time it took to determine trustworthiness essentially remained the same. In other words, at the very moment you meet someone – before you even open your mouth to speak or extend a hand to shake – people are making judgments about your trustworthiness.

The Handshake Says A Lot

A handshake goes a long way in establishing a positive first impression, especially in business settings. The reason is that a handshake makes you seem more approachable. There’s something about this safe display of human affection that allows you to connect with the other person.

“Many of our social interactions may go wrong for [one] reason or another, and a simple handshake preceding them can give us a boost and attenuate the negative impact of possible misunderstandings,” says Sanda Dolcos, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois’ psychology department.

http://www.lifehack.org/357577/science-explains-how-first-impressions-work-and-ways-improve-you-failed?mid=20160118&ref=mail&uid=789627&feq=daily

Prison Art

From Atlas Obscura -

Art on display at Louisiana State Penitantary's hobbycraft sale. (Photo: Courtesy The Angolite)

Chances are, you've heard of Angola, The Louisiana State Penitentiary. It's the largest maximum security prison in the United States, and an Angola reference is a fixture in any film or television series based in the south, from True Detective to No Country for Old Men. Sprawling across 8,000 acres of farmland–once a plantation–it's named after the country in southern Africa where the former slaves that worked on its land came from. And, on one weekend in April and on every Sunday in October, it hosts the Angola Prison Rodeo, the longest continually-running prison rodeo in the country.

Thousands of visitors enter the prison complex to see the show and, last year, I was among them. However, bucking broncos don't interest me; I was there for the "Inmate Hobbycraft Sale," which runs alongside the rodeo. After a bag search more thorough than any I’ve ever experienced at the hands of the TSA, and a solemn promise to a security officer that I would not take photos, I entered the prison complex to peruse the wares. They were proudly arranged atop rows of tables; the shopping experience was complemented by a soundtrack of thrashing hooves and the roar of the rodeo crowd.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/inside-the-angola-prison-hobbycraft-sale-where-inmates-can-sell-their-creations?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=73e39fc821-Newsletter_1_18_20161_15_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-73e39fc821-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_1_18_20161_15_2016)&mc_cid=73e39fc821&mc_eid=866176a63f