MICROKOZMOS - A Little Change From Here
This is where I keep a track of my inspirations to see the different colors in this beautiful world.
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YouTube Launches Human Rights Channel
Via the YouTube blog:
Activists around the world use YouTube to...
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Uganda
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A volcanic crater at Katwe Explosion Craters Track in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
Photography by Ru Go
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Sculptures by Dr. Lilian Nabulime. Lilian Nabulime is one of the few female sculptors in Uganda. Born in Kampala in 1963 she graduated as Master...
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Butterfly Catcher by Vanessa Paxton
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Hesperian Health Guides are easy, free, and useful resource book on health of women and children in the world. You can either buy or download PDF for free. It has been recommended to me by Japan International Corporation Agency’s language training teacher. Such a worthwhile book for those who works in the development field.
“Africa’s Daughters” (Uganda 2008)
In a country where a high school education is generally reserved for boys, Hoctavia is one of 31 children, most of whom dropped out of school. Ruth lives in a tiny apartment in one of Kampala’s poorest neighborhoods with her mother and three siblings. Graduating from high school is the only way they can lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Like millions of girls in Africa who will never move beyond primary school, their challenges are not unique. Their journey is.
William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind
- via TED.com
In Lost and Found, four refugees tell their stories of escape and loss, and what it is like for them to go on with their lives not knowing about their loved ones, not even if they are alive or dead. Although different NGOs have done efforts in the past to reunite refugee families, handwritten papers and photographs aren’t easily shared by multiple organizations and across international borders.
With the ability to have an online repository that different organizations and individuals can join and search through, the possibility to unite families is increased.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Fractions Curriculum Strikes Right Note In California
Teachers at a public school in California are trying to teach Math integrated into Music lessons, and the curriculum is getting a remarkable results. The program is called Academic Music and the students learn the basics of reading notes. The curriculum was designed by a former third grade teacher who now is a researcher at San Francisco State University.
What’s most important here is that students who are low performers or English-language learners are often encouraged to actively engaged in the learning, so that it is helping them to gain self-esteem in the classroom.
“Just to have her (a student) get up and present in front of a class is a really big deal, and she raised her hand and wanted to, so I’m seeing a lot of these kids open up and want to try it, instead of hiding behind the desk and saying, ‘Please don’t call on me.’ “
David Damberger: What happens when an NGO admits failure
“Once the donors started to read the failures, they understood the power of those lessons learned and realized that it is injustice not to be sharing these.”
“How does your organization treat a failure?”
- David Damberger
“The New Public” - A film by Jyillian Gunther
An exciting documentary about a new public high school in Brooklyn, New York. The new teachers are uncommon and engaging to inspire students who are to serve the community.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Do children always make a good decision in governing when they take control? Do they always know what’s best for them? Is it better to give them authority in decision making for their own learning environment?
“When she came into the school five years ago, Malia (a student, age 15) was scared to say what was on her mind. Over the years, she’s learned to speak up, and she’s seen that lead to change. She admits the meetings can be boring and frustrating, but she takes the authority she’s given by the school very seriously. All the kids do.Malia feels bad for adults, she said, because they can’t just call a meeting and take a vote at their jobs, or wherever, to fix something that bothers them. I get that. Once you’re grown up, democracy is not so pure.”
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
This Week On Alt.Latino: Special Guest Manu Chao
“Clandestino, is particularly journalistic, and that a musician is a human being who uses microphone to express and try to make a change act as an activist.”
“The world is so terrible and seems often hopeless but the really important thing is that you protest - but protesting is often not enough so we need to try to find solutions. Finding our own solutions to global society may be difficult, but we can try hard to find solutions at our own level from our neighborhood and in our own microcosmos. “
- Manu Chao, asked what is the position of music and a musician who writes such political songs.
Tinariwen - Iswegh Attay (Official Video)
The lion is intrepid and the frog is vulnerable
But the latter is better at finding the path to water.
- This is one of the most beautiful videos I’ve ever seen.
Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
The opposite of poverty is not wealth. … In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.”
(After admitting to the audience that he kept his promise to his grandmother not to drink alcohol) I don’t say that because I think that’s virtuous;I say that because there is power in identity. When we create the right kind of identity, we can say things to the world around us that they don’t actually believe makes sense. We can get them to do things that they don’t think they can do.
Once I had a conversation with someone about why I haven’t taken up certain jobs that included stigmatism in the society. He criticized me for keeping the less-paying job instead of taking such others. He said that it’s because I look down on those women. I was mad.
I tried to explain that it is not because I look down on those workers - Really, in fact, I have a few friends with the experiences - but it has to do with my identity, that there are certain things that I’d rather avoid to retain my pride and dignity.
He still seemed unsatisfied: I continued, “It took so much painstaking efforts to earn trust and acceptance from my mother, and there are certain things that would make her disappoint in me. I know she is not watching me now and I am a grown-up; but, it is very important to keep a promise in this - not really with her anymore but with myself.”
I don’t think he understood me yet. How sad - I have considered him as my mentor. Also, 6 years ago, I had a similar conversation with someone who tried to force me to do some things which I chose not to for the same reason. On both occasions, I was deeply saddened because I felt judged by a close friend.
Everyone must have such things necessary to empower their identity. I wish they realize and be more reflective on their own.
Perhaps the need of diversity and inclusiveness in Japan isn’t only about the adopting different ideas to increase the materialistic choices, but also about bringing more open choices for the young people - maybe it is the key for Japan to have more competitive and well-rounded individuals so they can represent our country in the international world.
Uniformity leads to vulnerability. Societies that cannot abide diversity will always fall prey to their own intolerance. Societies that exclude are by definition societies that close in on themselves. Such societies cannot give birth to anything. Such societies do not develop the capacity to reproduce. Such societies are doomed to wither away.
President Obama Speaks Out On Trayvon Martin of the Day: In stark contrast to Geraldo Rivera’s stunningly callous victim-blaming, President Obama this morning delivered a powerful statement of support for Trayvon Martin’s parents in response to a question about the ongoing investigation.
“When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids,” the president said. “I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this… You know, if I had a son he’d look like Trayvon.”
[think.]
Can a child conceived through in vitro fertilization after the death of a parent receive Social Security survivors benefits?
This article says, “at least 100 such cases are pending before the Social Security Administration.” It also reveals that, under the current law, “a posthumously conceived biological child of a married couple is not entitled to survivors benefits, based on state inheritance law, but those state laws do not disqualify adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren or even step-grandchildren.”
