Lazy Days Of Summer Are Over

The lazy days of summer are over. What can I say about us? Not too much. Things have been good. School will start again soon for all of us. Oh but a wonderful, restful summer we had. It wasn't bad at all. Here's a picture to enjoy that depicts how I feel now. Rested, refreshed and calm. Summer breaks are not too bad. Everyone needs one. I am really quite happy that school is starting. I've been a little lazy and crazy these days. For some reason I am having some difficulty getting this to operate for me today so I must make this short. I hope you enjoyed your summer and I'll write to you soon.

I've been silent long enough

I've been silent for way too long. I've been relaxing in a fog of nothingness. You know how every once in awhile you just want to take a break from everything. I did it but how selfish of me to do so.

That's the perfect lead right into something important to say. I put a link to a BLOG you may want to check out. It's to 'body on the line'. One of my professors is turning out some unbelievable posts. It is something else because no one necessarily agrees with everything that another person says or does. With that in mind I think you should check it out what she has to say. She is really turning up my moral heat.

I wonder how anyone can condone human suffering and oppression and still call ourselves Christian or civilized. Many of us seem to forget the love verses in the Bible. With that said check out her BLOG. She is not a Christian person just an ordinary citizen of this planet like us all but her points are eye opening and moving. I think there is something everyone with any working compass can see something of value in what she says.

You know this won't really be a post all about my professor but take this one last thought before I move on to another point. How many of us are willing to go as far as she has for anything we passionately believe? It is a lesson for us all to take the time to put ourselves on the line for others and the sake of what's right. We get so wrapped up in impressions that we forget that THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND US. Check it out. She seems to post a few times a week. If you miss getting there once a week at least you will really miss out!

So, with that said...I need to be more diligent with my posts as before. Things as you know are changing for us left and right. With all of the changes though we still manage to stay sane. I invite you to keep coming back. I am back in reality and look forward to returning from the outer reaches to say something worth listening to. So, keep the picture I posted in mind and come back later to sit awhile with us, we have your chair and your pole ready.

So Much Goin' On

There has been so much going on with us. We keep busy you know with school and kids, family and all of those things just like everyone else. We don't look at ourselves as anything overly special. Mostly we are thankful for the life that we have.

Each of us knows that things could be worse or better. We just got back from our much needed vacation to Washington. It was good times. The boys enjoyed meeting and seeing relatives that they had never met or hadn't seen in years. You know how kids can be, they may not admit to themselves right now that they genuinely had a great time per se but they did.

The most inspirational part of our trip was meeting Uncle Simon and Aunt Bonnie. They along with everyone else showed us such a wonderful time. Grandma Barret was so very kind to us to let us stay with her. We all felt more blessed from the trip than anything else. It was nice on the one hand to be away from our busy lives and doing something as a family but it was also nice to be a part of the lives of others.

So often all of us get so wrapped up in what we are doing that we forget about others on some level. We forget about what it is like to relish in the richness that being around kind and generous people can do to the human soul. Kindness is more refreshing than anything in life. It's love really. We call it kindness because we do not know its real name. Simply put it's love.

Jesus said to love one another the way that He's loved us. Those words have meaning to me more this week. So do all of those other cheesy sayings like love conquers all. It's true though. Evaluate your life for a minute. Think about how your kindness (aka love) has changed others in some small or large way. Are you getting the picture? I hope so. Life goes beyond our day to day titles of wife, mother, sister, husband, brother, father, child, niece, nephew, uncle, aunt, co-worker, friend, etc. We experience life in sections of relationships. Each with its own set of norms and boundaries. But with another cheesy statement, love has no bounds.

Love moves freely in each relationship that we allow it to. To put us next to one another in special kinds of ways. It captures things that we can't see on the surface and draws it to a place so near to us that we feel and experience it in a way that produces things like thoughtful stares and radiant smiles. It takes the human spirit and refreshes us more than I can describe.

Love has been given a bad wrap; Lovesick puppy...and a ton of other things I can't get to come to mind right now. Don't be tripped up by these uniformed sayings that are just cliche's in the end. They are just goofy ways to say more nonsense than anything.

Love and kindness are not interchangeable really. kindness is something we might do out of obligation. Love is something we do for no other reason but for the sake of love itself. Nobody seems to have a definitive answer on love. It is because it is. I sound like an overly sappy fool but I'm not. I just arrived back from a journey, a vacation that changed my life is all. I have a deeper understanding of why each and every one of us is here. We are here to get by and do the everyday mundane. We are here to hold jobs and be too busy to call someone or write them a letter. We are here to make friends and stab them in the back as soon as they turn on you. We are here to build people up and them shatter them like glass hitting the floor. OF COURSE NOT!

Maybe you are a person who has stumbled on my BLOG and are thinking this girl is absolutely crazy. Not any crazier than everyone else. We all do things that other people think is wired and wacky. No worries. The real question though is who do you love? Do you love your family, do you have that feeling inside that you can't describe either when you think of people that you love and they love you back? Have you been touched by their suedo kindness which is only love in hiding? I bet you have.

It feels pretty darn good doesn't it? To think of the peace and comfort that one of those loving relationships you have and share with at least one other person. Pass it on. Don't bottle it up inside and hold it so tightly that you fear if some of it oozes out that it can't be replaced. Love is the strangest thing on the planet because the more of it you give away, the more you get back.

I've taken it a bit too far but it's fun to let yourself go for a minute or two. We had a super vacation. I love more people in my life. I got an opportunity to add to my love list. It felt good for us all to recharge and replenish, to refresh ourselves outside of our daily, weekly, monthly, same ole same ole. Even if I barely have time to sleep these days I feel better for who I am because I've had an experience with husband, children....all of those other people that are a part of our interconnected fabric of family.

Pick up a phone, write a letter, an email, or simply say a loving pray to the one who listens about the one(s) you love today. Get refreshed in yet another day of So Much Goin' On.

Dawn E Pooh

Seattle Washington Pikes Market 

Tribute

This is an great tribute to the troops. I don't normally do things like this but click on the word Tribute above and it will take you to the website. Enjoy.

Dawn E Pooh

Skating Motion

Here is a link to Boo's BLOG. You should really check it out. He spent a lot of time working on it and I am very proud of it. Tell your friends. Just clik on the title.

Dawn E Pooh

This book is a must have if you would like to get more information about Denver. It is full of pictures some pictures that I have been able to use as references to pictures we have in our family picture collection.  

Email to Junior High Principal, Vice-Principal, 8th Grade Counselor and Teacher

Here is a copy of the email I sent to the school. It's all pretty easy to read. I just encourage everyone to always stand up for your children no matter what age they are.


Hello,
For those who do not know me, I am Dawn E Pooh and my student is Son of Dawn E Pooh. Here’s a brief rundown of the situation. I just so happen to be doing some research for a course I am taking and the subject matter is African American Mathematicians.

Son of Dawn E Pooh had a little situation in class with Mr. Junior High Teacher yesterday and was told, (paraphrasing of course), "there are no black mathematicians." Initially, I was shocked that Mr. Junior High Teacher would say such a thing. The remark itself is factually inaccurate. Then the real me that’s lived in Idaho for 12 years kicked in and I chalked the statement into a mental category that I call, "figures." "Figures," simply means that it figures that my son would get an answer like that because we live in Idaho and unfortunately, characteristically, diversity takes a back burner in this state often times. I want you all to know that I hold absolutely nothing against Mr. Junior High Teacher because Son of Dawn E Pooh adores mathematics and Mr. Junior High Teacher as well by nature of the subject that he teaches.

But why the email then? I want to bring this to your attention so that you can evaluate what kind of harm offhand remarks can bring in education. I know that my son has ALWAYS enjoyed mathematics. Part of the original reason that I wanted to do research on the subject was to show him that his love for mathematics is not unattainable if he chooses to seriously pursue the subject. My husband and I are rare cases. Not all parents of color in Idaho have the same access to higher education and/or opportunity that we do.

This presents the obvious problem of the offhand remark that was made by Mr. Junior High Teacher. Such a comment could have been devastating to a child whose parents do not constantly highlight the accomplishments of people of color as a household practice.

What are we going to do about this as a group? My husband and I of course are going to continue to pump as much information into our kids that we can about their heritage and the richness that diversity brings to all communities. For you, "the professional educators," I don’t know what you are going to do about it but take a word of advise from me…

Remember that you hold a special authority and responsibility to a child who believes so much of what you teach them in your classrooms. This is a huge responsibility that makes you accountable to that child to not make potentially devastating and factually inaccurate remarks when dealing specifically with race and ethnicity.

My very last request is that you do not mention this email to Son of Dawn E Pooh. Son of Dawn E Pooh asked for some of my African American Mathematician information so that he can confront Mr. Junior High Teacher on his own. I want you to allow him to have that opportunity to stand up without fear as long as he is respectful about it of course and is not disruptive to the rest of the class.

Respectfully,
Dawn E Pooh