Week of October 14, 2010

For Tuesday, October 12 NO CLASS TODAY

Hey, it's Holiday for us, though not for the poor folks who normally have class on Monday. Nothing new. You're working on your Samaritan paper, aren't you? Tuesday classes will not be held. Attend your Monday classes instead. The reason is given below.

Here, in Roger Williams Land, the Vikings have captured Monday and are holding it for ransom.

The Administration has decided to retaliate by canceling Tuesday and holding Monday, instead.Monday classes are transferred to Tuesday, and Tuesday classes are not held. We owe this to the celebration of the day when Europeans discovered the “New World,” as they called it sometime later. Christopher Columbus, an Italian mariner working for Spain, is the person in whose name the holiday is celebrated. The real day of discovery was October 12, 1492. A number of years ago several holidays were moved to the nearest Monday (this year, October 11). So I like to think we’re “really” celebrating Leif Eriksson day, in honor of the Viking who discovered the New World centuries before Columbus.

There actually is a Leif Eriksson Day. Unfortunately, the Scandinavians were a little absent minded lost the "New World" after finding it.. So Happy Leif Eriksson Day! Or, if you insist, Happy Columbus Day.

Chapter 6 isolates a problem which runs throughout American culture but has special ramifications in the lower economic classes. The problem is child abuse, and the particular focus is on ways that child abuse interacts with poverty to perpetuate it from generation to generation. I know that numbers of you are psychology majors and may have taken one or more courses which are pertinent...classes in child or adolescent psychology, or perhaps classes in abnormal psychology. IF so, you’re more expert than I am, and I’ll try to draw on you for comments about Shipler’s observations. Be ready to volunteer.

There are some rays of hope here, as was the case in the previous chapter. Pay special attention to programs which make an effort to break the cycle of poverty. Note what motivated those who created the more successful programs, and what led to their particular insights. For further information, visit the Prevent Child Abuse. America Website.

News Flash. I'm always finding new things of interest. One that I discovered not too long ago was the National Center for Parents as Teachers. Interesting, Pertinent--visit it by clicking on the logo. Then search "abuse" for interesting and pertinent information.

Bigger News Flash. I've been delighted to discover that some of you have had experiences which are pertinent to our subjects of investigation. And I'm doubly delighted with the willingness to share you've displayed. Ashley Hobbs has interened with a family court, and she's going to tell us a little about this experience, either today, or Tuesday next. (I want to give her the time her willingness to share deserves, and not cram her shared ideas into a a vew odd moments.Read her reflection paper by clicking on the button below.

From American Public Media. Mike Rose is a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. That's his mom, waitressing in the background picture. Here's an interesting reflection on "head work" and "hand work," One of the marks of social class in America