Sometimes I wish we could just put a lid on it all. Politics USA and the everlasting commercials which have now become infomercials, the yo-yo stock markets world wide, the Nebraska Safe Haven Law which resulted in 24 children, some mentally ill, being brought from far and near by parents and care givers, our fractured family, all of the things that go bump in the night have come out of Pandora's Box and clutter the floor of my life. It is all almost too much to bear.
I am not keen on socialism, have never liked television commercials, arguing is awful, mental illness is horrible and we are getting it in spades both in the family and in Nebraska as the Safe Haven Law gets more national press, as far as things that go bump in the night...we haven't seen anything yet. Halloween is only days away.
Of course the only thing left in Pandora's Box is Hope. Even Hope has a slippery handle. Maybe I will crawl into the box myself and snuggle up to Hope until everything under the lid boils over and puts out a few fires; or maybe till hell freezes over.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A Time for Burning
Too long gone, but back once more. Life has a way of slipping by.
Our adjustment to moving here from the Black Hills, SD, included my own first experiences with racism. Riots and burnings, marching and murder were the headlines those first few years. "The Education of a WASP" was the first book I encountered after we settled in. Omaha was not the quiet little Midwestern city I had imagined. It was frightful.
It very well could erupt with racial violence again, given the political, economic, and cultural situation today.
Not too many years ago I attended some Lay School Ministries sessions at Augustana Lutheran church on the edge of the black community known as the near north side. There I enjoyed a group of people that discussed topics of the day with someone knowledgeable about the particular topic. For instance we studied the Human Genome Theory when it was a theory. One of our discussion leaders was a medical ethicist from Creighton University Medical School.
A Time for Burning is in the Omaha news again. The film explored the attempt of the minister of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha to persuade his all-white congregation to reach out to neighboring black Lutherans. A Time for Burning, a 1967 Oscar-nominated documentary about the interactions between two segregated churches in Omaha, Nebraska, during the height of the civil rights movement, will be screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ "Monday Nights with Oscar" on Monday, October 20, at 8 p.m. at the Academy Theater in New York City.
The young black barber featured in the film, will be a part of the on-stage panel discussing it. Ernie Chambers, completed law school and was elected Senator to the Nebraska Legislature in 1970. By 2005 he had become the longest-serving state Senator in the history of Nebraska.
1925 Malcom X born in North Omaha.
Our adjustment to moving here from the Black Hills, SD, included my own first experiences with racism. Riots and burnings, marching and murder were the headlines those first few years. "The Education of a WASP" was the first book I encountered after we settled in. Omaha was not the quiet little Midwestern city I had imagined. It was frightful.
It very well could erupt with racial violence again, given the political, economic, and cultural situation today.
Not too many years ago I attended some Lay School Ministries sessions at Augustana Lutheran church on the edge of the black community known as the near north side. There I enjoyed a group of people that discussed topics of the day with someone knowledgeable about the particular topic. For instance we studied the Human Genome Theory when it was a theory. One of our discussion leaders was a medical ethicist from Creighton University Medical School.
A Time for Burning is in the Omaha news again. The film explored the attempt of the minister of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha to persuade his all-white congregation to reach out to neighboring black Lutherans. A Time for Burning, a 1967 Oscar-nominated documentary about the interactions between two segregated churches in Omaha, Nebraska, during the height of the civil rights movement, will be screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ "Monday Nights with Oscar" on Monday, October 20, at 8 p.m. at the Academy Theater in New York City.
The young black barber featured in the film, will be a part of the on-stage panel discussing it. Ernie Chambers, completed law school and was elected Senator to the Nebraska Legislature in 1970. By 2005 he had become the longest-serving state Senator in the history of Nebraska.
1925 Malcom X born in North Omaha.
- 1966 The documentary A Time for Burning is released and nominated for an Academy Award.
- 1966 On July 5 the National Guard is called to quell two days of rioting among African Americans in North Omaha.[17]
- 1968 Riots erupt in North Omaha in response to assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
- 1968 Robert Kennedy visits Omaha in his quest to become president.
- 1969 Riots erupt on June 24 after an Omaha police officer fatally shoots teenager Vivian Strong in the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects.[18]
- 1970 On August 17 a bombing occurs at a house at 2867 Ohio Street, killing one policeman. Black Panther members are implicated.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Nebraska's Safe Haven Law
Last night an Iowa teen was dropped off at the Omaha Creighton University Medical Center. It was the first time an out-of-state youth has been left under Nebraska's unique safe haven law. This child is the 18th to be left at a hospital, or in one case, at an Omaha police station by a parent or guardian intending to use the law, which went into effect July 18th.
The law protects people only from being prosecuted by Nebraska authorities for abandoning a child at a hospital in the state. Because the law sets no age limit, most of the children being dropped off are teenagers or preteens labeled uncontrollable by their parents or guardians.
The Legislature's Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees have scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 in Room 1113 of the Capitol.
Among topics expected to be raised are the current use of the law, possible amendments to it, and services availability for children living in crisis.
Nebraska was the end of the line for many children on the Orphan Trains out of New York City starting in 1854 and for seventy-six years thousands of homeless, neglected poor children were moved west to rural towns and farm communities. The plight of children has had a long and sad history. Even those of us who, hoping to do a good thing by taking a child into our home, has ended up wondering if we have done more harm than good.
The law protects people only from being prosecuted by Nebraska authorities for abandoning a child at a hospital in the state. Because the law sets no age limit, most of the children being dropped off are teenagers or preteens labeled uncontrollable by their parents or guardians.
The Legislature's Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees have scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 in Room 1113 of the Capitol.
Among topics expected to be raised are the current use of the law, possible amendments to it, and services availability for children living in crisis.
Nebraska was the end of the line for many children on the Orphan Trains out of New York City starting in 1854 and for seventy-six years thousands of homeless, neglected poor children were moved west to rural towns and farm communities. The plight of children has had a long and sad history. Even those of us who, hoping to do a good thing by taking a child into our home, has ended up wondering if we have done more harm than good.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Changes
Politics, finances, even the day to day mundane events change. It is bewildering sometimes.
The once contentious political debates seem to have taken a turn to the polite. It was nice to watch Palin and Biden as they exchanged ideas without raising their voices. Being the INFP that I am, I have an aversion to that verbal combat. It was great to be able to spend 90 minutes watching the word match the other night. Even the moderator seemed polite. Why is it that a civil debate is so amazing? I suppose because for years one expects every conversation to feel like a Sunday morning network news show.
Here in Nebraska, parents, guardians, and care givers drop wayward wards off at hospitals instead of do battle with out of control teens. A father of ten in Omaha took nine of his children to a nearby hospital to give them up to the custody of the State. Only the oldest, an 18 year old daughter, escaped his desperate decision. His wife had died, the youngest was a baby under two years old. I am sure he was overwhelmed. Safe Haven Laws were perhaps passed too quickly. Meant for newborns and desperate mothers has now become a social service for parents and caregivers who have come to the end of their wits.
We have a friend who experienced a similar thing as a toddler. He and his brothers were taken to an orphanage after his mother died and his own immigrant father could not cope with the ramifications of child care and making a living. His hell began when his dad remarried, brought his children home again and our friend endured the wrath of the evil step-mother.
It all sounds like a Dickens novel. It is too sad for words.
The once contentious political debates seem to have taken a turn to the polite. It was nice to watch Palin and Biden as they exchanged ideas without raising their voices. Being the INFP that I am, I have an aversion to that verbal combat. It was great to be able to spend 90 minutes watching the word match the other night. Even the moderator seemed polite. Why is it that a civil debate is so amazing? I suppose because for years one expects every conversation to feel like a Sunday morning network news show.
Here in Nebraska, parents, guardians, and care givers drop wayward wards off at hospitals instead of do battle with out of control teens. A father of ten in Omaha took nine of his children to a nearby hospital to give them up to the custody of the State. Only the oldest, an 18 year old daughter, escaped his desperate decision. His wife had died, the youngest was a baby under two years old. I am sure he was overwhelmed. Safe Haven Laws were perhaps passed too quickly. Meant for newborns and desperate mothers has now become a social service for parents and caregivers who have come to the end of their wits.
We have a friend who experienced a similar thing as a toddler. He and his brothers were taken to an orphanage after his mother died and his own immigrant father could not cope with the ramifications of child care and making a living. His hell began when his dad remarried, brought his children home again and our friend endured the wrath of the evil step-mother.
It all sounds like a Dickens novel. It is too sad for words.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Twenty years ago, I took my high school television new crew downtown to the Vice Presidential debate between Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentson. We were set up in the lower level of the Civic Auditorium in the spin room with all big shots. This was the real deal. Beside us were the CSPAN guys. Large monitors gave us a view of what was happening above us. The crowd was so out of control that Judy Woodruff stopped to admonish them more than once before Bentson let fly his zinger of the century.
According to the Omaha World Herald, David Karnes, an Omaha lawyer, sat beside Marilyn Quayle and remembers not wanting to look at her when Bentson delivered his body blow that is remembered by a little news crew and their teacher. Two of the Karnes girls were in my classes.
We heard the gasp from the auditorium. The spinners spun out of control. In spite of it all, the zinger didn't cinch the election. I was proud of my students, who had captured an important event for our city-wide broadcast. We were part of a little bit of history that unfolded around us.
According to the Omaha World Herald, David Karnes, an Omaha lawyer, sat beside Marilyn Quayle and remembers not wanting to look at her when Bentson delivered his body blow that is remembered by a little news crew and their teacher. Two of the Karnes girls were in my classes.
We heard the gasp from the auditorium. The spinners spun out of control. In spite of it all, the zinger didn't cinch the election. I was proud of my students, who had captured an important event for our city-wide broadcast. We were part of a little bit of history that unfolded around us.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The Wild West
The Rapid City Journal features a couple of videos of the annual Custer State Park buffalo round up. It looks like great fun.
http://videos.rapidcityjournal.com/p/video?id=2233501
http://videos.rapidcityjournal.com/p/video?id=2233501
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