Kathleen Sebelius on Preventative Health Care Services - BlogHer 2013

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the BlogHer 2013 HealthMinder Day Keynote session.

In this clip, Ms. Sebelius talks about some of the preventative services available to women under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; often referred to as Obamacare.






Some of those services are:

An annual well-woman preventive care visit for adult women.

Contraception and contraceptive counseling: Women with reproductive capacity have access to all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling, as prescribed by a health care provider.

STI counseling: Sexually active women have access to annual counseling on sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Gestational diabetes screening: This screening is for women 24 to 28 weeks pregnant, and those at high risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling: Pregnant and postpartum women have access to comprehensive lactation support and counseling from trained providers, as well as breastfeeding equipment.

For more information visit the HHS Fact Sheet about women's preventative health services.

This is one of many videos that I have recorded during the BlogHer 2013 conference. I will be uploading more clips of Secretary Sebelius keynote as time and Internet connection permits me to do so.

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Yesterday I Met A Women With Blue Tip Hair

She had sparkle blue finger nails and blue crocs. The words came gushing out like a faucet about how she was homeless for a couple of years and now she is not.

How she picks the wrong men because they are exciting but regrets it afterwards cuz they are nuts, and have, in her much cleaned up words, small equipment. How 67 is not too old for Bestey Johnson attire.

There was a lot more but you get the drift. This is a woman with a life that is parked to the side.


I am reminded that all forms of crazy are not bad. Life is to be lived and not always suffered through.

There has got to be some fun and joy in it or damnation what is the point?

I met a Debbie Downer days earlier and there is toxicity in communicating with people like that; everything is lousy, everything is rigged, there is no hope only compliance.

Blah.

I was thinking about Madam Blue as I was going through my day at the Salt Mine. I was seeing my own constrictions of L7.

I grow tired of wearing the mask of conformity yet I'll never get tired of having a roof over my head. Not proud of myself but I understand why I am doing what I am doing.

I also keep reminding myself that I will be back in the wild, one way or another.

Transition or Jump?

It is my choice.

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Is It Over Yet?

I mean the holidays. Which are no holidays for me when it is culturally jammed down my throat that you must be happy. You must be with loved ones. You must buy, buy and buy some more.

My peeve of the year? People who got royally pissed when someone said "Happy Holidays." Because Hanukkah or Ramadan or Winter Solstice don't count; this is a Christian time of year and we demand that you say it!"

Sez who? There is not a person living who knows for sure when the Christ Jesus was born.

Sigh, why bother.

I have no desire for fights of faith. It seemed like every dang day in 2012 was a fight of faith. One faith trying to have dominion over women's bodies. One faith trying to maintain guns over the safety of citizens with people still dying from legal and illegal use of weapons.

I did spy Valentine's stuff at two different stores. It is December 30th. What madness is this? We don't have time for President's Day anymore? No Martin Luther King acknowledgement?

Damn.



This is the opening scene of the 2001 version of Waiting for Godot.  I been intrigued by the various actors who perform this play and change the energy of the piece. Some actors go for the comedy while others hug the tragic elements. The best is when the company straddles the fence.

If you want to go on a head trip watch the full version of the play.

I am not straddling the fence. I wish it was always summer. That's right. I'd wipe December off the map with no hard feelings.

Which is why I am not in charge.Who am I to say when people should break out and celebrate whatever they want?

I strive for tolerance when it gets on my last dang nerve. I hold on most of the time and then I get to repeat the lesson again the next year.

No, I will not be celebrating on New Year Eve either. I will be shaking off the last remnants of "I have failed, I've wasted another year, I've got to do better..."

Sad. No, more like SAD as in Seasonal Affected Disorder. Not the clinical kind but the kind that makes me long passionately for summer.

A summer day that allows me to breathe the smell of orange blossoms and Jacaranda trees. Where there is no holiday and I love the day I am standing in because I am a part of the universal tie that binds. A day of nothing-ness that is glorious because it is and I am in it.

Anything else that happens is gravy.

So if you made it this far in the cycle I encourage you to hold on a bit more until we get to summer time again.

We need to survive the dark times in order to appreciate the light.

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Eastwood and Invoking the Isms

I was that kid in the front row chomping down on popcorn during the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There he was, Clint Eastwood,  10 feet tall blasting the hell out of somebody so some poor folks could stop cowering in fear about the weekly desperado coming to loot up the joint.

My desperados were closer to home. It helped to know some body was doing something about it even if it was in Italy.

Clint Eastwood has made really great movies. It is not like I did not know he was a conservative. But it seemed like this was a guy you could disagree with and walk away with an honest discussion for a memory.

I don't know what to think now. When I see the photo of Clint Eastwood talking down to a chair there is  a twinge in my heart. I know what the chair represents. If you ever sat in a similar chair as a kid, you know that feeling.

Who Did He Think He Was Talking To?

My adult pain is tied up in a political campaign that has sought to alienate a good portion of those of us that are not male, European American or wealthy. We have been told we really don't know or have been correctly educated to understand what this country stands for; and only those that have the privileged of a monetary perspective can truly understand how America should be run.

The current campaign has told me as much through media and coded speeches to the fearful and the opportunistic.

I can get angry because it is the usual suspects. I can ignore them because I want to focus on positive action. I even cut back on blogging my agitation on BlogHer and other places because I don’t want to stir up a heated useless fuss.

I want to share paths to solutions. I can’t do that when I am so very angry. I’ve slipped up a few time but I don’t want to add to the noise. I really don’t.

There is a part of me that flashes back to that kid in the front row chomping down on popcorn during the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That guy was invoked at the convention. Somebody else showed up.





























I am not stupid. I expect political hyperbole in an election year. I expect that racism will be used as a method to get out the vote. And yes, facts will be an impediment to an successful campaign so ditch them.

I just didn’t expect this mess to come out of this man’s mouth.

It is not the first time somebody has used the invisible chair routine. The Smithsonian blog has a good write up about how the political chair has been used over the years.

The Grid Doesn’t Lie 

You have this film icon of imaginary gunfights and wars talking down to a chair. In that small chair is supposed to be the President of the United States of America. Reducing the image down to its core element you see:

Who is in power and who is the supplicant? Because when an 82 year old white man who has made his living off creating illusions of being the man that rights wrongs tries to chastise and speak for a sitting African American president using what he thinks is the vernacular:

EXCUSE -- WHAT DO YOU MEAN YO, SHUT UP?

I have to tell you it stinks. It is a familiar stench. I never thought that I’d see Clint do the “Old Massa” role.

The Rights of Free Speech

Yes, each citizen has the right to criticize and hold Obama accountable for what was promised and what was delivered. We don’t even have to be nice about it.

And dang skippy if some of y’all have been especially vocal in you disapproval.

There is just one fact that cannot be ignored. Obama is the President of the United States. Not your house boy.

And the icon used in that “performance” perhaps unintentionally, is a reminder of who intends to be in charge and how the old order will be restored.

A small message to those who fund and support the re-establishment of the old world order.

This is our place. Our country as well as yours. It is an inconvenient truth. For those of us that are not white, Christian or abstinent, we’d thought you had understood we live here too.

You might chose to be color blind or diversity hostile but this is where we shall continue to live, grow and prosper. Deal with it.

Mr. Eastwood, maybe you just got carried away in the moment. Maybe you truly feels the country should be rolled back to 1961. I don't know.

We Won’t Go Back.

There is this ember in me that wants to assert it is possible to find solutions that include grass roots networking and corporate relationships. It is possible to generate meaningful employment without giving multi-billionaires and corporations tax breaks or forcing people to work for impoverish wages.

I'm putting that ember in a safe place. America is not ready. Not today.

I’ll be better in a few days because good people will remind me that none of the work of a democracy is easy. This is a long distance run.

I just think we should not wait for something severe to happen that force people out of selfish, myopic visions.

Sadly, I know my history.

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Folks Don't Understand Being Broke

I was having a conversation with about the Occupy movement came up. My friend said something to the effect that instead of occupation what the young folks should do is collectively buy stocks in corporations and effect change from within the system.

Now, I might be misinterpreting his words or not understanding conceptually what he meant.  But I'm going with what I think I heard which is something to the effect of "there can be no change by what they are doing, get into the system and fight."

It is not a bad suggestion. Not a good one either. I get it that he is trying to find his answer.

I did point out to him that many of the people protesting can't find jobs or are locked out of employment. There was a gruff acknowledgement but then he said some of those people that support the movement could do it.

Not Really The Point

When I was broke, busted, unemployed and things where looking kinda dicey I can truthfully say that I did not have money to buy stocks or mutual funds.

I had choices like a bag of discount frozen french fries or toilet paper.
Off code meat or day old vegetables.
Finding soda cans that could get me bus fare to look for work.

I didn't have family to turn to. I did have people that took me to dinner once in a while. Thank Sprint for Craigslist. Other folks gave me good advice. . None of which involved going to a broker and putting a tenth of one percent of share on a company.

Being broke and fighting for survival is a full time job. It is more than just not having income. It is a feeling of being powerless. It is knowing that you are trying your best to do the right thing only to be told that you are a loser.

Gotta tell you that is a cultural mind fuck that hard to overcome.

Bootstrapping Is a Myth

I think people want to understand but we still have that mentality about bootstrapping. First you must have a boot. Then good laces. Then the foot to put into the boot. Libertarian 101 embedded in our fabric of influences.

That is not a bad thing. We as Americans pride or false pride ourselves as being self sufficient. And yet you need a community to support the making of goods and services. You need the infrastructure to be able to buy and sell. Skilled craftspeople are also necessary.

My point is that no, there is no self made anybody. We are interdependent with each other. We can chose the degrees of interdependence, and that is a good thing because there are some folks I want nothing to do with or held at arms length.

Yet applying the bootstrapping metaphore the questions still kick up. What do we do when industrial, manufacturing and many service jobs have been exported overseas? How do folks get a job when technological advancements have eliminated a range of labor and management positions?

You see, there is a space of disconnect that has to be talked about and damn if we are doing our best not to even try.

So no,  I am not going to tell folks scared silly about where the rent is coming from next month where to find a good broker.

I want to know more about alternative infrastructures and financial systems. Not to get rid of capitalism but maybe find other systems that helps folks cope a bit better than being told to shut up.

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I Need A Road Trip or Something

I'm thinking that I need to go some place else. Do something different. I don't necessarily want to take a typical vacation.

I don't want to jump bungee of a bridge either.

I like the idea of a learning retreat. Then again I like the idea of going to a total new city and taking a photography or video workshop. Maybe to New Mexico or Washington State.

I don't know.

I do know that re-creation is important. I'm almost but not quite burned out.

There are a lot of "I" in the above sentence. This is a good thing. I'm usually thinking of what others require of me. What do I have to do to honor my obligations?

The obligations are wearing me down. I've been burnt out before and it takes way too long to recover.

I speak from experience. It is much better to not let it get to that point.

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Seeing and Not Seeing the Sign

Trying to work out a few thoughts. A few weeks back I was in downtown Los Angeles. Mass transit is so much better than it was when I got here. There was a transit infrastructure until the late 1950s when the push for freeways and selling cars became to great to ignore.

By the 1960s the trolleys were gone and bus service was an oxymoron. You had to be a broke or a moron to ride the system. In the 1980s I caught the tail end of that era when some of the drivers really hated the passengers and didn't care all that much more for the RTD.

Not kidding about the hate part. There was this one drive that had an elaborate sign system rigged on the fare box. It went something to the effect that I am the driver, not customer service. The fare is fifty cents, a transfer is 25 cents, step behind the white line and do not talk to the driver.

He meant it. You didn't ask him for nothing.


Time passes, court ordered mast transit reform begins a new phase. There are new non-polluting buses, underground trains and express routes. This is a good thing but looking at that sign makes me queasy.

The water damage is apparent. The concrete has a rust seam and the tiles have seen better days. I try to forget that I'm underground but I notice details like this all of the time. It looks solid but there are fissures.

The train stations are ok. They are kept well for the number of people that flow through it.

It is just that I remember that I put up a mighty verbal fight about stepping foot on an L.A. subway. I got over it because I needed to go some place quick that involved getting money.

I find money is an excellent motivator for me. I do map out the escape doors and pathways so I know I can get out and back up to the street if I have too. I ride the train looking at the pipes and the hidden doors. In case of trouble I'm not staying underground for nothing.

People are talking more and more about escape routes. The number of people blessing me is on the uptick. Normally this is not a problem cuz I need all the help I can get. However, I get the impression there is some kind of quota system in effect.

Something like how many of the heathens can be converted by May 21st, October 21st or an as yet undetermined day in 2012?

I have Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents on my mind and it is kinda like looking and not looking at that sign. Good people will do bad things and worse people will raise them double or nothing.

Then again, I fully expect just another day. Except for the cracks and fissures.

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It Is Friday at 5:28 a.m.

My brain is mush. I'm supposed to be writing, creating and researching things for other posts. I want to. Really. And then thoughts of paying taxes, filling out forms, getting dressed, remembering not to order fatty foods at lunch and all of the grown-up things I am supposed to do.

It is a frigging drag man.

When does the fun stuff kick in? I mean, doing stuff for the joy of it without boundaries or time limits? When does the part where you have the time and energy for the kind of expansive thinking that embraces you so you can spark it up?

I don't blame my brain for wanting to go on strike. It is just that I need it to get dressed and go to work. Promising my brain the weekend is no longer enough.

The back-up system has taken over but it is clear that only limited tasks will be handled in the order received. I'm screwed.

It is gonna be a long day.

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Andre Coleman - Intro to Citizen Journalism Session Part 1

Update April 5, 8:29PM - Folks I need to make it clear that I made a mistake in not separating my remarks from Mr. Colman's video. Unlike Dogbert's pappy, I do not take down posts once I've written and published them. There was a better way to write this post.

In hindsight, you should have seen what I ditched. Never tweet when angry and never post when your fingers are moving faster than your brain.

Original Post

I am a blogger. I am also a writer. I do a lot of stuff actually so I really don't like labels. But let's say for the moment that I am a blogger. I have to say I'm a little touchy about current blogger/journalist relations.

They suck.

I have had a few days to think about the citizen journalism session. The Pasadena Community Network has weekly meetings on Tuesday nights. The focus of the meetings is to develop journalism skills that can be applied to blogs, web sites, mimeograph reporting or how ever you want to do it.

There is also the Pasadenan which is also citizen driven content with an editor and staff moderating the content. That is cool. Works for me. I have no objection to anyone development better writing or reporting skills.



It is getting better but there is a long road to the junction of peace. This is reporter Andre Coleman speaking at the March 29, 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series that was held at the main branch of the Pasadena Library. Mr. Coleman write for the Pasadena Weekly.

My Thoughts

First of all I support anything a person can do to make their writing better. Many bloggers take workshops, online classes and actively work on developing their skills. I am not a journalist but I do make use of some of the classes and webinars at Poynter's NewsU. Special shout out at the great tutorials at the Knight Digital Media Center.

Good writing and reporting transcend labels.

I do not hate reporters and good journalists. I was raised in a newspaper town with two major newspapers and six or seven alternative newspapers. It truly saddens me that we have lost a huge chunk of the respect and the importance we use to hold for newspapers in this country.

I have people around me that use that term blogger as a pejorative. (Not referring to Andre Coleman. I have other real world examples that like to point with pride the ink in their veins.)

Many of these people are ex-reporters, current reporters and soon to be ex-reporters that do not apply their training to find out what is happening with contemporary bloggers and technology.

You want to lump me in with the fat guy sitting naked at his keyboard? Go for it. That just shows ignorance. That is not a good thing for journalists to display but if that is what you want to do why should I stand in your way? But I am not the one that put the shiv in the back of newspapers.

Newspaper management did it to themselves.

Newspapers in the 1980s and 90s did not want to pay attention to people outside of their chosen proven money demographic. They did not court the next generation. They totally did not get the beginnings of early on-line communities or the Internet.

If you do not talk to me or connect with me in some way why should I buy your product or service?

Some of the current silly rabbits in newspaper management and related media companies think all they have to do is take a person previously known columnist and change the word to blogger and then people will come a running back.

Many in the industry blame bloggers for stealing content from their newspapers yet provide links to stories and want people to tweet the news story. However they don't want others to summarize or add additional context to a news story that omitted an important perspective.

News management wants bloggers to promote newspapers but you don't want us reading your content.

My admittedly limited understanding of the corporate news management perspective is that I should pay for content I do not read or cannot use, such as sports, that I should be grateful that said content exists and that I should not want or need to have any further communication with those that generate said content.

Oh, and don't tell anybody else where I found the content that does not interest me on account they might read it too.

Tell me again why I want to have a relationship with newspapers?

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A Movie Called Poetry on the Finally Friday Freakout

Back in my waning days of watching television I did try to get into some of the Korean televisions shows. They had more stuff going on in ten minutes than an American soap opera would have in a week. I gave up cuz you do need a cheat sheet to get a grip on the characters, culture and the speed at which shenanigans happen.

What lead me to the Korean television shows what that I saw a Korean movie that moved about the same speed but I knew what was going on because I was witnessing it as it happened. I've forgotten the name of the film; it was a long time ago.



This is to say that I stumbled into this trailer for the movie Poetry. There are a couple of stories here, I can tell. I'd lay dollars to donuts it isn't the one I think it is.

It is National Poetry Month, by the way. I'm sure Mr. Campbell and associates have got events lined up and I expect a video or two will be generated on the topic.

These movie clips reminds me that poetry can dig very deep into a person soul if you let it. It is still a one to one transmission method. You have to find your poem or poet. Not easy in a wham bam so long Sam world.

It is still possible. Poetry can be like holding out for your one true love that may or may not show up.



We keep going but we need attention. A poem can do that for you; provided you with a reason to keep going or understand why. This movie was released in 2010 so finding it might be a challenge. Finding an English subtitle version even more.

If you find out where it is please let me know. This film seems to need attention. Just like poetry.

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Johnny Guitar - The Film I Missed That I Shouldn't Have

This is a school of my own making by the way. Citizen Kane, Forbidden Planet Pressburger and Powell movies and just about anybody's film noir. I may have heard about the movie Johnny Guitar but if I knew that Joan Crawford was in it I would have passed it by.

Independent of her reported personal life I just don't cotton to her as a film star. She is the rough rider. Crawford is either bullet tough or spooky.

Not seeing this movie was a big mistake. Huge. This is one quirky kick-ass movie. It is not a woman's film. This is a film that has women in the lead and the men are in a subordinate character position. And yeah this is a shoot `em up western.

This is a segment of the film where the characters are introducing themselves to the audience. Check it out:



I gotta tell you this is a full flavor western. These women are playing for land, power and control. It is about the railroad, cattle ranchers and the new blood coming into the community.

Cattle ranchers don't like farmers or city folk. They don't want change. They don't want a railroad depot. What would you do to preserve in amber your way of life?

New kid in town sees the future and is getting ready for it. Nobody is going to get in her way. The railroad is the symbol of change, of money and opportunity. It is a way to obtain power and control.

The two lead actresses are fierce. Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge ain't sleep walking through this one. Each one is pitch perfect in their roles.

When you are not focusing on the story the eye notices the beautiful colors, the intensity of colors in the interior and exterior shots. The land is a bright dirt red. The sky a vibrant blue. I'm going to have to watch it again with the sound off just looking at the composition of the shots and the colors.

When we think about the 1950s and films it is brought up as the time of the happy housewife. The time when the men have the adventure and the women stay home waiting tending home and hearth. The movies of that time reflected that attitude.

Not this one. Yes, there is a love object. Sterling Hayden is a fine actor. Subtle. Sometimes he is there in the moment and sometimes he is the focal point of the scene.

I've been mulling this movie over and over again trying to understand the historical place in time, the one in the western and 1954. Much to think about and contemplate.

Anyway this is as good a start as any to Women's History Month.

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Poetry in Plain Sight - Angel Uriel Perales

You learn something every day. If you are open to it. I learned that I should not open my big mouth when I am riled up. I need space to figure out is it me or is it the situation. Most times it is me.

Again.

I keep failing the lesson and it is repeated. Just like the month of January. All the things I wanted to do in the prior year are hoovering like a specter going "Gotcha" before they fade into this years mission. January is the mark of the end and the beginning.



This is a poem by Angel Uriel Perales called January Dawn.

When I looked up Angel's name to find a web site or blog about him I got all kinds of stuff. If you would like to read more of his work you can check out his page at Poetry Diversity.

But learning about his name gets deeper. Apparently there is an anime character who is the Angel of Death. The series called Angel Sanctuary. The images from the video I've seen looks like a goth person with wings to me.

Not to be confused with the Archangel Uriel aka Fire of God, Flame of God or Sun of God. Special shout out to any and all persons, vessels, conduits and channels for entities so named on the other side of the vapors.

Today was a January day in March for me. Listing to the poem again did not make me feel better. But at least there is a realm of understanding.

Gotta start somewhere.

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Poetry In Plain Sight - Radomir Vojtech Luza

I'm still looking for my poetry voice. It went into the poetry protection program. The next best thing is to hear someone read a poem that you would have liked to have been able to write.



Not the experience, the skill. I try to only pick one poem for each poet but Radomir made it too tough; his poems can be short but they have a powerful energy. In the two minutes you will spend watching the video he will take you a couple dozen places and move a brain cell or two.

This is a good thing. For more info on Radomir he has a Facebook page and Moonday Poetry has a feature page on him.

He also has .mp3 and books for sale at Amazon.com

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I'm Learning to Cook with An Induction Burner

When my burner conked out on me I had to make find an alternative means of cooking food. I live in a small space so I really needed something compact and functional.

I do have a microwave someone gave me years ago. I've used it about 10 times in 8 years. Nothing wrong with it. I just don't like using it.

I've cooked with wood, gas, electricity and now induction. Still waiting on my gizmo to tell it what I want to eat and it makes it for me.



This is a video of a comparison between gas and induction cooking. I do like watching men cook. Having them speak French is a bonus.

Innovation, yeah I needed a dose of culinary innovation. I decided to get a small induction burner for under $100.

It does work. Maybe a little too well, I have burned a couple of dinners. It really cooks much faster than gas or electric. You have to remember to put it on the proper settings or things will get extra crispy fast.

There is the rub, I don't know the proper settings. I have learned not to start at 1300 watts. You gotta dial that bad boy back to 600 watts and work your way up if you need to.

Another thing is that you might have to shelve some of your cookware if it is not cast iron or stainless steel. I'm dogging the thrift stores for more cast iron pots but in the meantime I'm doing ok with what I have.

What I don't have is adaptive recipes. There was a mini recipe guide included with the burner but I've lost it. I can't find English language videos on how to cook with induction burners. I'm gonna have to dive into the UK and Europe blogs to figure out what I can do.

No, I don't speak French but so long as I can get to Google Translate I'll be fine.

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Exhale on the Finally Friday Freakout

Terry McMillian is coming to Vroman's Bookstore to promote her new book "Getting to Happy." It is the continuing story of the characters from the book "Waiting to Exhale.

A quick visit to her web site shows me that she has moved on from turbulence to the next level. This generally happens when you work through it instead of staying stuck and swimming in it long after the event has passed.

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

For those who need a little Shoop Shoop therapy this is your opportunity to engage in some long distance understanding and perspective on the need to let go and let fly with the future.

Cut 'em loose. Forgive yourself. Start again.

This does not have to be about love. Could be a job. Could be your car that keeps leaking oil faster than you can open the can and pour. It could be seeking another path to invoke positive changes in your life one step at a time.

Shooobey. Shoop. Shoop.

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Blood On the Saddle on the Finally Friday Freakout

This week I have mentally been Xena, Warrior Princess. I have been the Hulk without David Banner's control. I have been Thinker when I could get a word in edgewise. Mainly I have been the imaginary great, great, great-granddaughter of Walter Mitty.

The visualizations have been astounding. There was blood in the saddle. There was blood on the ground. Hey, that might make a catchy song!

Courtesy of Mr. Tex Ritter here is his rendition of that most expressive tune.



Culturally I am not supposed to talk about blood in the saddle. I'm not even supposed to admit that I have emotions because that would mark me as a female and, as some jerk face men will tell you, a female is nothing but emotions and no logic or reason.

And good help us if I talk about spherical contractions of the painful kind. The truth is that a new body is emerging. Like a teen I am caught betwixt and between.

I have a evolutionary two for one deal going on and it is not fair!

Getting menstruation was a picnic compare to this stuff. A pain hit one week a month until I was old enough to buy a small can of Pina Colada to chill out the ovaries.

Lawd, I miss those days. Now one day it is "Buy me ice cream!" or "I want the extra garlic shrimp with the veggies and the noodles oh can I also have that entire soy sauce soaked chicken too?"

The answer is no. The internal parent knows she can't let the inner child stuff herself without repercussions the next day.

The internal parent is a drag, man.

She won't let me drink, she moderates what I eat and dang if she don't have something to say about my bedtime. I freaking gotta bank hours to do stuff or there is a power drain switch she has rigged to force compliance.

Let's not talk about the internal teen age wild woman of Wongo. Or Sargent Slaughterina. Especially not Sargent Slaughterina.

If you will excuse me, I am going to whip up a peach smoothie. I will try to visually it being one scoop of Black Cherry Vanilla and one scoop Chunky Monkey. With a side order of Pad Thai and some BBQ Ribs.

But first as Queen of All She Sees I have to re-align the business sector of the U.S. to provide total production and employment and at the same time re-nurture the planet by having all commit to loving and protecting earth.

After my intergalactic mission of course, where I find the kind parental aliens with the mind ray to help me force compliance and help me deal with the ethical questions.

Yeah. I know.

I have to say, it isn't boring. Challenging, but never boring.

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Is College Worth It? The Story Part Two

To be sure, there were people that agreed with Dan Brown and others who put in their own rebuttal. This is one of the more creative ones I found from Mickeleh:



Now I don't disagree that the upper crust didn't necessary add anything to the society except the money to buy goods and services from creators. This is not a bad thing.

I ain't saying a mumbling word about the church because they wanted to hold on being the dispensers of information. Literacy was bad for business if you get my drift. Oops, I said too much.

Not sure that was what Dan was getting at but if you are gonna dis academic be fair and be accurate. John Fredricksen gets closer to it:



I disagree with John in that this has to be framed as winners and losers. We are talking about construction life tools to adapt to the changes in employment, environment and the society.

There are people with college degrees seeking grunt jobs to survive. There are people with a self-created skill set pulling down six figure independent income. Who would you classify as a winner or loser?

I feel the current debate about education is centered on vending machine outcomes. It is not centered on what a specific person needs at a given place and time. We are so locked into the mantra of if you follow a directed path you will get a perfect result and ipso facto a perfect life.

The Story Part Two

There are a range of educational options, not absolutes. The goal of education to me is to provide as much life flexibility as you can acquire. It is the ability to have as many choices as possible to support your life.

Let me give you an example.

When word processing classified ads started to replace traditional clerical work I understood in an instant I needed to secure a new level of job skills. When the opportunity came for free training there were people that refused; they didn’t want to learn anything new.

Two years later they were out of work or forced to catch up. Flexibility.

When I returned to college I knew what I would and would not accept in terms of instruction and access to opportunities. I asked questions and snooped around the place. I researched what I wanted to learn and questioned if the school would get me as close to the goal as possible for what I was able to pay.

I made decisions of what I wanted to learn and locating resources both on and off campus that would fill my need to know and understand about the world I live.

The truth is I have been an Edupunk even before there was punk music. In a future post I’ll talk more about the Do It Yourself /Open Education movement.

Let me be clear, I am not saying don’t go to college. I am saying it is ok to think about options and alternative paths that are right for you at this point in your life. That point may change or you might be forced into accepting a different path.

Being prepared for the road untraveled is a very good thing. This includes you Dusties who have always wanted to go back and get it done. Be the change.

BlogHer Recycling and Other Resources

This post appeared in its entirety in February 2010 on BlogHer as The Price May Not Be Right - Is College Worth It?

I am a Contributing Editor at BlogHer. Basically, I'm recycling some of my prior content and finding new stuff.

• In 2009 Chris Brogan wrote about the various ways that stakeholders, businesses, creatives and others want to contribute to the conversation about How Could New Ideas Change Education.
• Dr. Kathleen Bolman isn't waiting around for the change. She is providing information about art and architecture via her web site to any teacher, homes chooler or instructor that wants to incorporate it into their lesson plans.
• Edubeacon is a place where folks can gather to talk about educational innovation. This is cross cultural and not necessarily American centric. We don't have a lock on good ideas lets be open to what other folks have to say.
  

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The World Change A Little Bit But I'm Not Buying An iPad

I don't have much time. I was not supposed to see this video because it would make me crazy. I don't want an iPad. I don't need an iPad. And yet like a fool I watched it before going to work.

I think the iPad is a limited function device for me. I know it is. But the applications; God help me the applications are getting better all of the time. There are a whole bunch of them that will change how video is going to be produced and editing.

Publishing will change as well. This is a commercial from Wired magazine that I viewed on eBookNewser/MediaBistro. I'm not endorsing Wired or the application - I'm looking at the concepts presented.



Anyway, the real potential that I glimmered watching the commercial was the ability to tell multi-level stories. You can go down the rabbit hole and come up in an entirely new place.

Brain cells are popping about the new fiction forms that will be created.

Let me riff on a non-fiction use; lets say that you wrote a book about the movie Casablanca.

• The entire book would be available hyperlinked to the other content.
• You could embed the movie and historic interviews with the cast.
• You could also have information about World War II and the events of the time.
• You could have text and photos of what Paris was like under occupation.
• You could show the script, show the models of the plane used in the final shot.
• Ditto on the costumes.
• Ditto on the lighting decisions and the techniques used.

Ah man, you could frigging re-design the concept of a documentary! I'm still not buying an iPad. It has got to grow up a little more. And I can't imagine that others vendors are just going to sit on the sidelines and get trounced and not respond.

Y'all keep telling me that free competition is good for the country. What are you waiting for?

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This To Shall Pass on the Finally Friday Freakout

I can count the number of times I have recommended a marching band rendition of a song. This would be a first. But any music video that has a token homage to Swamp Thing is jake with me. And yeah, give the fellas .99 cents cuz this does have medicinal qualities.

I just got finished reading Taddy's post about someone who was mistaken in their belief they had no value. Then he linked to a damn fine post by Jennifer Michale Hecht about two other folks taking the deep six plunge and she is imploring people not to leave ahead of their time.

I want to put in my two cents but I can't sing. You wouldn't want me too either. I leave this to OK Go and the Notre Dame Marching Band.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Poets, hell no - defy tradition.

Writers - are you kidding me? You don't even have to write; transcribing the idiocy and wackiness of these times will keep you in gravy for years to come. You do have to remember to come up for air. Exercise. Talking to real people who are not afraid of human to human speech is good. Veggies, eat more veggies.

Creators - see above.

Those that have people that love them beyond measure and/or those same people are under 21 years of age. Not an option for you and you know it.

And no, you can't take them with you.

People who think that there is no one that loves them or could love them. I would say that you haven't met the person yet. Hang on, hear me out. You might never meet that person until you love the one within yourself.

If you loved yourself, you wouldn't want you to come to any harm. See how this works? Yes, the pain can be great but love is greater than pain. If you can love enough until you find someone one that can help you deal with the pain that is all that anybody can ask of you.

Hang on until you find the help that you need.

Depression is a powerful hateful monster. You might not be able to do this yourself. Counseling, watching the entire series of Babylon5 or a road trip far, far away from home could give you the space to find and embrace your spirit.

Let me be blunt; this is not the time to go. The ding-a-lings and non-thinkers are gaining traction because those with half a lick of brain are getting disappointed and downhearted.

If you can read a book, paper or electronic, you can't go. Seriously. We need all the cognitively functioning people we can get.

This is the front seat of the roller coaster of life. Yell, laugh or move forward peeping out from time to time behind your hands. Hold on to the bar babe, this too shall pass.

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Incomming - Response to the Dodge Super Bowl Ad

First came the Levi's Dockers Male Reclamation advertisement. Now Dodge want to shore up masculine identity.

You've sacrificed a lot, but surely there is a limit to your chivalry. Drive the car you want to drive.

These are the good old days because there is now the ability to respond. Check it out:



They say pick your battles and not fight every war. I say pay attention to the words that lead to war. Then look to the war profiteers.

Make love, not war. Reduce unnecessary consumption. Don't believe the hype.

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