Painting The Stars's Open Salon Blog

Peace and Hope Begin With Education: One Child At A Time

Fri, 6 Apr 2012 00:04:55 -0400

Last April, 60 Minutes reported on author Jon Krakauers allegations that Greg Mortenson lied in his book Three Cups of Tea. According to Krakauer, Mortenson lied about the events of his failed attempt to climb the world’s second largest mountain known as K2, and how that led to him to create the charity Central Asia Institute (CAI). CAI’s mission is to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for impoverished children with an emphasis on educating girls.

There were also allegations of mismanaging money and of Greg being over compensated and CAI financial records being questioned.

One year later the Montana Attorney General has now released a 44-page report on the yearlong investigation into alleged misconduct on the part of Greg Mortenson in his financial handling and use of CAI monies. You can read the full 44-page report here.

Mortenson “has agreed to repay in excess of $1 million, including credit for some payments already made, to compensate the charity for financial issues relating to the books, travel and personal charges on CAI’s accounts.”

The OAG did not delve into the accuracy of his book accounts but rather focused on the management of CAI by its officers and director and whether they satisfied the legal duties of a non-profit organization. Unfortunately their findings were that some duties had not been met and that Mortenson had failed to meet his responsibilities as a director and a member of the board.

In reading through the report, it seems clear that Greg Mortenson has indeed made some serious errors of judgement in his financial dealings indeed! His lack of cooperation in providing requested documentation to CAI financial directors is unreasonable at best. This is very disheartening to me.

The report goes on to state that these are all fixable errors and points out that the charity has done much good works and should be able to accomplish its mission upon fixing the issues at hand.

I remain a supporter of the CAI and even of Greg Mortenson as long as he makes right his mistakes and remains above board in all his future duties with the CAI. As part of the agreement, Greg must step down from any “position of financial oversight” and as a voting member of the board of directors.

It is my hope that with these changes, CAI will continue it’s wonderful mission to bring education to the far reaches of the world. I truly believe that education is the key element in bringing about any kind of peace if there ever is to be any.

Take a look around at the Central Asia Institutes web page and see what they have done and hope to do in the future. Visit them here: http://www.ikat.org/. Let’s not let a good organization fall by the wayside.

Asalam-o-Alaikum

(Peace be with you)

Today's Education System Is A Modern-day Version Of Slavery

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 21:03:19 -0500

13 year old Jada Williams of Rochester, New York, wrote an essay for a contest, comparing Frederick Douglass’s masters ban of learning to read to the “overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms (that) prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld's outright ban.”

This is a story that should make you really think. This young lady has obviously grasped the lessons of Frederick Douglass and has a bright mind as well. I am deeply disappointed to hear that the response from her teachers and school administrators was to become defensive and harassing. They had, and hopefully still have, an opportunity to open up a dialog that could both bring about positive change and expand upon the lesson at hand for both students and the teachers.

To quote the story: “What if Williams' English teacher had used her essay to turn a critical eye on her teaching practice and her expectations for black students? What if the school had used it as a jumping-off point to start a student-centered dialogue about what everyone—teachers, students, and parents—must do to improve the struggling school? Until that happens in our schools, America's achievement gap will endure.”

I live with a teacher and it should be noted that teachers are handing out those packets and pamphlets because they are required to do so by school districts and government programs such as No Child Left Behind. I absolutely agree however, that schools and school administrations do need to be more diversified.

It is my sincere hope, that with a little attention to this situation, that dialogue will indeed open up and a change for the better will be seen as a result.

http://www.good.is/post/a-13-year-old-s-slavery-analogy-raises-some-uncomfortable-truths-in-school/

It Takes A Family To Make These Cookies

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:02:16 -0500

Somewhere around 40 or more years ago, my dad made a heart shaped cookie cutter out of a tuna can for my mother and, I’m told, an aunt or two. It has always been my favorite cookie cutter and though I have looked, I’ve never been able to find a store bought one that I liked as well. We lost my dad 32 years ago but his cookie cutter is still in use today and it is these little things that bring back the sweet memories of the good man who was my father.

When I was around 10, my sister Gloria made for me, two recipe “books” of family recipes that she hand wrote in her neat hand writing in a book of index cards and gave them to me for Christmas. She shaded the edges of the first page of each section (cookies, candy, main courses, cakes, bread, etc.) for easy reference.I loved them! Of course, I always did think Gloria was the cat’s pajamas and I still do, so she probably couldn’t have gone wrong, regardless.

I have made many cookies over the years but rarely have I made a sugar cookie. Maybe once or twice ever. This year I decided to dig out those treasured recipe books and make some heart shaped valentine cookies using that old recipe and my favorite cookie cutter and if I do say so myself, they turned out pretty decent. It was as I was frosting them that I realized all the love and effort that went into the making cookies, even after all these years. How fortunate I am to have such a wonderful family and all this love!

Happy Valentines Day to all with much love from my family to yours!

Feed The Birds

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:01:42 -0500

I have a confession to make…..

Big breath…………

Okay..

Here it is…………………………………………………….

One of my favorite radio programs is Showtune Saturday Night on Kosy 106.5 out of Salt Lake City.

Yes, I like showtunes. Please don’t send me hate mail or think less of me for it. Last week, the host, Laura Bedore, told the story of the song Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins and how it was Walt Disney’s favorite song.

It seems the song was was not favored by the author of the Mary Poppins books, Pamela Travers. She wanted to stick to more Edwardian songs but eventually she gave in. She really wanted Greensleeves. What a loss that would have been! Feed The Birds is such a wonderful song!

The song was written by brothers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman and is used to frame the important moments in the show. It is about giving charity and is the lesson Mary Poppins teaches to the children Jane and Michael Banks and their banker father, Mr. Banks.

It was the final show that the actress who played the bird lady, Jane Darwell, ever appeared in. She was in her 80’s at the time and initially turned down the part. It was only after Disney himself pleaded with her that she accepted the role. She actually out lived Disney by more than 6 months.

Robert Sherman recalled: "On Fridays, after work, [Walt Disney would] often invite us into his office and we'd talk about things that were going on at the Studio. After a while, he'd wander to the north window, look out into the distance and just say, 'Play it.' And Dick would wander over to the piano and play 'Feed the Birds' for him. One time just as Dick was almost finished, under his breath, I heard Walt say, 'Yep. That's what it's all about.'"

Tony Brown of The Plain Dealer tells that “we seized on one incident, in Chapter 7 of 'Mary Poppins Comes Back', the second book -- the bird woman. And we realized that was the metaphor for why Mary came, to teach the children -- and Mr. Banks -- the value of charity. So we wrote the song and took it up to Walt's office and played it and sang it for him. He leaned back in his chair, looking out the window, and he said: 'That's it, isn't it? That's what this is all about. This is the metaphor for the whole film.' And that was the turning point in our lives ... We were full-time staff, so we had an office at the studio, and every so often Walt would call us up to his office on a Friday afternoon. We knew what he wanted. When we got there, he would say, 'I just wanted to know what you boys were up to these days.' Then he would turn around in his chair and stare out the window, like the first time we played it for him, and he would say, 'Play it.' And we would ... And you could just see Walt thinking, 'That's what it's all about, everything we do at Disney.'"

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_the_Birds

I’m Right, You’re Stupid

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:09:08 -0400

I was born into church-going-live-your-religion kind of family some decades ago (never you mind how many!). I tried off and on through out the years to understand the religion of choice of my family and to find my own belief, or testimony, of that religion. I found I did enjoy parts of it. I never did find that testimony. I prayed faithfully for most of that time trying hard to catch that feeling of connectedness to a higher power but found instead a deep dark void of aloneness. The walls heard me better than any higher power did and I never prayed out loud!

All that time I kept thinking something must be wrong with me that I’m not getting what everyone else seemed to be. I did finally find a religious belief. I believe I received no divine guidance or burning feelings, not because I was too dense to get it, but rather because there was nothing to get. I got up off my knees, shook off the religious dust and walked away from all religion and I never looked back.

Many of you, I am sure are shaking your heads at me right now saying poor little lost sheep. I’m okay with that. What you think of me is none of my business. You own it free and clear.

So now here I am on the atheist/agnostic side looking at the whole picture and a lot of what I am seeing in the behaviors of my fellow atheist/agnostics is no better than those they mock. The believers. The mere fact that they are mocking pretty well says a lot to me. Why is it so hard for people to sit down and have an honest to goodness discussion about the issues, be they religious or political or any other genre?

This has been an ongoing thought in my head for a while now but what has set me off today is a post on The Thinking Atheist group on Facebook. All the way down the page are comments calling the other commenters stupid and sheep-like, etc… “My opinion/intellect is superior to yours!”

I ask you, how does this behavior jive with being a “thinking” atheist? Or a “thinking” human being in general? In all fairness, there are commenters that are able to present their views and research in an intelligent, well spoken manner. In fact they probably outweigh the attention starved, loud offenders, but it only takes a handful to shut down the lines of communication. How can any kind of meaningful and productive discussion ever come about if our only goal is to tell people how stupid we think they are?

Just shaking my head today and wondering when will we learn how to talk to one another from the higher planes rather than from our knee-jerk, baser selves and hoping it is soon.