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I am scaring myself….

In spite of being of a very liberal mindset – I find myself actually agreeing with some conservative voices lately.   Sends shivers down my spine.

First I find myself admiring a column by Charles Krauthammer, and today I find myself saying “right on!” to Rick Perry via a Michael Gerson post. How surreal is THIS title??? Rick Perry emerges as a responsible voice among Republicans, by Michael Gerson.  

Maybe I am just more moderate than I think.  I just can’t bring myself to use the term conservative when referring to my political leanings.  Or maybe Donald Trump has addled my brains. I am just so incredibly relieved to realize that there is a portion of conservative voters that have not been mesmerized by this travesty of a candidate.  Also – if truth be told – I don’t think Hillary has a chance of winning.  So…I am looking for a viable Republican candidate.  The world as we know it might just come to an end if I actually end up voting for a Republican presidential candidate.  It is something I have NEVER done.  I have voted (reluctantly) for Republican candidates in state and local governments – but NEVER for a presidential candidate.

Some far right conservatives have said that liberals are so rabidly anti-Trump because The Trumpeter actually has a very good chance of winning.  Again – I find myself agreeing with the conservatives.  Scary, no matter which way you look at it.

Might be adding more thoughts to this post later.   Or, more likely,  I might just wander off again…..

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Networking and Seredipity

I have a wonderful former student who actually still wants to hang out with me.  Silly man.  But we have writing, and baking, and so many other common interests. We spent a great day last Saturday baking scones together. Yum! He shared with me his frustration in getting a job in what he is passionate about – writing. I believe he is particularly interested in screenwriting. I have read some of his work and it is amazing. Thoughtful writing, worthy of reading slowly so as to savor it even more than his delicious scones. He mentioned the need to network. He also referred to networking as “that dreaded word”. I have been thinking about what he said for a week now. I just sent him the following message:

I have been thinking about what you called the “dreaded word” – networking. I am wondering if perhaps you might get a start at this by starting a blog or a webpage. It is a great place to get your work out there.You could post some of your writings or just your rambling thoughts now and again. It is a great medium for organizing your work into categories. Worried about putting stuff out there for free? You have options. You could put out just a “teaser” – an opening paragraph perhaps. You can also post a whole piece of writing and protect it with a password. You would then have the option of giving the password to someone who might be interested in publishing your writing. Or you could simply put a large part of your writing – but not the whole thing – and password protect that.

Here is another word of the day – Serendipity. Let me share with you several ways that serendipity and blogs worked out to get me “published”.

First incident:
I was talking to our high school principal back in 2000 about how the internet had increased the chances of plagiarism, intentional or accidental. He asked me to do a workshop for teachers. So – I read a professional book on the topic: “Student Cheating & Plagiarism In the Internet Era: A Wake-Up Call” by Ann Lathrop & Kathleen E. Foss. I created a webpage as a resource for teachers at Internet Research: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 

Well – I had used the page for about two years or so,  and then one day it happened. I got a phone call at school. It was Anne Lathrop, one of the authors. My first thought was – OH GOD. I AM GOING TO BE SUED FOR PLAGIARISM. Ohh…The IRONY of it all! But no – she was so pleased with the website that she wanted me to write a chapter for her next book. So – I got paid about $500 as I recall to write up an extremely boring chapter on using cell phones to cheat on exams. Not my dream topic – but there you go. It was an exciting project for me, nonetheless.

Second incident:
I don’t think this incident happened because of my blog or website. I think I was blabbing about Wikipedia on an online forum for librarians. I was quite negative about it at the time – though I have changed my tune somewhat since then. Anyway – a phone call came into the library. I picked it up and the person on the other end of the line said: “Hello, my name is Laura Sydell from NPR. We are doing a piece on Wikipedia as a research tool for our Sunday Weekend Edition. Would you be interested in being interviewed on your opinions about Wikipedia?” So – within a few days, WXXI came to our library and set up their equipment in our workroom. Laura called me, and we chatted about my opinions. This all came about because I had written opinions and thoughts on an online forum/discussion board. Maybe there are similar resources for authors out there. Here is the link to my interview: Wikipedia’s Growth Comes With Concerns.

Third incident:
I wrote a blog post about the value of serendipity in education and life in general. I spoke mostly about how my husband approaches his photography, allowing serendipity to play a part in what he chooses to photograph. Here is the blog post:
Making Room For Serendipity

A year or more after I wrote the post, I got an email from an author named Thor Muller. He was working on a book called Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business

He was very interested in my husbands use of serendipity in his photographs and wanted to include the details in his book. We gave him our phone number and he interviewed Bob at least three times. As I result, Bob appears in the book from p 161-169.

Conclusion?

If you haven’t done so already…GET OUT THERE AND NETWORK ON THE BIGGEST NETWORK OF ALL – THE INTERNET!!

Love and best wishes,

Jacquie

P.S. I am going to post this email on my blog. You shall remain nameless. But – if anybody contacts me about it – I will share the info with you! Nobody reads my blog anymore now that I am retired, and my interests have changed. But I DO want to start updating it with random thoughts now and again!

P.P.S. Whenever you want – we can get together again and bake ourselves sick!

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What goes around comes around

I had a brilliant student many years ago.  His teacher asked me to give him special attention as a kindergartner, which I was most happy to do. I knew he was reading already….but was not prepared to discover that he was reading at at least an upper high school level. School was socially difficult for him, so I gave him special attention. We were both blessed that I was able to be there for him for a long time, since our school was k-12 at the time. I was the only librarian, and it was a pleasure to watch him grow up. School librarians have a unique ability to see what students need outside of the classroom. We are student advocates.  Anyway…awhile back I got a grateful letter from him. It is a treasured memory for me.  Here is an excerpt from that letter:

Ironically, he now works for a company called Genentech and was part of the team that developed the asthma drug I have just started….Xolair. If you have friends that suffer from sinusitis and/or asthma that does not respond well to standard treatment, please suggest Xolair to them. It comes with a scary warning of possible anaphylactic shock which can occur immediately or any time in the future while you are taking it. Definitely not something to try until all other treatments have proved ineffective.
I now have to carry an epipen with me and must stay in the office for observation for two hours after my injections. The other drawback is the cost.  My HMO does not pay anything, although thankfully Medicare covers 80% of the $800-900 price tag. That means I have to pay $160-180 per month.But it will be worth it if it continues to bring me the relief that it has so far. Don’t know what I would do without medicare, as the retail price is actually about $1200 per shot. The company does have a program to help with the cost for those who are eligible.
Anyway…it has made a huge difference for me so far.  i am even going to try starting up my walking regimen as soon as the temperature goes over 30 degrees!
My student’s letter reminds me …. good deeds do not go unnoticed. You never know when those good deeds will come back to you just when you need them!
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Saving the world, one meal at a time

Most of these ideas are easy to do. The saddest thing though is how expensive it is to eat organic. Why is it that we have to pay MORE for foods that do not have chemicals or antibiotics added to them? It is all about volume. If more of us bought organic, then organic would become cheaper.  

One thing we all CAN do is to buy local fresh produce while it is available. The season is upon us here in the Northeast at last!  Farm markets are increasing in number and size,  and are fun to attend. Some of them even sell grass fed/free range meat and eggs.  I buy my eggs from a farmer down the road from me. It is a pleasure to see the chickens outside doing what chickens are supposed to do. And it is a joy to see the pigs out in the pasture doing what pigs are supposed to do, rather than wallowing in a muddy, enclosed pen.  Or worse yet…a CAFO for pigs. 

My husband and I are on fixed incomes now, but we try to cut back on other expenses so we can buy GOOD food.  You will be surprised how much better it tastes.  Yes – there are studies that say there is no difference in the nutritional value of GMO veggies and organic.  That skirts the issue of pesticides completely.  The nutrition might be there – but do you really want to consume pesticides and antibiotics which are used – amazingly – in veggies, not just in meat.? We can all make a big difference in our environment and in our personal health!

Not enough time to eat non-processed food?  I admit that we are eating better now that I am retired.  But I have come across many great recipes on America’s Test Kitchen that can be whipped up in less than 15 minutes and, at the most, require a half hour in the oven.  One tip?  Roast your veggies.  They taste AMAZING (especially when brushed with a little olive oil and seasoning) and they do not have to be “supervised” the way boiled veggies need to be.  Also – when you are cutting onions, celery, carrots etc. – it does not take much more time to cut twice as many. That makes for an even easier meal a day or two later.

Mostly – let’s save the world a bite at a time!