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All posts for the month March, 2021

RACISM part two

Published March 15, 2021 by Nan Mykel

Prejudice is the attitude that one group of people is in some way inferior to another.
KINDS OF PREJUDICE INCLUDE:
1. Racism – people of color or ethnicity are treated as inferior
2. Sexism – Gender prejudice…Belief that one sex is inferior
3. Ageism – People too old or too young are treated as inferior
4. Classicism – One economic class is seen as inferior to another
5. Homophobia – Belief that LGBTIs are inferior
6. Nationalism – The belief that citizens of one’s own country are superior to all others
7. Religious prejudice – The only prejudice I found written out contained nothing negative cited.
8. Xenophobia – Fear of foreigners
9. Ableism – Those with physical or mental disorders dismissed as inferior
10. Immigrant, Refugees and Gypsy populations – Seen as inferior since “not from here.” Gypsies are one of the most persecuted minority groups worldwide.
11. Political Identity – The belief that members of one’s own political party are superior to all others

Out of curiosity you may want to check yourself for any problems with this topic. For myself, today, I have most difficulty with political prejudice. For example, I feel disrespect for Republicans, and while I have no conscious prejudice against black women, culture has shaped me to have a deep seated fear of black men due in part to a plethora of years of news stories about their criminal activity. Little did I realize that their aggressiveness was exaggerated by the prejudiced media and police of the time.. So one feeds the other. Fear of the unknown is a factor, also. I’ve known personally several wonderful black women, but no wonderful black men, personally…so far. I realize that the men part of black men may also relate to an underlying fear of all men.
Much of this information is from the far-reaching blog theclassroom.com/the.different-types-of-prejudice-12081909.html which contains The Different Types of Prejudice by Parker Janney.

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT, Nan…

Published March 14, 2021 by Nan Mykel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I do so want to focus on unite and forgive, but then I see someone railing against everyone being able to vote, and I get upset. What balls to say this in our democracy! I wonder if they’ll try and take away womens’ right to vote, too.  Retrograde and blatantly unAmerican.  This isn’t freedom of speech; it’s blasphemy!

 

last thoughts

Published March 14, 2021 by Nan Mykel

I know not how to live my death

so choose instead to skip it.

When the fan’s click fades I’ll know

it’s time to re-cast the show,

re-write the script –

most of it.

There’s no curtain call this time,

only a re-shuffled cast.

The kids all remain

and Big Ma too.

Perhaps I’ll keep

a teacher or two,

and surrender my role 

of playing the shrew.

After, I may

shout out and call,

Adieu my dears, adieu!

As I shove me and my load

out to sea, to see…                                                  Nan 3/13/21

Waiting

Published March 13, 2021 by Nan Mykel

Exquisite…

Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings

A thousand wonder-worries cloud the night—but

play in shadows and in light,
soar in time, moon-drunk, star-dazzled,
as wind whispers to water, flow, live–

and if you dream, recall
the luscious, languid sighs
of pink-petaled branches after the storm,
and the cool-blue smell of sky and air—

waiting

in honeyed sunglow,
watching the diamond spray
of spring rain on ripening buds,

waiting,

for the moment to embrace
color, to heal the world.

My poem from the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. She knows spring is on its way.

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RACISM part one

Published March 13, 2021 by Nan Mykel

There’s too much to say on the topic, so I’ll just write in small chunks, over several days.

To correct the belief that no one is born prejudiced: the grim fact is for us moderns that evolution gave us millions of years of the unsocial tendency called kin selection, which means that evolution favored maintaining one’s own genetic family line over others’.  (Remember all the kin in the white house?)

“People of different races are different. Although we are all one species and quite capable of exchanging genes, the fact remains that members of any race seem likely to share more genes with each other than with individuals of a different race. Physical resemblance almost certainly has some correlation with genetic resemblance, and accordingly, we can expect the principles of kin-selection altruism to operate on this fact.” (David Barash, The Whisperings Within, 1979 p. 153).

“…we’ve got to be carefully taught not to hate others who are different from ourselves, because it may be our biological predisposition to do so…If evolution does incline us to a degree of racial bigotry, that certainly does not mean that such inclinations are justified. What may have been adaptive under the conditions of our early evolution , when groups rarely met and were likely to be strongly competing when they did, is today not only dangerous and stupid and socially reprehensible but woefully maladaptive…We must demand that our cultural institutions, such as education and child rearing, make sure that we are “carefully taught” to love one another. Because, but true, we seem unlikely to do so by ourselves.” (Ibid 154, 155).

P.S.  A post has appeared on my website several times showing the supposed enlarged penises of black natives.  I wonder if its purpose is to feed competitiveness between men of different races.

Next: The Malleability of Humans’ Attitudes toward outsiders.

 

I MAY SUE…

Published March 13, 2021 by Nan Mykel

 

Because I split a gut laughing…at Diane Ravitch’s reblog of

Alexandra Petri and Jessica M. Goldstein of the Washington Post watched Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markie and they came to a sudden realization: Princesses need unions!

Go to and read, you’re welcome in advance.  

Janis Ian – a truth teller with her songs – Keith reblog

Published March 8, 2021 by Nan Mykel

 

About twenty years ago, my wife and I got to see a concert where two old favorites regaled us for a wonderful night. I remember the evening to this day. Don McLean was the closing act and he is always worth the effort with songs that go well beyond “American Pie.” Yet, just as entertaining, was a tiny Jewish girl who came on stage by herself and mesmerized us – Janis Ian.

Many women (and men) within ten years of my age will know her immediately for her huge hit which told the unvarnished truth she learned “At Seventeen.” This song spoke to so many as most of us are not blessed with model like looks and effervescent charm. And, when you are not, you face a different set of challenges. Yet, the other part of this “truth” is even when you are born with looks and charm, you need to be able to find and be yourself, because looks don’t last forever, even with Botox. Here are a few lyrics, which ironically were penned by two men, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired

The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone

Who called to say, “Come dance with me”
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn’t all it seems at seventeen

…To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball

It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
When dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me

Yet, if you download her body of work or purchase a greatest hits CD, you will find a number of enchanting songs. Once you do, pour yourself a glass of your favorite wine, light a few candles or stoke the fire and listen. Here is an excerpt from “Between the Lines” written by Janis which speaks to how people do not know what to say to each other after the games and banter end.

There’s never much to say between the moments of
Our games and repartee
There’s never much to read between the lines of
What we need and what we’ll take

There’s never much to talk about or say aloud
But say it anyway
Of holidays and yesterdays, and broken dreams
That somehow slipped away

In books and magazines of how to be and what to see
While you are being
Before and after photographs teach how to pass
From reaching to believing

Another one of her classics, is called “Jesse” by Columbier and Michel Jean Pierre, about her loneliness over her lover Jesse’s departure. The pacing of this song is emblematic of her style. She is never in a hurry and she has a voice that soothes, as well as portrays her pain. So, you can find the words amid the tune.

Jesse, the floors and the boards
Recalling your step
And I remember, too
All the pictures are fading
And shaded in grey

But I still set a place
On the table at noon
And I’m leaving a light on the stairs
No I’m not scared – I wait for you

Hey Jesse, I’m lonely, come home

Many people likely do not know Janis Ian. My older brother was the first person who turned me onto her music. She followed in the tradition of similar singers like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell and a contemporary Phoebe Snow. If I had to find a more current performer, I would liken her to Traci Chapman. But, I think her words and music resonate with people as she would never be considered a glamorous person. In fact, when she walked on stage with her guitar, she came in from one side and walked all the way to the other side and exited the stage. This shyness was characteristic of her and her music. But, as McLean said later about Ian when he came on stage, ‘that little lady can sing her hind end off.”

So, if you do not know her music, you are in for a treat. Every 17 year old girl (and boy for that matter) should listen to “At Seventeen.” If you know her, please use the opportunity to revisit her songs. And, remember the glass of wine and the candles.

Keith Wilson, Charlotte
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHAT I FELT LIKE…

Published March 7, 2021 by Nan Mykel

When I filled out the papers for my second covid vaccination I checked “Female,” and then saw that I was offered the option of “Prefer not to say.” I felt good about the fact that the LGBTI population was being taken into consideration.(The I stands for Intersex, about which I was totally ignorant). I decided if I was ever offered the choice I would check that box, to support those groujps of humans who experience what has been called “medical racism.” I had an eye-opening experience this morning when I visited Intersex and Transgender on Google. The illustration above comes from one of those sites. The articles explain the difference.

Thanks, Hook: Read Across America Day ~ 2021 — By Hook Or By Book

Published March 5, 2021 by Nan Mykel

So true–I’m reblogging! Thanks, Shira…

Context, Critical Thinking, Continuous Learning: Project Do Better

Stories never really end…even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don’t end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page. ~ Cornelia Funke, Inkspell ~

Read Across America Day ~ 2021 — By Hook Or By Book

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NEW SHORT THOUGHTS

Published March 5, 2021 by Nan Mykel

A reasonable (not one-sided) article on Alter Net caught my attention today. It was by Issac J. Bailey March 04, 2021 and appears to be free of so much of the extreme bias floating around today. It relates to the firing of a N.Y. Times reporter who used the “n” word. The clarity of it is refreshing.

I’m curious why two Capitol police committed suicide on or after Jan. 6. Maybe it’s due to confidentiality or something, in which case that’s okay. The limited performance of many capitol police suggests either poor training or poor screening, but I guess the same could be said for the Defense Department and the Pentagon.

It kinda hurts to see another momentary hero bite the dust, with Cuomo’s hiding the nursing home deaths. And did “Me Too” have more impact than “Black Lives Matter?” I’m not sure I’ve seen Trump criticized as much for his behavior and verbiage re disrespect of women. Seems everywhere I look someone is experiencing the Humpty Dumpty Syndrome. .

I cannot understand how anyone could admit that they want to make it more difficult for others to vote. That sounds almost as dishonorable as admitting you want your child dead.

Here’s a head’s up if you ever suffer vertigo. It’s called the head tilt procedure and a physical therapist trained in the procedure can fix it. Two sessions with a similar therapist and my daughter was permanently cured of a really disconcerting 6-month bout of it. The therapist explained something about a ball bearing in the head getting off kilter…

Almost as good news is the “drug to fight obesity” reported in the March 3, 2021 The Week magazine pg. 23, basedon an article in the New York Times. Robert Kushner from Northwestern University says the findings mark “the start of a new era of effective treatment for obesity.” People on it reportedly lose20 percent of their body weight. It’ a “semaglutide, already in use for type 2 diabetes.” It is a synthetic version of G.L.P.-1, a naturally occurring hormone released by the body after a filling meal.

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