the secret life of education

Former Military Interrogator Matthew Alexander: Despite GOP Claims, "Immoral" Torture "Slowed Down" Effort to Find Osama bin Laden

2011-05-04T23:00:00.000+05:00

To be intelligent beings we need to inform ourselves with many perspectives and then come to our own understanding knowing we don't have to belong to any others' understanding. This is another perspective from Democracy Now, enjoy learning something new.

Former Military Interrogator Matthew Alexander: Despite GOP Claims, "Immoral" Torture "Slowed Down" Effort to Find Osama bin Laden

Congratulations Deborah Young!

2011-04-09T20:35:00.004+05:00

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to share the exciting news I received last night! Deb Young an amazing teacher, mentor and mother from Naropa University was asked to help Bhutan create a "Gross National Happiness" classroom to match the GNH campaign they have been promoting for years! For more information check out this website http://www.educatingforgnh.com/Home.aspx

Yours,
Krystle Lord-Keller

Excerpt from "First Contact" by Evan Mandery

2011-03-13T02:34:00.006+05:00

It all started about a week ago, to the day, I'd found myself nose- to- page of a fantastic book. For years serious books about wholistic health and politics have been dominating my bookshelves giving me a sense of urgency about my place in the world. Yet this book was different, Evan Mandery and his tale First Contact, the story of Aliens Contacting a God-fearing US President offers insight to many current and relevant issues in our country and is written with insatiable wit. Metaphorical stories tailor each page reflecting the state of our world and minds. By coincidence, before purchasing this book I had taken direction from one of my wholistic health interests and began a cleanse to help rid my mind and body of toxic clutter. This has bestowed upon me deep contemplation and wonder if I'm alone in seeing life the way I do - as a series of personal changes to ones' self that indeed must take place in order to find peace and freedom from suffering in life.

In light of this, I am in love with an amazing person he has provided a lot of grounding in my life and yet I fantasize about us driving clear out of range and out from under the expectations of others. As we drove away we would be blasting our favorite music singing like we had the lungs of a harbor porpoise (one of the greatest lung capacities of any animal). Anyway, we would be free to grow and expand beyond the limits of our present environment.

In regards to this, Mandery brought something to my attention today, the main character of the novel Ralph has been told by his love that she quit law school and wants to go to Tibet to teach English, she wants him to leave his "responsibilities" and go with her, see the world, cultivate love and live for happiness. A feeling of anxiousness overtakes him and he begins to question its cause. Through the couple's dialogue Mandery provides us some of his delectable anecdotal thoughts on day-to-day existence:

What really caused the knot in his stomach was that he would never be able to bring himself to do this thing he really wanted to do.
Ralph was, in this respect, like anyone who does something he knows to be bad for himself -- like falling in with a married person or sticking a Q-tip into one's ear to get wax out knowing it will just make matter worse. More accurately, he was like someone who fails to do something he knows is good for himself -- like going to the gym that evening instead of watching television or keeping an appointment with chiropodist to have a bunion filed down. Or traveling somewhere exotic with someone you love.
Ralph sipped some Broth
" I'm not sure," he said. "I have a sense of responsibility. I have duties. Maybe that will be different someday."
The truth was, though, Ralph didn't understand his own reluctance.
"I don't think that will ever be different," Jessica said as she considered his words. "It never gets easier -- there is only more and more duty."
Ralph nodded.
"Why can't you live like you said you would on the night we first met? Live for the moment. Not just that day, but everyday."
Ralph returned his last wonton to the bowl.
"I don't know, " he said, and that was the complete truth.

This dialogue stood out to me because since I started cleansing the toxic clutter from my mind, I feel like I've been having a similar dialogue with myself. It is not necessarily that we do things which are bad for us, but that we don't do things which are good for us. What is stopping our good from going to work? Quite obviously someone may say our ego is to blame which in turn it is actually our fear or our lack of finding a truth other than, I don't know. And if I don't know is really our truth than we need to break through our fear of the unknown to do what good for us.

Pedagogy of Love Presents: Yoga Therapy for Children with Special Needs

2010-08-24T23:19:00.003+05:00

Come learn self-regulation skills. Build Confidence. Build better brains. Prepare for the world.

my heart ready to serve ready to support- you with me? :)

2009-12-07T22:07:00.008+05:00

we drove down the desert road to the opening circle held at Billy and Bessie's home. My father, Bruce, Jean a lovely woman from the South Bay and Kevin from N. Orange County and i parked our cars and got out in anticipation of cold weather and hard work that we would have to befriend over the next 7 days. Then into the circle came the most lovely set of Dineh elders, dineh is the the most calming language to listen to even when they are telling you about the unjust hardships they have had to endure. i looked to them as my heart center for the next 7 days.

after the circle an elder named Billy came and picked us up, and we spent the rest of the week working on his sheep camp, and moving around to different peoples spaces on the reservation and relocation housing to help out with work needed to be done before the winter season. I could go on in detail about the support work but what is really important is why our support is needed in the first place, then i will tell you what i learned from the support work.

Since the 1970's the US government along with their corporate allies such as Peabody Coal Co. have manufactured a land dispute between the traditional Hopi and Dineh (Navajo) people. Through this manufactured dispute the Hopi have lost some of
their people to corrupt tribal governments and the Dineh have lost many people to relocation, and forced confiscation of livestock. In other words, their very livelihoods have been stripped from them in the name of unsustainable mining practices. Have they been compensated? Well, if they have it has not made it past those in power, and would it really matter? Can you really compensate for someones livelihood? Can you compensate culture? This is the same question that people all over the world are asking as they are kicked out of their homes to make way for fashionable money making development projects.

With all of the injustices i have seen in the world, i can tell you that there is no way to compensate for culture. When our very spirit our very breath is tied to the soil beneath us, the earth that holds us, the placenta of our children that we buried under our home, there is no compensation that can give you this back. Many Americans will think, well my dad/mom gets relocated for work all the time, and it is very difficult, should i protest? I say yes, if your very breath is connected - but dont make this an excuse not to understand the plight of the Dineh living in Black Mesa, AZ. The people there they understand what it means to have a sense of place, and this is something we all could learn a lesson about.

When the elders and other traditional Dineh and Hopi are violated this is innately connected to degradation of the earth. When we scar the Earth we scar ourselves, it is that simple yet we foolishly continue our "manly" endeavors to conquer the greatest gift we have in our lives, Mother Earth and Father Sky. Over the last 30 years, Peabody's Black Mesa mine has absolved an estimated 325 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and has daily consumed three million gallons of water, and 1.4 billion gallons per year of potable ground water. Please remember what we do to the earth we do to ourselves

Over the last 3 + years of my life i have been graced with the opportunity to learn from peoples movements all over the world. When I was working/studying in Thailand one of my mentors Paw Somkiat stoically fixed his eyes on us and pointed up at the lights above saying, “Did you know that comes from the blood and tears of the villagers? That is our blood, they came in and destroyed our origins, our food source and turned it into this [the Pak Mun Dam]. There’re a lot of people who don’t see this root, you are so lucky to see some of that root.” At this moment Paw Somkiat reveals himself to the group of Americans as not only a villager, but also our teacher and has forever has changed my perspective on learning and my role in the world. This is the experience i held close to my heart as i went to be a supporter in Black Mesa and Big Mountain.

In working with Black Mesa Indigenous Support and having been a member of ENGAGE for almost 5 years, there was something very interesting that we shared. We are there to support to be an ally and to understand that through respecting our anti-opression principles we can work together (even if we are outsiders) equitably through the injustice that is being perpetuated by other outsiders. And when we come out of the struggle we will come out with a new order, one of equality, and empowerment of all people through living harmoniously. What I learned from Black Mesa that is close to my experiences with ENGAGE is that we are brought into peoples movements and the social problems around them to be supporters and to serve their needs and at the same time be innovative and work with them to find solutions. We are not their to bring in "our" projects or our agendas, we are their to be part of theirs and then to offer our gifts as needed. To read more about BMIS and their supporters please go to www.blackmesais.org and read the 'cultural sensitivity guide' I believe they are very clear and articulate in what i am trying to summarize here.

Overall, while at the reservation i saw many moments of revelation and changes in consciousness,watching as I and others are moved to see themselves as more than individuals more than students or average complacent people but as people who can feel the heartache of the others and do their best to help carry those aches.

poetry that makes you live hard

2009-10-29T00:26:00.001+05:00

please comment back with a favorite poem

So Is My Life
By Pablo Naruda
My duty moves along with my song:
I am I am not: that is my destiny.
I exist not if I do not attend to the pain
of those who suffer: they are my pain s.
For I cannot be without existing for all,
for all who are silent and oppressed,
I come from the people and I sing for them:
my poetry is song and punishment.
I am told: you belong to darkness.
Perhaps, perhaps, but I walk toward the light.
I am the man of bread and fish
and you will not find me among books,
but with women and men:
they have taught me the infinite.

on love

2009-10-28T23:39:00.004+05:00

She has no intention of hurting you, and still life will take its course because we are in search for our soul mate and when we find them we will not fear anymore because if we are hurt we are hurt together. And it is through the long loneliness that we hurt as we sacrifice to find happiness. Once we are with our soul mate the bond will bring eternal happiness – suffering will no longer be sadness, there will be no darkness. This eternal bliss comes in different ways for different people and it is this difference which is our commonality. We are all beckoned by something deep inside of us that attracts us to something greater than ourselves, this process is what connects us all.

'two roads converge and i - i took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference'

2009-01-03T09:48:00.003+05:00

understanding the broken hearts all around me is far too heavy to worry of my own broken pieces. For i will invite myself to pick them up with others. People who live and work together, bleed together, suffer together are always celebrating their lives together. For this gave the name solidarity to human kind. Poor word brings me to see that they are now gone from one another.

To what we owe a world that is only to reason with triumph and terror. The humbleness of one trampled by the arrogance of another. For five days i took stay with the Wangpon and Ponphai-Kwanchang family what to be said about the fondness i have of them is more than mere fondness, it is love. The love of 5 months of dynamic building. i am completly amused by the children's ability to concentrate on their studies. We sat together all day surrounded by books, pencils, papers, and crafts. They asked me to teach them, they asked how to learn, and we did these things together - i miss this and will wait eagerly for my return.

Inquiry: There is an amazing group of young folk in Ubon Ratchatani beginning a youth learning center. Their goal is to help the youth to learn about the culture and environment of the Mun and Mekong Rivers through teaching eachother, and being able to sustain a livelihood in Isaan, rather than leaving their family to work in Bangkok. Lets do what we can to respect and protect one another. For more information about their project please contact me. Thanks!

The best way to be happy is to make other people happy

2008-12-05T17:49:00.006+05:00

everyone has the power to share things
we find the willingness to share
solidarity
to move from the shadows of competition
power with
the spirit of humanity
sit closer to the Earth
she is beautiful
this we know for sure
she needs a friend
if we work together we can make a change,
yes this has been said but has it been done?
just ask the native they will tell the stories
of before
when they say, what did we do out there?
will we have something to say?

2008-12-04T13:53:00.007+05:00

Whoever told you there wasn't a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, should have told you that gold isn't only a precious yellow metal, but also a source of life.

Mae Nam Kong, Mekong River, from Thailand looking over to Lao

she packed her bags

2008-11-15T21:33:00.002+05:00

There she is standing at a cross roads, not ready to move forward and unsure of why she can’t understand her past. She packed her bag again to visit the river, the same feeling she once felt as she packed her bags to lay on the beach. In both places, she contemplates life, her choices, people with out choices, and the right to make a choice. At the river she feels connected to a woman’s shadows, which have cast disabled movement and a conscious understanding. This understanding daily redeems her static book knowledge, yet how does she move cast in stone by the freedom of her past, she begins to wonder if it really was ever freedom. By 8 years old sneaking a razor to shave her legs and trim her eyebrows like the magazines. Tanning booths and fake nails what led her to believe this was important? She led herself there. Was it a choice? Yes, she knew the critiques she knew the risks. How come now she realizes these acts were masking her true femininity. Is there a chance for redemption in her life, and must she wait for the next? There she is standing at a cross roads, not ready to move forward and unsure of why she can’t understand her past. She packed her bag again to visit the river, the same feeling she once felt as she packed her bags to lay on the beach. In both places, she contemplates life, her choices, people with out choices, and the right to make a choice. This woman that is intriguing her is gone now and she never knew the woman – although – she feels her, she cries over her death – she cries on the spirit of her breast. The breast that took the woman’s life. She thinks about the injustices of bankruptcy and criminal behavior of capitalism, but mostly its the symptoms of greed and disillusion – she shares this with the woman too. What is the woman calling her to do? She feels disillusioned – her family is always with her and yet they keep calling her to come home. The smell of her powder is like her grandmother’s and at that moment she prays to her to guide her through this time. There she is standing at a cross roads, not ready to move forward and unsure of why she can’t understand her past. She packed her bag again to visit the river, the same feeling she once felt as she packed her bags to lay on the beach. In both places, she contemplates life, her choices, people with out choices, and the right to make a choice. She is always waiting for someone to tell her what to do. She says it is the universe she is waiting on, and it is possible it is the universe waiting on her. While waiting, she works till her brain has gone numb and the only thing holding her up is her heart. In love with all that she sees seeking redemption for the bad and the good, she tries to understand the world is more than black and white. For there are days when she sees the sun and calls it a cloud and sees clouds and calls them the sun. Lost in love for her family she cries to home for others to interpret her weather – their moon is coming out while her sun is coming up. Her only luck is their love. There she is standing at a cross roads, not ready to move forward and unsure of why she can’t understand her past. She packed her bag again to visit the river, the same feeling she once felt as she packed her bags to lay on the beach. In both places, she contemplates life, her choices, people with out choices, and the right to make a choice.
I love you.

harmony needed

2008-11-15T12:49:00.001+05:00

River is song
life
set your soul free
to live
the River villagers
protect she
no spy
can defeat
the defeated
who surrendered to nature long ago
sing to your child
more
sing to your Mother
in water She carried
you to shackles
in Her womb
once surrendered
you will be set free