Crop Walk

Hello Friends,
I will be walking on October 8 in Greensboro's Crop Walk. Greensboro has the second or third largest Crop Walk in the country and we are striving to be number one. If you would like to walk, please send me email at mrpratto@acm.org. Please use subject Crop Walk.

My friends Jonathan and Ann Smith are sponsoring my walk in memory of two dear people. Hang Kpa, a little Montegnard refugee died this week of a brain stem glioma. She was five years old. (Please pray for her family). Dear David Pratto graduated from life on earth in October 2002. He had an inoperable brain tumor. Thank you to Ann and Jonathan.

Other sweet friends are sponsoring my walk also, the Knoxes, Ms. Penny, my children, Ms. Jeffus, my mom, Ms. Lautermilch, the Hermans, Ms. Capone, the Kellys and the Buschs. Thanks to all for feeding people in Greensboro and around the world.

Reminder

Current events are reminding me of this poem. Perhaps events do not remind you of this poem, but the poem is worth reading anyway. I am including the link to what is supposed to be the original (in German) and then some translations. First they came..

When teaching high school religion classes, almost 40 years ago, we used these passages with a wonderful film strip to kick off a discussion with high school students.

Central Wildcats 1956

Via request, I have created a blog for our high school class from Pueblo Central 1956. I am still working on inviting people with email addresses to become members of the blog. It will take awhile since I have to do them three at a time by copying and pasting the email addresses from my address book to the invitation page of the blog.

At any rate, check it out. http://wildcats56.blogspot.com

Nice to help when you can

I get lots of email and I don't want to pick out any individuals nor any specific emails (mostly forwarded messages written by some unknown person). However, I would like to respond to a large group of persons that perpetuate mail that is not friendly to others of those among us. There is an old saying, "It is better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness." So when you wish to complain about one group or another in the US, your town, my town, the world etc, consider doing some volunteer work and helping someone.

Mario in Japan and Central 1956 in Pueblo

I just read part of Mario from Greensboro's blog. Mario is teaching in Japan and you might find his diary about Japan and his photos of Japan very interesting. The blog is marioinjapan.blogspot.com. Check it out.


I think of going to the internet first for information so if I suddenly or not so suddenly remembered that I graduated from Central 50 years ago this year, I would start hunting for information about a class reunion. SO, in case anyone else does the same thing, we are having a class reunion September 8,9,10. Send me email (mrpratto@acm.org) and I will put you in contact with the reservation maker. But you can send me your biography so I can finish the bio book before I leave for Italy the end of June. So far this has been a fun endeavor, but also time consuming. If any classmates are out there with some great old photos, please send them.

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love, part 3

Remember I said this was a totally "darling" and cute book and just a sweet book for teens to read. Well, the book is supposed to be banned in one school in Central Florida. I can't believe it. This book is just so nice, such good kids, trying to learn about love in a very positive way, and trying to do good things. Those who would have it banned, have not even read the book.

The author has posted the links to the St. Petersburg Times on her blog: www.maryrosewood.com. Check it out and then I hope you will read this book so you too can know to what low depths the world has sunk.

My granddaughter, who read the book, said it is akin to the Princess Diaries in "niceness". Another book on the list is one I just gave to my then 10 year old grandson! I read the books before I give them which is more than I can say about would-be book banners.

Free Reading, Listening, Viewing

Free reading, listening, and viewing on the Internet.

Yesterday our local newspaper ran an article on free or near free sources on the Internet. I thought I would key them in once so other people can find them and add one of my favorites, missed by the article author. A really interesting site for those without sight is www.librivox.org. At this site you can get books for listening or volunteer to read for others.

Good old Wiki has two places where you may find interesting or necessary material. The first has books, speeches, essays etc by people you may want to reference sometime (especially for students!). Wiki also has books in several languages. Now you can read some books as originally written.

The Internet is a great archive and now there is a site dedicated to archiving of interesting items such as old cartoons, feature films etc. Go check it out.

Of course there is the famous Project Guttenberg. Go get yourself a classic to read today or this week or whenever. There are only 17,000 items to choose from, including the book I tortured by book group into reading once, Ulysses by James Joyce. My suggestions are now taken with a large grain of salt.

The author left out the Internet Public Library, but it has books for various age levels and displays just as if you walked into a library.

So if you are homebound or just curious or you just have to look at something new today, try these places. Oh, if you have a young person around, note there is not an excuse for getting to the library for a book, but do keep an extra ream of paper on hand if that person has to read on paper!

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love, part 2

I edited my review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love because I finished the book a long time ago and I had not updated. So go back to my late January post and read some more. The book is really cool and fun to read. My granddaughter liked it. Maryrose Wood's second book will be out in May so you should read this one now.

The picture on the left is my little dog, Prima, one of the cuter dogs in the universe. She doesn't consider herself a dog though, except when she is out walking.

Homeless in Greensboro

Yesterday our local newspaper carried a story about a homeless man who writes a blog using the public library's computers. I think lots of my friends would be interested in reading it now and then so here is the link to View from the Sidewalk.

The library in Greensboro has computers in all branches. If you walk in to check out books, you will find every computer in use. Some are reserved for school work from about 3 until 8 so that all children who are able to get to a branch have a computer to use for assignments. The major problem is that we don't have enough branch libraries, although we have many and some are lovely with special functions. Maybe what we need is better and more complete bus service! For those of you who grew up in Pueblo, remember how much time we spent on the bus (mostly in the back, laughing).

Remember to check out Sex Kittens and Horn Dogs Fall in Love for all the teenagers on your gift lists this year.

Spring is springing, although yesterday was really cold.

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love

Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love is in bookstores now. Check out this cover and it will be easy for you to spot. You can buy this book for your favorite young thing, 12 and up, this year for birthdays. It is witty, well-written (isn't that wonderful?), and a nice guide to some spots in New York. It has a bit of poetry, a little on the scientific method and fun to read. Grandmas read this book and then give it your granddaughter.

The kids in this book have a few adventures, relate to the well-to-do and the much-less-well-to-do in New York, they play music, they learn new things, they are excited about life and learning. And it is a clever story. How much more can you ask for in a book taking place in our day?

I would be less than honest if I didn't say that the author, Maryrose Wood, is the sister of my son-in-law, but those who know me know I am pretty brutally honest so I am not just saying good words about this book because she is "family".

I know Barnes and Noble has it, as does Amazon. It is solving my birthday problems this year. Every young person twelve and over gets one!

Lightedballs for Christmas

My street, Ridgeway, must have 300 or more large lighted Christmas balls hanging in the oak trees. My neighbors across the street, Jonathan and Anne, started it all. They decorated their trees first. Then they were really rambunctious and held after Thanksgiving "learning" parties. Two articles in our local newspaper, one last year, and one this year, have been written about the Smiths and the lighted balls. This year's article tells how to make the balls in three easy steps (if you can believe that!). It is difficult to take a picture of lighted objects, but here you can see just the number of lights looking east down the street perpendicular to Ridgeway. I will work on getting a blurry picture of Ridgeway later.

Our street really gets a lot of traffic in December so I have to be really careul to always have my black dog on a good leash when we venture out for her to do her business.

Prima is afraid of a moving bush, a plastic bag or a bag of leaves, but cars don't phase her in the least even though I tell her they are dangerous and bad etc.

Guilford County Jail in Greensboro

Some members of the League of Women Voters visited our county jail in early November. One of them wrote up her impressions and one took photos. All of these are posted on the League's websitelwvpt.org. Click on the jail report or the photos or both.

It is going to be a costly undertaking to replace, remodel, expand or otherwise do something about our overcrowded jail. Citizens should know of the problems. Society needs to come up with a solution to the drug problem in our midst.

My personal suggestion is to take all the "sickie" ads off TV. Talk about a drug culture, but I diverge. Check out the jail.

Enjoy December with the hustle and bustle.

New Website for The League of Women Voters

The local League has moved its website to http://lwvpt.org. Sometime this week, I will post a page about the Guilford County jail visit by League members. Two groups of us have visited now. Big decisions must be made in Guilford County concerning the jail. If you live here, stay tuned and be informed. Further, go visit.

WalMart: The Movie

On Monday night, I saw the movie. http://www.walmartmovie.com/. Several organizations are showing it in Greensboro and Faith Action has it available for checkout.

This is a movie Americans should see. We need to pay attention to the largest corporation in the world. The employees of WalMart are well informed by WalMart of how to get state and federal benefits. What a service! What this means is that the benefits, such as health, of WalMart are so expensive or so non-existent that the employees are told where to get other assistance. Further, it appears that WalMart employees are infused with loyalty, so much so that they work off the clock instead of getting overtime. How sweet and how family friendly!

Of course, there is the problem of where do such low wage, low benefit earners such as WalMart employees and others, such as recent arrivals in the US or those on the less commercial sides of town, shop??? Well, WalMart, of course. So those cheap prices keep people coming. One of the interesting aspects of this film though is the talk with the Chinese workers who produce the goods. They are not treated any better and the hours are even longer. A typical toy costs less than $1 to produce and retails for $15.

So really, at what price low prices? And think about this, many of those low-priced items because they are replacable with a newer, better gadget end up in the landfill. Do we have a value problem here?

For those who haven't read Barbara Ehrenreich, you may want to read about her experiences at WalMart in Nickled and Dimed.

You might think that the Waltons with all their megabucks might be really generous, but the movie says they are not big contributors. The CEO who shares a room at a convention or stockholders meeting, only makes 27 Million per year.

In my neighborhood, we still have a hardware store. It is not fancy and noone greets you when you enter and certainly noone makes a commercial about meeting there for coffee, but it is a functional store, has what I need most of the time, has a person who answers questions, and makes great keys! Search out your locally owned store. You might like it. And one more thing, the prices are just fine!

Getting out of Iraq

Brad Miller and David Price introduced a resolution about the Iraq war on the House floor last night. Read all about it.

Greensboro City Council Candidate Forum

The League of Women Voters held the Greensboro city council forum last night. It was good. Please check it out on Channel 8 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

This meeting was taped and will be cable cast on GCTV Channel 8 at 9:00 a.m. on October 31, November 2, 4, 7.  Also check the League of Women's Voters Guide. In a few minutes we will have responses from all candidates with opposition posted!

www.greensboro.com/lwv

Alpaca Sweater pictures

Alpaca Sweater Sale

My church has a sister church in Manazo Peru. The ladies of Manazo have a cooperative. They knit sweaters all year and then we sell them one weekend in November at our church. The sweater sale this year is the evening of November 11, 5-8 pm, 10am - 7 pm November 12, and 10am-2pm November 13. The sweaters are beautiful, soft, and warm. We have a veriety of selections for men and women and a few small sizes. If you live in Greensboro, come and get a sweater for yourself or for a gift. I am posting pictures of my sweaters. I keep the house cool and wear one all the time. In Greensboro we can wear these sweaters outside most of the cool season.

Urinetown

Wow, one of our local universities, just put on Urinetown, the Musical. We think UNCG is the first college/university to perform this fairly recent New York musical. UNCG's theatre and music departments did a wonderful job. I think many, if not all the shows, were sold out, and I know the audience gave a standing ovation at least twice and maybe always!

The musical is one with an ecological/environmental message. The natural resource in great shortage is water. Our newspaper recently ran articles on the current and probably oil shortage. It is not as though this is not real world stuff. We should be thinking about these resources and our use in the US. Urinetown helps us think about this in a cleverly executed play with good music. In the process though we enjoy this play. It spoofs the musicals of the 50s with the full skirted heroine, the rich girl, poor boy love story, the follow your heart theme. Then there are the scenes that are almost Les Miserables, a little of Jesus Christ Superstar, a touch of Annie. Those are just some I spotted.

So this brings me to the head in the sand, judge the book by the cover letter written to our newspaper and the comments that followed it. The lady did not even see the play, but UNCG and Greensboro can do better. Better than what? Better than alerting us to shortage problems in a fun way??? I don't get it. I just don't know why people continue to prejudge. It is good that this lady can publish her view. I just wish it were an informed one. This region has been suffering from a drought, almost two months without a good rainfall. Right now we are in a cloud thanks to hurricane Tammy. Our ground is wet at last and there are even a few puddles. This may not be enough to bring us out of the drought, but at least our trees are getting a drink and hopefully we will have enough water to get us through so we can continue to drink and flush the toilet.

The play is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival so maybe you will get an opportunity to see it. Let us hope so. Thanks, UNCG. Keep up the good work and if it is controversial, yay.. make the people think before it is too late.

Independent Examination of Katrina's "handling"

I encourage you to go to Moveon and sign the petition for an independent commission to examine how we did not know how to behave concerning Katrina.

Here is what I said on my note with the petition:"We need to quit looking for the mote in all other world government eyes and look in our own. Let us have an independent commission examine what went wrong with Katrina. I doubt anyone who wanted a Homeland Security office wanted it to be ineffective, chaotic, and dumb. It appears that those of us who watch a bit of TV and read the newspaper knew more than Mike Brown."

I had been thinking about the mote idea when I heard Kofi Anan today talking about UN reforms and when I thought about Bill Maher's "letter" to Bush last night about bringing democracy to Iraq. You should catch that if you did not. Maher was really right on target about the length of time it took the US to do such things as free the slaves, give women the right to vote, and to pass a voting rights act.

I have no confidence that we are safer now than before 9-11 or Katrina. I didn't before, but I certainly did not expect to see the level of incompetence we had with Katrina. The news of the mayor of New Orleans ordering evacuation was heard around the US. His action probably saved many, many lives. The school bus use is still unclear. Some evidently were used and some just drowned with many people. Now are we going to blame him for taking some action as opposed to none on the parts of many???

If you read this, you should do a search on the Internet in your own area for plans for emergencies. Start asking questions of people running for office and of your local "first responders." Oh, and do go to the NY Times for Wednesday, Sept 14 and read Maureen Dowd, one of the US's smartest redheads!