Celebrating Christmas

There are many ways that people in this  world choose to celebrate Christmas. I wanted to share with you all some alternative ways to enjoy the holiday. some of us get so wrapped up in owning the "next big thing" that we miss the.true meaning of Christmas. Here are some ways you can try to celebrate Christmas this year.

Count your blessings. Gather your family or guests all together in a room. Take a jar or container and pass it around with a small bowl of dry beans. The first person with the container and the bowl of beans should take 1 bean from the bowl, speak aloud.something that they are grateful for then place the bean in the jar or container. Then pass the bowl and beans to the next person until everyone has an opportunity to count one blessing.Once.completed take moment to mediate on your life and blessings. Make Christmas a time of reflection rather than gifts.

Attend Christmas plays and programs.Get out this holiday an  watch how others tell and share the story of Christmas.

Enjoy the outdoors. He  it may be cold outside, but go to a park, take a long walk by yourself or with a partner and enjoy the day.

Thrift store shopping. Try to avoid shopping malls and Christmas about more than how much you spend on a gift.

Cook or bake with others. 

These a're just a few suggestions the important thing is to take the time to enjoy the day, enjoy your loved ways and enjoy yourself.

Merry Christmas!!!

- Krystal

A Nation in Mourning

My heart is broken by the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The loss of human life incurred and the number of families affected is too much to fully imagine. This tragedy has captured the attention of everyone nationwide as we all mourn the many loved ones lost and the heroes of the day who did what they could to keep others safe. 

Americans are crying out for help and change. These tragedies cannot keep happening at the rate they are. There is so much that is preventable in these killings and brutalities. People argue that wanting change and starting the conversation about gun control around these tragedies is "politicizing" these events. On the contrary, it is people desperate for change. It is people who don't want to live in fear anymore, who don't want to see America turn into a place of fear, anarchy, and death. It has become a risk we assume, by going out in public, that there is an opportunity for violence. This is something unique to America--and it goes back to our value system. America's system values individual freedoms over community freedoms, ie, the right for an individual to buy weapons, but not the right for communities to feel safe in public spaces. It is unfathomable in other countries that we do not take action, and it is, though devastating, just something that happens here. OUR LAWS ALLOW INDIVIDUALS TO BUY DEADLY WEAPONS IN REGULAR STORES. For many of us who have grown up here, maybe we've grown up thinking that is normal. I challenge you to really think about it. WHY ON EARTH SHOULD A CIVILIAN INDIVIDUAL BE ALLOWED ACCESS TO WEAPONRY SIMILAR TO WHAT IS USED BY THE MILITARY? Without guns, yes violence would still happen, but mass murders in school would be largely stopped. Mass murders of any kind--stopped. If there were no guns, legally or not, we would see a dramatic decline in murder. There is a larger conversation that needs to happen, around media and violence in our entertainment, the way human life is discounted in video games, movies, and tv shows, things our youth grow up watching, people without memorable names and faces being killed with little emotion. To shift our perception of human life to something of higher value is needed, as well, but the very simple fact of it all is that eliminating guns from stores would prevent the actual deaths we are currently seeing. This does not happen in other places. 

As you might notice, I am desperate. I am crying out for change. I beg everyone to consider what freedom means to them and take action. Freedom is the right to live without fear, it is the right to enjoy entertainment in public, to go out in crowds, to send your children to school. Freedom is the right to health and happiness for ALL. Freedom is not having to go through metal detectors and be searched upon entering airports, government buildings, and now schools. That is the direction our country is going. 

"If roads were collapsing all across the United States, killing dozens of drivers, we would surely see that as a moment to talk about what we could do to keep roads from collapsing. If terrorists were detonating bombs in port after port, you can be sure Congress would be working to upgrade the nation’s security measures. If a plague was ripping through communities, public-health officials would be

 working feverishly to contain it.

Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. “Too soon,” howl supporters of loose gun laws. But as others have observed, talking about how to stop mass shootings in the aftermath of a string of mass shootings isn’t “too soon.” It’s much too late."
- Ezra Klein 

Take action in your own life: make a conscious decision to not say hurtful or negative things to others. Build others up, love with all your power. This is what will change the world and affect peace. 

 Support the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to start getting involved in the conversation.  We must save America. It is that serious...this country is at stake. Life as we know it, the American dream, all of it, at stake. 

Pray for those affected by this horrible event, and take action in remembrance of them. It's not political, it's about prevention and honoring lives lost, may they not be lost in vain. 

--megan 

Real Diversity in Public Schools

Finding an appropriate learning environment for kids is a huge challenge parents and educators alike face. Children need an environment where they are engaged, challenged, and stimulated academically, where they can gain the skills they need to achieve in college or in the workplace. School is also a time for children to grow socially and behaviorally. This is a place where kids learn how to get a long with one another, make friends, work together, and stand up for themselves. 

Educators have found that children often thrive in diverse learning environments, where there are children of various racial, cultural, economic, and academic backgrounds in the same classroom. This is good way to help students frame their world view and gain perspective on other cultures and people. 

Easier said than done, of course. How do you put together the right combination of diversity and please everyone? Public schools have been struggling with this for decades. Inner-city schools struggle because of lack of economic diversity while suburban schools thrive due to lack of economic diversity. People attend school according to where they live, which means that they go to school with other kids who can afford to live in the same neighborhood as them--or can't afford to live anywhere else. Academically advanced kids ought not be held back by being mixed into classrooms with students who haven't been as successful, yet without these students further ahead, the class as a whole often fails. 

It's a huge puzzle, but most would agree the more diversity the better for all. DC's population is rapidly changing, and the school districts are finding pockets of white students and middle to upper-middle class students attending particular elementary schools in upper NW DC and Capitol Hill as more Gen-Xers and Millenials choose to raise kids and live in the city. The DC Public Schools are currently working to even out the population and create more diversity in neighborhood schools, so that students can still attend a school in their neighborhood, and hopefully attend with students from various economic, racial, and academic backgrounds. 

I listened to the Kojo Nnamdi Show from yesterday titled "Changing City, Gentrifying Schools" and what I found most interesting was listening to a particular caller who noted that many people had called in to say they/their kids attended a very diverse school and benefited from it. What he noted is what's true for many school systems and private schools--they've found a way to create a racially and culturally diverse atmosphere where they celebrate diversity and culture and learn about far away traditions and peoples. What they haven't managed is a way to integrate students in a way that is economically and academically diverse. This particular caller even went as far as to say that these particular pockets of "diverse" schools in the city, suburb, or private schools, become more culturally diverse but conform further in ways of thought. The schools become a place where everyone thinks in the same way, and children aren't learning things that are different than them after all. Some of our area schools even show their students poverty and "poor" people as a "lesson"--people learn about poverty by gawking at it and throwing canned food at a food bank. These schools aren't teaching children about people that are different than them, certainly not how to interact with people that are different than them. Students often self-segregate in school halls, too, based on who they know from their neighborhood or their old school or who's in their classes (because many schools separate classes by academic achievement by offering things like Honors, AP, etc). Thus we've created another problem by attempting to understand diversity. Complex, right? 

I think what's important to take away from this is that diversity doesn't stop at skin color. It has to be about people that think differently and really perceive things differently. This comes down to money. Integration isn't easy when there is so much disparity between a child who grew up with money and a child who didn't, but being able to attend the same school and take the same classes is an equalizer and a step in the right direction. Diversity is something to celebrate to a point. In other ways (such as money and family's educational achievement history), I think it is something that ought to be downplayed as much as possible in schools. Uniforms and dress codes help, having the same expectations for all students lets students know that educators believe they can do the same as their peers. Equality in these areas is going to win over diversity, but by allowing people of diverse backgrounds access to this sameness.

--Megan

Tis the season

Two weeks from today it will be what I like to call "Christmas Eve Eve" and one of my favorite days of the year. I and perhaps many others tend to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas almost more than Christmas day itself. With vacation time, school out, holiday music playing and the giving of gifts it really seems that people are generally happier this time of year. But since moving to the DMV area I remind myself that there are many individuals out there that the Holiday season does not bring about the most merry of feelings.

Last year we wrote about ways to give back during the holiday season. Last week Megan wrote about giving. Has anyone used these suggestions? As someone who works in development I am on the side of trying to get donors to give, especially this time of year when nonprofits and private industries alike bring in the majority of their annual funds. In fundraising we learn that people give back to organizations for many different reasons with the top being; sense of purpose, caring about the story being presented, and the desire to be a part of something.

There are several great organizations in the area who are doing good things for people and for the community. These organizations will have their fundraising teams out to bring in the bucks and they will do great things with the money raised. I encourage you all to support these organizations. But tis the season to be merry and we need to remember how hard life can be on some people. Some individuals hit the hardest may not even be receiving help from some of the local organizations for a variety of reasons. Remember those individuals this time of year. As you're walking by people on the streets think about what you can spare and how much that can mean to another.


--Krystal

Dealing with the aftermath

The past two weeks have been especially traumatic for two teams in the National Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys. Last week was particularly traumatic when Jovan Belcher, Chiefs player, shot and killed his girlfriend and mother of his 2 month old child and then went to speak & apologize to his coaches and shot himself infront of them.

NBC elected to make some feelings known when during last week's edition of Sunday Night Football, one of the highest watched television programs on a weekly basis, Bob Costas spoke out in favor of stricter gun laws. Costas later apologized for his statements made after many complained about the manner in which his platform was used politically.
What do you think? Did the NFL handle this situation appropriately? Should the players have kept Belcher's jersey up in the locker room as a jester of remembrance? How do you feel about Bob Costas' statements on Monday Night Football?

These are devastating tragedies for all involved. The National Football league has been pressed with how two deal with both of these tragedies. In most cases when a fried has passed a solder has fallen they are honored and their lives are celebrated by friends, families and associates. When that person has committed a vicious crime especially one that leaves a now orphaned 2month old child the situation is handled in a different manner. The NFL did not choose to honor Belcher, instead a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence was initiated. There were member of the chiefs organization who chose to handle the situation differently. Belcher's jersey was left up in the locker room as remembrance and some players chose to honor their friend. Others were too confused and shocked to really know how to react and put the pieces together. 


--Krystal

DC Has Lowest Graduation Rate in the Nation

According to DCist. Of course, it is hard to compare DC to a state since DC is an all-urban area, and cannot be fairly compared to states which have mixtures of urban and rural populations.

Still, a miserable 59%--barely half-- of the students in public and charter schools are graduating high school from DC in four years. The school systems are flooded with local tax dollars each year; children at public schools receive an education worth much more per student (though classroom sizes are still atrociously large, hindering the progress students can make).

The DC Public Schools are aware of the notorious reputation and many different strategies have been implemented, including better teacher training, after-school programming, and appealing to different learning styles. Education reform is complex, and must involve strategies to reduce poverty, hunger, and violence. I believe that these factors are mainly why DC lags behind the states, not lack of trying or lack of funding.

What would make the biggest difference in public education in the District? What do you think about comparing DC to the states?

--Megan