Why I’m a smarter person than I was a year ago
1. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
A hard-hitting, yet beautifully written book that takes the reader into the world of Black author James Baldwin, and helps us understand the reality of being a Black people living in a country that belongs just as much to them as it does to the white people who all too often treat people of colour as second class or worse. The book also shows parallels between the civil rights struggles of the mid-20th century and today.
(I got it from our library…
Being “color blind” means you’re able to ignore other people’s skin color. But that likely means you’re blind to the racism they face, too.
Have you ever heard someone suggest that we ought to be color blind? I have. And I disagree.
People come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors. So when you say you’re going to be “color blind,” what you’re really saying is that you’re going to try to ignore people’s skin color. But if you ignore people’s skin color, what else do you have to ignore? Their hair? How tall they are? The shape of their chin? The look in their eyes? It’s impossible to me to truly ignore the color of the skin of someone standing in front of me — just as it’s impossible for you to ignore the color of my skin.
If I ignore…
Advice for parents from a mother of four who home schooled her kids from birth to high school, and saw all of them thrive.
I taught my children at home for a total of 17 years. I did it because I’d been a high school English teacher and I’d seen a lot of kids who were falling through the cracks. I also did it because my kids were gifted and pretty creative, and I didn’t want them to lose their desire to learn or their creativity. They are all now very successful, contributing adults.
If you’re home with your kids…
I dreaded Valentine’s Day when I was young. As an adult, I looked for ways to repurpose it to empower people instead of making it a competition.
Every time I think about Valentine’s Day, I remember the inevitable Charlie Brown cartoon with Charlie dreaming of all the Valentine’s cards he would get and then finding his mail box empty. I always sympathized.
When I was in elementary school, we’d put our cards into a decorated box during the days before Valentine’s Day, and then the box was opened and the cards distributed to each person in the class. It was always agony for me. I was neither popular nor an outcast, but I was always afraid I wouldn’t get any cards, or I’d get a card from someone I hadn’t given one to, or vice versa.
I wanted to just stay home from school, but of course that wasn’t an option. And I couldn’t tell anyone how I felt because they’d likely…
What to do when you’re feeling depressed? Read a hope-filled book
For the last four years or so, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed
People being killed. So much lying and misinformation happening. Terrorist reports. Fears of white supremacy. Rogue police. Disagreements about water rights and climate control. Oil spills. Children without anyone to care for them. Bullying. Famine Drought. Fighting. Just plain nastiness going on all over the world.
I mean, let’s face it; this world is very messy. So many people seem to be driven primarily by anger, hatred, fear, and greed. The lack of compassion for others totally blows my mind.
Yes, it’s always been messy. I remember when John F. Kennedy was killed. I was in grade 9. …
As we enter the new year, we’re in a mess. So I decided to write about what I see. Maybe that way, we can connect and help each other
I’ve had a lot of trouble focusing for a while now
The only way I can describe it is to say that it’s like I’m living in two parallel worlds: one normal and one upside down.
In one, I’m a normal person who cleans my room, eats meals, sees my extended family when I can, goes for walks, makes lists of what I need to do next, and so forth.
In the other, I’m trying to get used to the fact that the world as we know it might burn up in 20 or 30 years unless we start drastically changing the way we live.
That’s if we can survive the…
That still has a message for us today
When my mother and I went through her belongings after my father’s death, we discovered a couple of keepsake boxes with things that had belonged to his parents, George and Jennie Shaw. Included in one box were several very old Christmas cards. I thought I’d share one of them with you.
In case you have difficulty reading it, the verse says:
Across the sky the wild bells sweep,
The air is cold and keen.
But Merry Christmas comes to keep
Hearts warm and memories green.
And kindly thoughts and true regard
Prompt me to send this greeting card.
The writing…
Christmas tends to be a frustrating day of celebration where we spend too much, eat too much, and, at the end, feel something is missing
Christmas
We think of the lovely pastoral setting with stable, animals, tongue-tied shepherds, priceless gifts delivered by mysterious magi, a smiling Mary, a sturdy Joseph, and the babe, cozy on a sweet-smelling bed of fresh hay. The scene touches us in a unique way.
We delight in Mary’s innocence and charming simplicity as she allowed God’s child to irrevocably alter the fabric of her life. We nod in approval at Joseph’s resolution to see this through at any cost. We rejoice in the gift God gave us by sending His only Son.
We think of family and friends, of tables spread…
While the birth of Jesus is God’s most precious gift to us, it’s not the only gift we’ve been given
At the heart of Christmas is the celebration of our Creator’s most precious gift to us — Jesus — who was born as a normal baby. But God has given us many other gifts, including one we often neglect.
Maybe more than neglect. It sometimes seems as if we re-wrap it and hide it in the back of a dark closet. Or never open it at all because we’re afraid to see what’s inside.
God is, above all else, Creator
Everything that exists — from a drab piece of dust to the most glorious rose — came straight from God’s imagination. When Adam and Eve were…
A Complete List of What to Wear and What to Take With You to the Cancer Clinic
After being diagnosed with breast cancer last October, I had surgery a few weeks later and began Chemotherapy on December 6th.
Because I knew I’d be there for several hours, and I like to prepare for all eventualities, I started searching on-line for things I might need to take along. I found a few random lists of things other people had taken, and used them to get ready for my first visit. However, none of them were exactly what I ended up taking with me later on, so I thought I might as well make my own list.
In case…
N. J. Lindquist
Writer. Author. Dreamer. I tend to see the big picture and the steps along the way. Plus I try to encourage others to become everything God created them to be.
