Studying up to hopefully go to Doula Class next month if finances will allow!
Books 1,2,5,8,10 complete (as I own them)
(the binder on the bottom contains the herbal bible from Fall 10 MMA conference)
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Friday, July 01, 2011
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Jane Elliott
I was blessed to be in the presence of a powerful woman. Jane Elliott The 3rd grade teacher who created the Blue eye/brown eye experiment the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. She told her students with blue eyes that they were stupid, lazy and incapable of success. Her brown-eyed students were brilliant. She said that she saw in 15 min. a child with Dyslexia learn to read on grade level, and a bright child who read at a 6th grade level stutter while reading aloud. As a blue-eyed person herself, she realized how angry it made her that for the first time people had to obey her, but not respect her.
She discussed, ranted, yelled, growled and teared up discussing violence against women, rape, homophobia, racism, ageism, and ethnocentrism. She declared herself a B*%@# and was proud of it. She told the men that just because they had the ability to harm a woman that didn't make it right to "take a cold shower, take lots of cold showers, jump in a lake, drown yourself, but keep it in your pants"
She brought up a white man and a black woman, she asked them about power, the man said his height gave him power and his sex gave him power, the woman has no power. She brought up that the end of "America the Beautiful" says, Land of the free (pointing to the man) and the home of the brave (pointing to the woman) The woman admitted to sending out her children each day knowing what kinds of intolerance and just pure hatred that they would experience each day because sof the color of their skin.
She gave a lot to think about, she is against abortion for herself and homosexuality for herself, but she says we should leave other people's bodies alone.
Mrs. Elliott used feminine pronouns for God, which was really interesting to see since I am in a theology class about Christian feminism. (To clarify my views on this is that pronouns help with the relationship aspect of God, bringing him closer, but also take away from the magnitude of the mystery of God, think how the Jews did not call God by a name. God is not boxed by strictly male or female qualities. God-language to me can be either, both or none (he/she/or just God)
She talked in statistics, commanded attention from the community members and college students, with her 4ft10in frame towering above us. she was rough, and real and angry. I loved her! I love how Hope College a conservative liberal arts college in the middle of Reformed church land is integrating more liberal aspects, allowing the community to be exposed to different ideas and form our own opinions, because many of the students grew up in this land of Western Michigan and many more in communities like this and have no exposure to different opinions.
Please continue to pray for Stellan, Richard, end of the year final stuff, summer situations, and for me to figure out how to get back to the Phils soon!
Salamat po! (Thank-you in Tagalog)
She discussed, ranted, yelled, growled and teared up discussing violence against women, rape, homophobia, racism, ageism, and ethnocentrism. She declared herself a B*%@# and was proud of it. She told the men that just because they had the ability to harm a woman that didn't make it right to "take a cold shower, take lots of cold showers, jump in a lake, drown yourself, but keep it in your pants"
She brought up a white man and a black woman, she asked them about power, the man said his height gave him power and his sex gave him power, the woman has no power. She brought up that the end of "America the Beautiful" says, Land of the free (pointing to the man) and the home of the brave (pointing to the woman) The woman admitted to sending out her children each day knowing what kinds of intolerance and just pure hatred that they would experience each day because sof the color of their skin.
She gave a lot to think about, she is against abortion for herself and homosexuality for herself, but she says we should leave other people's bodies alone.
Mrs. Elliott used feminine pronouns for God, which was really interesting to see since I am in a theology class about Christian feminism. (To clarify my views on this is that pronouns help with the relationship aspect of God, bringing him closer, but also take away from the magnitude of the mystery of God, think how the Jews did not call God by a name. God is not boxed by strictly male or female qualities. God-language to me can be either, both or none (he/she/or just God)
She talked in statistics, commanded attention from the community members and college students, with her 4ft10in frame towering above us. she was rough, and real and angry. I loved her! I love how Hope College a conservative liberal arts college in the middle of Reformed church land is integrating more liberal aspects, allowing the community to be exposed to different ideas and form our own opinions, because many of the students grew up in this land of Western Michigan and many more in communities like this and have no exposure to different opinions.
Please continue to pray for Stellan, Richard, end of the year final stuff, summer situations, and for me to figure out how to get back to the Phils soon!
Salamat po! (Thank-you in Tagalog)
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Call...
"It’s the children, “my” kids who inspire me to pursue a career as an Early Childhood Special Educator. It’s a little girl with long kinky hair and thick pink glasses, her laughter echoing across the playground as she swings through the air in an attempt to kick the sky. It’s a beautiful baby boy with gleaming eyes, oblivious to the evil virus lurking in his body. It’s a toddler using her walker and braces to walk across the living room to give you a hug, smiling despite her pain. It’s an autistic preschooler, in my Sunday School class, with fire in his eyes smiling exclaiming loudly when you walk in the room, “my teacher!” The Lord has allowed these incredible little ones to come into my life and steal my heart so that I would discover my true calling.
There is nothing quite like falling in love with these incredible and mysterious children, the peacemakers, who radiate such love and devotion towards life despite their pain. I have been privileged to care for many miracle babies and one in particular who is living out her last days with laughter in her heart – A toddler who has a rare neurological disorder, which has no treatment or cure. Who would have thought that the grandest inspiration for a person’s future plans could be encapsulated in a package so tiny? Elianna, her name means my God has answered me, and this little girl herself is an answered prayer. She is the little girl who would never walk. The little girl who would never make it to the age of two, the little girl who would not eat, the little girl who would not sleep, the little girl so silent – always smiling. Her big brown eyes shimmering like diamonds and dark wavy hair, black as night radiating in a soft crown around her head.
Elianna, a child born to fragile for this world, a baby whose apple breath warmed my neck as I held her as close as possible to me, holding her down on this earth afraid she would float away as quickly as she came, knowing in an instant she would be gone. Her smile and shortly after, her laughter like a garden in late summer, continually active with crawly things and flowers swaying in the warm august breezes. A porch swing creaking under the weight of old lover’s, hand-in-hand, enjoying the sunset over mountain peeks. The times of force feeding her supplements in attempt to make her grow, the doctors who scratched their heads at test results. Prayers said into the wee hours of the morning, at the top of the stairs, to keep her breathing through the night… “just one more breath Lord, just one more breath” The final goodbye, watching from a distance, letting her go physically, but holding on to that last bit of sweetness, of innocence… watching her struggle away happily, with her pink leg braces and red walker. The paradox of innocence and wisdom combined in a package so small. Despite the prayers, knowing in the tunnels of my heart that the next time I saw her would be in a tiny coffin. She is dying, leaving this world behind in a slow sequence of body system shut downs, first her ability to crawl, to speak, to eat, and then to breathe.
I guess the reason why I want to obtain a degree in Early Childhood Special Education is a bit of a selfish motive. I want to remember all that Elianna has taught me about the peace of life and what is really important – Loving every spirit, no matter how small or damaged the physical package may be. I want to surround myself with children who I can teach. So that maybe, through their successes, can live long and happy lives. I want to help save children… because I couldn’t save Ellie. "
There is nothing quite like falling in love with these incredible and mysterious children, the peacemakers, who radiate such love and devotion towards life despite their pain. I have been privileged to care for many miracle babies and one in particular who is living out her last days with laughter in her heart – A toddler who has a rare neurological disorder, which has no treatment or cure. Who would have thought that the grandest inspiration for a person’s future plans could be encapsulated in a package so tiny? Elianna, her name means my God has answered me, and this little girl herself is an answered prayer. She is the little girl who would never walk. The little girl who would never make it to the age of two, the little girl who would not eat, the little girl who would not sleep, the little girl so silent – always smiling. Her big brown eyes shimmering like diamonds and dark wavy hair, black as night radiating in a soft crown around her head.
Elianna, a child born to fragile for this world, a baby whose apple breath warmed my neck as I held her as close as possible to me, holding her down on this earth afraid she would float away as quickly as she came, knowing in an instant she would be gone. Her smile and shortly after, her laughter like a garden in late summer, continually active with crawly things and flowers swaying in the warm august breezes. A porch swing creaking under the weight of old lover’s, hand-in-hand, enjoying the sunset over mountain peeks. The times of force feeding her supplements in attempt to make her grow, the doctors who scratched their heads at test results. Prayers said into the wee hours of the morning, at the top of the stairs, to keep her breathing through the night… “just one more breath Lord, just one more breath” The final goodbye, watching from a distance, letting her go physically, but holding on to that last bit of sweetness, of innocence… watching her struggle away happily, with her pink leg braces and red walker. The paradox of innocence and wisdom combined in a package so small. Despite the prayers, knowing in the tunnels of my heart that the next time I saw her would be in a tiny coffin. She is dying, leaving this world behind in a slow sequence of body system shut downs, first her ability to crawl, to speak, to eat, and then to breathe.
I guess the reason why I want to obtain a degree in Early Childhood Special Education is a bit of a selfish motive. I want to remember all that Elianna has taught me about the peace of life and what is really important – Loving every spirit, no matter how small or damaged the physical package may be. I want to surround myself with children who I can teach. So that maybe, through their successes, can live long and happy lives. I want to help save children… because I couldn’t save Ellie. "
I wrote these words a few years ago, and they still are meaningful to me, but now need to do more, I feel led to be a missionary, to love the unlovable, to touch the untouchable. to live and breath service. Sometimes i wish that it wasn't taboo to spend extra time in college because i think i would triple major and triple minor...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)