Notes from Big Red - 5

It’s been such a long time since I’ve written about life at Big Red. Since I’ve missed the opportunity to tell some great stories, I thought it was time to start up again.

Yesterday, while taking out a particularly toxic bag of trash (I’m cat sitting – so we have two now.) a Metro Police car pulled up. The officer waved – I waved back –and then walked on. Seconds later he was out of his car, asking me if I lived there.  Turns out, the Medical Direct Club offices had a silent alarm tripped and he was checking on the situation.

The officer was very curious about Big Red. He said he had no idea it was an apartment building and he was quite surprised that I would live there since this was “The most dangerous area in the city.”

What?

Oh yeah. Turns out that all the homeless services across the street are not so much a haven for the down and out as much as for the serious sexual offender. Sure, I would expect some crime in that area – cars get broken into all the time. But the officer told me that stabbings, rapes, etc. are the norm over at Catholic Charities and Room In the Inn almost weekly. He said I should be packing a gun at all times of the day. Turns out there are some serial rapists who enjoy the charities of our civic and religious outreaches.

He made serious suggestions for me to protect myself.  First – get a gun permit. Second – get a .32 and carry it on my person at all times. (Jesus, really?) Third – also carry a knife – just in case. Fourth – remember to start shooting sooner than later. (This part he demonstrated, showing several different scenarios of all the bad things that could happen if I allowed an attacker to come too close.)

In the mean time, he suggested I get mace immediately and hold it (ready to spray) in my hand at all times outside the building.

Now I’m sufficiently freaked out.

The last thing he said to me: “Don’t forget to shake the can of mace before you spray.”

Why The Contributor's Lawsuit is Important

I really shouldn't have to explain this. It's called the First Amendment. It's the most endangered amendment along with the second, and now the fourth (thanks to the TSA).

If you don't know THE BILL OF RIGHTS, well, it's time that you learned.

I understand what the city of Brentwood is trying to do - insulate itself from the sight of the homeless on their streets. If you've driven through there, you have seen the McMansions with manicured lawns and decorative desperate attempts to hide the fact that they are actually in Tennessee. You only have to see the names of some subdivisions to prove that: Agin Court, Arden Woods, Barrington Place, Camelot Acres, Governor's Club, Montclair, Taramore Manor, etc.  (Basically, if it sounds like the name of a soap opera, then it might be a subdivision in Brentwood.) But this township is only a couple of ordinances away from DNA testing the dog poop left on its sidewalks. In their attempts to maintain their property values, they have forgotten that the right to call one of their subdivisions "Valhalla" is the same right that protects the homeless man at the corner selling newspapers.  We're all the same in this, dumbasses!

If you are a local, you know that The Contributor gives the homeless who are willing to work a chance to make a real living. Selling The Contributor helps these people get off the street. And, quite frankly, every time I buy one at any given intersection in Nashville, I feel like I'm really helping. It feels good. I hope that Brentwood residents are making an effort to buy The Contributor somewhere else until this lawsuit is over.

To the Brentwood council I say: get over yourself. It's too late in the game to act like this. And think, just think, if you changed your attitudes and decided to help instead of prohibit what amazing things could happen. None of us (not even you) are that far from where those guys are. None of us. Get your head out of your ass and your heart out of your wallet and do the right thing.

Don't You Just Hate George Bush?

George Bush was such an asshole.

He expanded the federal budget by more than double.

He told a bunch of lies to “get” Bin Laden.

He lied about his past.

He played golf almost every weekend while soldiers were dying in the fields of several wars that he supported.

In those wars, he seldom took the advice of his generals.

Two words: Guantanamo Bay

He opposed the decriminalization of marijuana.

He was for the death penalty.

He thought that Iran posed one of our greatest threats.

Two more words: Patriot Act

He chose to engage in military action against another country without congressional approval – as the law requires.

He let Sudan off the hook for the Darfur genocide.

He lowered America’s standing in the world.

What an asshole, right? Well, actually ALL of these statements are about Barack Obama. Are you surprised at how many apply to George Bush as well? (Take note that George Bush did not play golf as president after the Iraq War started – he thought it looked disrespectful.) They’re not that different, those two. They just want you to believe they are. Do you actually think that anyone in politics is so different from another??? (Ron Paul may be the rare exception.)

And yes, I’ve heard the bullshit excuse that poor Barack Obama is just dealing with multiple situations left to him by George Bush.

But fixing George Bush’s mistakes does not mean doing the same things as George Bush and then expecting different results. That’s not only a good explanation for insanity; it’s the very definition of stupid. But is Barack Obama the one who is stupid? No, he just thinks that you are. (And so did George Bush.) Stop giving our individual rights away to these people. All these guys are assholes who can’t be trusted with it. And stop blindly believing what the media tells you. (They think you are stupid too, by the way.) Get your news from people who aren’t TOLD what to report but who look for the truth themselves. The essayist Paul Graham said it best in “What You Can’t Say,”  If you believe everything you are supposed to believe now (what the media and the government tell you), how can you be sure you wouldn’t believe everything you were told in the Pre-Civil War South, or in Nazi Germany? Chances are you would.

Some Links:

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2008/07/unshakable-core-beliefs-of-barack-obama.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100083104/the-u-turn-president-barack-obama-top-ten-flip-flops/

A Philosophy of Wellness

A Philosophy of Wellness

            I grew up eating the most amazing homegrown foods. My grandparents had a rather large garden every summer where they grew rows and rows of corn, cantaloupe, peas, butter beans, squash, and most importantly, watermelon. I had no idea how “food rich” we were back then. My granddaddy and I would walk through the watermelon patch every summer day and pick out a long green striped watermelon and bust it right there on the ground. He would cut out the heart (the best part with no seeds) and we would eat it right there in the garden leaving the rest to rot. Imagine doing that now with your $8 store bought watermelon!

            As time went by, the food we ate changed. It became easier and sometimes cheaper to buy food than make it or grow it ourselves. How great technology was! But we had no idea that the new processed foods on our plates were harming us. Our food wasn’t the thing we put our sweat and love into – it became the thing that other people carelessly cooked and slung at us - or just something unrecognizable from a box. 

            Through those years I lost touch with the importance of food and the people who prepare it. I forgot about a lot of things that were really important. But there were little lights trying to get through – lights like friends who insisted on eating well and shopping at new places like Whole Foods. Then there was Food, Inc.  – an amazing documentary about where our food actually comes from and who is actually in control of it. That video scared me straight! Since then, I have been trying to correct all the harm I have done by eating without thinking. And I’ve tried to convince others too.

            Now I believe that everything we put in our bodies is either doing us harm or good; there is no in-between.  And I believe that it is our God given right to eat healthy food.  And we’d have healthy food if we hadn’t allowed companies and scientists to play God with it in the pursuit of obscene profits. What did we get from pimping out our own food supply?

            It’s a very short road from our backward thinking on food to similar mistakes with our health care. Much of this backward thinking started with Germ Theory. Of course we are not sterile beings who sometimes get invaded by germs – we are (as all peoples connected to nature have always known) part of the earth, co-existing with good bacteria and organisms that live in and around us.  We really messed up when we allowed scientists and doctors to convince us of our other-ness from nature. That is the essential problem with Germ Theory and it’s what our entire modern medical system is based on – a lie. It’s also the way that pharmaceutical companies make billions and billions while causing more problems than they cure.

            There is a reason that we naturally have more bacterial cells in our bodies than human cells…because that is the way we are supposed to exist. That is the way God made us. We are supposed to be a part of the world around us. And that world is supposed to be natural and healthy.  My philosophy is based on the truth that we must get back to our natural state. And I believe that the only way to do that is through love for ourselves and for those who live after us. We have to be brave enough now to stand up for who we really are. That starts with knowing what we put in our bodies and how those things heal or hurt us. It’s time. Nothing else will matter until we right this wrong.  Let’s start with this one thing and see how much we can heal.

Danan Whiddon

             

           

            

Crazy Croutons - Made from Scratch

Tired of paying for over-priced croutons?

Here's a multi-step but easy and super CHEAP way to make your own. I make my own bread for these because the recipe is so easy and inexpensive and so I can put the spices in before I cook the bread!

Step 1 - Make the Bread


1. Stir in 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons each of Yeast and Kosher Salt to 3 cups of lukewarm water in large bowl

2.  Add 6 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

3.  Stir in any spice you want while stirring in the flour - I used Crushed Red Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, and Turmeric!

4. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit for 2-5 hours.

5. On a sheet of parchment paper, use some more flour and corn meal to separate the mixture into two loaf pans that have bee sprayed with cooking spray. (I use organic olive oil spray.) You do not have to knead this bread!

6. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.

7. Left the loaves cool completely. Then cut into slices.

8. Cut them into squares and freeze. When it's time to use them on your salad, then put them on a baking sheet and cover with Garlic soaked olive oil. Heat them just enough to soak in the garlic and oil and then get toasty and crunchy. Then let them cool down before throwing them on the salad.

My recipe makes a very spicy crouton. You may want to change the spices used depending on your taste.

I use the garlic at the end so that it is as fresh as possible. Garlic is so good for you  - and all the better if it's fresh!

This recipe makes about 6 plastic sandwich bags of croutons - enough for at least 12 salads. And the total cost is significantly less than one pack of croutons at the store!

Oprah

If you asked, I would not classify myself as an Oprahrian. I certainly haven't devoted all my afternoons to her show. I've never read her magazine. I don't have her new cable channel. And I don't agree with everything she says. And yet, even I owe a giant thanks to her majesty, Oprah.

When I started watching The Oprah Winfrey show, I was in my twenties, and the last thing on my mind was reading a book. Oh I had better things to do!  It was 1996, and I hadn't read a book since high school - in almost 8 years. Somehow, I had forgotten the magic in reading. How did I take for granted such a precious gift?  

I'm glad that Oprah reminded me.  I started with The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard and then there was The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton. Many more followed, some on her list like She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts, The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve, Tara Road by Maeve Binchy, Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and many, many more on my own list. 

In my renewed passion for reading, I somehow found the courage to go back to school after so many years away, and after losing confidence in my academic abilities. And something magical happened. I found Shakespeare - and a professor who believed in me.  Dr. Loomis at UNO might have scoffed at my Oprah Book Club had she known that it got me in her class. But maybe not. After all, everyone knows Oprah.  Eventually, I got my Masters Degree in English from the University of Alabama. Could I have done that without Oprah? 

There are so many other things that I have to thank Oprah for: Gratitude Journals, Random Acts of Kindness, A-HA Moments, and my favorite quote from Oprah: "When someone tells you who they are, believe them." 

I've cried so many times watching her show - in grief and joy. I've remembered so many of her guests' stories - especially the ones that made me appreciate what I have or made me believe in what I am capable of.  And yet, I don't consider myself a regular viewer. That is the power of Oprah.

Oprah is a force for good in this world, not just because of the things she did, but because of what she inspired in other people. Even in people like me.

So, on this last day of the Oprah show, I plan to sit back on the sofa one last time, throw my feet up, grab a tissue, and celebrate Miss O!

A Formula for Making a Thesis Statement

Recently, a friend posted on Facebook her frustrations of students writing their thesis statements incorrectly. I have seen students struggle with this in every English Composition class I've taught. Eventually, with the help of a really great Internet post (that I am no longer able to find) I was able to come up with what I call a "Mathematical Formula" for composing a thesis statement.

The definitions and examples are from the Internet sample that I found years ago. Basically, I am not able to cite my source on this since I am unable to provide the link. (I suppose this is a great example of Plagiarism!)

Here is how I break down the lesson:

There are 3 elements of a thesis statement

1. Qualification

2. Why your thesis is valid

3. Your exact position

Steps:

1. Your Topic: What is the general category your essay is about. (For this example we will use School.)

2.  Your Position: What is the one thing about your topic that you believe to be TRUE? If you don't have a specific opinion yet, then map out your topic. (This example: Schools have too many people in them.)

3.  The Qualification: 

     A. Is what you say always true?

     B. Are there exceptions?

     C. Are there good reasons your position will have a downside?

     D. What reasons would your position have any problems and can you admit them up front?

     (Example: Although schools of over a thousand students have flourished in America......")

4.  The Reason: Why do you think your position is correct in spite of your qualification? What is the good to be gained by your position? (Example: Small school populations lend themselves to building a good community of learners.)

5.  Put them together:

     Use this order - Qualification + Reason + Position  

     3+4+2 = Thesis

     (Example - Although schools of over a thousand students have flourished in America, small school populations lend themselves to building a good community of learners, and therefore we should consider limiting school populations to a hundred.) 

I take my time with this assignment, using an entire class to explain it and work with examples from students.  I have students take turns at the board using ridiculous and funny examples. I hope this helps....and of course, if anyone finds the original link, I would love to give them the credit for this work!!!