Mama: (noun) 1. informal Mother 2. slang Woman
07.08.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:24 pm by cosmicmama
Having lived in North Carolina all my life, and being the peace-loving, open-minded, humanitarian liberal that I am, I was relieved to hear of the death of Senator Jesse Helms.
“No American publication would print an obituary such as the one that the Guardian (UK) ran. Read it and remember. His passing marks yet another of the calcified Old Guard gone.” –Anonymous
Obituary: Jesse Helms
Guardian, UK
Senator Jesse Helms, member of the US Senate’s foreign relations committee for two decades and its chairman from 1995 to 2001, has died at the age of 86. To echo this newspaper’s memorable comment on the death of William Randolph Hearst, it is hard even now to think of him with charity. From his earliest years, Helms’s attitudes recalled those of an earlier southern bigot, Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, who so
outraged his Senate colleagues, that they eventually refused even to let him take his seat.
There was never a comparable risk for Helms, who maintained an old-world courtesy in his personal contacts. But that was only on the surface. He became one of the most powerful and baleful influences on
American foreign policy, repeatedly preventing his country paying its UN contributions, voting against virtually all arms control measures, opposing international aid programmes as “pouring money down foreign rat holes”, and avidly supporting military juntas in Latin America and minority white regimes in Southern Africa.
In domestic politics he denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as “the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress”, voted against a supreme court justice because she was “likely to uphold the homosexual agenda”, acted for years as spokesman for the large tobacco companies, was reprimanded by the justice department and the federal election commission for electoral malpractice, and compiled a dismal personal record as a slum landlord.
The irony was that he was often seen as a relative moderate in his home state of North Carolina. His views sprang directly from his background as the son of the police chief in the small town of Monroe. Even before the Depression, life there was a constant struggle. It produced generations of deeply conservative poor whites, steeped in jingoistic patriotism and fundamentalist religion, who regarded the surrounding
black population as barely part of the human race.
Helms was educated at local schools and had just enrolled for a college course when America entered the second world war. In 1942, he joined the navy, to be given a role which inadvertently established his
postwar career. As a recruiting officer, he had to make regular patriotic appeals on local radio. They brought him sufficient recognition after the war to abandon his college studies for journalism, initially as news editor of the Raleigh Times and later as director of news and programmes for the principal local radio network.
In 1960, he was given an extraordinary boost when the owner of the main local television station appointed him one of the new medium’s first editorial commentators. For 12 years, Helms appeared nightly at peak viewing time to denounce the civil rights struggle, trade unions, the UN, Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty, hippies, and any other social or political development rejected by the extreme right. His commentaries were repeated by 70 southern radio stations and, as they became increasingly popular, reprinted in 200 newspapers across America.
In a climate well to the right of mainstream politics in Europe, Helms became extraordinarily influential among those Americans Richard Nixon dubbed the silent majority. At the same time he built up a solid
political network in North Carolina, working for several conservative senators, serving on Raleigh town council, running the state’s bankers’ association, and joining the Masons, their associates the Shriners, and the Rotarians.
By the time the Republican Richard Nixon moved into the White House in 1969, Helms’s political ambitions had been focused. In 1972, in a state that had voted solidly Democratic since the civil war, he stood for the Senate as a Republican. In a bitter campaign against a middle-of-the- road opponent, Helms won by 8%. It was a signal of the South’s seismic political shift after years of Democratic desegregation. It also made Helms the first North Carolina Republican to sit in the US senate for nearly 80 years.
His initial ambition was to secure his place on the agriculture committee, where he could push the interests of the powerful tobacco lobby for which he had worked for years. But, in a move which proved a stroke of near-genius at a time when direct-mail was in its infancy, he and two close associates organised a postal campaign for a body they named “the National Congressional Club”. The repeated arrival of impressive-looking letters signed by Helms and denouncing school busing, funding for the arts, compensation for Japanese-Americans, the Red menace, and umpteen other liberal causes, sparked a stunning national response.
His allegations were often mind-numbingly bizarre. “Your tax dollars are being used,” he claimed in one letter, “to pay for grade school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping, and
the murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behaviour.” But his rhetoric convinced millions of Americans and, invited to save the nation by donating a dollar, they did just that. A river of cash poured
into the club.
What happened to it all remained a constant mystery and, as the rules on election finances were slowly tightened, the club’s accounts grew ever fuzzier. Some cash certainly went to the Coalition of Freedom,
which had Helms as its honorary chairman until federal tax authorities began investigating its illegal campaign activities.
More than $800,000 went to a firm called Jefferson Marketing. Then the election commission established that this company was inseparable from the club, making its electoral operations unlawful. Less traceable were donations to other conservative groups and to fundamentalist religious figures like Jerry Falwell.
What is beyond question is the malign impact of Helms’s innovation on all subsequent American politics. He inaugurated the age of massive back-door political donations, now euphemistically known as “soft
money”. In his own 1984 re-election battle, he spent $16.5m, then the most expensive Senate campaign in American history (and the federal election commission twice penalised him for using illegal contributions) . Sixteen years later, a New Jersey candidate would lavish $60m on gaining a Senate seat, making it evident how effectively Helms’s initiative had opened political office to the highest bidder.
It had also bankrolled the rise of the religious right and its effective takeover of the Republican party. That in turn polarised the entire American electorate, as the results in 2000 so dramatically demonstrated.
With Helms’s agenda moving into the political mainstream’s opposition to abortion, gun control, foreign entanglements, multicultralism, social welfare, educational reform and a host of other liberal policies, millions of voters dropped out and the rest divided evenly into mutually hostile camps.
For all his political posturing, however, Helms repeatedly showed himself inept at the tedious business of shepherding legislation through Congress.
The Senate’s tradition of choosing committee chairmen by seniority eventually brought him to head the agriculture committee (1981-87). It should have been an enviable chance to promote North Carolina’s farming and tobacco interests, which employ half its people. Yet the state, ranked eleventh by population, had one of the nation’s highest poverty rates and lowest levels of federal funding.
Helms contributed his share to this misery with his ownership of rented houses in poor black districts of Raleigh. Some tenants reported that his properties had been without adequate heating for 30 years. The
city’s building inspectors repeatedly issued summonses against Helms to remedy a wide range of dilapidations, from rotting floors to leaking pipes.
Helms’s principal skill, in fact, was obstruction, which he employed ruthlessly once he assumed chairmanship of the foreign relations committee in 1995, having been a member since 1981. The Senate’s arcane rule book offers virtually uncontrollable power to committee chairmen to determine their own agenda. In a private war with the state department, Helms refused to hold confirmation hearings for 18 new ambassadors, or to debate such key issues for the Clinton administration as the chemical weapons or strategic arms treaties.
He cut the state department’s funds by $1,700m until the administration finally agreed to his reorganization proposals, abolishing the arms control and information services and placing new restrictions on the US aid agency. In 1996, he caused an international furore by joining forces with Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana to push through the Helms-Burton Act, extending American jurisdiction to international companies trading with Cuba.
But continued Republican control of the Senate meant that Helms could not be ignored. He established a Jesse Helms Centre in his home town of Wingate, at which American and foreign dignitaries could pay homage. Those unable to attend in person could demonstrate their goodwill in cash: Taiwan donated $225,000, Kuwait $100,000, and various tobacco companies more than $1m. Former president Jimmy Carter, secretary of state Madeleine Albright, Dr Henry Kissinger, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and other key public figures all turned up. Eventually even the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, heeded the call: in the aftermath of his visit, the foreign relations committee suddenly released America’s
long-outstanding payments to the UN.
In later years, Helms suffered from increasingly poor health. He contracted prostate cancer and a bone disorder, Paget’s disease, which obliged him to travel round the Senate building on a scooter. He also
underwent a quadruple heart bypass.
Helms finally lost his chairmanship of the foreign relations committee when the moderate Vermont Republican Senator James Jeffords, lost patience with the Bush administration in May 2001. His defection to the Democrats secured their control of the Senate and of all its legislative committees.
This sudden loss of power, allied to his failing health, at last convinced Helms that it was time to give up. In August that year, he announced he would not run again when his term expired in 2002.
Though there was dismay in North Carolina, his decision was greeted with relief by most of the country. The New York Times observed: “Few senators in the modern era have done more to resist the tide of
progress,” and Robert Pastor, whose ambassadorship to Panama was scuppered by Helms in 1995, commented that, “nothing Jesse Helms did in his entire career will enhance America’s national security more than his retirement.”
He is survived by his wife Dorothy, two daughters and a son.
Jesse Helms, politician, born October 18 1921; died July 4 2008
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04.04.08
Posted in Unschooling, Wisdom, Life, Free thinking at 9:49 pm by cosmicmama
Spanking is NOT Loving Discipline
by Kathleen Knapp
I was spanked. I was sent upstairs, my parents would calmly explain why I was being spanked, they would hit me until it was clear I had been sufficiently punished, and then they would comfort me and tell me they love me. I fully believe that my parents acted in love and did what they believed to be the right thing.
They were wrong.
I have no memory of feeling loved or cared for during these episodes. What I remember is terror, pain and humiliation. I remember struggling against my mother’s grip, pleading and weeping while she hit me repeatedly with her hand, a wooden spoon, a ping-pong paddle.
I have little memory of why I was spanked, save for a handful of incidents. One time I lied to my Sunday school teacher that I was older than I was, because I wanted to be in the big kid’s group. My mom took me to the parking lot and spanked me with my dress up in the car. On one memorable day, I was spanked several times as my mom attempted to establish a house of discipline. I remember that one of the offenses that day was forgetting to make my bed.
I remember sitting alone and trying to puzzle out why my parents would hit me, how that it’s possible that these people that I know loved me could do it to me. I had these thoughts as a child, before I was exposed to even the suggestion that spanking could be wrong, let alone attachment parenting ideals. I instinctively knew it was wrong long before anyone spoke the words to me.
At some point, my parents stopped spanking me. I have trouble pinning down what age this was, but their stopping had nothing to do with age. At some point, they simply could no longer stomach it. They, to this day, cannot tell me that they were wrong to do it, or that the practice itself is wrong, but there came a day for them that they realized that this was not the parents they wanted to be.
Some people say that only certain children need to be spanked, so-called “strong willed” children. I was, and am, strong willed.
Why is that a bad thing? Why on earth would any parent want to spank that out of their child?
My strong will enabled me to withstand years of emotional abuse at my high school. It allowed me to continue to believe there was good in me when I was being told every day that I was wrong, defective.
My strong will gave me the power to birth two children with little intervention, and then stand up for them when doctors and teachers and relatives would have harmed them because they believed they better knew how to raise my children.
My strong will has given me the faith to believe in the beating heart of my marriage, the amazing spirit of my husband.
My strong will has given me the courage to discover faith for myself.
My strong will has let me stand up for myself countless times that it would have been easier to lay down and be bullied.
I can live with myself because my strong will has stood against those who would rob me of my dignity.
Believe me when I say that I know how difficult children can be. They do the same wrong things over and over again, and it seems that nothing short of taking off your belt is going to stop them. I would ask you to first stop yourself.
Stop, and try to understand why they are doing what they do. Are they dumping pastry flour on the floor because they hate you and enjoy seeing you work, or are they making it the North Pole in your foyer? Are you going to punish your child something as beautiful as this imagination? I’m not suggesting that you take out the sugar and help him out, but keep your understanding of him in mind as you explain why flour doesn’t make such good snow, then go find a white sheet and give him some lessons in cross-country skiing.
I am not trying to make this sound easy. Today I had to go to the office supply store to send a fax, and my children ran away, up and down the aisles, unable to contain themselves despite my pleas. Did I chuckle and feel wonderment at their innocence? No, I was frustrated and embarrassed, angry. But, putting myself in their shoes for a moment, I had to imagine what a warehouse full of shiny things would do to me if I spent the majority of time at home, unable to choose to drive off to adventure on a whim. There is such a thing as too much temptation for children, and that needs to be recognized. In this situation, my choices would be to either put them in a shopping cart so they couldn’t escape, or take them for a supervised walk through the store so they could safely take in the stimulation. Either action would have solved our problem without violence.
Stop, and try to understand your child’s problem. Your child is not being incorrugible because his most recent spanking has expired. Children do not “need” spankings to be happy and behave properly. They are real, functioning people, and have needs and feelings just like the rest of us. My children are very difficult to control when they are tired, and spanking won’t make them well-rested and content. If one of my boys is a monster for a couple of days in a row, I suspect that he’s getting sick. Young children don’t have the communication skills to tell you they have a sore throat or swollen glands. I have had my kids at the doctor for a check-up and been told that it looks as though they’d had an ear infection recently, but it had cleared up on its own. How would I feel if I have spanked that child for being miserable with an ear infection?
I think that the main reason that children act out negatively is that their needs are simply not being met. This can cover a huge range of things, from time spent with their parents to getting enough sleep to being lactose intolerant. When you are a new mom, they tell you that crying is how babies “talk.” Well, being difficult is often how toddlers and young children “talk.” They have the words, but not always the ability to communicate what they need to.
Choosing not to spank has forced me to think more deeply about my kids’ state of mind, their intentions and their needs. It has encouraged me to find my way into their world, and think creatively about the solutions to our household difficulties. I find one of the best ways of dealing with an ornery child is to hold him close, and talk close to his ear about what is happening. The physical contact immediately relaxes him, and sometimes is all he ever really needed. The first thing I usually ask is what is wrong, why did he do that. We talk about other things he could have done instead. I engage him in the problem-solving part of the conversation, rather than just
lecturing him. If someone was wronged, apologies are in order. If something was messed up or broken, then he must help clean it up.
I do resort to time-outs sometimes, when I feel the need to re-assert my authority. For example, Josiah knows that he’s not allowed, knows it’s dangerous and destrucive, but he really wants the star off the Christmas tree, and it’s the third time that he’s balanced on the back of the couch trying to reach it. Every time I correct him, he waits for me to start doing something else, then goes back to work. I silently admire his strong will, then send him to his room for a few minutes, as much to remove him mentally from the temptation as to provide a consequence for the action. I explain that my job is keeping him safe, and I can’t do my job if I let him go after the
Christmas tree anymore. If I am having a really good day, this is where I suggest something less taboo for him to do. Boredom is the root of a great many difficulties, in my experience.
And you know what, some days just suck. They cry and fight and whine, and as soon as you put one fire out another is started across the room. You feel miserable and helpless. But, you know what? This is simply part of parenting. You cannot erase all the hard days, or even the stretches of hard days every child goes through, by hitting your child.
I recently read about a problem that modern horticulturists are having. Trees aren’t living very long. Modern plants are being bred to grow up fast and pretty, without thought to what it will be fifty or a hundred years from now, and the product are fast-growing trees that do not have the fortitude to resist disease. Realize that children are the same way. It is not your duty to produce perfectly polished, perfectly behaved children, little miniature adults. Children will be immature and rowdy; they aren’t done growing. Your job is to create a happy, healthy adult, one that has been given the freedom to be a child and make messes and mistakes. Remember that when others act as though you should have perfect control over your children at all times, that they should never run or raise their voices. Shoot for the mighty oak, not the pretty little sapling.
I am not mom of the year by any stretch. I lose my temper and get impatient and make mistakes. I am not speaking to you as someone who considers themselves to be a great example of parenting, but as a first-hand witness to the results of the practice of ritual spanking.
If you choose to spank, take responsibility for that choice. Accept that spanking will cause your child terror, extreme pain (just because there are no bruises doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell), humiliation and fear. Accept that your child will have to keep this a careful secret from their friends, who won’t understand this kind of “love.” Accept that your child will learn to hide his forbidden activities skillfully, and will become a fluent liar, because the punishment is so horrific. Imagine yourself a little child. Imagine, start to finish, what spanking feels like to them. Imagine how confusing it is to have those loving arms pin him down and hit him.
If you choose not to spank, be bold about your choice. Defend your faith in your child’s good spirit, and your duty to defend that spirit from violence and degradation. If your peers talk negatively about parents who don’t spank, speak up and let them know that you are a member of that “permissive” population. You may just give another mother the courage to choose gentle parenting.
(Printed with exclusive permission from the author).
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04.02.08
Posted in Life, Photography at 12:57 am by cosmicmama
I was thinking while riding in the car today that I would start posting an occasional photo. Then again, maybe it will just be this one, and I’ll forget it. Anyway, I got a new camera last week, to replace my old Canon SD550. I got a Canon SD870IS. Still a point-and-shoot, but takes darn good pictures.
I was inspired to stop and take a picture of this tree today. I love oak trees, and I particularly love this one. I’ve passed by and admired it hundreds of times. In a few weeks, when it is full of new leaves, the profile won’t be the same. I like this one bare, against the sky like this, out in the middle of nowhere. I like the way the conifer to the right seems to be admiring it’s naked beauty. I caught this between rain showers, so the road is wet.
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03.19.08
Posted in Rants at 4:23 pm by cosmicmama
Cutting Corners: NC Applebee’s Can’t Afford Breadsticks Or Candles Anymore
The author of the above article offered some advice “to Applebee’s customers” at the end: “if you have a kid, bring a couple of phone books with you next time. You know, just in case they’ve sold off the booster seats.”
My own advice would be this. Don’t be an Applebee’s customer anymore. Just don’t go. Stay home, make your own huge, glorious birthday cake that your 5-year-old will LOVE, and let him have as many damn candles as he wants.
Customer service and product quality is getting worse and worse all the time, and I’m getting fed up with it. Hello? Don’t these businesses need us more than we need them? I’m done with spending my money on mediocre service and products. No longer will I pay a business to treat me like my satisfaction isn’t important!
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03.07.08
Posted in Unschooling, Life, Wisdom, Free thinking, Attachment Parenting at 9:00 am by cosmicmama
For me…
1. Freedom! Of all kinds. No, I don’t mean the kind our troops are fighting for. I mean the kind that our government tries to steal from us every day. “He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety.” - Ben Franklin
2. Coffee. No, not that crap you buy from Starbucks, or the “gourmet” stuff from the grocery store. I mean the kind that I roast in my own kitchen and brew in a press pot.
3. Birth. Not the hospital variety, but birth the way Mother Nature intended.
4. Breastfeeding.
5. Attachment parenting…kinda goes along with #4. Babies aren’t meant to sleep alone in cribs, for example.
6. Self-sufficiency. Everyone should have it. It’s a bad position to be in, having to depend on the government or another person for your survival.
7. Feminism. The radical notion that women are people, you know.
8. Books and the Internet, which are an endless source of information. Learning is lifelong. I’ve learned more since I was 30 than I EVER did in school!
9. Freedom. It deserves to be mentioned again. Religious freedom. Sexual freedom. Freedom to do anything we damn well please, as long as it isn’t directly hurting someone.
10. Unschooling…which to me, is a mixture of several of the above. Learning in freedom, being self-sufficient, keeping the family together (attachment parenting), and thinking for ourselves! Unschooling just seems like the natural thing for us to do.
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03.04.08
Posted in Life at 9:16 pm by cosmicmama
It’s really a damn shame that I have to combine these two subjects into one post.
We’ll go with the nice one first.
Today, Drew is 10 years old. My middle baby is in double digits! I just can’t believe it. He is truly the sweetest of my boys, and still loves to cuddle with me every night before he goes to bed. We had a party for him here at the new house on Sunday, and it was his biggest party yet. All my family came, and all his neighborhood friends, and his dad and pregnant stepmom, and Jodie and her three sweet girls. He had over twenty people here at the house.
His birthday is bittersweet. Ten years ago, I was completely screwed up. My life was in chaos. My marriage was about to end. My dad was dying of cancer.
Also, Drew seems a bit saddened by turning ten too. He’s happy like a kid should be on his birthday, but he also has a haunted look when we talk about it. Like he is aware of the passage of time, of getting older and leaving his childhood behind. He’s such a sensitive, wise soul. He’s often said to me, “I wish time would stop, so we could stay just like this forever.”
Now for the bad thing.
It involves animals (plural), and is very grotesque and sickening. I couldn’t sleep last night because of it. If you are sensitive to things like this, please don’t read any further.
Ok.
Yesterday Michael and I were out in the yard, moving some furniture into the house. We heard some dogs barking, and we turned to see where the noise was coming from. We could see a large fire behind a house down the street. At first, we were like “are they crazy? you can’t burn stuff in town!” The fire got bigger, and bigger. It looked like some sort of structure was on fire, like a shed or something. Then the dog’s barking turned into the sound of a whole bunch of dogs squealing. It sounded like a bunch of dogs together, like in a dog pen, which is a common thing here in the land of Bubba’s hunting dogs. I said, “Michael, you want to go see what that is on fire?” He started running toward the fire.
The squealing became louder, and soon it was no mistaking that it was the sound of dogs being hurt or tortured. I knew what was happening, about the same time I saw Michael running faster and jumping the fence into the back yard of the house. I ran into our house and called 911.
When I came out, the dog noises had stopped. I grabbed Seth by the hand and went down the street toward the house. Some other neighbors had noticed the fire and called 911 at the same time as I did. We knocked on the door of the house where the fire was, and there was no one home. We started hearing sirens headed our way, and I went into the backyard to find that Michael had almost completely put the fire out with a water hose.
The structure that was on fire was a wooden dog kennel, raised off the ground with chicken wire walls and floors and a tin roof…..sort of like a huge rabbit hutch. I didn’t want to get close because I knew what was in it.
The police and fire department came and questioned Michael, finished distinguishing the smoldering embers, and left. We never did see the owner of the house and dogs. There was one lone old hound dog tied to a doghouse by a chain, about 30 feet or so behind the burned pen. He was just looking at us. I don’t know how many dogs were in the pen, but the entire thing was incinerated, along with whatever was in it.
Update: I found out later from one of neighbors, who is a police officer, that there was a heatlamp in the pen that shorted out, causing the fire. He said there were only two Beagles in the pen, but I swear it sounded like ten.
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02.28.08
Posted in Unschooling, Life at 3:36 am by cosmicmama
I met Lisa Heyman last September at the Live and Learn Unschooling Conference in Black Mountain, NC. She walked up to me, grabbed my hand, and asked “Are you Seth’s mother?” When I answered in the affirmative, she pressed something into my palm and told me it was a gift to Seth from his secret pal.
It was the first night of the conference, and we were by the bonfire. I had been sitting alone, as usual, soaking in the free-spirited atmosphere and excitement of the gathering. Lisa sat with me for a few minutes, and we talked about her unschooling advocacy in upstate New York. I can’t remember all of our conversation, but I remember thinking “what a cool person”. I remember admiring her from afar thoughout our weekend at the conference…her cool pinkish hair, her vibrancy, her easy way with people. She was one of those people who my introverted inner self sometimes wishes I could be like.
I recently went no-mail on all of my unschooling lists except for one, the Radical Unschooling list on Yahoogroups, which I kept on daily digest. After my unread unschooling lists emails hit the 5,000 mark, I decided there was no way I was ever going to be as active in the lists as I wanted to be, and no way I was ever even going to read them all, so I did a major house-cleaning. Today, just before getting up to get ready for my shift tonight, I clicked open a daily digest from Radical Unschooling and learned of the passing of Lisa Heyman two days ago. I was stunned, and sat there for a minute, not knowing how to react. Then I began reading emails and blog posts from members of the unschooling community in rememberance of Lisa and in support of her family.
Anne Ohman wrote, (and I hope she doesn’t mind my quoting her here), “Last night, Sam came to me, tears in his eyes, and said, “I couldn’t, Mom. I couldn’t go on without you.” And I hugged him back so hard and so tight. Crying, I said, “But you could…you would learn how…and that’s the part that breaks our hearts…that’s the part that’s so so sad.”
And yet, that’s also the part that is so very wonderful about being *alive* on this earth. The learning. The growing. Sometimes it’s more painful than other times. But we do walk forward…as always…toward the Light from within our hearts.
Thank you, Lisa, for Your Light.”
A friend once told me that there was something truly cleansing about crying in the shower. That’s what I did. I cried for Lisa’s girls, and her husband Larry, because now they have to go on without her. I cried for the unschooling community in New York, because it has lost such a powerful advocate. Mostly I cried for myself, though. For the health that I take for granted. For the precious time that I have been too preoccupied to fully be present with my children. For not living my life to the fullest, 100% of the time. And for not getting to know Lisa, and so many others like her, while I had the chance.
I had decided that my family wouldn’t be attending Live and Learn this year, but I am now rethinking the matter. There are too many wonderful people that I have been shying away from.
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02.27.08
Posted in Life, Free thinking, Law of Attraction at 4:43 pm by cosmicmama
Don’t you think it should work like this:
You have a desire, you dwell upon it, move with it, and presto, it manifests?
Or, you fall in love at the right time, with the right person, they fall in love, the timing is perfect, and bingo, the earth moves.
Or, you have a huge question, you turn it over to me, forget about it, and ta-da, you just know.
Me, too. Which, actually, is exactly how it does work, Jennifer, in the absence of fear.
Cool, huh?
The Universe
This is from the daily email I get from Tut’s Adventurer’s Club, which is the website of Mike Dooley. Mike was one of the stars of The Secret
and author of Notes from the Universe: New Perspectives from an Old Friend
.
I get these every morning, and sometimes they are right on target. Such was todays “note”. Last night my husband and I toured a local coffee shop that is for sale. Owning a cafe is one of those dreams that both of us have held in the back of our psyches for a long time. Michael loves food, it is his passion, and he has always wanted to make his living with food in some way. I love food too, but I am passionate about coffee. I roast my own beans at home in small batches, sometimes sharing them with my family and friends. I have said many times that I would love to own a coffee shop/ bookstore here in the gorgeous downtown area of our town. I suppose nursing is a dignified profession, but I am a dreamer and a free spirit, and punching a timeclock just ain’t my bag.
Anyway, we had the desire, we’ve both dwelled upon from time to time, and when we heard the place was for sale, we talked about it, dwelling upon it some more. Finally, we picked up the phone and called (moving with it). The ball is rolling now, with the biggest obstacle that we can see being financing. Our family will continue visualizing, and we will see!
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02.18.08
Posted in Rants, Food and nutrition at 2:28 am by cosmicmama
While surfing the ‘net tonight, I came across a website called Milksucks.com. I’ve been hearing about the cons of dairy products for a couple of years now. I’ve even bought soy milk from time to time. (I enjoy it, but my family doesn’t.) As the mother of young boys, I’ve had a hard time getting on the anti-dairy bandwagon. My boys are picky eaters, and try as I might to get them to eat better, they just enjoy processed crap more. One of the few supposedly healthy things I can get them to eat are dairy products…milk, cheese, and most recently, yogurt. If I don’t give them dairy products, where will they get their calcium and vitamins?
The boys were breastfed (the youngest for four years), and I understand the detrimental effects of giving cow’s milk to a baby. After all, human milk is for baby humans, cow’s milk is for baby cows. But am I supposed to lactate forever? Would it be better for my 10-year-old to put “mommy milk” on his Fruit Loops? Well, I’m sure it would be…but I digress. Do my kids really need dairy products?
According to the website, “Dairy products are linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.”
“They are contaminated with cow’s blood and pus and are frequently contaminated with pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.” Well, what about organic dairy products? Surely they would solve some of these issues.
On the website, Milksucks.com, the ill effects of dairy products on humans, animals, and the environment are spelled out, along with information on adopting a dairy-free diet. I’m all for giving this a try, but my concerns are:
1. How will I get my children to eat soy products? And will that be bad for them too? I’ve also read not-so-nice things about soy.
2. How will this way of eating affect my food budget? It’s a damn shame that in this country, good food is more expensive than bad food. No wonder the poor have more health problems than the rich (not that I’m either, I just don’t want to have to spend half my income on healthy food). The closest health food store is 20 miles from my house, and I haven’t even been there. There is no food co-op here either (which is another topic for another post). Not only is healthy, natural food expensive, it is almost inaccessible.
The more I delve into this (food) subject, the more horrified I become. You know that food pyramid that you learned about in health class? Here’s one that is representative of the ACTUAL way that Americans eat.
Note: Milksucks.com is brought to you by PETA. Not a good thing, not a bad thing…just know that their point of view may not be impartial.
Permalink
01.18.08
Posted in Unschooling, Free thinking at 9:11 pm by cosmicmama
1. Most parents were educated in the under funded public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.
2. Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.
3. How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?
4. Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.
5. Children in public schools can get more practice “Just Saying No” to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
6. Fluorescent lighting may have significant health benefits.
7. Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom teaches young people their place in society.
8. The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.
9. Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on important traditions like the singing of “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…”
10. Homeschooled children may not learn important office career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.
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