January 1, 2024 9:00 am
I wish you a happy and healthy New Year.
We in this nation face many challenges this year, especially with a Presidential election this November.
The country is polarized on many issues, and yet there is so much that binds us together. We should build on these commonalities and remember that we are all Americans, we are all human beings, we want the best for our country and for our children and grandchildren.
I read a news story last night that I wanted to share with you.
Rev. Dr. William Barber was involved in an unfortunate incident in Greenville, North Carolina last Tuesday. He went to the opening of the new film “The Color Purple” and brought his own chair, to accommodate his disability. The movie theater would not permit him to use his own chair, and he was evicted. Dr. Barber was the keynote speaker at the NPE conference a few years ago in Raleigh, North Carolina, and he inspired every one who heard him. He is a man of humility, faith, and courage.
After the news was reported, the AMC theater chain apologized profusely, and the chairman of the AMC chain asked to meet with Dr. Barber to apologize and to discuss how its movie theaters can make changes to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
At the end of the article, Dr. Barber said something that I would like to put up in lights:
Rev. William Barber: “There’s no way to follow Jesus without learning to pay attention to whoever is broken and vulnerable in society,” Barber said. “Because that’s where God shows up.”
Please remember this. Please share it with your friends.
Posted by dianeravitch
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This is an unfortunate incident. The theater employee that objected to the chair may have had racial motives, or the employee may have objected to the chair based on local fire codes. I used to help care for a disabled neighbor that required a wheelchair. Some movie theaters required this disabled person to sit in a theater seat and fold up his chair and leave in the back. Other times a manager would allow this disabled boy to remain in his chair on a side aisle if we sat near an exit. Some modern theaters reduce seats in some aisles and leave extra floor space on the end so a wheelchair or any type of custom seat can be placed in the void, but I do not know if this is required in order to be ADA compliant. I hope Rev. Barber gets to see his film.
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By retired teacher on January 1, 2024 at 9:26 am
Happy New Year, all!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 10:03 am
Very funny!
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 10:53 am
Thanks, Diane. And Happy New Year to you and yours! xoxoxoxox
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 12:42 pm
Visiting your website always turns my day in a better direction, Bob.
Now that I had lunch and read something good, on to cleaning up the party from last night etc…
To Bob and all: enjoy the rest of day one, 2024 ed.
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By John Ogozalek on January 1, 2024 at 2:22 pm
Gosh, thanks, John. A very Happy New Year to you and yours!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 2:45 pm
I’m live streaming the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, the Wench division, where hundreds of men and some women dance and strut while wearing dresses. Everyone is enjoying the organized chaos, and nobody is so foolish as to believe the mummers are trying to “groom” young people.
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By retired teacher on January 1, 2024 at 10:31 am
RT, if you watched CNN last night, you saw two gay men overseeing the festivities including Randi Kaye in Key West at a drag queen event. I wonder how DeSantis has left Key West alone.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 11:26 am
Exactly! And a very Happy New Year to you and yours, RT! xoxoxoxox
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Same to you , Bob, and all blog followers! Let’s hope that Diane’s political prediction becomes a reality, and we can work towards building a more inclusive, compassionate society.
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By retired teacher on January 1, 2024 at 2:56 pm
Happy New Year, Diane, and all the keepers of the flame of public education.
The Reverend Barber always carries himself with such grace and dignity, even as he calls out injustice. It’s hard to imagine he went unrecognized at that theater. Yet, he always seeks to change things for the better, as he does here.
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By Christine Langhoff on January 1, 2024 at 10:35 am
We were thrilled to hear him speak to NPE when we met in NC. Many members warned us not to go there because of the Tea Party takeover but we decided to go if we could get Rev Barber. Our NC allies arranged that and he was spectacular. We realized then that we should definitely go to states where public education was under attack.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 11:24 am
I was able to attend that conference. It was a powerful one.
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By Christine Langhoff on January 1, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Happy, healthy New Year to you, Diane. Thank you for continuing the good fight!
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By momshieb on January 1, 2024 at 10:51 am
Happy and a healthy New Year to all.
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By Joel on January 1, 2024 at 11:01 am
Matthew 25:45
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
I’m guessing that there are more than a few “good” Christians have to turn themselves into pretzels to believe that Jesus is their guy.
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By speduktr on January 1, 2024 at 12:49 pm
“Because that’s where God shows up.”
Oh, how well I know this.
Why do I know it?
Because, although it is everywhere present and active, there have been times I knew full well God, The Universe had organized to show up locally as a particular injustice and I chose to dismiss it, when I could have done something about it or at least tried to influence it toward justice.
To all, best wishes for the happiest New Year ever!
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By Ed Johnson on January 1, 2024 at 1:19 pm
Ed,
Warmest wishes to you and hopes for a good 2024!
Diane
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 2:10 pm
A similar comment from the Sufi Rumi: the wound it the place where the light enters in
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By teacherken on January 1, 2024 at 1:43 pm
Ken,
That line sounds like a poem by the famous poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen.
“Anthem”
“There is a crack in everything.
“That’s how the light gets in.”
He studied Buddhism.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Yes and yes.
And on that note, a piece from Rumi, below.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:11 pm
“Because that’s where God shows up.”
Which god?
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By Duane E Swacker on January 1, 2024 at 2:24 pm
Being familiar with Rev. Barber’s ethos, I’d bet his answer would be any, all, or none of the above.
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By Christine Langhoff on January 1, 2024 at 2:39 pm
Love, love, love this comment, Christine! Happy New Year to you!!!!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:13 pm
There is good, and there is bad. May 2024 be the year of good, the year that reverse Robin Hood voucher school schemes reach critical mass and implode. That would be a happy new year. Dick DeVos, as far as he’s concerned anointed by Jesus to pursue wealth in the oppression of those broken and vulnerable is society, once suggested he was serving the Lord by spending a hundred million dollars on political campaigns to turn Michigan, home of the auto industry and birthplace of the labor movement, into a right to work for less state with rampant unregulated charter schools.
Daddy needs a new pair of ocean polluting yachts! He only has ten of them. If he wants to bring a chair to a movie theater, he can just buy the theater — chain. It’s not enough for him. He greeds for more. He believes in his freedom to put his fingers on the scales, cheating and stealing from the commons.
My sympathies are with Reverend Barber. He is a king. DeVos is the ungodly. Happy 2024 to all you here, especially Diane, whom are guardians of the divine, no matter what spiritual or logical beliefs led you to care about the good, the divinely common good.
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By leftcoastteachernewyears2024 on January 1, 2024 at 3:08 pm
Imra’u ‘l-Qays, by Rumi
Imra’u ‘l-Qays, king of the Arabs,
was very handsome and a poet full of love songs.
Women loved him desperately. Everyone loved him,
but there came one night an experience
that changed him completely.
He left his kingdom and his family.
He put on dervish robes and wandered
from one weather, one landscape, to another.
Love dissolved his king-self and led him to Tabuk,
where he worked for a time making bricks.
Someone told the king of Tabuk about Imra’u ‘l-Qays,
and that king came to visit him at night.
“King of the Arabs, handsome Joseph of this age,
ruler of two empires, one composed of territories,
and the other of the beauty of women,
if you would consent to stay with me, I would be honored.
You abandon kingdoms, because you want more than kingdoms.”
The king of Tabuk went on like this,
praising Imra’u ‘l-Qays and talking theology and philosophy.
Imra’u ‘l-Qays kept silent. Then suddenly
he leaned and whispered something in the second king’s ear,
and that second king became a wild wanderer too.
They walked out of town hand in hand,
no royal belts, no thrones.
This is what love does and continues to do.
It tastes like honey to adults and milk to children.
Love is the last thirty-pound bale.
When you load it on, the boat tips over.
So they wandered around China
like birds pecking at bits of grain.
They rarely spoke
because of the dangerous
seriousness of the secret they knew.
That love-secret spoken pleasantly, or irritation,
severs a hundred thousand heads in one swing.
A love-lion grazes in the soul’s pasture,
while the scimitar of this secret approaches.
It’s a killing better than any living.
All that world-power wants, really, is this weakness.
So these kings talk in low tones, and carefully.
Only God knows what they say.
They use unsayable words. Bird language.
But some people have imitated them,
learned a few birdcalls, and gotten prestigious.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:11 pm
Amazing.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 3:45 pm
Seems to be a double discrimination. Dr. Barber, the epitome of compassion, kindness and activism for the poor & physically vulerable, is the victim of discrimination. Shame on those employees! When do they say, “This is wrong?” When do they realize what they do reflects absurdly on their humanity? Decisions to inflict harm on another human doesn’t make them a better human, it makes them a weak specimen on the wrong moral & historical side.
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By blackmoneyhole on January 1, 2024 at 3:15 pm
Yes.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 3:39 pm
YES!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:49 pm
Another by Rumi. Read by Coleman Barks. I HIGHLY recommend buying his magnificent collections of Rumi’s works.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:51 pm
I love Rumi. I second the motion about Coleman Barks! Thanks. Happy new year!
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By Mamie Krupczak Allegretti on January 1, 2024 at 5:48 pm
Happy New Year, Mamie!!! xoxoxoxoxo!!!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 7:53 pm
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Happy new year Diane and everyone!
So far this is my favorite video of 2024. Not sure what is so funny about a cat cafe but the laughter is contagious!
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By Mamie Krupczak Allegretti on January 1, 2024 at 5:50 pm
This video is hilarious. I’m laughing so hard at Anderson.
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By teachert99 on January 1, 2024 at 5:59 pm
Oh, and by the way, DeSantid, the Minivan Taliban, all you backward bookburners and gay bashers, NO ONE WANTS TO HANG WITH YOU.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 8:13 pm
OK, how high is Anderson?
I’ll have some of whatever he’s having.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 7:57 pm
Anderson and Andy were drinking vodka.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 11:49 pm
OK. Then no thanks. LOL.
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 11:53 pm
I watched them last night. They were downing shots of vodka while broadcasting on CNN.
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By dianeravitch on January 1, 2024 at 11:48 pm
Funny to imagine downing shots of vodka at my job!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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By Mamie Krupczak Allegretti on January 2, 2024 at 5:44 am
Happy new year. Been busy today with my brothers family. Wish all the best 2024
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By Roy Turrentine on January 1, 2024 at 7:49 pm
Happy New Year, Roy, and love to you and yours!
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By Bob Shepherd on January 1, 2024 at 7:54 pm
Whenever I receive an email from Dr. Barber, I make sure to read it. I have never been disappointed. Wise is a perfect word to describe him. I usually feel better after having read what he has shared.
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By Don Corley on January 2, 2024 at 3:17 am