d_r
d_r's JournalA question about schools and holidays
I have a question that I would like to hear opinions on.
I think that generally it is a good idea to introduce children to other cultures and other beliefs.
So here is my question. Today is Dec. 6. Do you think it would be a good idea at a public school for Krampus to visit fourth grade classrooms?
It happened in my children's school today. I know it was with good intentions of teaching about folklore. The German teacher dressed as Krampus and came into a math classroom, slapped desks with a stick and gave a boy a lump of coal. And the folktale was explained that in Germany Santa Claus keeps the nice list, an Krampus keeps the naughty list and brings naughty kids coal, spanks them with a switch, and carries children off in a sack to eat them.
Some of the kids were pretty freaked out.
Was this OK?
I feel bothered by it, but I'd like to hear some other opinions that might talk me down.
Krampus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus
---------
Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish children during the Yule season who had misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair.
Krampus is represented as a beast-like creature, generally demonic in appearance. The creature has roots in Germanic folklore; however, its influence has spread far beyond German borders. Traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in Austria, southern Bavaria, South Tyrol, northern Friuli, Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Croatia during the first week of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December (the eve of Saint Nicholas day on many church calendars), and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. There are many names for Krampus, as well as many regional variations in portrayal and celebration.
---------------
Man shoots, kills elderly man with Alzheimer’s at Walker County, Ga., home
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
A 34-year-old Chattanooga man shot and killed a 72-year-old man who rang the doorbell around 4 a.m. today at a home in a new subdivision off North Marble Top Road in rural Walker County, Ga., Sheriff Steve Wilson said.
At a news conference this afternoon, Wilson identified the shooter at the house on Cottage Crest Court as Joe Hendrix of Ooltewah and the victim as Ronald Westbrook of Walker County.
Wilson said the victim, who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease, had been walking around for about four hours and almost three miles before the incident occurred. He said Westbrook was lost and rang the doorbell and turned the door handle at the home, where Hendrix was visiting his fiancee.
The woman, who was not identified, called a 911 dispatcher and was on the phone with that person when Hendrix took a 40-caliber handgun outside and confronted the victim in the yard behind the home, the sheriff said.
Read more: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/nov/27/homeowner-allegedly-shoots-and-kills-prowler-outsi/
The man who was killed had his dog with him. He was shot three times. The dog wouldn't leave him for an hour while the police investigated and animal services finally took him away.
No charges have been filed.
Video of UTC student arrested near evangelist goes viral, sparks controversy
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Controversy has arisen over the arrest Thursday afternoon of a 24-year-old student near a female Christian evangelist who's reportedly been haranguing students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
A 3:58-minute video, apparently shot with a cell phone, titled "Police brutality on UTC campus," had close to 2,500 views on Youtube this morning.
UTC Police Sgt. Willie Trueitt arrested Cole Montalvo for disorderly conduct. According to Trueitt's incident report, Montalvo tried to get past a perimeter of cones set up around the evangelist.
"Due to some mishaps of the last visit from the evangelist, a perimeter was set up … to keep students from bothering or getting in the evangelist face/space," Trueitt wrote in the report.
Read more: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/nov/15/utc-arrest-bicyclist-near-evangelist-sparks-contro/
The headline should have been "college student beat up by police after calmly telling crazy woman to stop screaming at people."
I don't know if you have seen this sort of thing on college campuses in other parts of the country. Basically crazy people come on campus and yell to students about what sinners they are. This is right in the middle of campus on the main cross road.
Here is the video clip that the "evangelist" herself put on youtube:
Study makes a case against paddling, finds link between corporal punishment, failure to graduat
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Kids who are paddled at school are more likely to be black, more likely to be poor and more likely to be boys. And that's why a UTC professor studying the issue says schools should rethink their policies on corporal punishment.
Poor and minority children already face an uphill educational battle, with lower overall academic achievement and lower graduation rates.
And Darrell Meece, an education professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, says paddling only makes things worse. His dive into data on corporal punishment found that kids who are paddled are three times more likely not to graduate high school.
"Children who are living in poverty, children who are in minority groups are less likely to graduate in the first place. We know that," he said. "Corporal punishment exacerbates that, it makes it even less likely that they graduate. These are vulnerable kids already."
Read more: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/nov/11/long-term-study-makes-a-case-against/
19 states still allow corporal punishment in schools. Many will argue that this is one "tool" among many that educators can use, and so they should have access to it. Others will argue that they were paddled and turned out "OK" (I was paddled as a child in school, but I also never sat in a car seat, never wore a bike helmet, and rode in the back of my Dad's pickup truck). My response is that if someone developed a "tool" that made building houses less expensive, but 20 years later half of the houses that were built with that tool had fallen down, we wouldn't want to use that tool. There would be many people who could say "my house was built with that tool and it is still standing fine." but I wouldn't want to build my house with it. My take is that today the children with the least social capital are the most likely to experience paddling in school. We know that these also are the children who are least likely to graduate. We can show them that school is a predictable, safe place for them to be, or we can show them that it is scary place where people will hit you to get you do what you want and you probably don't want to be here in the first place.
halfway decent human being quiz
1. Imagine that you are driving in a car and you strike a motorcycle from behind. After stopping your car and surveying the scene for a few seconds, do you
A. call 911
B. get out to see if the motorcyclist needs assistance
C. remain at the scene of the accident
D. drive over the motorcyclist and speed away from the scene of the accident
2. Imagine that you are with a group of friends riding motorcycles, and one of your friends is struck behind by a range rover. The driver stops, then runs over your friend and speeds away. Do you
A. call 911
B. make sure some friends remain with the injured motorcyclist
C. follow the driver to ensure his location is known
D. pull the driver out of the vehicle and beat him in a vigilante mob
If you answer D. to either question, you fail.
what i don't get (Syria)
I don't support bombing syria. I don't support gassing people either andl would like to see US use our resources ro talk and try to find a solution.
but here's cwhat I don't get.
what kind of strategy is it to say "well you crossed the line. any day now we might bomb you. just you wait. when we get our shit together we are going to bomb the hell out of you. jut you wait its coming."
Sorority offered free drinks to members to vote in Tuscaloosa City Board of Education race
The email, sent to sorority members residing in District 4 from a ranking member of the chapter's executive board, encourages members to vote for Cason Kirby and Lee Garrison in exchange for incentives including free drinks at two local bars and limousine transportation to the polls.
Kirby challenged incumbent Kelly Horwitz for the District 4 seat and Garrison ran for board chair against Denise Hills. Both were elected by slim margins in Tuesday's election, though neither Horwitz nor Hills conceded the race by the end of the day.
=====
"They would really appreciate/need your vote to win this election. It's going to be really tight, and it is SO IMPORTANT that they get the Greek Vote. I told both of them that I would do my best to make sure that I got every Chi O that was registered to the polls. There is a big incentive for you going as well!!"
===========
Students have been more vocally involved in this year's school board campaign than in years past, with the College Democrats canvassing on behalf of Kelly Horwitz and several sororities and fraternities displaying Cason Kirby placards in their front lawns.
========
Read more here:
http://blog.al.com/tuscaloosa/2013/08/sorority_offered_free_drinks_t.html#incart_2box
----
The husband of one of the candidates is a UA law professor - this story from the Tuscaloosa News has the full text of his e-mail to the Faculty Senate concerning this:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20130828/NEWS/130829765?tc=cr
look at this young man
we often think about how the younger generation will be more open and progressive, more diverse. We often think about how the internet and improved communication will allow the younger generation to have better understanding of others.
but we can't assume that they aren't going to get it all wrong.
From the page:
http://www.tradyouth.org/2013/08/stormfronts-smoky-mountain-summit/
I was greatly honored by getting to meet many of my heroes for the first time. Shaking the hand of Dr. David Duke and having him praise my activism was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was greatly humbled by being asked by Don Black to take the the podium at the conference. Getting to share the stage with the great minds of our movement was exciting and a huge honor. One of my personal inspirations, Mr. Sam Dickson (one of my absolute favorite and personally inspiring voice within the movement), had a phenomenal speech at the conference and I greatly enjoyed getting to pick his brain over the course of the weekend.
The torch is being passed to the next generation, myself included, and a great part of this weekend was seeing multiple generations of activists coming together and working together. The oft-lamented infighting within the White Nationalist community is subsiding. As the real activists stand together, the naysayers and provocateurs are increasingly ignored. The purpose of every speech was geared towards forging a path forward, not living in the past. The call for youth organization, a dedication to Tradition, and a move towards real world activism solidified for me personally that our movement is ready for a group like the Traditionalist Youth Network.
I am a proud Southerner and an active member of the League of the South and was able to rub elbows with secessionists from all over the nation. The rhetoric of “taking America back” is thankfully fading. As my ancestors decided 152 years ago, getting out of the Federal empire is the only solution to the survival of our culture and our race. The Enlightenment ideas of Jefferson and the deist Founders can only end in cultural, religious, and racial suicide.
White Advocates are coming to terms with throwing away the Masonic dishrag with fifty stars, and pledging allegiance to Tradition and a new future for our people. White Separatism, respectful of regional and cultural differences, is the only path forward. The Constitution is an anchor tied around the neck of Europeans on this continent, yet so many of us have been clinging to it as a life raft. The talk of Stormfront was not “should we secede” but “when, where, and how we should secede.”
After same-sex couple victory in Collegedale, church ousts gay detective's family
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Collegedale's decision to grant benefits to same-sex couples was a victory for Kat Cooper, a gay detective who championed the months-long effort that made the Chattanooga suburb the first city in Tennessee to offer benefits to same-sex spouses of its government employees.
Cooper's mother, Linda, stood by her side throughout the process. She held tight to her daughter's hand at a July meeting over the issue. And the two embraced after the City Council's 4-1 vote on Aug. 5.
But those small acts of support translated into collateral damage that left Linda Cooper and other relatives separated from their church family of more than 60 years. And one local advocate for gay families says the church's stance was the most extreme he's heard of in years.
Leaders at Ridgedale Church of Christ met in private with Kat Cooper's mother, aunt and uncle on Sunday after the regular worship service. They were given an ultimatum: They could repent for their sins and ask forgiveness in front of the congregation. Or leave the church.
Read more: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/aug/21/repent-or-leave/
Not much more I can say - the church kicked out Cooper's mother, aunt and uncle because Cooper is gay and came out in public to fight for equal rights.
Hardy Elementary School embraces the power of prayer
A host from late breaking news suggested that I post this in this forum. I was a little relunctant to, because I didn't want to start a thread of just "prayer doesn't work" posts. I'm interested in the church and state issue - a church used to meet in this school building, and now they are visiting the building when it isn't school time to bless it. In the photo, the principal and assistant principal are participating. The story says that administrators, teachers, parents and students participate. So what do you think? Can a school host religious ceremonies as long as it is "after hours?" I wonder if by the principal's particiation if there isn't at least subtle pressure to participate for employees as well as families.
Source: chattanooga Times Free Press
Jackie Moore gripped the handle of a classroom door at Hardy Elementary School, bowed her head and asked God to make safe the children who study in that room and in rooms throughout the school. And to help them learn.
As Moore prayed, Principal Anetta Ferguson leaned her head on the door and cried.
"I want the children to have a great day every day regardless of what goes on outside," she said.
Moore, a member of Love Fellowship Baptist Church, and Ferguson were among more than nearly two dozen people who walked the hallways of Hardy Elementary School this week and prayed. The group included teachers, school administrators, church members, parents and students.
Read more: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/aug/17/school-embraces-0010the-power-of-prayer/?local
--------------------
This happens only after school hours = do you think it is OK?
Profile Information
Member since: Thu Oct 28, 2004, 11:27 AMNumber of posts: 6,907
