E. Jean Simpson's Blog: A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA, page 9

Understanding Global vs Local - Implications

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about how cultural expectations can create issues for businesses and people. This is especially true of North America where we have a lot of conveniences that are not widely available and ideas that aren’t widely accepted. If we assume otherwise, we can fall into trouble. I only do a small overview of some of them. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

I have seen some articles lately that had confused me. It took me some time to determine that the author was, in each case, making assumptions that might be true of USA or Canada, or at least a lot of North America, but might not be true for everywhere nor for everyone. For example, there was some talk of teaching English language to presumably immigrants or non-English speakers who are adults. It already takes a lot of courage to leave all you know and move to another country and learn a whole new language. The last thing we want to do is make the learning process difficult. There was a question of teaching profanity. This is of little utility, in my opinion. You see, some cultures and religions do not accept profanity as something belonging to their language and this would alienate such students. Always remember when teaching people from other areas, they might not hold the same belief systems as you do. Your job is not to change their belief system entirely, but to offer teaching on the topic (in the example case English). Many of the people in these courses may have little to no English if they are taking beginning English. So, be cognizant of this. If people want to learn more than what they are being taught, they will learn it. The people who do not want to learn it, will not learn it. Remember that they have given up a whole lifestyle to move to Canada or the USA. They may be escaping a bad situation. You want to make learning safe and positive. Some countries not only frown upon swearing, but it is punishable by jail time such as Dubai https://www.thetravel.com/can-you-get... and it is against religious beliefs of people who are Muslim https://azislam.com/law-of-saying-bad... and likely frowned upon by more than just one religion. For this reason, it is likely that damage would be done to the reputation of the teacher in the eyes of the students who come from countries that see it as unacceptable. They will be introduced to culture from TV, radio, friends, etc.

I have to admit that I agree with Brian Lamb who says, “I don't like swearing on the air. As a matter of fact, I'm not a prude, but... I watch HBO and some of the comedy stuff, and I'm constantly asking myself, 'Why have we gone there?' It seems like it's unfortunate. It's so cheap. It's so easy.” That is the crux of it. My mother, when I was a child, would say. Swearing is for people who don’t have better words to use. I gave you better words to use. This is my opinion on swearing. I try to avoid it for two reasons. I write children’s e-books as well as my blog posts. I’m not perfect and do slip, but avoid it especially in public or online. I have nature photography on my website and keep it as clean as I can. I am cognizant that there are younger people online and I don’t want to be the one teaching them that it is ok to use profanity. They learn from example. I see too much of it and tend to tune out when there is a lot of swearing/profanity. It is too easy. It doesn’t say anything. It, for the most part, is used to put down people or ideas. People having nothing better to do than try to cut down people by calling them something with profanity added. It doesn’t take talent to swear. Anyone and everyone can do it. It does, however, take talent to find a different way to address issues without the use of profanity. It takes thought. Swearing is easy. There are only so many words and many use the same bunch repeatedly…often one starting with F. Some use it like a multipurpose linguistic form. They use is as a noun verb, adverb, adjective and pretty much every part of speech. For some, I half wonder if we removed profanity if they would have anything to say at all.

Another issue that I have noticed is that many of the younger generation seem to think that changing everything to computer is best. This might be true of a lot of North America, because it is rare that there is no computer access available in a workplace. It can happen in small business. However, when it comes to health and safety information, is it a fair assumption that the product will be going to a place where the product information would be easily accessible online? I can tell you that places where there is lack of safety due to bombing etc., they likely would need paper information. If you are in a country with little access to computers…and by the way, there are, at least in 2016, 4 billion people without computer access…and if you look at the article some don’t even have electricity (I know it is older information, but not likely to be entirely fixed at this point) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/0.... However, more up to date information appears in https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/... as does https://internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. It is important to understand that some countries have poverty levels that are beyond what most Canadian and American people understand. There are still many people in Canada and the USA who do not have access or are functionally illiterate. This makes things more complicated. Even in the USA, the stats shows that there is a long way to go before ending paper copies of safety data https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.... Most show worldwide accessibility to computer technology at around 65% give or take. Overall statistics suggest that only a bit more than half the world has computer access. In most cases, minority groups tend to have the lower levels of access which is a whole other problem. This alone makes it important that safety data sheets still be part of the packaging of safety equipment. This is truer of things being shipped to other countries especially the poorer regions or war torn regions. I would suggest that the exporter company find out from the particular receiving company whether they still require the paper copy or if they are ok looking at it online. This may get rid of some of the paperwork, but keep it going to those who need it.

Just as there are different variables between different cultures, there are things that are considered acceptable in business and things that are considered unacceptable. Many of these things depend on cultural differences. For example, https://www.hult.edu/blog/cultural-di... states that often English is the language of business, but you might see people of Finland like brevity and directness in communication while people from India might be less direct. They also point out that businesses in Canada and the US use first name whereas Asian countries tend to prefer more formal titles. They point out that even hierarchies are different within different countries. So, it is important that you learn more about the culture of the people you are dealing with in order to be successful in your communications and actions. The world is a very complex place and there are many different cultural expectations. Understanding them can help us experience more success when dealing with businesses and people in other countries. What you assume about your own culture, especially in North America may not be found to be true of other countries. Assumptions that everyone has what you have or think like you think or accept what you accept is also a mistake that people often make. They are not being nasty or mean. They just make faulty assumptions about everyone having the same life experience. This is not true as many countries have different ideas of how things should be done. This can cause a lot of friction when some workers come up with what seems a great idea. It might be a great idea or it might cost the company business. This is why larger companies do well to have people on staff who have some understanding of the world at large and gather input from other countries they deal with before making changes. Sometimes a little thing means a lot and sometimes it doesn’t. It is something that has to be looked at with more depth and more understanding of the world market and the world as being made of various different groups with different methods of dealing with things in daily life.

As John Hume said, “Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.” This is why I encourage people to learn about other groups and people different from themselves. I agree with Cesar Chavez who said, “Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” In my opinion, it is respect for different cultures and different ways of operating on the world that will lead to understanding and may be able to work our way toward world peace. We need to accept different people and not try to take them over or make them into who we are. Each person is different and we all need to learn to work together. There is no one cookie cutter culture or person. Not only must we learn to respect each other, but also when we respect ourselves, we do not need to force our culture to be the only one. It is one of the things in this world that has caused a lot of trouble, but solved very little.

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

The current podcast matching this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

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E. Jean Simpson

Surrealisms

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about how current situations and current events seem surreal. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

I have found that the juxtaposition of current events and celebrations to be rather surreal. I know it shouldn’t be; things can happen at the same time. But, having been 2 years since COVID started and seeing restrictions lifting, while at the same time, parts of the world are war torn and fighting to survive seems to make the whole thing surreal. On the one hand, we have people getting ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and on the other, we have Ukrainian people trying to make it through one more day. We have COVID restrictions lifting, but COVID cases aren’t dropping dramatically. We need to live with COVID, they say, yet there are people still dying of it. We have the Paralympics and blow by blow coverage of death in the Ukraine. Sometimes there seems a bewildering array of numbers and information streamed live in front of us. Sometimes things seem overwhelming. I’m not sure how many have found the need to restrict their social media access to remain sane. Though I’ve always had restrictions on my social media. I can’t be on it all day and still get stuff done. I find that I seek out more art and culture and less news media.

As Munia Khan states, “In today's world hunger for sanity seems to be more intense than our hunger for food.” Some days I can see her point. Where everyone thinks they have the freedom to do anything that comes to mind with no thought of responsibilities, where it seems there is little thought of consequences to actions, one finds themselves sometimes just holding their head above water. I suspect that it is a universal problem considering that prices are rising, inflation is up. I remember when gas was going to hit $1/liter and people were losing their minds. During the past while, it went up over $2/liter. It makes the days of $1/liter seem like good times. This affects all areas of life because with the increase in costs, there is increase in transportation of goods to market and to farmers and other producers. So, there seems a steady barrage of increases domestically and aggressions internationally.

According to Otto Von Bismarck, “Man cannot control the current of events. He can only float with them and steer.” The problem is that sometimes we don’t know how to steer or what we’re steering. So, while we float and steer, we need to be cognizant of what it is we are floating and steering. Sometimes it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Are we steering a boat that has no rudder? There is the issue of misinformation and disinformation. In a mass of information out there, we find ourselves needing more than ever to have trustworthy information. In this day of mass information and mass misinformation, we need to put a rudder to our boat. This is the importance of the expert and the objective media. People seem to want to toss it out. To have bipartisan journalism. This is a catastrophic idea. In a time where there is a massive amount of information, we need to have objective questions asked, wise questions asked. It doesn’t matter who is getting the answers or who is responsible, if we cannot get wise questions asked and finger pointing minimized, we have just more partial information to wade through.

Even in earlier times, people had to deal with current events, however, the lack of ease of passing information along may have had its benefits. As Marcus Aurelius is credited with saying, “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” It seems that historically, this is true. Events happen, they have their effects and then they disappear into the dust of time. People often get pulled along this way and that way in the current. It seems that the popular opinion drags many in the current. Strangely if the current switches, so do the attitudes. This is the strangest thing about current events. For example, once the ‘convoy’ was disbanded, it was about that time that the Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Previous there was much argument about the ‘convoy’ of people protesting mandates in Ottawa, Canada. Once the invasion started, the ‘convoy’ virtually disappeared and a secondary one started in the USA barely made a dent in the news. So, it seems that we pick our current event importance based on what is current to now and what was part of the past. If one thing deemed of greater importance comes, if we see the horrors of true decimation of humans and violent removal of freedom, we tend to lose interest in the less violent. So, the current is ever moving fast and furiously in time. We can find similar incidents in the past to the current event, yet it seems that there is no change in how it is dealt with.

In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” It is the belief that there is good in the world and that we can, even a small group of dedicated people, make a difference in the world. It is with that thought that we should work together, as well as separately to make the world a better place. To help our fellow humans and to think of each other as we deal with the currents of various issues in the world. The more the world acts as though it is one group against another, the more divisiveness will exist. We cannot hate each other and move forward toward a healthy and happier world. We cannot teach intolerance and believe that we will improve the world this way. It is the need for people to escape from untenable situations that makes it necessary to have room for immigrants. It is the desire to take over portions of the world thinking that there is only one way to live life that makes for the need to take over others. Until we all agree that there is more than one way of life, there is more than one way to govern, until we learn to tolerate those different from us, until we accept that there are thousands of ways to be healthy and happy human beings and until we learn to cooperate and learn discretion in dealing with people of different races, gender identities and different lifestyles, we will be made to face the same battles over and over.

I have some sympathetic agreement with Max Cannon, “Yeah, I don't deal with current events or pop culture, and I avoid politics like the plague.” I find the less I look into politics and the less I get to know about it, the happier I am. It takes special type of people to get involved with political discourse. Current events tend to be made political. It is a strange thing I have noticed. Things that seem to be controversial in current events become political. I’ve often wondered if this is an attempt to keep people from asking questions or wondering about the state of things. Then there is often some kind of threat that goes with things.

In all this, I have not even reached St. Patrick’s Day, though it will be over by the time that I get around to posting the blog post and podcast and will no longer be a current event. I hope you’ve had a safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day if you celebrate it. A wish from someone who is at least partly Irish. May you find wisdom in your words and actions. May we find peace in the world. May we have a better tomorrow and work toward making it that way today.

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! The podcast for this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!
E. Jean Simpson

The More things Change, the More they Stay the Same

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about something I’ve observed from a historic and observational perspective. From time immemorial, we have had battles/disagreements rage over several different factors over time. I will just give an overview of some of the factors and some information you can start with if any of them pique your interest. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

I have heard the old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” which is suggested to have been said, but in French, by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the 1800’s I had, as a young person, thought this couldn’t be true. We were becoming more educated and more advanced than our ancestors. Then, as I got older, I realized with some consternation that this does, in fact, have some basis in reality. When you have an interest in history, even if it is specific to a time or place, you get to see some repeating themes. They are generally in the realm of medical events (Ideological), religious events and riches for the taking. Many times they are intermingled or have added factors. Of course I don’t name all factors, but will focus on only a few. They seem to follow down the lineage of history and human endeavours.

As Edmund Burke (1729-1797) said "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." It does seem that this might be part of a larger problem. Things like the crusades were based on religious intolerance. Certainly, there was a bit more with it. There was the fact that some thought that their religion was the one and only religion and it went back and forth for a very long time. Then there was the Tudor age where there was a decision to break with the Catholic Church which resulted in blood shed on both sides of the religious line. It was dependent at the time who was in power. Eventually this subsided, but there has been issues between Ireland and England over time due to religious affiliation. Now, this is not to say that it was the only issue, it seldom is the only issue, but typical discourse points to religion along with other issues. If you are interested in this angle, Wikki is a place to begin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religio....

Religion is not the only place that intolerance results in blood shed. This is not necessarily war but invading countries in search of monetary gain. Of course this seemed to be given a mixed label. For example, the use of Africa to obtain slaves and the colonization and exploration of the Inca Nation and North America in general. There was gold to be had in the Inca Nation. Some of what they did was under the guise of teaching the people’s being used about Christianity but for the most part, it was used as justification for taking the riches that were there to be taken. This seems to have been accepted and the slavery and domination of these people began. If you are interested in this avenue, a place to start is https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-s.... In this case, there is some change in attitudes, but overall, the people of Africa and North America who were taken over have yet to retrieve their prior glory and still fight for equality.

The other thing that can be noted on wars is that often there is some payoff for the winners and often the losing side is made to pay the price. This is typical to war. For example, after WWII Germany had to pay restitution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_W.... It isn’t the only time that the winning side took payment. Rome may not have been built in a day, but what they did build from conquest resulted in obtaining more riches and stronger grip on the regions they conquered. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/histo.... This is a tradition of wars and invasions. Someone has to lose and someone has to win. In actual fact, no one really wins as there are losses on both sides and ruin of some infrastructure and lives in many cases.

Now, when I say medical events this tends to be fought on the ideological level. For instance, there has been an ongoing battle against illegal drugs. It was termed the war on drugs. It is the attempt to stop the illegal drug trade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_.... It has a long history and there has been varying levels of agreement and disagreement. Another ideological based war…was the Cold War https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides.... This was partly to separate Communism and Democratic society begun in around the 1950’s. This led to some threats of war and a lot of anxiety. People building bomb shelters and doing air raid practices in schools. https://www.history.com/news/duck-cov.... Often ideology is part of most wars for example, the earlier description of Tudor religious separation was about ideology as much as about wives and Henry VIII.

One thing most people can agree upon is the war costs far more than goods and time. They cost lives and lifestyles. They cost livelihoods and though there is a ‘winner’ of sorts, there is no real win when families lose members and children lose parents. There is no real win when people are invaded and their freedoms taken. People like to complain about their freedoms being taken, however, when you see the real and actual situation, it takes on a whole new understanding. We are all one planet. If we want to move forward as one planet, we need to learn more tolerance and caring. Even on the basis of the WW’s, there was an attempt to exterminate a whole people based on religion and based on the ideology that one group was more worthy than another or others. During the process a lot of people died and a lot more were never the same.

As G.K. Chesterton said, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” As Jimmy Carter has said, “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” I think people tend to forget the long term costs of war. The dead, the crippling of people, the children who have no parents, the parents without children. The schools, hospitals, libraries, homes, businesses and livelihoods all destroyed in a short time. The long term impacts of things like the Holocaust. None of it seems to make a dent in the minds of those intent on war/invasion. I had hoped in this day and age, we might find a better way to manage, yet there are still so many wars, invasions, and general intolerance. We cannot agree on whether or not to protect each other from a virus, I guess it is hoping for too much that we find ways to resolve differences, think more tolerantly and learn about others. It is still easier to fear and hate that which we do not understand. We can’t get agreement that people who are L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ are people like everyone else as some refuse to countenance it. Religious intolerance is still rampant. This is why the more things change, the more they stay the same (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr).

I hope that this will get you to think about how things could change and how we could make the saying…”the more things change the more they stay the same” (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr) a thing of the past. Enact actual change, actual tolerance and actual respect for each other. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

You can find the current blog post in podcast form on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!

E. Jean Simpson

What you do Today Teaches the Future!

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about something that many don’t give a lot of thought to. We create the future so be careful what you do because our future rests with you! If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

The other day, I saw an article that got me thinking. It didn’t seem like much at first glance. It just showed a portion of an excerpt from a Government publication of a house sitting. Was it really what was said? Possibly, I couldn’t find it with a short search. I could have watched videos to ensure it was. It doesn’t actually matter if it was or an exaggeration of something that wasn’t. It wasn’t the best of the best Provincial interactions. The statement was a put down of the Government. The point I took away was that sometimes it is good to remember that anything that you put online is teaching something and maybe not what you intended. If you want to teach kids or anyone about politics, showing them the worst side is not a good beginning for any teaching endeavour. Remember anything that you share online, you are sharing a snap shot in time. However, this also gives a glimpse of our future. The first and most ethical place to start teaching someone is to show them the best before teaching them about the worst. The worst will be presented often. Teach them what it should be before tearing down what you don’t like about it. What you do now is being seen by others. Some of the others are younger. These are people for whom the future is open and the present gives them examples of what is normal, what is acceptable. Do we want a future full of misinformed people with poorly informed decisions? Do we want to show people that they can say anything they want with very little to no responsibility?

I know that no one is always 100% perfect, but there are a few things to take into account when releasing stuff on the net. First, is it true? Is this just opinion or is this fact. Is it accurate? Are you willing to back it up? Is it just sensationalism? Are you just hoping for likes and follows? Is it something that matters to you now or will it? Are you sharing it to try to improve a situations? If you are trying to make improvements, then state what it is that you hope to prove. If you are in a position of power and by this I mean politician, teacher, college worker, artist, writer, musician or anyone who has people following them can be an influence and teach others. Almost anyone and everyone who has public accounts can fill that niche and yes that includes you dear readers and listeners. Some tend to forget that they have a power to deliver a message and that they have the power to influence the future. If you are going to accept and make statements, then you must accept responsibility for those statements. This is also important lesson to social media.

In my opinion, one of the most important teaching quotes I could find was by John Ruskin, which states “Education...is a painful, continual, and difficult work to be done in kindness, by watching, by warning...by praise, but above all, by example.” This is perhaps the most important statement that exists about teaching. It is one thing to say ‘do what I say’, but if you do not follow up and do what you are saying, then you are just talking the talk and not walking the walk. If you are to be a true and genuine teacher and recognize the importance of shaping the minds of the future, you must both talk the talk and walk the walk. In other words, it is one thing to say, if I make a mistake, I apologise and correct it. It is quite another thing to show that you do apologise if you make a mistake and do your best to correct it. It is also another thing to provide proper information to correct said error. People are not perfect. People are not robots. But, this would be a much better lesson than to try to cover up a mistake. This is where a lot of people go wrong. It doesn’t mean that what you said wasn’t true to the best of your knowledge at the time. It doesn’t mean that it was right. It means that you recognize that you have made an error and admit it. It isn’t the end of the world, it isn’t the mark of death. Move on from the mistake. Don’t repeat it. Mistakes happen in all venues.

For the most part, teaching is geared toward children or thought to be. That does not mean that we cannot all learn. As Eric Micha’el Leventhal stated “Our children are only as brilliant as we allow them to be.” He doesn’t mention the even more important thing, which is that children learn so much from what they see. Everyone does. That makes what we say and do so much more important than we realize. Children are often far more flexible and capable of dealing with things than most adults expect. Children who are exposed to open minded discourse will be more likely to develop an open mind. Though, to be honest, I was of the ‘children should be seen and not heard’ cusp. I was often told that children should be seen and not heard as a child. So, this might have inspired me in my interest in observation. I watched a lot of what went on around me as a child. I learned a lot standing behind my mother’s chair at family visits. People often forgot I was there. I don’t regret it. I learned a lot of adult things. Interesting things. I learned to question things. I learned that often adults had a ton of information to share. Now, if adults could understand that, I wonder if they would change some of their discourse. People learn what they live. That is the most serious impact of teaching. It doesn’t start when someone starts school, it starts when a child first opens their eyes and starts interacting with the parents and family. Some say that it starts even before this. It starts in the womb. Whatever idea you ascribe to, people never stop learning. When you stop learning, you stop living.

Sometimes I think, as Jacques Barzun said, “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” I often see where teachers are blamed for a lot of issues. If they act, they were wrong, if they don’t act, they are wrong. What general public doesn’t seem to realize is that the teacher in the school is no longer the only teacher children or adults have. We now have multimedia, we have blogs and podcasts, we have YouTube, internet sites, and a whole host of things and not all of them are all good sources of valid information all the time. What we and society need to try to teach is that there are some things that are important and some things that aren’t. There is such a proliferation of media types and information that sometimes it is difficult to separate the fact from the fiction or the good from the bad. It isn’t getting better. There are no hard and fast guidelines. Kids are putting out selfies that would have made us blush when I was a kid. There seems far less limits on behaviours that are acceptable. We live in a time of so much media freedom, but there seems little responsibility. They will take down posts that are totally inaccurate and there are enough complaints, but then there are complaints and freedom of speech which has been given little in the way of guidelines either. At one time people understood freedom was the freedom to do the right thing. Now, people have an entitled idea of what freedom of speech means. Who is at fault for this? Now you aren’t going to like the answer I give. It is all our faults. We have allowed children and adults to think that they have the right to do whatever they want. There seems slim attempts to put limits on such entitlement. I think it is time that we think about teaching not only the rights that people have, but also that the rights have limits and that there are also responsibilities that go with these rights. Nothing in life is free. It is everyone’s job to make the media and the social media a place that is safe for everyone. To make the media and social media responsible for positive social change.

I do not say that it is all bad. It’s beautiful to see the amount of art and artwork, craftwork, music and talented people who are on social media. There is a lot beautiful out there. My main frustration is that a lot of things out there are really not thought out well. Things are presented and shared without thought. I am guilty of this myself. When I think I have crossed a line and find I have been mistaken or potentially could have harmful effects or not accurate, I correct the misinformation. I provide factual information. It is important that we all attempt to be the ones to create a better world both online and offline. I hope this will give you something to think about. Do you have things that you think need to be addressed in the media? Any thoughts? Do you have suggestions for future episodes? You can find me on Twitter and I’d love some suggestions! You can find me: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

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E. Jean Simpson

Journalistic Integrity More Important than Ever!

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Journalistic Integrity is the corner stone of a healthy society. I think it’s time we define it and live it. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

In the past week, I have been utterly shocked by the one thing I thought we could trust. That was the News. Just to start off with what is Journalistic Integrity? According to https://www.arcadia.edu/library/guide... who reference https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp Society of Professional Journalists Code of Conduct, reporting is to be honest, not politically driven, responsible, be able to cite sources, and that they serve the public not the Government. They can also protect sources if the only way they can get honest coverage. The news itself is not about opinion, nor political affiliations. We have opinion pieces for opinion. We have other avenues to provide slanted views. If you have a viewpoint to present, then state it is so, do not present it as fact.

The event that brought this to the forefront and shocked me completely was a broadcaster used their forum to provide misinformation to the world about a Canadian situation. It was quoted on a lot of the secondary news sources and sources I had never heard of. However, I’m at least not disappointed to say that it was not shared on reputable Canadian sources. I just give the most basic idea of what it is. The report was sent out that some police on horseback had trampled an elderly woman resulting in her death. This was later retracted. If you really want to get a good read, then I have provided some sources in the paragraph. For all students or people who consume the news and hope to get a fair representation of what is going on in the world, this should have been a huge insult. https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/fox-news-.... In the end, the reporter admitted to making up the news story. But the harm done was terrible. Harm was more to people who trust the news to give an unbiased reporting of facts. No one actually died. In Canada even these incidents of injury are investigated and a death would have meant instant reporting and investigation. However, this seems to not be common knowledge but it is something I learned over time seeing it in the news any time there is a serious incident https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa.... However, damage was done and it was posted in many countries. In this way, the integrity of the country was under scrutiny, the integrity of the police was under question and people were attacking news workers as being ‘fake news’. It seems many take the bipartisan viewing of the news as given in the USA bipartisan news as the format for the news. Many people don’t seem to know that there are serious guidelines for news. I’m shocked by the sheer lack of knowledge and the idea that Canadian news is the same as USA and there is bias in the news. Not that it can’t happen or never happens, but there are a few safety factors. Sadly it seems more prevalent in the USA or reported more often. In Canada, these are the requirements https://www.thecanadianpress.com/abou... and freedom of the press is actually written into the constitution: This means even the Government has to allow the press to print facts…doesn’t matter if they like them or not. https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/...

The problem is that fake news happens every day in one way or another. People confuse opinion for fact, and pass along misinformation. Here is what I want to know. After the passing around of the false information, how many passed along the correct information? It seemed mostly to die out, but the harm done was not only the harm done to the reputation of Canada and its police force and Government. The harm was also done for the trust people have in the media in general because it seems a lot of people lump together Canada and the USA though they are two separate countries. First and foremost, let me assure you that it seems that Canada and most of their reputable media do tend to post accurate and timely accounts and this right is protected in the Constitution and so is privacy. However, despite this, the amount of false information going out persists and is accepted by many people. It makes for ‘interesting’ reading. It does not make it news. Perhaps part of the problem is that people have to have their information up front, immediately and want to be entertained. False information and misinformation is not entertaining. It is an insult to our intelligence. Opinion pieces can be entertaining. I admit up front that my pieces are opinion and state it in the beginning of the posts and on my pages. People may not agree with what I say. The one thing about what I do say is that I try to be honest, up front and provide where I get my information from. This results in the ability of people to either find more accurate or better information and present it to me or not.

As Aaron McGruder said, “I want the news delivered unbiased. I thought that was the whole point with journalism.” Most journalists must be beside themselves seeing what misinformation does to their jobs and reputations. I have to agree with this viewpoint and with another one by George Bernard Shaw which states, “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” I think the blight on current world circumstances is that one doesn’t always know what is real and what is fake since the information is presented as news and as valid whether it is or not. There are some news agencies that have done themselves harm by allowing for fake news to make it to the mainstream.

In my opinion, I find that fake news shows a lack of respect for each other and ourselves. Worse that is nurtured by the acceptance of fake news and the attitude that ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion’. Now, it is true that everyone is entitled to an opinion. What they need to do is present that they are giving opinion. Don’t present opinion as fact. There are some things that are a hint that it is fake news. The Toronto Public Library gives some tips on spotting Fake News: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/s.... I will touch on a few things here.

One of the things that they suggest that is quite important. Where are you finding this news? One of the things is, does this ‘fact’ show up in Canada or other mainstream/reputable media? Honestly, when the horse trampling thing made it out in the media…I could only find it in media that I had never heard of. When the story broke that it was fake news, then it was on every Canadian news line with the correct information. Sorry, I didn’t check the reputable US news forums so don’t know if they included it too. So was the fact that there was an investigation ongoing about the actual injury. Along with the question where do you find the information comes what are the news agencies that are publishing it. Actual News Agencies, at least reputable ones, have to follow certain standards. Gossip papers may put out some true stuff, but for the most part, a fact check in the mainstream media can result in better details, more information and if you can’t find it there at all, then it’s time to wonder about the accuracy of the information. If you find information in medical journals, be sure to read the whole study. They will tell you the weaknesses of the study and whether it is useful for the point you are trying to make. They will tell you what it is accurate for. If they do not, then there is a good potential that it may not accurately reflect the subject. In other words, sometimes people just use an article because of what the title says without checking for the actual meat of the article.

Another thing that the article suggests is to check the source. Generally there is specific training that goes with specific problems. You don’t send a plumber to fix an electrical problem now do you? Of course not, you hire an electrician. So, why would you accept statements on something from someone who does not have the proper training? Yet, it seems people elect to believe someone on a video or a posting simply because it seems to make sense to them…or seems to agree with what they think. You don’t hammer in a nail with a saw. It will just be a harder job and may not result in much good done to the saw. People, like researchers who make up data, end up being found out at some point. One thing about Science sources is that they have to be able to replicate the study (essentially redo the study) and find the same sort of results. If not, then this is a warning sign. Scientists should not be doing studies with an agenda. When they do so, it is later disproved and they are discredited which can cost jobs and lives. Not something that one would look forward to in science.

So, this is why a Press that has certain rules to follow, need to have certain qualifications and need to follow specific rules is so important. The News, is the only true safeguard we have in finding out what is going on in the world. If you report whatever hits your head, or report opinion as fact, you are in fact hurting everyone and the profession. You are hurting the reputation of the media, you are hurting the people who trust you. You are hurting everyone who should be able to trust you to provide true and accurate information. You’ll notice that on my Twitter page and most of my pages, I make comments saying that my statements are opinion only and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of A & J PEI Treasures or any other entity. This is my statement that I have sole responsibility for what I say. I do try to stay accurate. Though sometimes I am somewhat sarcastic and do poke fun at political stuff since I actually hate politics and find it boring. I find it bipartisan and divisive. I try not to share misinformation. If I do, I point out the reason. If I accidentally do, I apologize and share the real information. Correcting misinformation should be everyone’s job. This is the job for all of us, not just the media. Don’t allow fake information to be shared unless you plan on sharing the correction and removing the fake. We all need to take responsibility for keeping honest, factual accounts of the news. It is the only way we know what is going on in the world.

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

Our Podcast can be found on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
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Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
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Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!
E. Jean Simpson

You Hold the Cards to Your Life

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. This is an important thing to remember and understand about life. You are the only one that hold the cards to your life. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

I find that there are a lot of people who don’t move past their past. They live in the past, hold memories of grudges, pain, and harm and use it as an excuse to be angry and vengeful. They hold someone other than themselves responsible for their actions or they hold past actions as the reason for present actions. Though even in normal circumstances it is often said that past behaviour predicts future behaviour, it is not necessary that it stay so. This depends on the individual and whether they want to change or not. I’m not saying that abuse or harm didn’t happen nor do I say that it didn’t have a huge negative impact on your life. I also don’t say that you have to be friends with them. You don’t even have to be near them. You just need to find a way to find peace in yourself and move on. There is definitely harm that is created at the hands of others. There is no question about that either. There is realistically pain created by others. It doesn’t have to rule who you are or who you become.

What I am saying is that you have a choice where to go from the harm enacted. You see people have taken the worst experiences as children and adults and turned around and have done a lot with it. Others have fallen into drugs, alcohol and other issues and yet still find ways to turn around their lives. One example of a survivor of childhood abuse is Maya Angelou who used her experiences to write a book and became a well-known activist. There are many celebrities who have survived childhood abuse shown in this article (https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-su...). I think in each case, they have found a way to take the pain and turn it into art or a way to improve things for others and in that way improve their own lives. Now, one has to recognize that not everyone gets to take that road to being celebrity. Not everyone will deal with it in a constructive manner. It’s OK to want to just move forward and live a normal life. What you have to realize is that there are choices. You can choose to obtain help to deal with the feelings and the pain. Not everyone is a prolific writer, painter, or other artist. Not everyone chooses to come forward to share their pain. That is OK too. But, please understand that you do have choices and you, have the ability to choose what you do and how you do it. At the same time, there are lists of celebrities who are abusive. I say this because I’m not pushing toward or away from celebrity. What I’m showing is that celebrity doesn’t make you different from the rest of the world. It just makes it more visible to the rest of the world and that is where it is easiest to find examples. So, being celebrity is in no way an answer, but gives us examples of where things can go.

As Michelle Rosenthall has said, “Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating change you do choose” and this is the crux of the point I’m trying to make. You didn’t choose to be abused. You didn’t choose the violence perpetuated on you. You didn’t choose the emotional harm done by others. What you do choose is where you go from there. It is horrible, it is, in some cases, criminal. In some cases, it goes to trial. In some cases, it is parental neglect and in some cases parental lack of knowledge that can create the harm. Not many parents intend to harm their children and most do the best they can with what they know. The point is that you have a choice of whether to let that take over your life or whether to move forward. It took so much courage to survive your trauma and for some, it is exhausting to think about what is needed to heal. But, if you do work toward healing, know that you are taking the courage you have and using it to make a better life for yourself, for your future and for the futures of your loved ones. Not everyone has a perfect or idyllic childhood or great life experiences. Even Karl Jung saw the hope in moving on to a healing path and stated, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” Armed with this idea he wanted to help people to move toward their best selves. That is the main aim of any worthy endeavour. These words, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become” are so important to everyone and could become one’s battle cry on the path to healing because it allows us to understand that we can make different choices. Who you are should not be dictated by anything other than your desire to experience a life that is authentic and real. A life that you are proud to live. If you are not living that life, there is still a chance to change it and move forward in a better direction. There is always hope.

One particular thing that people don’t understand is that you don’t have to be best friends or can choose not to have a relationship with the people who created the harm. It can happen and sometimes it can’t. It does not mean that you hate anyone or that you are holding a grudge. You just choose to understand that the relationship is and was not a healthy one for you and there is nothing that will be gained by either party. Sometimes it is simply toxic to your psyche. Sometimes you can drop the past relationship and start a new one. It depends on whether there is an agreement on both parties that there is something to be salvaged in pursuing a relationship and it can grow into a more mature relationship. This is something that needs serious consideration. It depends on the people and the relationship. I would not suggest for or against either choice. I have chosen to walk away from bad situations for me. Doesn’t mean it was bad for everyone, it just didn’t fit for me.

The one thing I am NOT saying and would NEVER say is that you don’t feel pain (you do and it is VERY real) and you don’t need to grieve (of course you do, that is normal). It would be ludicrous to deny any of that as you’d never be able to heal. As Cameron Kasky says, “Feel pain, grieve, be hurt and embrace it... but never give up hope. Things will be better. The world will be better.” In effect, every survivor is a warrior who has gotten their scars and their pain from dealing with unbelievable circumstances. They have survived what others have not experienced. This is added to the fact that each person experiences the same types of things in a different way. So what might devastate one might not be that horrible to another. It doesn’t mean that they didn’t suffer from it just because another person didn’t. In this way, I can determine that every survivor of abuse or bad experiences, who choose NOT to be a victim, can overcome what they had to deal with. They can move forward to a healthy and happy life. There is a lot of work to do, but if you survived the abuse, you can survive finding a way to heal and move forward. It might be hard and people often quit therapy or something that was working for them because it is painful and hard. The truth is healing is hard. Staying stuck is far harder. You can’t own yourself if someone else does. You need to free yourself to be who you are meant to be. Being caught in dysfunctional patterns will just make things more miserable for you. You’ve already come to realize that something isn’t right. If you hadn’t you wouldn’t be looking at information on healing and holding your own cards. It interests you for a reason … or you’re a diehard fan. Either way, thank you for sticking with this post.

The other thing I am NOT saying, NOR would ever say is that healing is easy. It isn’t easy to heal. But look at everything you have survived. As Cheryl Strayed has said,” The place of true healing is a fierce place. It’s a giant place. It’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light. And you have to work really, really, really hard to get there, but you can do it.” This is likely the most important thing to remember during your healing journey. It’s not easy, there will be bumps in the road. There will be things that you have to let go of for your own sanity. It may change your relationships. This is the thing that they often tell you in therapy. Things will change as you change and some relationships might not work the way they were. As Rachel Naomi Remen points out,” Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.” There is a possibility that, with change, you will find the release of old unhealthy habits and relationships. You may find that you are more at peace. Once you heal, you no longer feel the need to be someone you are not. You want to work toward being the most authentic version of yourself that you can be. That is the ideal version of healing. In reality, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and sometimes you catch yourself falling into old traps. When that happens, you will recognize it. When you do, you will feel foolish, but it is not the end of the world. You have come equipped with all you have learned on your healing journey and you can never truly be that broken person again. Like with any other part of life, you will still have good days and bad days. Always remember that after the rain there is a rainbow, spring will always follow winter. If you need a reminder, have a flowering plant in the house. I highly recommend it.

It would be irresponsible for me to post such a heavy blog post and podcast without leaving you with some resources in the event you need to talk with someone. If you are at a school, College or University, most have counsellors available. Check with them and get an appointment. If you have a job, many have programs that allow for counselling. Below are a list of other resources. I know I show more Canadian resources and only one American, but I am from Canada. Each country has different resources. It’s OK to feel upset, it’s OK to grieve. You have choices to make that can move you forward to a happier and more fulfilled you. If it is urgent, please go to the hospital and let them know that it is urgent and how you are feeling. If you have someone you can reach out to that may understand, then that can help.
Canada:
https://www.ccmhs-ccsms.ca/mental-hea...
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-healt...
https://www.mhfa.ca/en/general-resources
USA
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-...

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

Today's Blog Post can be found as a Podcast on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!
E. Jean Simpson
The Big Kid’s Magical Path to Numbers

Winter Musing and Thoughts on Aging

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about whatever comes to mind so another stream of consciousness blog post and podcast a lot of which centers on getting older. I discuss anything except politics…that’s just too infuriating. You’re welcome for this public service I’m preforming. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

As I looked out the window when I started the post, I saw the fifth snowfall warning in five weeks. This one didn’t even wait for the weekend to hit. I was counting on the weekend thing. Made an appointment for our COVID booster shots…and luckily the weather changed to warm and the roads were pretty clear. See, we had snow, then rain, then snow…it was a mix with rain and snow and ended with huge flakes and it was slushy. We were lucky it didn’t freeze or we’d have an Island wide skating rink to deal with. Weather has been strange this year. I think I heard something about the El Nino during the summer and El Nina during this winter. These are described in more detail in the following article (http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/hi...). It results in warmer summer which is often followed by the El Nina for a colder winter. No it doesn’t nullify all the talk of climate change. It’s just regular fluctuations that happen from time to time. No matter your opinion on climate change, we still can get fluctuations generally the El Nino during the summer is associated with a colder winter for the El Nina.

Writing is not always easy. Today for instance, the rain and snow mix messed with the internet…so looking up information was going to be dicey and would have to wait until I could access again. I was worried about roads for the booster. Turns out most of the things didn’t end up happening. It could have stayed cold and the weather would have made it so that we had to cancel. I’m glad to have it over (the booster), but for me, this means a few days of fatigue, achiness and having trouble staying focused. So, I pass this benefit on to you and this could be a shorter and rambling post. I do, obviously feel it was important to get it given how sick and miserable I get with it. I knew I would have some side-effects. I always do. I tend to have more than the average when side-effects are a thing.

Generally, there are a lot of things that people can suffer side effects to. Some of these including aging and some include weather. I did have some kind of understanding that the weather could have an effect on people as they get older. I think I was hoping that it would wait until I was a lot older. No such luck. My hip is worse when it is winter weather. This is just a part of getting older. (https://www.chestercountyhospital.org...) For those who wonder if it is a valid thing there is an article to talk more on it. Something I hadn’t noticed earlier in life (maybe because we moved to a dryer area of the country). Now, that I moved back home to the Maritimes to live, in PEI, I get what I refer to as weather headaches. This is when a change in weather is upcoming. It doesn’t happen always, but when it does, I’m pretty incapacitated for the day. Apparently a sort of migraine (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...). So, people don’t often think of the general changes that one experiences as they get older. These are things that I have noticed most. I have also noticed that I don’t have the same levels of energy I had when I was 25. Our favourite saying around here is, “I’m not 25 anymore”. Especially when tired or not feeling great because we overdo it. Of course there is also the after a vaccination for me. I then feel all of my years.

I’m not sure if people noticed, but there are all these positive quotes about getting older and all these sayings…aging like fine wine type of thing. For example, "The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson. I suppose people don’t want to think about difficulty with mobility, difficulty with hips, knees, etc. They want to think we’re endlessly wonderful like we were at 25. Though as Andy Rooney said, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” So this might be the answer. We need to acknowledge all parts of ourselves. The aging that results in us learning more about life and developing a different understanding of ourselves. I think to find just good or just bad doesn’t tell the whole story of aging. Being realistic, I’m rather happy to be getting older given the alternative.

Maurice Chevalier is credited with popularizing the old saying, “Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.” (https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07...) though humorous, it is also realistic. If one gives up living because, as my mother often says, “getting old is not for sissies” to give a shortened quote from Bette Davis, then one does indeed become old. This is why it is always good to have things to occupy one’s mind and time. The body might not move as fast. There might be some things that are not as much fun as they once were. This also depends on heredity and medical history. Some of us age physically at a different rates. My aging, which is coming up to 60 next year, consists of some pains and aches, but I’m still highly capable of amusing myself with photography, knitting, writing, reading and a variety of things. Where I used to walk for hours on end in my 20’s and literally could go out with one person in the afternoon for a walk, and then another in late evening and have both of them tired out, I can’t do that anymore. I still enjoy walking though miles and miles is generally going to result in my being tired. I strongly suggest keeping some kind of exercise regime. My Aunt was told by someone in a medical profession that the most of the problems for the elderly are when they fall and injure limbs, break hips and such and there are exercises that can help lessen the possibility of that. Therefore they suggest keeping up some medically approved exercise. They say that even things such as surgery are tolerated much better when someone is keeping up a certain amount of exercise. If you are not certain what is safe or what to do, your doctor can likely advise you or refer you to a program for people of your age range. Your body will thank you for it.

It is important to continue to have a life. Do things that you value. I’ve found it most interesting that one of my old Great Uncles, when I was a kid, used to walk to the head of the road where we lived. He was at least 70 at the time. He’d get back toward getting home and stop at our place and complain about not understanding why he was tired. My father would chat with him for a bit and when it got close to bed time would run him home in the car. It would have tired someone half his age. He also went through two hips … the second of which so he could dance at his daughter’s or was it Grand-daughter's wedding. As Ben Franklin was credited with saying, “Those who love deeply never grow old, they may die of old age, but they die young”. My Great Uncle lived every day of his life and still died in fleur de l'âge (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dict...). Translated as in the Flower of Youth. I remember my French teacher in Junior High School or High School discussing someone having died with that saying yet being very old. It hit me as an appropriate description of some of my relatives. I think that growing up with my elderly family around, I got to learn a lot about aging and resilience. Despite having been injured in a logging accident and losing the use of one of his hands, my Great Uncle continued to do work, worked the farm and kept busy throughout his life. You have to deal with what is. You have to keep on finding ways to keep things interesting. You have to accept who you are. You have to keep on keeping on. Life isn’t always fair, but it is certainly worth continuing on and exploring the outer boundaries and find ways to continue to learn, grow and improve.

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

Today's Podcast is available on Anchor FM @ https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
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Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
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All my e-books can be found on:
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Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!

E. Jean Simpson

Historic Events create Positive & Negative

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about historic events and how there can be some good seen to come out of it and/or bad. There is always the potential for bad depending on how you look at it. Perhaps this would be the; it depends on how you look at it post. . If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

According to History Collection (https://historycollection.com/10-majo...), a mathematical mistake resulted in the discovery of the “New World”. Depending on which viewpoint this comes from, it could be good. There was a whole new land to colonize, but really from the viewpoint of the original inhabitants, is it really a good thing? It is only from the perspective of conquering peoples that it was a good thing and often that is where our history comes from. Remember there are two sides to every story and depending on the source, maybe more. Of course, it wasn’t the first time that the “New World” was discovered. According to history, the Vikings had made it across. In this podcast, I’m looking at certain parts of history briefly from both sides so things will have a plus and a minus. The same article indicates that Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident which is pretty much the case. This is good as it has helped many people who otherwise would not survive an infection. However, it does not do anything good for people who are allergic to it (luckily there are other options). Who would think that Fleming discovered penicillin because he left some snot in a petri dish (I’m rather intrigued by this possibility) and then something in another petri dish beside an open window? They refer to him as a laboratory slob in the article. This is quite interesting as one sees studies as something that requires a quite a bit of organization. Current standards would have him tossed out from any lab where order, cleanliness and high standards are important. So, it is extraordinary that he was able to maintain a job as a researcher but of course, it was a different time. Standards have changed over time as well. As time went on, studies and laboratories have become more professional and more concerned with not contaminating the samples. Not to say they are perfect, but they keep working on getting higher standards.

Another historic situation that resulted in a very definite ambivalence is the founding of Australia, according to an article I found, (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...) on January 26, Australia was founded when 11 ships of British convicts landed in what is now Australia. This has two different views. The aboriginal population does not see this as a positive thing which is very logical and want to see this celebration changed. People took over and exploited them and their land. Another side, the people were convicts sent to this area. Some likely for theft because of lack of food. However, once they were there, it seems many of them took it as a second chance to succeed and they built a strong foundation. This doesn’t take into account that the first several years were extremely difficult and punitive and many did not survive. The people who did, formed a strong civilization. It was, in fact, not easy and it took to the turn of the 19th century for it to be successful, but they built a foundation out of little to nothing. So, even in the situation of a penal colony, people could see a second chance and possibility of a different life. This tells people something about people making mistakes and finding redemption. Though from the aboriginal viewpoint, it was just someone taking over their land and their rights. This was not an easy direction to go and yet, they were determined. It was not an easy existence and there was a lot of poverty in the early years. On the other side, the aboriginal people suffered for their success.

In history there are things that were seen as a great move ahead. However, at the same time, there were other professions that were put out of business. For example, the great invention of the Light Bulb and the change to electric power was a great move forward for humanity. At the same time, no one factored in the many people who were put out of business. Everyone from candle makers (less need for them though not entirely ended) to the people who lit the lamps at night known as lamplighters (https://www.ancientpages.com/2019/05/...). A lot of people were put out of jobs. Yet, this is heralded as a great move forward. It was a great move forward if you weren’t in a job affiliated with candles and lamp lighting to name a couple, but we give little thought of how it changed the livelihoods of a great many people. Things have continued to change with the acceptance of more technology and modernization. I remember as a child, seeing full service gas stations, they have mostly, gone the way of the dodo to use a phrase. The dodo being a bird that was made extinct by humans who would kill them and brought creatures that would also eat them. They were flightless. A poster child for the extinction and bringing in evasive species (https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about...). My first exposure to this unfortunate creature was an illustrated copy Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was a great move forward for humans, but not so much for the Dodo bird. My mother explained it and we looked it up in an Encyclopedia which has now moved towards extinction in its physical form due to the fast changing world around us.

I think the advent of automation has changed society by making things easier to accomplish. On the other hand, it has also made a lot of jobs obsolete while creating other jobs. So, each change in history has brought out more changes to jobs and to what people do for a living adding some here and subtracting some there. Each historic change to the world came at a cost to something and a creation of something different. I think it is important to think of both sides of the equation in historic changes so that we recognize that not everything is quite so cut and dried in society. We need to recognize that there is usually a cost to some and possible creation of something different. As Erin Bowman stated, “No matter how obvious something may seem, there are two sides to every story.” I think it is important to recognize that there are two sides so that one can move forward understanding that no one has made a perfect choice and no choice can be 100% perfect. Though, According to Helena Hunting, “There's three sides to every story." "What do you mean?" "There's your version, the other person's, and then there's the truth, which is somewhere in the middle of the two.” This might be even closer to the crux of the situation. When one looks at it this way, it makes it easier to understand the need to closely examine our biases and our understanding of history. We understand the difficulty that was created for some groups.

However, as Barry Leiba stated: “We like things to be black or white, tall or short, here or there. We like to consider two sides to every story. Unfortunately, there aren't always two sides. Sometimes there's only one; more often, there are multitudes. Many facets on the stone. Nooks and crannies in abundance. Things are usually not either black or white, but multicolored.” In this way, history has had many different stories, but often it is seen from the side that is at the forefront. Things have changed somewhat. I see that they are taking a second and sharper look into Tudor History. Does it change the historic events? No, Henry VIII still had particular wives beheaded or divorced. But the way we look at these women in history, the understanding that there were limited choices at that time has changed how we look at the women in history. Even as a child, I thought Anne Boleyn was given a bad rap, but that was the only way to explain historic actions of a King in power. At one time, the residential schools were mostly seen as something that was there to educate. Now we see that they were horrific and there are children who just simply disappeared. It created a vortex of issues for the aboriginal communities. The more we open our eyes and the more we see that there are indeed multi sides and multi issues with historic data, the more people will look harder at what they find. Some horrors of history remain as horrors in history. You can’t explain away some of the historical horrors. Hopefully we do learn from them.

I think the most important message about history and current events comes from Maya Angelou and that is, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” We cannot make the pain and the damage from the past go away, but we can change things for a better tomorrow. Don’t allow racism, hate, and anger run your life. We see what it did in the past. We want a better future for ourselves and our children. When talking about mistakes, as Paul Bear Bryant said; “When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.”

Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

The Podcast to this blog post is available: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
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Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
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Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!

E. Jean Simpson
The Big Kid's Magical Path to Insects in Nature

Don’t Eat Yellow Snow…Wisdom for Everyone

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about some wisdom with a bit of a folksy flavour. I use a few samples to illustrate points. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

As stated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.” Yet it seems that some of the assumptions that we hold to be true seem to be misunderstood and our culture makes it difficult to draw boundaries. Some of the folksy wisdom still holds true today. For example, the title one of “don’t eat yellow snow”. It becomes even more evident when you take a pet out for a walk. Because any of us who have walked a dog know exactly why there is yellow snow. I wouldn’t recommend ingesting it. It is not lemon slushy. I think some of the old fashioned wisdom has gotten lost between the cracks in our social networking world. For example, there were some who posted some kind of news and were terribly upset that they were getting negative responses and there were some who were ‘harassing them’. They had brought it to the police, according to them. They had brought it to their employer. Though people were ‘supportive’ nothing was being done. It finally occurred to me that drawing boundaries has become confusing or threatening. Why else would someone continue to complain about people abusing them online than that they didn’t know one simple fact. I call it “The Sanity Clause”. Here is what I mean. It’s almost like society discourages ‘blocking’ someone on social media. What I want people to know is that they do have the right to block people from being part of their Twitter experience and an excuse is not always necessary. If someone is abusive or for some reason, you don’t want to follow them, then there is a block function on Twitter. It is not impolite to block someone. That, in a nutshell is “The Sanity Clause”. Someone who does harm to you, you have a right not to ‘play with them on social media’ I find a lot of people think they’re being mean or whatever and therefore refuse to block people who are making their lives miserable. If you are just blocking someone for some weird reason and will just unblock them later, I’d suggest don’t block them in the first place, but if you feel abused or intimidated by someone, you have the right to block them. Now, if they are misusing intellectual property that may have to go as far as police reports.

There is the assumption that because you see a first and last name and a face that the people that you are talking to are who they say they are. I choose not to put up my picture. I used to also not use my name when I was just interacting for friends and family. Since becoming an author I have started to use my name and a branding of our A & J PEI Treasures. I also leave the disclaimer on because not everything I say is part of A & J PEI Treasures. The pictures are ours, the gifs belong to Twitter. I sometimes leave strange comments for fun. The strange fun comments are not part of A & J PEI Treasures, but they are part of my having fun as an author. However, guess it’s time to get to the main point of this and stop taking a circular route. This brings us to another saying which is don’t believe everything you see. I’m sure in a greater proportion of the population, you will find that they are the people in the picture and the name is accurate. However, people like myself like our privacy. You won’t find my picture very visible on my pages. I just don’t do it. You can choose not to communicate with me on that basis, but that is your choice. I’ve discovered over time that there are methods of getting a face to put onto any account. I won’t go into details because I don’t want to make available ways for people to be dishonest about who they are. However, there are many ways including stock photos. The other thing that I have found is that one can say their name is anything, this doesn’t mean that is what it is. This is the equivalent to the bar scene of the 80’s….someone wanted to have some fun, but not have to talk to the person again, would give a fake name and fake phone number. The problem with social media is that you don’t know if this is one of those things or if it is someone who is real. This is why I suggest some caution about what information you are giving people that you don’t know from outside social media. It could be them, it could be them 20 years ago. It could be someone entirely different. Not that I want to terrify everyone, but until there are ways to ensure that who you talk to is who they say they are, use a bit of caution. Don’t click on links you aren’t expecting or open documents you have not requested.

As Voltaire is credited with saying, “Common sense is not so common.” For many the ability to create your own boundaries is misunderstood. Generally people think that it is being rude or that we should give people a second chance. Statements seem to be along those lines. There seems to be a variety of opinions on it. However, this is the way I look at the controversy. If you are on Twitter or some other forum and you find that there is someone who is continually trying to start fights, not just make the odd comment you don’t like (just delete those comments if they are annoying, it’s your page after all). If you are indeed unhappy to have someone following you, then block them. You aren’t being mean nor are you being rude. You’re saving your sanity. Some things you have to deal with through police. Provide police report numbers and you’ll likely get some action.

I think we often mistake folk wisdom for something that we should know or people being funny. Things like don’t take a wooden nickel. The meaning to this is don’t get fooled (https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/...). This is good advice, especially with all the scams around nowadays. I think scams are more widespread than they used to be. At one time, if there was a scam, it would take a while to make it around the world. Now with computers and networks, they make their way through in next to no time. Instead of swindling a few people, they might get thousands. It is sad that in this day of social media and instant communication there are still those who seek to take advantage of people using these methods. At the same time, there are also people trying to find a way to get rid of these practices. It isn’t new having scams go around. They’ve been around for a long time. But, now there is a wider audience that can be affected and more people who can be hurt. I have found with scams and such, the more people try to tell them that they are falling victim to a scam, the more they ignore the advice. So, what is the answer, seems when the police get involved with putting up scam warnings, then they are taken seriously. In the meantime, many people have lost a lot of money to scams and scammers.

As they say, buyer beware. This is a piece of wisdom that suggests the need for due diligence. In other words, thoroughly research these potential ‘money makers’. When someone suggests a ‘money making opportunity’ to me, I look up whatever it is with the addition of is it legit or scam in a search engine. I go through both the legit and scam views and their arguments. More often than not these ‘opportunities’ end up being of questionable validity after careful reading. Another old folksy saying is “if it sounds too good to be true, it likely IS too good to be true. I think this is the most valuable piece of folksy advice I can give. If it sounds like you’re living in a dream if you do this or buy that or join something and it requires an outlay of money, then the chances are that there is a catch or something that isn’t quite right. As soon as something comes out, there is generally a lot of information on both sides of the fence on it. Of course the last piece of folksy advice I can give that would save a lot of people a lot of money and pain is: “Don’t invest more than you can afford to lose”. I have found this invaluable in helping me make decisions. If you don’t have a lot of money to play with, consider how much you could afford to lose if the opportunity goes bad. This is old folksy wisdom that could save a lot of trouble. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you need to consider your financial futures and not jump at the first thing that looks like it would gain you money. It might, but then you might lose it all. Would you be in trouble if you lost it all? If so, it might not be the thing you should do. In conclusion, I will give you one bonus folksy bit of advice. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. This means not to put everything you have into one thing. If it doesn’t work, you need something to be a backup. Always have a plan B in other words.

Though some would laugh at the idea of folksy advice, I find it quite refreshing to think about the many facets of our past, present and future and use it to help myself and others move forward during these trying times. As Julian Casablancas said, “Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense.” In any case, vanity can cause a lot of trouble if you aren’t willing to look deeper into things and realize that not everything you see is true and be willing to look into things more deeply. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!

The corresponding podcast to this blogpost is now available on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures/...

Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/879a...

All my e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! We’re always working on something! Thank you!
E. Jean Simpson
The Big Kid’s Magical Path to the Alphabet

Euphemisms and Contradictions: A Many Splintered Things

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today I talk about the scourges of euphemisms and contradictions between speech and action. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

I have found there are some euphemisms that need to be taken into account and perhaps changed. They can create a huge issue for those who are not part of the specific culture. I can give you a good example of this. Someone going home. With many people working in multiple offices over time, if someone tells me someone has gone home, that tells me that they have left for the day or have quit or been fired or any number of things, none of which tell me they died. However, amongst some religions, this is a euphemism for someone dying. I guess it is fine in obituaries as you pretty much know the person is dead. So, this is not the best euphemism. It can create confusion especially if you don’t subscribe to the particular culture. People might not get that the person is dead when it is used in a business place. Sorry, but if you don’t know the lingo, you’re going to be confused. Going home is what you do at the end of the day. It’s what we say to Sam when we’re wanting to head home from our walks. It is not identifiable as someone having died if you’re not brought up with this terminology. It is a way people use to try to make death sound esthetically pleasing. In other words, it tries to make it pretty. Well, it’s not pretty, it’s not something you need to make pretty. It’s something you need to be clear about so that people can mourn and move on. I’ve worked in a variety of settings. Someone went home, they came back after lunch. They came back the next day. On some occasions they were walked out of the building and went home. This did not mean they disappeared off the world of the living. You didn’t find an obituary for them. So, going home was never a euphemism that we used. I’ve heard of passed away, passed on, and even crossed the rainbow bridge. However, the most clear and less likely to cause confusion and interrupt the grief cycle is to be up front about it, call it what it is. Now, when I take Sam for a walk and neighbor dogs come out barking and I tell them to go home, I fear I’m wishing death on them. Well, it has been a long standing habit and I’ve sent dogs home (to their owners) so obviously there are some happy well-adjusted pets that just listen well.

Amongst the other things that annoy me are things like making big statements on eco-friendly. Yes, I do know that it’s easy to make statements. It’s easy to say you’re working on it. It’s easy to say things are being changed, but to give a real life example. They talk about making the arts available for all and about getting suggestions to making things more likely to hit net 0 emissions. Of course they are not interested in adding anything to do with e-books or indie authors which would suggest less carbon footprint and perhaps discover new talent from the other side of the socio-economic divide. They talk about all these awards that one can apply to as an author. If you check the list suggested by the CBC, (https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites...) you will find that 90% include fees to enter. Many rule out those over 35 and others rule out e-book authors in one way or another. There is little movement, at least in Canada, to discover new talent or to accept e-books which would be more eco-friendly or low budget authors in Canada. This is a tradition that we have found in Canada and a lot of talent goes south of the border. This article gives you a little idea of the general way of celebrity…and gives you some exceptions. Remember they are exceptions rather than the rule (https://www.narcity.com/canadian-cele...). This is sad. However, I understand the economic side of it. They generally require copies of your book, bound and pretty and that there have been so many books done. If you are writing something, they require that you not have anything of it released. Of course, there is a lot of money being spent to get these books done. There is printing, there is shipping, and there is a carbon footprint. There is the money coming from hopeful entrants. So, when they say that the arts are not for the low budget person, they do have a point. Where e-books would reduce the amount of shipping and money spent on printing and publishing, there is also not the money being spent to get published. Is it more than money? It would be interesting to hear the other side of the argument.

As Amy Waldman said, “As a reporter you tend to seek coherence from your subject or your source - it all needs to add up and make sense. In truth, in reality, there's often a great deal of murkiness and muddiness, confusion and contradiction.” Perhaps in seeing these contradictions and pointing out some of them, we can find some middle ground or at least make people think about the importance of what they do as opposed to what they say. On the other hand, as Denis Villeneuve is credited with saying, “In contradiction and paradox, you can find truth.” Just as contradictions and euphemisms can cause a lot of confusion, bringing to light the issues can result in a clearer understanding of what the issues are.

In the past, there were terms that were used and, as they began to be questioned and as people made it clearer that there were issues, we have been working toward addressing them. The problem is that often these issues are very slow to be addressed, but pretty fast to develop and be propagated. For example, just to pick a quick one out of the air, when I was a kid there was no such thing as e-books. Now they are easily made and available. Therein lies part of the problem. People have misused the medium. This was pointed out with Amazon when they (https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...) discovered e-books being put up with just gibberish. Now, this does devalue the e-book in ways that any decent author would cry about. It’s a terrible misuse of the forum. It makes it so that we get less respect than the written book and thus ensures its lower status given in awards and being noticed in Canada. Yet, this is a format that is futuristic and could, if used properly, be a way to reduce our carbon footprint. The more the e-book author fights to keep it honest, the more likely it will gain in respect. However, the issues muddy the waters of those of us who want to make it the art form it could be.

So, whether it be a euphemism or a contradiction in terms, we find that life is a bit more complicated than we thought. There are words that were used quite frequently, that we have begun to weed out from our vocabulary. This is a good movement toward a more modern, inclusive and better understanding of our fellow human. I found one term and found it quite interesting…and know it would likely cause a lot of trouble if directed to someone who was “with squirrel”. Apparently it means 6 months pregnant…and as the author points out…don’t even try this (I have to agree…I don’t like emergency hospital trips to happen). (https://expresswriters.com/amazing-ob...). Many words have changed or stopped being used over time. As you can see in the article, some words from the 16th century are not used as much in this day and age. There are other less flattering words which I will not use in writing and don’t even want to use in examples as they are simply reprehensible and used to put down people of different races, sexual orientations etc. These words, we are phasing out. I once told on my return to University after some time to do another degree to redo an entire essay. The discussion was more or less that they realized I was coming back after a long break, so they were assuming that I was unaware of the change in language for papers. They were right. I had no idea about that change. I soon caught on, though it did require some more careful editing until I got used to the change. Do you know what the change was? It might have been 25-30 years ago. They changed vocabulary so that one did not use specific pronouns. We used him (most often used) or her (less often used unless woman was specified) and this changed to non-gender specific language of them or they or him/her allowing for either. I think at this point, them/they would allow for everyone to be included and we can dispense with the him/her reality. This seems like a small petty thing to some, but to those of us who are female and are old enough to remember having been slapped on the fanny while working at a desk job, this was actually an amazing move forward. This is why language can be so important and euphemisms and contradictions need to be pointed out. The realization that women were not being given equal respect in academia and the workforce was a huge step, yet it seems small to some. This translated into something that I have discovered in the years since. I was not slapped on the fanny at any of my jobs since that change started. I should specify, I was not in any way a football player or affiliated with football at the time so the gesture was not appreciated. I hope we continue to move along the continuum of acceptance and inclusion and find better ways to communicate so that we all understand what is going on and we live together in greater harmony.

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E. Jean Simpson
The Big Kid's Magical Path to Insects in Nature