Sharman Burson Ramsey's Blog, page 16

LOOK OUTSIDE THE BOX. THE COMMON DENOMINATOR IS SCHOOLS AND CURRICULUM.

MAY WE THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX IF ONLY FOR A MOMENT?

COLUMBINE HAPPENED IN 1998. CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND THE THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM CAME INTO THE SCHOOLS IN THE EARLY NINETIES.

What if the problem with these children is not a lack of psychotherapy, but too much? 

With shooters targeting schools, might we consider the common denominator here other than the instrument used to kill?

1. Had these shooters been participants in Conflict Resolution or the Therapeutic Classroom with untrained teachers conducting psychotherapy?

(Very interesting perspective on how the therapeutic classroom evolved and how William Coulson and Abraham Maslow came to understand its destructive consequence.

COULSON: "The basic message is that education, classroom education, is a variant on group psychotherapy." 
https://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/COULSON.TXT)

Speaking of associate, Abraham Maslow, who developed the therapeutic classroom, he said in later life, "He understood what a destructive suggestion it was."

It is important to see what the impact on the INDIVIDUAL CHILD can be. This was the consequence for Stephen Nalepa.

2. Were these shooters proficient readers or were they having difficulty with their academic subjects?

SEE ALSO: Retarding America: the Imprisonment of Potential, a Justice Department Study
:https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html

IF THE MOST COMMON DENOMINATOR IN JUVENILE FACILITIES IS ILLITERACY AND IF TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ WITH PHONICS PRODUCES THE LOWEST RATE OF RECIDIVISM, PERHAPS IT IS TIME FOR THE SCHOOLS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY.

and https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/spalding-writing-road-to-reading-and.html

If this method was so effective in teaching reading that it also made discipline problems nearly non-existent, might we actually consider that teaching children to read might also eliminate gun violence?



3. Perhaps it is time for prayer to be IN THE SCHOOLS BEFORE the shooting rather than asking for prayer AFTER the shooting. Yet, prayer is banned in our schools and at events.

So, what is the real consequence of TEACHING TOLERANCE, psychotherapy in the classroom produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center?
Conflict Resolution:  Teaching Tolerance


Five parents, Black and white parents, were granted permission to review the conflict resolution materials.  The film "Fighting Fair:  Dr. Martin Luther King" jolted us all with its violent images.  The words of peacemaking were drowned out by the impact of the graphic images on the screen before us and the conclusion of one child in the video that the passive resistance of Dr. King was futile because "They killed him, didn't they?"

Are there trained psychotherapists in those classrooms to address the effects on the individual child?    

There were not for Stephen Nalepa. (Above)

What will individual children take away from that film:  The images and anger, or the "peacemaking" the promoters claim to wish to promote?

Your schools are modeling your child's attitudes and beliefs. Is this what you thought you were sending your child to school for?

We object to:

Lessons which divide children into "tribes" within the village (classroom) that would appear to validate gangs and reinforce peer influence.  (Identity Politics)Activities which promote alternative lifestyles.Violating freedom of religion and the Alabama School Board's policy against by utilizing New Age techniques within a public school classroom.Choosing "totems." Listening to a "referee" one imagines on one's shoulder, and Projecting one's mind into a "strong place." 


Suggested guided imagery for teacher.  Throw eggs at your students...visualization. 


Teach children to visit the Happy Valley.  Guided imagery?  Psychological techniques guided by classroom teacher?  


Politicization of the classroom...#5.  No bias or influence there...???


What do you say when the second grader in the bottom activity asks what these words mean? 
 Is the second grade an appropriate time for a discussion of sex?  
Is it any wonder children cannot read? The assumption here is that more money equals better schools. This early indoctrination has surely taken root if the 2016 riots are any proof.



In the early 1990s our country underwent a revolution in Education with Goals 2000. Curriculum officially and legislatively shifted from traditional (fact based) to Progressive (attitude and belief based) education. Common Core put this type of education on steroids.
Have you ever heard of COGNITIVE DISSONANCE? the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
THIS IS KOHLBERG'S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT TAUGHT TO EVERY TEACHER IN THE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION.



When children are urged to challenge the fixed beliefs of their parents (No. 6) and seek within themselves for their "their own principles" you have knocked their supports out from under them and created the perfect situation for Cognitive dissonance. 



https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/10810/what-are-the-consequences-of-prolonged-cognitive-dissonance



Do we have more drug abuse or less after the Dare Program? (It utilizes the therapeutic classroom techniques.) Do we have more violence in schools or less after Conflict Resolution? Do we have more moral children or less with sex education and values clarification? I submit the THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM is a failure and is the cause of the confusion and aggression of students. 
Add to that the failure of progressive educators to produce proficient readers. Consider the reading dysfunction adding to cognitive dissonance (being expected to create your own morality) and you have the perfect recipe for violence-- whether the weapon is a gun, knife, or the purposeful spread of AIDS (see below). 





We have now seen the consequences of this type of "education." They are rioting in our nation's streets and demanding "safe spaces" in colleges because they cannot deal with free speech or diverse opinions. They have been successfully programmed for the New World Order.

GLOBAL EDUCATION?
Perhaps you have heard the term GLOBAL EDUCATION? If not, please become acquainted with their attitudes:
1. They politicize students into becoming activist to achieve a 'new world order' in which traditional national values would be diminished. See also: https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/radical-possibilities-your-children.html Alabama's Chief Academic Officer's motivating book.
2. They suggest in a nuclear era one should value the survival of life above the survival of freedom. (sustainability, climate crisis)
3. Their attitude toward defense related issues is pacifistic and 'capitulationist,' meaning that in the resolution of international conflicts concessions are more often referred to than the possible use of force.
4. Students are taught there are no moral absolutes.
5. Students see redistribution of world resources is seen as a central doctrine as is the focus of cooperation instead of competition.
6. They see national pride as a destructive force.
7. They are to promote humanity, to connect man to man, to adapt to a world community.





I hope you noticed the New Age religion in that CONFLICT RESOLUTION: TEACHING TOLERANCE curriculum although there is not SUPPOSED to be an established religion in our schools. 
So,what is the origin of this Peace Curriculum? 


ORIGIN OF PEACE CURRICULUM (WORLD CORE CURRICULUM UNESCO)
Don't you wonder why the world seems so very much MORE VIOLENT WITH PEACE EDUCATION?
Meet Robert Muller.  Screen ShotROBERT MULLER HAS BEEN EXTREMELY INFLUENTIAL IN WORLD EDUCATION THROUGH UNESCO.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organization)
Robert Muller (Secretary-General of the UN's Economic and Social Council, founder of Robert Muller School of Ageless Wisdom in Arlington,Texas, helped establish the University of Peace in Costa Rica, from which came the International Educational Goals founded on the teachings of Alice Bailey, the curriculum from the School of Ageless Wisdom--the foundation of Goals 2000)
 First Director-general of UNESCO1946-48From THE HUMANISTMarch/April, 1979
 MULLER ON EDUCATION
"I had written an essay which was circulated by UNESCO, and which earned me the title of "Father of Global Education.'  I was educated badly in France I've come to the conclusion that the only correct education that I have received in my life was from the United Nations.  We should replace the word politics by planetics.  We need planetary management, planetary caretakers.  We need global sciences.  We need a science of a global psychology, a global sociology, a global anthropology.  Then I made my proposal for a World Core Curriculum."  Speech delivered at the University of Denver in 1995 (The World Core Curriculum has received the Department of Education's stamp of approval through the National Diffusion Network for use in public schools.) Robert Muller's School of Ageless Wisdom is fully certified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) He is also Chancellor of the University of Peace in Costa Rica and one of the major promoters of peace education initiatives through the United Nations.
Whatever happened ti the liberals' insistence upon the separation of church and state?
"Assisting the child in becoming an integrated individual who can deal with personal experience while seeing himself as a part of the `greater whole.' In other words, promote growth of the group idea, so that the group good, group understand, group interrelations and group goodwill replace all limited, self-centered objectives, leading to group consciousness." Trojan Horse, Brenda Scott and Samantha Smith
The following is from the Preface to "The Robert Muller School; World Core Curriculum Manual"
"The underlying philosophy upon which the Robert Muller School will be found in the teachings set forth in the books of Alice A. Bailey, by the Tibetan teacher, Djwhal Khul (published by Lucis Publishing Company, 113 University Place, 11th floor, New York NY 10083) and the teachings of M. Morya as given in the Agni Yoga Series books (published by Agni Yoga Society, Inc., 319 West 107th Street, New York, NY 10025).  

 I was unsure whether this School of Ageless Wisdom actually existed.  It does.  I visited it in Arlington, Texas.  No one answered my knock but there was a car in the driveway with a Clinton Gore bumper sticker. 
School of Ageless Wisdom 6098 Royal Oak Drive, Arlington, TexasYears ago, there was a brass plaque identifying this as the School of Ageless Wisdom. This is a Google image that came up when I Googled "Image of School of Ageless Wisdom Arlington Texas."I did not have a camera that day, but here it is.




If you followed any of those links, or merely read a bit about them, you are more informed as to the source and goal of this WORLD CORE CURRICULUM, the CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND TEACHING TOLERANCE COMPONENTS, and the SPIRITUAL UNDERPINNINGS of this movement.



So, I postulate that Peace Education is not truly to establish peace. It is to disrupt the norms of civilized society and establish a New World Order. 

MULTICULTURALISM NOT ACADEMICSMULTICULTURALISM is the vehicle justifying this paradigm shift. With the shift from Traditional to Progressive education Multiculturalism got integrated into every subject in a Thematic Progressive Classroom.
 It is the psychological and political manipulation of school children to accept this group's a prioi absolute that to advance the progress of vulnerable minorities like those listed, children in schools had to be programmed to an agenda of acceptance. 
And where did this agenda originate? 


UNESCO: Its Purpose and its Philosophy: "Thus even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care, and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that is unthinkable may at least become thinkable." Julian Huxley




Charter: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed."
"The Impact of Science on Society," UNESCO Journal: "Every government that has been in control of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen..." Huxley
""As long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only precarious results.  As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism.  The school should therefore use the means described earlier to combat family attitudes that favor jingoism...We shall presently recognize in nationalism the major obstacle to development of world-mindedness.  We are at the beginning of a long process of breaking down the wallf of national sovereignty.  UNESCO must be the pioneer."

OKAY NOW THIS IS WHERE IT BEGINS TO GET REALLY WEIRD. BUT SADLY IT IS TRUE. 
Robert Muller (Secretary-General of the UN's Economic and Social Council, founder of Robert Muller School of Ageless Wisdom in Arlington,Texas, helped establish the University of Peace in Costa Rica, from which came the International Educational Goals founded on the teachings of Alice Bailey, the curriculum from the School of Ageless Wisdom--the foundation of Goals 2000)

You have met Robert Muller.

And just who is Alice Bailey? 
And what in the world does she have to do with the education of my children, the Conflict Resolution Curriculum / Peace Education Curriculum, Political and Psychological Manipulation? 
After reading that Conflict Resolution curriculum in the 1990s, some friends and I did a search on Robert Muller and his belief system. I actually visited the School of Ageless Wisdom because I COULD NOT BELIEVE SUCH A PLACE COULD POSSIBLY EXIST!!!!!
But it does and Alice Bailey was a part of his inspiration. 

And what is the Lucis Trust?








I pointed out to you the New Age techniques in the Teaching Tolerance Curriculum posted above. 






SEE ALSO:   LUCIS TRUST PRESIDENT SPEAKShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akflU...
Resource Manual p. 49.
UNESCO: Its Purpose and its Philosophy
"The general philosophy of UNESCO should be a scientific world humanism, global in extent and evolutionary in background...In its education program it can stress the ultimate need for world political unity and familiarize all people with the implications of the transfer of full sovereignty from separate nations to a world organization...political unification in some sort of world government will be required....Tasks for the media division of UNESCO (will be) to promote the growth of a common outlook shared by all nations and cultures...to help the emergency of a single world culture...Even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care, and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that now is unthinkable may at least become thinkable."Sir Julian HuxleyFirst Director-general of UNESCO1946-48From THE HUMANISTMarch/April, 1979
Religious leaders have gotten sucked into this philosophy because of the high-minded rhetoric of those who promote the United Nations. 
 Lucis TrustExcerpted from:New Age RootsDark Foundations of the New World Order
Steve BontaThe New American, March 1, 1999
Although the Theosophical Society remains a force in the occult/New Age camp, its influence today seems to be confined to the education (or re-education) of those seeking alternatives to Western religion. The Society at Adyar parted ways with European and American power elites back in the 1920s, with the expulsion from the Society in America of Alice Bailey and her husband Foster Bailey. The Baileys inaugurated the Lucis Trust, a New York-based organization responsible for giving the New Age movement most of its modem organization and political trappings.
Like Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey claimed to have been overshadowed on various occasions by an "Ascended Master" (named Djwhal Khul), and to have penned many volumes of occult writing under his influence. The Lucis Trust, like the Theosophical Society, claims as one of its purposes the advancement of interest in occult and arcane religion. It runs a number of non-profit "arcane schools" designed to teach various occult doctrines and practices.
The Lucis Trust is also aggressively involved in promoting a globalist ideology, which it refers to as "goodwill." Its World Goodwill organization is closely connected to international elitist circles. Authors and participants in its various conferences read like a Who's Who of the globalist insiders. Featured on its website, for example, is the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities, put forth in April 1998 as a companion document to the notorious UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Signatories to the World Goodwill document include: Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor of West Germany; Malcolm Fraser, former Australian prime minister; Oscar Arias Sanchez, former prime minister of Costa Rica; Shimon Peres; Robert McNamara; Paul Volcker; and Jimmy Carter. Indeed, the Lucis Trust enjoys consultant status at the United Nations and, judging from the political writings appearing in its publications, it is as much a political organization as an occult religious one.









And if this wasn't weird enough-- it is about to get weirder. 
Blavatsky not only influenced Alice Bailey and Robert Muller, she was the inspiration for Hitler.
http://www.letusreason.org/nam%2037.htmSadly, oh so sadly, This is the SOURCE OF THE WORLD CORE CURRICULUM AND PEACE EDUCATIONThe Multicultural Agenda for Sex Education below is the consequence of the World Core Curriculum. It is a consequence of Christianity being removed from our schools and us allowing Secular Humanism to become the established religion. I must also ask why when we postulate what a horrible thing using a gun to kill is,  why do we not consider inflicting an individual with a terminal disease any less heinous. Might I suggest that the same valueless, amoral mindset motivates both?

Alice Bailey said when you are changing a nation, don’t bother with the old people, they are too stuck in the old traditions, they will not change, but GO FOR THE CHILDREN and that is what she did. She said ‘go for the children especially 10 years and below’, since 1945 i.e. any person below 60 years can be a victim of the ideas and the deceptions of this prophetess of the New Age.

She then created this  10 POINT CHARTER that is placed in the House of Lords – House of Commons in the U.K. 


1.TAKE GOD AND PRAYER OUT OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Alice Bailey  "Change curriculum to ensure that children are freed from the bondage of Christian culture. Why? Because children go to school to be equipped to face life, they are willing to trust and they are willing to value what is being given to them.
If you take God out of education, they will unconsciously form a resolve that God is not necessary to face life. They will focus on those things the school counts them worthy to be passed on and they will look at God as an additional, if one can afford the additional."
N.B. Today they introduce Transcendental Meditation (TM) in schools which takes children to altered states of consciousness to meet with demons (spirit guides) = New Age  


2. REDUCE PARENTAL AUTHORITY OVER THE CHILDREN

Alice Bailey " Break the communication between parent and child (Why?). So that parents do not pass on their Christian traditions to their children, liberate children from the bondage of their parent traditions (how?)

a)Promote excessive child rights; (1997-1998 South Africa introduced Child rights legislation – UNICEF Charter; Today a child is able to say to parent "I do not want to hear that, I don’t want to do what you are telling me." Teachers cannot talk to children, children step up and say "I have my rights, you cannot talk to me like that".
b)Abolish corporal punishment; (this has been made law). On the other hand the Bible says ‘Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell.’ (Proverbs 23: 13-14)

c)Teachers are the agents of implementation – from workshops, teachers tell children "your parent has no right to force you to pray or read the Bible, you are yourself, have a right of your own, you need to discover yourself, self expression, self realization, self fulfillment are all buzz words."

In the West when the child is 7 yrs, the teachers begin to say to the child ‘you have a right to choose whether you want to follow the faith of your parents or not, parents are not allowed to enforce their faith upon you.’ Question is, what type of decision can a 7 year old make?

3.DESTROY THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN FAMILY STRUCTURE
OR THE TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN FAMILY STRUCTURE (Why?).

It is oppressive and that the family is the core of the nation. If you break the family, you break the nation. Liberate the people from the confines of this structure (How?)

a)Promote sexual promiscuity – Free young people to the concept of premarital sex, let them have free sex, lift it so high that the joy of enjoying it(sex) is the highest joy in life, fantasize it, that everybody will feel proud to be seen to be sexually active, even those outside of marriage. 

This is contrary to the word of God which says “… But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints… for this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ephesians 5: 3-5)  

b)Use advertising industry, media – T.V., magazines, film industry to promote sexual enjoyment as the highest pleasure in humanity.

4. IF SEX IS FREE, THEN MAKE ABORTION LEGAL AND MAKE IT EASY

She said; Build clinics for abortion – Health clinics in schools. If people are going to enjoy the joy of sexual relationships, they need to be free of unnecessary fears, in other words they should not be hampered with unwanted pregnancies.

‘Abortion as told by Christians is oppressive and denies our rights, we have a right to choose whether we want to have a child or not. If a woman does not want the pregnancy, she should have the freedom to get rid of that pregnancy painless and as easy as possible’. 

Today it is not only accessible, it is forced. Today abortion is a strategy to curb population control together with the use of condoms and ‘pill’.


5. MAKE DIVORCE EASY AND LEGAL, FREE PEOPLE FROM THE CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE FOR LIFE.

Alice wrote 50 years ago that love has got a mysterious link called the love bond. It is like an ovum that comes out of the ovary, as it travels through your system, it clicks a love favor in you and there’s one other person in the world who can respond to that love bond, when you see that person, everything within you clicks, that is your man/woman, if you miss him, you’ll never be happy until that love bond cycles past, for many years, so for you to be happy get that person at whatever cost, if it means getting him/her out of that marriage, get him/her that is your man/woman.don’t be held in bondage by the Christian values it will never come back, what you need is an easily arranged divorce and allow another love bond to come forth, just like an ovum comes up, and when it comes forth you’ll enjoy life again. 

On the contrary God’s word says in Malachi 2: 16; “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce…”

It is one thing for a marriage to fail but it is another thing for people to enter marriage with an intention to enjoy as long as it was enjoyable and to walk out of it.


6. MAKE HOMOSEXUALITY AN ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE

Alice Bailey preached (50 yrs ago) that sexual enjoyment is the highest pleasure in humanity, no one must be denied and no one must be restricted how to enjoy themselves. People should be allowed in which ever way they chose they want, whether it is homosexuality or in incest or bestiality, as long as the two agree.

A law was passed in our nation, South Africa. Parliament has passed it on 26/01/2000 and the President gave it his signature on 4/02/2000 – giving so much freedom to gay rights, that a time will come when it is illegal for a preacher to mention homosexuality as an abomination in the eyes of God, or to read scriptures publicly that talk about homosexuality. 

According to the Bible, this is an abomination before the eyes of God
(Leviticus 18:22; 20:13)

7. DEBASE ART, MAKE IT RUN MAD

How? Promote new forms of art which will corrupt and defile the imagination of people because art is the language of the spirit, that which is inside, you can bring out in painting, music, drama etc. Look at the quality of the music that is coming out and types of films out of Hollywood even comedy episodes promote a lot of immoral behavior, children shows, list goes on.


8.USE MEDIA TO PROMOTE AND CHANGE MINDSET

Alice Bailey said the greatest channel you need to use to change human attitude is media. Use the press, the radio, T.V, cinema. You can tell today how successful they have been in implementing the plan over 50 years via media as well as advertising agencies, billboards, magazines. Who controls media? (New Age/Luciferians); So much money is pumped into media and advertising to spread pornographic material and other sources. Sex outside of marriage is thrown in your face 80-90 times a day than sex in marriage. Promiscuity is being promoted as natural, you watch gay sex on T.V. Conditioned people to except their New Age Agendas.


9. CREATE AN INTERFAITH MOVEMENT 

Alice Bailey wrote; Promote other faiths to be at par with Christianity, and break this thing about Christianity as being the only way to heaven, by that Christianity will be pulled down and other faiths promoted. She said promote the importance of man in determining his own future and destiny – HUMANISM. She said tell man he has the right to choose what he wants to be and he can make it happen, he has the right to determine his cause – This takes God off His throne. We have seen in our nation. Even in South Africa where a meeting was hosted of the Interfaith Movement in Cape Town led by Dalai Lama.


10. GET GOVERNMENTS TO MAKE ALL THESE LAWS AND GET THE CHURCH TO ENDORSE THESE CHANGES.


Alice Bailey wrote that the church must change its doctrine and accommodate the people by accepting these things and put them into its structures and systems.

Have they succeeded?

Source:

Bailey, Alice (1922), Initiation, human and solar, Lucifer Pub. Co., OCLC 1882542
The Lucis Trust is the official publisher of Alice Bailey's books.

http://polipocrits.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-nation-under-whose-god.html









AND WE WONDER WHY A CHILD WOULD PICK UP A GUN TO KILL OTHERS OR INFECT THEM INTENTIONALLY WITH A POTENTIALLY TERMINAL DISEASE? IS ONE ANY LESS WRONG THAN THE OTHER?

WHY I HAVE CHOSEN TO SELF-PUBLISH

Why I have chosen to self-publish.

I was blessed to have a very good friend, Kathie Bennet, who read my first manuscript, Swimming with Serpents, and said, "You can write."

She already represented quite a few authors, including
Karen Spears Zacharias whom I invited to Dothan for a Wednesday Lunch fundraiser at the Basketcase. Kathie was a blessing to our Friends of the Library because she had contacts with many fine authors. We learned a lot from those authors. I appreciated their coming to assist us and always arranged a visit on WTVY (Ann Varnum) and WDHN (Ken Curtis) to assist them in publicizing their fine books.

Karen Spears Zacharias was particularly helpful to me because she knew Marc Jolley and his interest in Creek Indian History. Benjamin Hawkins, Agent to the Creeks, built his agency quite near Macon, Georgia, where Mercer University Press is located.

Karen suggested that I send my manuscript to Marc Jolley. He liked the topic of my book and took a chance on me. I signed a contract pretty much signing everything over to them. I did not realize that other than including my books in their catalogue and paying for me to attend one event all other responsibilities for publicity would be mine. That included housing, transportation, etc. plus the cost of the publicist ($1000 a month). Kathie Bennett (Magic Time Literary Agency) is well worth the money, but unfortunately, I am obviously not a good salesman of my novels. I have been told I talk history rather than story and it is the story that sells the book (that comes with being a history teacher.) Kathie arranged housing and transportation with the Festivals that she booked for me. Fine festivals that were truly an education to me and a wonderful experience at every one. And book stores. Now I cherish those book store owners and the other authors I met whose friendships I now cherish.

I just did not succeed in selling many books! My fault.

Unfortunately, I have yet to receive a check from Mercer University Press and must pay them to buy back the rights to my books. I will do that eventually because I want to include some genealogies in the first and rewrite a bit of it. You can do that when you self-publish. I am grateful to Mercer for publishing them because that gave me the confidence to continue writing. They are good people. It is totally my fault that the novels they supported and published have not been successful.

My husband did not enjoy travel and it cost us more to travel and sell the books that I had purchased to sell than we made on any event. Perhaps my experience is unique.

But I still like to WRITE BOOKS. I had discovered stories no one else paid attention to. Swimming with Serpents focused on the Creek War and the Massacre at Fort Mims, a topic I was fascinated by because my grandmother lived in Brewton, Alabama. Whenever we passed across the bridge over Burnt Corn Creek and Murder Creek, Muddin told us those stories. When we went to the cemetery she said that was where Weatherford jumped off the cliff. (It wasn't I later discovered, but the image was planted in my brain.)

And then I started doing genealogy and I found out my fourth Great Grandmother, Vashti Vann Jernigan, was Native American (Cherokee). Ironically, her husband was a good friend of Andrew Jackson. (Think of those suppers where Jackson ate at her table!) Later I discovered that Josiah Francis (executed by Jackson) was a distant cousin.

Who were those people? Why were they there? What was the battle all about?

And then I wondered, what happened to the Indians after Horseshoe Bend? I would attend meetings at the Archives in Montgomery and all I heard were stories of Jackson's militia. And that was straight history or genealogy. Yet, I grew up teething on Historical Fiction through the "You Were There" series of children's books. Historical Fiction inspires one to find out more.

That curiosity then led me to follow the Red Sticks who escaped Horseshoe Bend down into Florida, the Seminole War and -- The Negro Fort -- and the novel,  IN PURSUIT. Quite a story there!

After the destruction of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River and the loss to Jackson in the First Seminole War, where did they all go? This included the Blacks who escaped the Fort and fled to Angola. A story lost until Vickie Oldham and Uzi Baram (New College, Sarasota, Florida) started their archaeological digs.

Until I wrote ON TO ANGOLA: RACE TO FREEDOM. It is our hope this novel will spur an interest in Angola and help Uzi and Vickie reclaim this bit of Black History. I hope they will not forget Talapchopco, Peter McQueen's last refuge. McQueen was Osceola's mentor and uncle. What a story that is! One leads to another, you see!)

In each of these stories I have taken the children rescued by Lyssa Rendel Kincaid to build a story. I research the time, the people famous and unknown during those times and weave a story, telling not only their personal story, but the story of those times. ON TO ANGOLA: RACE TO FREEDOM explains the plight of free Blacks and Escaped Slaves as Jackson as provisional governor in 1821 helps to mold his vision of Manifest Destiny in Florida. Along the way, readers are introduced to early Jewish settlers, pirates who still roamed the Gulf waters, former Red Sticks and future warriors (Osceola, Wildcat, and John Horse).

These are important stories. To the victor belongs the spoils and that includes the writing of history. The books I write are the "rest of the story." Not exactly what we wish it to be. But what it is. "Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

Now back to the topic, why I chose to self-publish. Why not? If the story is good enough, self-publishing will not inhibit sales. Look at Shades of Grey! (Though On To Angola is more of a young adult novel or even Christian Historical Fiction.) What helps a book to become successful is ALWAYS the reviews on Amazon and one friend recommending the book to another.

Traveling for an event gets more challenging as one gets older. My husband just had brain surgery and family demands to stay home grow greater, believe it or not, as one gets older. Like my mother I have a bad back and just put in a chair lift in our home.

If other publishers require what Mercer needed of me, that is something I cannot do at this time of my life. But the stories keep percolating. And so, the Creek Indian Family saga will probably continue.
As will the Mint Julep Mysteries. Have you read about Dabney, Sophia, Faye Lynne, Ruby, Florence, Berniece, Carrow Dee, and others?

If you haven't you are missing a treat! I go from the serious writing I do on the Creek Indian Family Saga to the humor, mischief and mystery of the Mint Julep Mysteries, women of a certain age with whom so many of you will not be able NOT TO IDENTIFY WITH. I love to read and I love to write.

I choose to self-publish through CREATESPACE, a place that makes the process simple and fun. I hope you choose to read what I write. By the way, though I talk history, the stories in these novels are well worth reading. If I had to judge them they would be GREAT! But then I am the one who lived this history through them and I will guarantee you it was an exciting adventure!

I am grateful to Mr. James McCalister, former Superintendent of Bay County Schools and current President of the Friends of the Library for his encouragement two days after I posted that the novel ON TO ANGOLA: RACE TO FREEDOM was ready to purchase on Kindle:

Dear Sharman,
Congratulations!!!  I have just purchased a copy of your new book, "On To Angola."  The book is fabulous and it's hard for me to put it down for any length of time.  I am gravitated to it like a high power magnet.  Best wishes,James E. McCalister
This was totally unsolicited. Thank you, Mr. Mac! You made my day!

PLUS, IT IS FUN TO SELF-PUBLISH! You get to create everything from research to writing to choosing the cover and then editing. All the errors are mine. For good or bad. And, if I make any money on it, that is simply icing on the cake because I got to share those stories with others! (There are a few folks who share my interest in history.)

Should you choose to purchase one, I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Should you be considering self-publishing and I can help explain the path, just email me at sharmanramsey@gmail.com.

Sharman Ramsey
Panama City
February 2018

ON TO ANGOLA: RACE TO FREEDOM

ANDREW JACKSON using men of influence sent Coweta Indians under Charles Williams, William Weatherford, and others to take, in the name of the United States, and make prisoners of all the men of colour, including women and children, they would be able to find, and bring them all, well secured, to a certain place, which has been kept a secret. ON TO ANGOLA is the latest addition to the Creek Family Saga. 
ON TO ANGOLA (WEBSITE)AVAILABLE ON AMAZON (LINK TO AMAZON)
Historical Fiction 
Black and Native American History
Florida History

Sharman Burson Ramsey tells the complicated, important story of a haven for freedom on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Angola, a maroon community of self-emancipated slaves and free blacks, was hidden from slave raiders and from history, until recently. Piecing together the archaeological and historical information on the hundreds of people living near the Manatee River and Sarasota Bay in early 19th century, the novel skillfully weaves a story of people from across Spanish La Florida, the US southeast, and Britain who sought freedom and family in Tampa Bay, themes that continue to inspire us today.


Uzi Baram
Professor of Anthropology
Director of the New College Public Archaeology Lab
New College of Florida
5800 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243 USA
Baram@ncf.edu

List Price: $20.00
6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm) 
Black & White on White paper
338 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1985094154 (CreateSpace-Assigned) 
ISBN-10: 1985094150 
BISAC: Fiction / Action & Adventure
“Towards the end of the month of April last, some men of influence and fortune, residing somewhere in the western country, thought of making a speculation in order to obtain Slaves for a trifle. They hired Charles Miller, William Weatherford [and others], and under these chiefs, were engaged about two hundred Cowetas Indians. They were ordered to proceed along the western coast of East Florida, southerly, and there take, in the name of the United States, and make prisoners of all the men of colour, including women and children, they would be able to find, and bring them all, well secured, to a certain place, which has been kept a secret.”  
“Advice to Southern Planters” in Charleston City Gazette.  

This novel, historical fiction, reunites twins Cato and Andro, ripped apart at birth, one raised as a slave, the other as the adopted son of a Duke. Their quest to find their mother leads to a race against the Coweta raiders. They deal with slavers, unscrupulous English men, pirates, and the untamed frontier. In this adventure they join Red Stick survivors of the Creek and First Seminole War in a joint race for survival. 
Angola is a place now being uncovered with a story that needs to be told. Uzi Baram (Professor of Archaeology at New College of Florida)  and Vickie Oldham conduct archaeological digs in the Sarasota area to recreate that settlement of those desperate people that was raided by Coweta Indians sent by Jackson. 

Dear Sharman,Congratulations!!!  I have just purchased a copy of your new book, "On To Angola."  The book is fabulous and it's hard for me to put it down for any length of time.  I am gravitated to it like a high power magnet.  Best wishes,James E. McCalisterPresident, Friends of the Library Panama City, Florida

DOTHAN, ALABAMA CONTINUES TO FAIL TO TEACH STUDENTS TO READ! ONLY 41% ARE PROFICIENT READERS?

For years I have been pointing out to you the problems with the curriculum of our schools. At what point will you realize that your "support" makes you complicit with this failure!

Can you believe that only 41% of Dothan City Students children are proficient in reading? That means that 59% are not. That is okay with you? 

Since hiring your State of Alabama Chief Academic Officer, Barbara Cooper, your reading scores on the National Assessment of Academic Progress has dropped in reading from the 26th percentile TO THE 50TH PERCENTILE. 

READ HER MOTIVATING BOOK: 

Or the review on my blog https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/radical-possibilities-your-children.html

In Dothan, this sad situation is with a student teacher ratio of 18 to 1. Not bad. That used to be the goal they told us would produce perfect schools as they demanded more money. You mean that didn't work? Need more money, right?




As usual with the bigotry of low expectations and the cruelty of condescension your superintendent blames the children. 

"Ledbetter said about 66 percent of students in the city school system qualify for free or reduced lunch meals, which the federal government uses as an indicator of poverty. Ledbetter said the Dothan City Schools low-income students performed significantly better than the statewide average for students living in poverty. Ledbetter said that shows that the system’s efforts to support children from low-income homes are bearing fruit."

HOGWASH!

Years ago a group of parents, concerned citizens, brought Black educator, John Winston, to speak to the Dothan School. The children he brought from the 25th percentile to the 80th, reading disabilities fell from 40 to about one and discipline problems disappeared. How can you afford not to get your teachers trained in this and give those children A CHANCE!












" Dothan Eagle once again you have managed to put lipstick on a pig. You are partly to blame for this tragedy.
Say what?

"Ledbetter said drop-offs in performance between elementary and middle school remain a problem and will likely always be a problem because of how children develop."

I will tell you what I saw. They memorize a rolodex of words with whole word (oh, forgive me, they're now using an eclectic approach, which means they're using whole language because it is so much fun! and Much easier!) And then since they have been able to read only books with vocabularies limited to those words, the opportunity for broad reading then did limit their vocabulary.   NOW, thirty years after we first brought this to the attention of the School Board, they continue the precipitous slide into becoming Chicago where only 1 in 4 can read! Keep on following that crowd and with those wonderful good intentions you know exactly where that will lead. 




Do you see this in your classrooms? Then they are not learning to read phonetically and you are not really teaching those children to read!


 How many more children can you afford to lose? Where are you elected representatives? How can they just sit by and continue to support this ridiculous pretense at education?

I am outraged. I thank God my own children are able to attend a private school. But what a shame that the others must accept this excuse for an education and continue to have the public support it!

Go participate with a Cat in the Hat parade. That will teach them to read. Join in a Yes We Can March.

Throw more money at it. That has worked so well in the past.

And by the way, the best answer for the homeless, hopeless, helpless and hungry is to GIVE THEM A REAL EDUCATION AND A CHANCE!

My Answer for the Homeless through my novels in the Mint Julep Mysteries Trilogy

  In the Mint Julep Mysteries Trilogy I address the problem with Homelessness. Here are excerpts from several Chapters: 
Book ICreme de Cassis and Murder Suddenly famous, talented people called Ruby wanting to join Sadie Summer in performing at that charity event. The more that called the more Ruby and Reverend Ledbetter realized that Ruby T’s Roadhouse would simply not be big enough. So they moved it to the field across from Miss Ruby’s Roadhouse. They got generators and borrowed sound equipment and a flatbed trailer from the group that put on Birmingham’s City Stages. The list of stars wanting to participate expanded beyond our state borders. The event grew and grew to be our generation’s version of Woodstock there in the fields of Cox County, Alabama, because Miss Ruby of Ruby T’s had the vision to ask her relative if he would ask his friend -- herself a survivor to come and lend a hand to raise some money to help those who had got down and needed a hand to get up.Adam said there would be a worldwide audience for that show. The networks bid against one another for the privilege of televising this production that Miss Ruby’s relative decided to take a hand in. People trickled in at first and then came the flood that made donations at the gate. The news stations reported the phenomena and there came a deluge. Volunteers brought cookers and the smell of barbecue filled the air. Alf’s was the most popular. Porta-potties were brought in from Selma and Montgomery and the party beganI was found and alive though it took me a while to recover from whatever Freddie had doped me up with. But, I survived. Freddie and Willie were in jail. They would not rob me of my joy. I would not allow them to hold onto any piece of me. There was no way I was missing my chance to dance and sing with Sadie Summer. Julio opened the show and from that point forward the world was his oyster. He and Estrellita joined forces for a couple of duets and I knew from the glassy eyed looks, the gasps, hoots and whistles that the world had its new Donny and Marie … Latin Country … go figure. And then Julio went classical and the audience cheered his Spanish guitar. They rocked the house with a medley of familiar hits recorded by Hispanic recording artists. Estrellita was already everyone’s darling and tonight Julio joined her as a star in his own right and not just the sidekick of a show on the Dishing It Network.  One star after another sang and danced. You just couldn’t think it could possibly get any better and then they called Sadie Summer to the stage.  Patsy and Joy joined Sister, Faye Lynne, Florence, Bernice and me as we sat together with the other performers on a flatbed surrounded by the security those big stars needed. They held tambourines in their hands and would pretend to participate while we sang and danced. We had not filmed their segment yet. They promised not to leave until we taped the show. I really thought Joy had a thing for Elvis if you want to know the truth.I was too nervous to be much affected by the big names with whom we sat. What truly impressed me was their kindness to me and their generosity to Ruby T’s vision I wore my Sadie Summer-like fringed shift and was getting cold feet. Who was I to think I could sing with Sadie Summer?  She was a super star and I was a pretender, a fraud, a Dishing It Network star that couldn’t cook!Miss Ruby motioned her girls to the stage.  “Miss Ruby, I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered shaking like a leaf.  “This ain’t about you, Dabney,” Miss Ruby said. “Some of these folks are here just to see you, believe it or not. They ain’t no explainin’ it, I know, but they are.”Well, that was encouraging. Not!“Besides. You don’t go out there and do the best you can do those bitches have won.”No way in hell I’d back down now! With Ruby T, conniving was a fine art. I looked at the ladies standing there with me. I had made a commitment to myself and to this wonderful group of women.  I hurried with them behind the flatbed to come out to back up the amazing survivor. Suddenly the crowd stood and cheered. Sadie called me forward. I stepped back thinking the cheers were for her. She just smiled and extended her hand as if passing the adulation to me. The applause continued, but I knew whom the crowd had come to see. She sang “Secret Dancing” with our group dancing along behind her, Faye Lynne shining. The crowd cheered. She sang “Cross the Deep River” and they raved. And then she turned and handed me a microphone and together we sang “Commotion.” In spite of all of my bruises I shimmied and I shook and I had enough air to make it through the song. Faye Lynne could dance, but I could sing, and I gave it all I had. But Sadie Summer was the Star, the Master. She did not just sing. She flirted, she pranced, she shimmied, and she sweated like crazy. The standing ovation went on and on and on. She called out all who had sung before.Julio calmed things down with “God Bless America” and everyone sang along reading the words off the screen behind the stage. The periwinkle blue sky darkened as the brilliant pink of the setting sun crept up on it. Miss Ruby took center stage. Glittering like a strobe light with the lights shining on her silver sequined dress Ruby T commandeered the stage and requested silence. She stood there for a moment. Then she said, “I want to thank my cousin S. TEE for helping me to organize this event and for calling on his friends.” Ruby T wasn’t much on public speaking. So she urged me forward. “And now, my friend, herself a survivor has a few words.” I walked to the front of the stage overwhelmed by the cheers and applause, the total outpouring of love. I was humbled. I had been reluctant to speak, but Ruby was insistent. Why she wanted me, I’ll never know. But, she had asked me to say a few words there at the end. I hoped I could do justice to Miss Ruby’s faith.  I hesitated a moment clasping my hands before me and bowing to their kindness. I took in the crowd and accepted their wonderful welcome. I took the microphone and, though I looked out into the sea of faces before me, I thought of those I had seen on the streets. “They are homeless, hopeless, helpless, and hungry,” I said, picturing them as I had seen them. “They are mothers, sisters, daughters. Sometimes they hold their little ones by the hand and walk with small steps because the little ones have very short legs. On their backs they wear the knapsacks that tell that some kind soul, or perhaps a Rescue Mission, provided a few toiletries and maybe a few clothes. They are fathers, brothers, sons who have perhaps just lost their jobs and everything with it. Or just lost their way. One day, some way, they could be you. They could be me. They could be our sister, brother or child.”“I knew a woman once. A Black woman. Hattie Bea helped my parents raise me.”“Her parents abandoned her and her mentally challenged sister and left them with grandparents who abused her sister. One day she had enough. Her sister had been abused one too many times. She took her sister by the hand that day and led her down the red clay dirt road of South Alabama and never looked back.” “She was homeless, hopeless, helpless and hungry with a sister who trusted her. Perhaps not a child, but childlike. A Jewish lady happened to be on the sidewalk sweeping in front of her store and saw the girl walk toward her, her chin up and her eyes determined, but anxious, her sister shuffling along behind her holding her hand. That woman smiled at her, offered her food and something to drink. Some shade to rest in. She recommended her for a job cleaning at the hotel across the street.” “She never had much, but she never forgot the Jewish lady who helped her that day. She was as honest as the day was long. The little she had she shared and made a difference in many other lives. Including mine.”“She told me about her early life. And then she said, ‘Chile, sometimes ya gotta get down to git up.’”“I lost my husband and the world fell in around me. I’ve been thrown in a well and thought there was no way out. I have been kidnapped and terrorized. Always I remembered Hattie Bea’s words, ‘Chile, sometimes ya gotta git down to git up.’”“Bernice here lost her husband. She’d tell you…’Chile…’” Reverend Ledbetter recognized a time to jump in and said, “‘Ya gotta git down to git up’.”
                  “Sadie Summer hit rock bottom with a husband that abused her and children that depended on her and she would tell you”… the sea of people chimed in saying “Ya gotta git down to git up.”“So, while I thank you all tonight for looking into your hearts and finding compassion for the homeless, the hopeless, the helpless, and the hungry, I want each one of you who might at this moment be homeless, feeling hopeless and helpless and being hungry -- in Hattie Bea’s words -- ’Chile, sometimes ya gotta git down to git up.’”I looked at Gavin sitting with Harvey and Senator Hartwell Banks. Turns out Harvey and Hartwell are identical twins. But I would always be able to tell them apart.  “Love could be waiting one aisle away at Home Depot.”I looked at Sister. “Reconciliation with a loved one could be a phone call away.”  I looked at Ruby T. “A life changing friendship may be sitting on a piano bench at a church you’ve been invited to attend.”I looked at Bob the CEO of the Dishing It Network. “A new career could be one room over in a restaurant.”Fabio winked at me. “A book you have written might actually get published.”“Today I can no longer say that I am ‘almost sixty.’ When this fabulous journey started and I was ‘almost sixty’ I could never have imagined the surprises life still had for me.” I looked at the sea of faces before me. The children I adored looked up at me.  “Today I am sixty.”Cheers erupted from the crowd before me. After all I’d been through, making it to sixty needed to be cheered, I figured.  “My children ask me ‘What color is the sky in your world, Mom’?  And I can truthfully say ‘Blue skies, Baby. With white puffy clouds because no life is without a little rain.’ Thank you all for joining me on this wonderful ride.”I lifted my hands to the skies above … a universally understood “thank you.” Then I threw a kiss to the reluctant angel I knew watched from a cloud. I stepped back.  There was nothing more for me to say.(Mint Juleps Trilogy, p. 389-393, Sharman Jean Burson)
Everybody laughed. The world famous gardens around Waverly, the plantation house that inspired Partying on the Plantation, our Dishing It Network Show, started with just such an observation. “I remember the allotment gardens I saw throughout Europe. If we divide the land around the central facility into small garden plots, our tent city residents could grow fruits and vegetables to cook in the soup kitchen at the community center, give to the schools, and sell at a farmer’s market to make a little money.” (p. 419 Mint Julep Mysteries Trilogy (Sharman Jean Burson)The result of that big event to raise money for the homeless, hopeless, hungry and helpless was the Garden:Book II, Mint Juleps and MurderChapter Two
I got up early and turned on the Weather Channel praying for the rains from the predicted very early in the season hurricane to hold off. Fortunately, the welcome sun now shone through in a break in the weather bands for the long planned Victory Garden dedication. I prayed it would last long enough for the judges’ decision and my surprise announcement, but from the look of the dark clouds rolling in over the needled pines, I had my doubts. We considered cancelling, but decided that wouldn’t be fair to the gardeners who had worked so hard. The winds and rain of the approaching hurricane would beat the vegetation down and spoil the effects they had worked so hard to achieve. Julio drove the limousine under the arched sign where my eyes lingered above the pillared entrance. I was as excited about the announcement of the name of the gardens that sign would proclaim to the world as I was about any of the prizes we would award. As I walked, with Elvis and Ralph escorting me, to the stage from the limousine where Julio would wait for me, I heard many foreign languages mingled with the distinctive Cox County drawl of the locals. A large Hispanic population now lived in Cox County to plant trees on the pine plantations, so the many Spanish conversations didn’t surprise me. The now familiar media with cameras and microphones arranged themselves about the stage, once again a flatbed trailer, from which Ruby and I would speak. They were eager to find out who would win the one thousand dollar first prize for the best garden and another for the best garden shed. I blinked with the barrage of flashes from the media lights wishing the photographers would focus on the people to whom these gardens were dedicated rather than me. “The sin of pride was upon me,” I mouthed to myself before standing to take my place on the stage the morning after taping those shows. I recalled the opening words by Atlanta Constitution writer Celestine Sibley in her book A Place Called Sweet Apple as I stepped forward to the podium on the stage. I wore sunglasses today. The effects of those strawberries still pounded behind my eyes. My heart filled. I stood alone, dressed in a royal blue A-line fighting the sporadic gusts of wind to keep my huge white brimmed hat, on my head. I looked out at the lush allotment garden before me and the crowd that had gathered for the awards ceremony. Ruby and the event planners had decided against rows of metal chairs that would just have sunk down in the soft dirt since they could not predict the size of the crowd.These individual allotment gardens brought pride not just to me, but to the many veterans who originally formed a large part of the tent city of homeless who once camped in this field needing help to find their way home. Now those who had accepted the challenge stood proudly in their gardens awaiting the awards announcements. We called these Victory Gardens to honor them and their service. Today I represented the major sponsor of the Victory Gardens, the Dishing It Network and Sister’s and my award winning cooking show Partying on the Plantation. Only Sister wasn’t there. I glanced over at the sheet covered sign above the pillared entrance and immediately looked down at the Soul Sisters -- Bernice, Florence, Betty Lee, and Faye Lynne, also wearing sunglasses to cover her bloodshot eyes-- standing in the crowd before me. Ruby sat on the stage behind me prepared to present awards. For the moment, in spite of the expected storm, it was a beautiful day. A glorious day. A perfect day.
 Book III, Mayans, Muscadine and Murder
EPILOGUE Six Weeks Later Today was one of those days you wanted to capture like a lightning bug in a bottle so you could enjoy the glow over and over. It began with the dedication of the Victory Garden, a garden ravaged by a storm, but still standing with beauty continuing to burst forth. Instead of honoring a dead soldier, we honored a live hero. We uncovered the sign that said Kendrick Newkirk Victory Garden. Bernice hasn’t let go of her man since she got out of the hospital. He’s joined Bernice down at Soul Sisters as pastry chef, a job no one ever knew was his second choice for a profession ever since was five years old and helped his grandmother bake a chocolate layer cake. Having a background job suits him for the moment, but he spends lots of time at the Victory Garden and in the tent city. Kendrick has been where they’ve been and talks their language. He’s good at getting them to the services they need so they can get better and go home. Like he did. (p. 572, Mint Julep Trilogy, Sharman Jean Burson

Bullying NOT A NEW THING

Recently a 12 year old at Surfside Middle School in Panama City, Florida, committed suicide because of bullying. My heart breaks for all involved. Sue Harrell, the Principal at that school, is my Sunday School teacher and a finer woman never lived. I know she is heartbroken and challenging every word and action she uttered and took. This is a serious problem -- but it is nothing new. Technology has merely put this problem on steroids.
http://abc13.com/2-arrested-for-cyber-bullying-after-12-year-old-girls-suicide/2983420/

Her parents and the children (12 year olds) are all a part of a modern tragedy. What could we have done; what could we have said? An impulsive act resulting from a bad situation created a tragedy. Are there answers? I don't know. I just know that bullying is not a new thing.

Several years ago, my oldest granddaughter experienced bullying at a local charter school. She came out of school crying one day. My daughter said to herself, my daughter doesn't have to take this. She immediately drove over to Holy Nativity and our granddaughter found a wonderful welcome. (By the way, after they were separated by schools and time, those girls became friends.)

Years ago, I remember being bullied. It is not fun. "You're so fat, how do you make it down the hall," taunted two chubby male classmates. I told my mother that afternoon, crying. She said, "You just tell them, 'You don't have to pay for my groceries, so don't you worry about it!'"

Not exactly the best comeback, but I thought it was brilliant.

One of those boys died fairly early and the other is now blind. I do not revel in their troubles, but, just as mother said, I outgrew that and had many happy things happen.

It didn't stop there. My father moved us from the church I grew up in to a new one inhabited by those who shunned me most. They refused to sit by me. Mean girls existed even then. (I am 67 now.) Those painful feelings never leave you. And church is not always the answer because their parents take them to church just like you do yours.

Am I saying the lessons taught in church don't sink in and make people better? Only if they actually internalize the lessons and first they must be taught and not just with words, but with example. So many churches are caught up in special projects and serving others as a GROUP that the responsibility of the INDIVIDUAL "to do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is lost.

(I had another bad day that I remember well-- got sent to the office by a teacher, a unique experience for me. I checked out of school and they did not challenge me seeing how upset I was. My mother said, "You are wearing red. That is your bad luck color. Change clothes and go back to school." I did and she was right. Silly I know, but I had a WONDERFUL mother! who apparently knew her simple minded daughter well.)

I also remember the shunning when I helped a guy I later found out everyone said was gay learn the cheers before tryouts. He could do back handsprings all the way across the gym. We practiced on my front yard. I did not see him as gay. I did not have a clue what gay was! I saw him as a friend I had made while working on a play who wanted to be a cheerleader and needed my help. I was shocked by their reaction. He went on to a successful career in New York as a dancer. Sadly, he later died of AIDS.

Fortunately, we did not have cell phones or computers with Twitter and Facebook.

So, my conclusion after this observation is:
If your child is bullied, consider moving your child to a different school. The administration NEEDS to help you expedite that move.Take the technology away from your child. They do not HAVE TO HAVE phones or computers. You are not punishing them, you are saving them from an addiction that can kill. Now let me make a comment from the perspective of years, I was a very privileged child. My father and mother loved me and supported me. I lived in a beautiful home with nearly around the clock help. I see now that those experiences gave me great empathy and insight into the emotions of others and took me out of my privileged self into the feelings of others. So if your child is having trouble in school, he/she might benefit from what I learned:

     Advice:
I joined everything and tried out for everything in high school. (Future Teachers of America, Latini Socii, Spanish Club, Thespian Society, National Honor Society, Morning Devotional, lost weight and got Cheerleader-- a real shocker to those who designed my pigeon hole.) I discovered so many GREAT people out there that I had never met!I learned that I made better friends with those older than me than I did with those my age. (Of course, in high school, that can be only one or two years!) Though it has continued through old age and I find I have friends much younger and much older!I learned to sit with those who sat alone. I learned to stand with those standing alone as I had with Evelyn Davis (older than us, special education, looking so sad as she stood alone on the Elementary school playground) and to do that when attending social events for ladies organizations, churches, etc.I learned to SMILE because that attracts people to you.I learned to be interested in OTHER people. That came naturally with me because I am truly interested.LISTEN! Everyone has a story. And many have all their words stored up and need someone to talk to. I have learned you never have enough friends, though time limits how much time you have to "be" a friend. (That is one reason I love Facebook from that perspective. I must say I have encountered "mean girls" on Facebook. Oddly no guys. That is what the "Unfriend" button is for! Delete is great for emails you don't want to read.)My mother said those girls were jealous. Of what, I could not imagine! I was a lonely little fat girl and they were pretty and popular. They were blessed with "a group." How can the group be special if you let everybody in? So, never, never, never expect to be included in THAT group.It is a big world. When you grow up you can get out of that town and the pigeon hole they have built for you and be whomever YOU WANT TO BE!EVERY ONE IS NOT GOING TO LIKE YOU. Those words to a daughter having trouble with bullying at a Christian school came from a psychiatrist to whom that I will always be grateful. It helped me as well. I, of course, want everyone to like me. But, if you ever stand for anything, you will find that is impossible.There are other schools. Your child IS A CHILD. The administration needs to work with you. Too often we expect them to be adults. We are the adults. Pray. Remember there are other places, other people. Our children are not yet armed with the sword and the shield and much of the current curriculum undermines faith with New Age techniques. You may not know that as we often "just trust" they know what to put into our children's minds and the best way to handle things. My family's answer of getting my children out of a bad situation may not be an option for you. My little brother had someone commit suicide in his apartment when he was a Freshman at the University of Alabama. His friend had never experienced failure. When he graduated and did not get the job he wanted he could not face it. He took a gun and blew his brains out. Elkanah went to see what the noise was and found a sight he will never forget. Because suicide can sometimes be contagious we worried about him.

I was so proud of his reaction. "That was a permanent solution to a temporary problem," he said.

We will through life face many of those temporary problems, something to share with children. Those who love us must remind us it is a temporary problem. A door closed in one direction. Our God will open another in a different direction. More wonderful. More exciting. More purposeful. Than the door we want opened.

Beautiful, little skinny people experience bullying just like this little fat girl did. Handsome, smart, privileged young men experience bullying. Look out of your own haze of the current situation into the eyes of someone who may be experiencing the same or worse.

Encourage those bullied and tell them that God will use every experience to prepare them for the future He has prepared for them. Sometimes you have to be caught up in the belly of the whale to find yourself on a far shore for a purpose only He can see. Character gets tempered in fire like steel.

They will probably think "what do you know about it?" So don't give up.

MORE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES THAT YOU NEED NOT READ. MY HUSBAND SAYS THIS IS WAY TOO LONG. HE IS USUALLY RIGHT. 

But, if you think this might inspire your despairing child, continue on. 
I guess it is all of those experiences that I draw upon to write the novels I write. I began with the inspiration that my fourth great grandmother was Cherokee. Who could have been more bullied than Native Americans? (Swimming with Serpents). The second book put those Red Stick Native Americans in the Negro Fort with free and escaped slaves. The fort was blown up by a gunboat sent by Andrew Jackson July 17, 1816. (In Pursuit). Try to find that fort now. It is now called Fort Gadsden and if the bear has once more pulled down the sign you might not find it! The third in the series that I am working on now, brings that group of escapees to Angola in South Florida pursued by a bunch of raiders led by Native Americans associated with the Americans, sent by Jackson to rid the Peninsula of the former Red Sticks and escaped slaves. Two little boys (with whom we can all relate) come together to find their mother (with whom every Mother can identify), caught up in this turmoil.

All of those events are true, there are major characters that are fictional, but they interact with real people in true situations. They are published by Mercer University.
Has all that went before prepared me as a privileged white woman to write this? (I have also found a a genetic connection to West Africa, a tad of Ashkenazi Jew, and according to Tribal DNA a Mayan/Mexican/Native American connection, in addition to the primary Northern European DNA. That is a cocktail of cultures that probably most of us will find.) 
I want to share here the wisdom of "the help" who never seemed like "the help" but my best friend and as dear as any relative.

Mattie Lee Martin, my beloved Mammy Jean Gillis Burson and Mattie Lee Martin 



















Nobody could have experienced more bullying than my Mammy.

Her parents abandoned her and her mentally challenged sister with their grandparents. Those grandparents abused her sister one too many times. Mammy took her by the hand and led her down those dirt country roads into the downtown area of Dothan, Alabama. A Jewish lady, Mrs. Bender, saw the two children and stopped sweeping the sidewalk to speak to them. Mammy (Mattie Lee) told her what had happened to them so Mrs. Bender took them in, gave them both something to drink, and I imagine, from how much Mammy loved her, gave her suitable clothes to go across the street to ask for a job to the Wadlington Hotel. She started off very low on the totem pole cleaning rooms and wound up as a cook there and then later in the kitchen at the Houston Hotel. From there she became a private cook for Dr. Mazyck who told my father, a physician who had privileges at Moody Hospital, about her (founded by Dr. Mazyck's father-in-law, Dr. Moody).

Mammy was much impressed by Marjorie Moody Mazyck. She was the epitome of a lady in Mammy's eyes and Mammy was determined that I learn from what Margie Mazyck taught her.

What did that mean?

Mammy did the best she could to turn these cow's ear into silk purses.
Mammy taught me that my father deserved my respect. I would never have thought of disrespecting him and never called him anything but, "Sir." The Meat goes in front of the doctor who sits at the head of he table. The fork goes with the napkin to the left, the knife and spoon to the right of the plate. "You too bossy! You ain't gone have any friends." I've tried to do better, but maybe not hard enough sometimes!  And so much more that I cannot remember at the moment.Mammy's life was never easy. She worked hard. She raised and educated a daughter who brought her a granddaughter that she adored. Dr. Mazyck had given her a home close to the church. That church life sustained her. She did not let circumstance determine her future. She helped all who came to her door. She taught by example. She loved greatly. And she loved me... one of my greatest blessings.
Fortunately, when I wound up in tears, I had both my mother and Mammy there to encourage me. Mammy wanted me to "be somebody." "Yo daddy, he be somebody and you got to be somebody too!" and I knew she meant more than make a lot of money. Mammy looked into people's hearts as did my mother. Their experiences guided their lives.

And I pray God they will continue to guide mine until the day I see them again ... and perhaps through this introduction you may benefit from their wonderful role model.

What is happening to that child at that moment is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER! It is hard for those who have survived childhood to see it.

I had great mentors in my mother, grandmother and Mammy. I pray that your children/grandchildren can draw from your own spiritual strength and wisdom to guide them.

Remember Grandparents, God doesn't let you retire. "Speak of these things when you lie down, when you rise up, when you walk by the way."

My grandmother's lessons came tempered with the smell of Ben Gay and a jar for her false teeth, "Muddin's Little Chompers." 
Just so you children never think that life as an adult is always perfect, much to my dismay, in addition to all the WONDERFUL things that have happened to me, I must admit that people will continue to surprise you throughout your life! Among the many surprises I have encountered, Ijoined one of the best sororities (THE BEST) on campus only to have a part of that group in high school, including those two boys, pledge a fraternity that converted many into alcoholics ignore me and be rude to several of my pledge sisters at a pledge swap. They humiliated me because I had spoken so highly of them to my pledge sisters. have had former friends walk on the other side of the street because I opposed Whole Language and wanted to bring a Back To Basics curriculum into our schools.have walked back into a graduate school classroom with my skirt still tucked into my underpants after going to the bathroom. (Nope that was not bullying, but I was so embarrassed I wished I could die!have been accused in a newspaper "letter to the editor" of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan and Flat Earthers for opposing the "innovations" that have brought about the decline of our schools. (Who spread those rumors and why?)have been told not to come back to a restaurant, after I, as president of the organization bringing the Colonial Dames to eat there, the owner called me up afterwards and accused me of opening a present (that I did not do)have been told not to come back to a fruit stand because I spent too much time finding the perfect basket of peaches (I did do that) been amazed when members of a church group (not the one I now attend) chastised me for speaking out on pornography posturing as quality literature promoted in 11th grade COMMON CORE literature (past teachers still circling the wagons)been removed from a board of a directors after organizing events, handling publicity and promoting the organization through television, etc. and writing and sending the newsletter -- because I used some of the emails to invite some folks to the Panhandle Eagle Forum organization meeting.  The words of that former preacher when he called me still ring in my ears, "I polled the executive committee and we have decided you have an agenda and have betrayed our trust."(Their invitation to join had surprised me, I did not seek the position.) 
BTW, I did offer them some of the historical fiction novels I have written as a gift to do with as they chose -- give as a door prize, sell, whatever --that were handed back to me in a bag saying they had voted not to support Historical Fiction) Apparently someone was offended. As a friend said, "Someone on that Board has an agenda." Odd, isn't it?

Strangely, Uzi Baram archaeologist at the University of South Florida who is researching Angola, took the time to congratulate me on the books saying Historical Fiction inspired many to come conduct archaeology in Israel after James Michener's The Source. I in no way compare my novels to Michener's but bringing attention to that which has been forgotten through Historical Fiction is not a bad thing!)

Silly, isn't it? That is my point. Survive this. This is the least of the problems you will face in life and if you bear up under this you have flexed your Survivor muscles.

Make a list of your own of hurtful things. Stick them in the back of your Bible. Look at them after time has passed and see how silly they are, yet how hurtful those silly things can be.

But, I will guarantee you that lots of people are crazy and it will go on. Share with your mother -- or email me about these silly things-- and we will laugh about it. Mean people spread rumors to hurt you and build themselves up. 
The purpose of this addition is just to show children that MEAN PEOPLE -- girls and boys, men and women can be found anywhere at any age. They will continue to shock and amaze you. We just have to pull on our big girl panties and deal with it. (Or big boy Fruit of the Loom.)

Be true to yourself because THAT IS WHAT MATTERS. And that means YOUR LIFE MATTERS! YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT FOR YET! Do not let anyone else be your validation for life. Who are They?

God bless you all. Remember "All things work together for good to those who Love God and are according to His Purposes."
I pray for those children. I pray for you as parents and grandparents.

SAAIL SAVE ADMINISTRATORS ACCEPT ILLITERACY

I heard a new excuse the other day for the 43%  of Bay District students lacking proficiency in Reading. A member of the Economic Development organization for the area responded, when I asked if he realized that only 53% of Bay District School Students were proficient readers, "Yes, I have been told there is an extremely large number of homeless children here."


Forgive me, does that not sound like we may have a SECOND GENERATION problem with literacy here? Parents who are illiterate have a problem putting roofs over their children's heads and food on the table. THOSE PARENTS WERE PROBABLY EDUCATED IN BAY DISTRICT SCHOOLS! They have no place else to go!

This ranks right up there with when I went to look at the books up for approval for Dothan City Schools and the series they chose was the one that came with the most remedial materials!

Duh! As my grandchildren would say. Does that not indicate that the series is a FAILURE and therefore they need more remedial materials. Not that it is effective, let's buy this one!

I forgot to tell him that nearly one out of three 9th graders give up by the 12th grade and drop out.

I am not the only one driven crazy by this lunacy! Dr. Patrick Groff wrote of it in his book, Preventing Reading Failure. 


He writes:

A final reason why the myths of reading instruction have found favor among reading professionals rests in the nature of the financial makeup of the public school system. First, the public schools of the nation obviously dominate the educational scene. They have achieved this position of eminence and authority because they receive most of the monies that are allocated for education. None of these funds can be directly spent for the support of nonpublic schools. 

As a consequence, the public school has become an educational monopoly. As such, it faces no serious competition from any other system of education in our society. It is normal for monopolies to stifle competition. Monopolies which face no competition, also do not have to be accountable for the quality of their product. These conditions are reflected in the current school system. 





I emailed the principals of the three lowest scoring schools, Springfield, Lucille Moore, and Oscar Patterson Elementary and told them of the program that was so successful in Parks Elementary in Natchitoches, Louisiana. John Winston's school served three housing projects and was predominantly minority. Look up above at the "special" status listed above the schools, Title I, Percent of Minority students, Percent of Economically Disadvantaged Students. For the school system, these are excuses for poor performance, a continuation of the BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS AND THE CRUELTY OF CONDESCENSION -- and the source of a LOT OF MONEY to come into the system. 
You see John Winston IS A BLACK MAN. He knew the potential of those children in the housing projects, labeled disadvantaged, and refused to accept those excuses. He found a program that worked! Unfortunately, it was VERY INEXPENSIVE (meaning not expensive) AND, IT ONLY TOOK A TEACHER WITH A PIECE OF CHALK AND A BLACKBOARD. He brought those students from the 25th percentile in reading to the 80th, from 40 identified dyslexics to one or two, and discipline problems diminished. THEY COULD READ! Oh, then, of course, they gave them something worth reading.

Whoa! No computers? No laptops? No Pearson Online books? No testing by Bill Gates?

Who's going to make any money off of this? (I'll never forget that Principal in Dothan telling me "We have too much invested in this to change now!" And another said, "Let's not let anybody get hurt here.")

Do you hear that gagging reflex? Pardon me, that is just my reaction to their words and true feelings! Do you see the children anywhere in that response? Effective education?

Oh no, let's not let Administrators look bad! Let's continue failing our children because it might cost us some of those dollars coming in from Washington and elsewhere!  If we succeed, what will happen to the Yes We Can Movements? All of those supporters and cheerleaders that continue to raise money for the projects we have in our schools. Then we cannot produce those situations that need those social projects if our curriculum were actually to produce educated students!  Where would we be on the social rankings of those most helpful to our community! No awards for using our students to raise money for .... whatever. How about Homeless, since illiteracy has already produced such a large number of them.

Why our children might actually be successful and be able to read manuals for those jobs that the Economic Development committees work so hard to bring here.

By the way, only one principal, emailed me back. A very nice response. She said she would look into it. They were beginning to work on writing, however, not reading.  (Beginning to work on writing before the child can read? Well, fortunately, the Spalding WRITING ROAD TO READING actually addresses all of the above.)


Please look at the favorable twist the News Herald gave the scores. More than half passed! (53%) That also means that nearly half (47%) DID NOT!



 Look at English and Math for all of those schools. Are you happy with that?

Look at the independent scores and then ask yourself how those scores added up to the score at the end.

Dr. Samuel Orton began noticing school induced dyslexia in the 1920s. The Lincoln School in New York was a leader in Progressive education. The Rockefeller children attended there. Remember now, they only slap another name on the methods that failed. For example, Look-say/Sight Method/Whole Word/Whole Language has evolved into the "We Do Teach Phonics" Eclecticism that sounds so erudite, but is actually teachers falling back on the Whole Language Method rather than doing the drill and repetition for a good phonics program. 
https://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/10929-dyslexia-and-the-rockefellers
Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld writes: One of the great ironies of the Progressive Education Movement is that its leaders were able to convince John D. Rockefeller, Jr. that he ought to give his sons a good progressive education and donate $3 million to the Lincoln School, a new experiment in social education in accordance with John Dewey’s radical new ideas. So he put Nelson, Laurence, Winthrop, and David in the school, which turned them all into dyslexics, proving that progressive reading programs can cause dyslexia.According to Education Encyclopedia, StateUniversity.com:The Lincoln School (1917–1940) of Teachers College, Columbia University, was a university laboratory school set up to test and develop and ultimately to promulgate nationwide curriculum materials reflecting the most progressive teaching methods and ideas of the time. Originally located at 646 Park Avenue in New York, one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the city, the Lincoln School was also a training ground for New York City's elite, including the sons of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who provided the funding for the school. Among the school's chief architects were Charles W. Eliot, a former president of Harvard University and an influential member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools; his protégé Abraham Flexner, a member of the controversial Rockefeller philanthropy, the General Education Board; Otis W. Caldwell, a professor of science education at Teachers College and the school's first director; and the dean of Teachers College, James E. Russell.Unfortunately, Rockefeller’s four sons were some of the earliest victims of school-induced dyslexia, a condition they had to deal with for the rest of their lives.Jules Abel, in his 1965 book, The Rockefeller Billions, wrote:The influence of the Lincoln School, which, as a progressive school, encouraged students to explore their own interests and taught them to live in society has been a dominant one in their lives. ... Yet Lawrence gives startling confirmation as to "Why Johnny Can't Read." He says that the Lincoln School did not teach him to read and write as he wishes he now could. Nelson, today, admits that reading for him is a "slow and tortuous process" that he does not enjoy doing but compels himself to do it. This is significant evidence in the debate that has raged about modern educational techniques.David Rockefeller writes of his experience at the Lincoln School in his Memoirs, published in 2002:It was Lincoln's experimental curriculum and method of instruction that distinguished it from all other New York schools of the time. Father was an ardent and generous supporter of John Dewey's educational methods and school reform efforts. ... Teacher's College of Columbia University operated Lincoln, with considerable financial assistance in the early years from the General Education Board, as an experimental school designed to put Dewey's philosophy into practice.Dewey’s educational methods were conceived and calculated to dumb down the nation, and he started out by dumbing down the four Rockefeller boys. Nelson, of course, was in later years able to hire Henry Kissinger to do his reading for him.David Rockefeller writes further:Lincoln stressed freedom for children to learn and to play an active role in their own education. ... But there were some drawbacks. In my case, I had trouble with reading and spelling, which my teachers, drawing upon "progressive" educational theory, did not consider significant. They believed I was simply a slow reader and that I would develop at my own pace. In reality I have dyslexia, which was never diagnosed, and I never received remedial attention. As a result my reading ability, as well as my proficiency in spelling, improved only marginally as I grew older. All my siblings, except Babs and John, had dyslexia to a degree.Apparently, David Rockefeller still doesn’t understand that he was made dyslexic by the teaching methods at the Lincoln School. He says, “I have dyslexia,” as if he were born with it, and that is why he had such a difficult time learning to read.The reason why David’s older brother, John D. Rockefeller III, did not become dyslexic is because he attended the traditional Browning School in New York and the Loomis Institute in Windsor, Connecticut. He then went on to Princeton, where he received high honors in economics.Winthrop Rockefeller, born in 1912, attended the Lincoln School. He later found formal education difficult, suffering from dyslexia. He entered Yale in 1931 but was expelled in 1934 for misbehavior. He had a successful military career, after which he moved to Arkansas and became its first Republican Governor. What is most significant in all this is that the experience of the four Rockefeller boys provides confirmation that the sight method of teaching reading, used at the Lincoln School, caused dyslexia. Of course, we were not able to know this until years later when their memoirs and biographies were published.Yet, the progressive educators were well aware of this harmful phenomenon as early as February 1929, when Dr. Samuel T. Orton — a neuropathologist who had made a survey in the 1920s of children with reading problems in Iowa, where the sight method was being used — wrote an article for the Journal of Educational Psychology. Its title was quite explicit: “The ‘Sight Reading’ Method of Teaching Reading as a Source of Reading Disability.” He wrote, as diplomatically as possible:I wish to emphasize at the beginning that the strictures which I have to offer here do not apply to the use of the sight method of teaching reading as a whole but only to its effects on a restricted group of children for whom, as I think we can show, this technique is not only not adapted but often proves an actual obstacle to reading progress, and moreover I believe that this group is one of considerable educational importance both because of its size and because here faulty teaching methods may not only prevent the acquisition of academic education by children of average capacity but may also give rise to far reaching damage to their emotional life.Orton’s article was written for the very educators who were in the process of launching their sight-reading programs in all the public schools of America. And of course they rejected his warning. But it wasn’t until 1955 that American parents became aware of what was being done to their children in the schools. It was that year in which Rudolf Flesch’s famous book, Why Johnny Can’t Read, was published, and it created quite a storm among educators and parents. The educators rejected Flesch’s assertion that it was the sight or look-say method that was causing the problem, but parents read the book and many started to teach their children to read with phonics at home.My own book on the reading problem, The New Illiterates, was published in 1973, some 18 years after Why Johnny Can’t Read. Indeed, in 1973 Johnny still couldn’t read! In The New Illiterates I revealed that the sight method had been invented by the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, the teacher of the deaf and dumb at his asylum in Hartford, Connecticut, as a means of teaching the deaf both language and reading. He thought the method could also be used to teach normal children to read. So he wrote The Mother’s Primer, which was published in 1836 and adopted by the Boston primary schools as a new, easier way to teach reading. Instead, it produced a literacy disaster. In 1844, the Boston School Masters wrote a devastating critique of this new way of teaching reading. The schools then quickly went back to the phonetic method.In my book, I also did a line-by-line analysis of the Dick and Jane reading program and came to the conclusion that anyone taught to read by this method could become dyslexic. But nothing I’ve written on the subject has had the slightest influence on the professors in America’s colleges of education or changed the prevailing sight methods of teaching reading in the public schools.And that is why I then developed the Alpha-Phonics reading program, so that parents could easily teach their children to read at home in the proper phonetic manner. Since its first publication in 1983, thousands of homeschooling parents have used the program to teach their children to read. Of course, I have tried to get the public schools to adopt the program, but with no success. However, one high school teacher in Florida, who heard about my work and has actually used Alpha-Phonics to help potential dropouts learn to read, claims that it works miracles. He wrote in a letter to me:I once was explaining to a student why children have reading problems. When I finished, a girl from the other side of the class, who I thought was not listening, said, “This is what happened to my brother. He is in the fourth grade, hates to read and gets stomach aches and headaches.” I told her that his troubles were over and gave her a copy of Alpha-Phonics. Four months later, I asked how was her brother doing. She said he completed the book and reads just fine.I had the same success with students in special education, who were labeled as
learning disabled or educatably mentally retarded. I have 100% success with every student. The only variable is the speed at which students progress. You must follow Dr. Blumenfeld’s advice and be patient. Do not pressure the child.I have many other heartbreaking stories about children who have quit school because they did not know how to read, and no one will teach them. I have had children take a copy of Alpha-Phonics and keep it to teach friends they know, how to read. I encouraged everyone to try Alpha-Phonics. The results you see in the child are truly miraculous. It must be seen to be believed.So if America wants to reclaim its preeminence as the most literate nation on earth, they can do so by simply using Alpha-Phonics in all the schools across the country. Not very difficult to do, and not at all expensive. In other words, we don’t need No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top to pretend that we are helping the kids. But a dysfunctional federal government is simply incapable of doing what can be done easily and cheaply. There is neither the will, nor the intelligence, nor the open-mindedness to make it happen. And so if you, a parent, want true education reform, you can have it instantly — at home.

Samuel Blumenfeld

(Alpha Phonics is indeed a good Phonics program. Marva Collins' Great Expectations is also an excellent program. She used Sister Monica Frasier's Professor Phonics Gives Sound Advice and Open Court Readers.)
I wanted to share all of that with you because so often illiteracy is blamed on HOMELESS, DISADVANTAGED, MINORITY, SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION, SINGLE FAMILY, ETC. when in fact it is simply POOR CURRICULUM CHOICES. 
I believe it was in Rudolph Flesch's book Why Johnny Can't Read or Why Johnny Still Can't Read that I read that one excuse in the 1900s was bad tonsils. They refuse to go back down that road to where the choice in the road of education led down THE WRONG PATH! They will continue to blame you, your children, climate change, your family's economic situation, marital status, etc. rather than the wrong choices made by career educators and those in the colleges of education. Why their whole career would be a sham! Better to blame the children and parents!


("... must provide remedial reading and math.)
 And, so I say to my friend in Economic Development for Bay County, get off the "Yes WE Can" train, shake off your Delphi brainwashing, and look at things with the common sense with which your business background ought to have prepared you. Professionals are often the carriers of the virus that kills the patient (As Semmelweiss sought to inform the doctors who wore their white coats stained with the blood of those septic patients they autopsied before going to mothers in labor). Just because that happened in the early 1800s doesn't mean it does not happen now!











READING IS LIKE WALKING, AN IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL WAY TO GET
AROUND AND MOVE AHEAD. WITHOUT IT AN INDIVIDUAL IS VIRTUALLY DOOMED TO A LIFE OF POVERTY AND IGNORANCE. 


Who will dare buck the system, say no more COMMON CORE, and actually teach children to read? And then teach them to write, spell, calculate, empower them with cultural literacy, make them more than community organizers!
Notice above. The US is below the average score for other nations. Bay District Schools ranks pretty far below that. What does that tell you about an international competitive advantage?

Yes We Canhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-yes-we-can-movement-to-manipulate.htmlParents have rights Against Intrusive Surveys PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT and SEL (Social Emotional Learning) https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/parents-have-rights-against-intrusive.html

The Growing Irrelevance of Colleges and Universities
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....

SAAIL SAVE ADMINISTRATORS ACCEPT ILLITERACY
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....

FEMINISM
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/feminism.html
If I Ruled the Schoolshttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/i-guess-it-is-because-it-is-new-years.html
THE BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS: PROFITS, POSITION, POWER, POLITICS PRODUCE A CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-bigotry-of-low-expectations-profits.html 

 FREE OUR CHILDREN FROM THE OPPRESSION OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION. CHICAGO. TWO DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES.  https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/free-our-children-from-oppression-of.html
Common Core, Sylvia Plath, and Death Educationhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/common-core-sylvia-plath-and-death.html
Tales from the Crypt. True stories of our Dead Schools. https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/tales-from-crypt-our-dead-schools.html
The Truth about Phonics that will Help You Help Your Child! Whole Language: A Fraud Perpetrated upon Our Students. One of Many?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-phonics-that-will-help.html 
The Tragedy of the Math Mess and Another Wayhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-tragedy-of-math-mess-and-another-way.html
MATH WARS. ONCE AGAIN INTO THE FRAYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/math-wars-once-again-into-fray.html
COMMON CORE MATHhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-math.html
The Reality of Bay District Schools. Only Fifty Percent Read Proficiently. Is there hope?  
 https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-reality-of-bay-district-schools.html
The Four Period Day: Students as Guinea Pigs and Professional advancement for "innovators"https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-four-period-day-students-as-guinea.html
The Tale of Last Hope for Local Controlhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-tale-of-last-hope-for-local-control.html
DEMONIC ROOTS TO COMMON CORE? VISIT YOUR CHILD'S THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/demonic-roots-to-common-core-visit-your.html
THE GENEALOGY OF COMMON CORE: BILL GATES/UNESCO/ROBERT MULLER//ALICE BAILEY/LUCIS TRUST https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-genealogy-of-common-core-bill-gates_5.html
THE CHICAGO CONNECTION TO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-chicago-connection-to-common-core.html
does anybody really believe anymore? does anybody really care?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Sounding the Alarm! Today's Therapeutic Classroom. What are you going to do about it?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Spalding Writing Road to Reading and John Winston of Parks Elementary Natchitoches, Louisianahttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.html
The DARE PROGRAM 20 years later.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Merry Christmas! Meet Alliwishus, The Elf Mother Met at the Battle of the Bulgehttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/merry-christmas-meet-alliwishus-elf.html
My Mother. My hero who won a Battle Ribbon at the Battle of the Bulge. December 16, 1944. A SCRAPBOOK LOOK FROM JEAN BRONSON GILLIS BURSON.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-mother-my-hero-who-won-battle-ribbon.html
LEONARD COHEN HALLELUJAH PROJECT AT BAY HIGH SCHOOL AND ESTABLISHMENT RELIGION, SECULAR HUMANISM, IN OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
WHY SHOULD CONSERVATIVES, CHRISTIANS AND THE THE FAITH COMMUNITY BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS? SUBSCRIBE TO THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD AND GET WASHINGTON POST FREEhttp://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/why-should-conservatives-christians-and.html
PEACE EDUCATION? CONFLICT RESOLUTION? TEACHING TOLERANCE? COMMON CORE https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/peace-education-conflict-resolution.html
TRADITIONAL OR PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? HAS POLITICS AFFECTED YOUR CHILD'S MATH EDUCATION?
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/look-at-this-headline-and-now-according.html
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.html

DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED A GULLIBLE PUBLIC TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
COMMON CORE: PORNOGRAPHY 101https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-pornography-101.html
MIDDLE SCHOOL AGENDA FOR SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS A PART OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/09/middle-school-agenda-for-sexual.html
BEHAVIOR MODELS ATTITUDES AND BELIEFShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-protest-at-busy-intersection-near.html
CULTURE WAR AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/culture-war-and-common-core.html
SOCIAL STUDIES AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/social-studies-and-common-core.html
TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS PRODUCE STUDENTS AS REVOLUTIONARIES: Whole Language Live On!https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/teachers-as-liberators-produce-students.html
RADICAL POSSIBILITIES: YOUR CHILDREN https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Response to AL.Com article "Alabama Superintendent Proposal to Raise Academic Standards."https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/response-to-alcom-article-alabama.htmlSECULAR HUMANISM IS NOW THE RELIGION OF OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/08/secular-humanism-is-now-accepted.html
COMMON CORE: THE EMPEROR IS WEARING NO CLOTHEShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-emperor-is-wearing-no.html
COMMON CORE=PETRI DISH FOR RADICALShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
REVOLUTIONARY PEDAGOGYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.html
Revolutionary Pedagogy: Or, so you thought reading, writing and calculating were why you sent your child to school?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.htmlEDUCATION TODAY:
Politics, Profits, Position, Power, and Prejudice published 1995https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/education-today-politics-profits.html
CAPSTONE EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA) AND MY CONCERNShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2015/01/capstone-educator-and-concerns.html
CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conflict-resolution-or-political-and.html
DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED THE GULLIBLE NATION TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
WHO DO WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FAILURE OF OUR SCHOOLS?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/so-who-do-we-hold-accountable-parents.html
PUBLIC EDUCATION SHOULD EMPOWER PARENTShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/public-education-should-empower-parents.html
CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conspiracy-theories-in-education-truth.html
THE CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATION https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-civil-war-in-education-why-we.html
SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/solve-problems-of-public-schools-hope.html
TAKE A KNEEhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2016/12/take-knee.html

bay-district-schools-partner-with-pancare-to-add-clinics-in-two-schools WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Why are poor schools the first target? Because parents are blamed for the poor performance of their children in the schools. Although Marva Collins with her Great Expectations program (Chicago) and John Winston in (Natchitoches, Louisiana) with Spalding Writing Road to Reading both proved that to be a lie. As has Retarding America: the Imprisonment of Potential. 
Now, as per this identifying factor for "At Risk Communities" these guidelines make poor children targets for data collection. They say your child's data is "safe" with them. Really? And would you sacrifice your child's health simply for the security of your child's data? What kind of parent are you? Perhaps one that looks at what the stats show about how effective the curriculum "the system"  selected for your child has been in educating him/her. And now they want control of their mental, emotional and physical health? (ESOL)



Let me tell you what is happening here. This is the final nail in the coffin of local control of education. You have a school board of six individuals, four of whom have careers in education. You have paid for them to attend professional education for years programming them in the philosophies that have caused 47% of Bay District Schools to NOT BE PROFICIENT READERS and 30% of 9th graders dropping out before graduating. They jumped onto the COMMON CORE bandwagon with both feet, no doubt making big points with the administrators above them. They are all good people, but they are so indoctrinated they cannot pretend to ask questions or doubt what is being fed to them. You don't survive that long without learning early to circle the wagons with the YES WE CAN fealty for every innovation that comes down the pike. Brainwashed with the Bigotry of Low Expectations they will address every social and socioeconomic excuse for failure rather than the most basic --curriculum.

So now, they take the two lowest scoring schools in Bay District Schools and decide to put the left rear leg of the camel into the tent before bringing the entire school system in.

And what am I talking about? Bay District Schools Partner with Pancare to add clinics in two schools. Sounds great, doesn't it? Remember what I have been warning you about with Bill Gates collecting data on your children? As a consequence, the most vulnerable schools will now have school clinics rather than a better curriculum. Springfield and Lucille Moore Elementary. In so doing, effectively selling our soul to the devil with the data to be collected on these children and their families. They will automatically be a part of the data collection of children all over the country, our contribution to Bill Gates for the privilege of buying his laptops and Pearson books.

http://www.mypanhandle.com/news/bay-district-schools-partner-with-pancare-to-add-clinics-in-two-schools/908438651


So, who all gets access to your child's data records? Look at those in Edmodo, California. 



Pediatrician, Dr. Karen Effrem continues to sound the alarm about the further intrusion and data collection through Common Core.

You will find more on how this all began at Help! Someone Has Stolen My Child! here on my blog. We warned of the ultimate goal of this in the early 90s with Goals 2000 under Bill Clinton (with Hillary on the National Council for Education and the Economy with David Hornbeck author of Alabama First and author of Human Capital). Their goal then was cradle to grave control and, of course, that begins with their involvement in every aspect of your child's life, including their health care. It sounds so compassionate and humane, doesn't it?

Who could argue?

Do your values matter? No, your children are being processed to be good little soldiers of the New World Order pandering to the elites in Panem. Like the "Giver" in Lois Lowry's Newberry Award winning novel, The Giver, someone will determine whether the brains of a low birthweight baby will get sucked out so that only the strongest compete for the scarce resources of this world. (Make sure the little soldiers have to think of this in the fourth grade! Like many California fourth graders did. Well, maybe that explains the worldview of so many California millennials!)

That is the purpose of Common Core. Your values have no place in your child's future. Government knows best. What all in your child's life, health care and education are you signing over with this "new program"?






Oh, yes. This is what I as a parent/grandparent want for my child/grandchild!



There was a time when the great thoughts of great men guided the education of our children. When the imparting of wisdom was the goal of our schools, a mission they could actually achieve.



But no, we have "facilitators" who have been indoctrinated in colleges of education where students enter with the lowest ACT and SAT scores and graduate with the highest Grade Point Averages (GPAs).

We now find we live in a land of midgets who sell our children for a mess of potage. I wonder how much of a "grant" we were given to turn our children over to the state for the promise of health care?

Too bad parents were not given a choice between a real academic education and the opportunity to get them out of the socioeconomic situation that gives these administrators the justification to assume the parent's right to control their child's health care.

Psychotherapy in the classrooms (DARE, CONFLICT RESOLUTION, SEX EDUCATION, etc.) has been so successful, yes, please, take over the rest of raising our children!

Has anyone asked where this has been implemented and to what effect? Not how do people feel about it (affective data). But actual replicable empirical data. Just what is the breadth of these clinics in control of these children? And how will we know until it is too late to undo?





Proven where? Replicable empirical data to support this? Or totally Attitudinal? Let's throw the dice. Education is just a crap shoot anyway, right?

Government should control children cradle to grave.

One hand washes the other in education circles. There is an ultimate goal and one group is formed to support the other in their agenda. Cross publication and they validate one another. Who bothers to ask for the data? Those that play the game get promoted. The Peter Principle at work. Promoted beyond their ability they control our children's lives. 
At least when there was true local control of education, a central mind did not control every finger, toe, and mental thought. Now with national control of education with Common Core and the signing on (the pretense of local control) of our school boards across the nation whatever contaminates one contaminates all. A virus infects the entire nation and all think as one. 
Aspen Institute? Trouble there. One of the UN organizations intent upon molding world citizens not patriotic Americans. 


Yes We Canhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-yes-we-can-movement-to-manipulate.htmlParents have rights Against Intrusive Surveys PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT and SEL (Social Emotional Learning) https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/parents-have-rights-against-intrusive.html
FEMINISM
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/feminism.html
If I Ruled the Schoolshttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/i-guess-it-is-because-it-is-new-years.html
THE BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS: PROFITS, POSITION, POWER, POLITICS PRODUCE A CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-bigotry-of-low-expectations-profits.html 

 FREE OUR CHILDREN FROM THE OPPRESSION OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION. CHICAGO. TWO DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES.  https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/free-our-children-from-oppression-of.html
Common Core, Sylvia Plath, and Death Educationhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/common-core-sylvia-plath-and-death.html
Tales from the Crypt. True stories of our Dead Schools. https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/tales-from-crypt-our-dead-schools.html
The Truth about Phonics that will Help You Help Your Child! Whole Language: A Fraud Perpetrated upon Our Students. One of Many?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-truth-about-phonics-that-will-help.html 
The Tragedy of the Math Mess and Another Wayhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-tragedy-of-math-mess-and-another-way.html
MATH WARS. ONCE AGAIN INTO THE FRAYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/math-wars-once-again-into-fray.html
COMMON CORE MATHhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-math.html
The Reality of Bay District Schools. Only Fifty Percent Read Proficiently. Is there hope?  
 https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-reality-of-bay-district-schools.html
The Four Period Day: Students as Guinea Pigs and Professional advancement for "innovators"https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-four-period-day-students-as-guinea.html
The Tale of Last Hope for Local Controlhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-tale-of-last-hope-for-local-control.html
DEMONIC ROOTS TO COMMON CORE? VISIT YOUR CHILD'S THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/demonic-roots-to-common-core-visit-your.html
THE GENEALOGY OF COMMON CORE: BILL GATES/UNESCO/ROBERT MULLER//ALICE BAILEY/LUCIS TRUST https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-genealogy-of-common-core-bill-gates_5.html
THE CHICAGO CONNECTION TO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-chicago-connection-to-common-core.html
does anybody really believe anymore? does anybody really care?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Sounding the Alarm! Today's Therapeutic Classroom. What are you going to do about it?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Spalding Writing Road to Reading and John Winston of Parks Elementary Natchitoches, Louisianahttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.html
The DARE PROGRAM 20 years later.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Merry Christmas! Meet Alliwishus, The Elf Mother Met at the Battle of the Bulgehttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/merry-christmas-meet-alliwishus-elf.html
My Mother. My hero who won a Battle Ribbon at the Battle of the Bulge. December 16, 1944. A SCRAPBOOK LOOK FROM JEAN BRONSON GILLIS BURSON.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-mother-my-hero-who-won-battle-ribbon.html
LEONARD COHEN HALLELUJAH PROJECT AT BAY HIGH SCHOOL AND ESTABLISHMENT RELIGION, SECULAR HUMANISM, IN OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
WHY SHOULD CONSERVATIVES, CHRISTIANS AND THE THE FAITH COMMUNITY BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS? SUBSCRIBE TO THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD AND GET WASHINGTON POST FREEhttp://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/why-should-conservatives-christians-and.html
PEACE EDUCATION? CONFLICT RESOLUTION? TEACHING TOLERANCE? COMMON CORE https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/peace-education-conflict-resolution.html
TRADITIONAL OR PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? HAS POLITICS AFFECTED YOUR CHILD'S MATH EDUCATION?
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/look-at-this-headline-and-now-according.html
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.html

DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED A GULLIBLE PUBLIC TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
COMMON CORE: PORNOGRAPHY 101https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-pornography-101.html
MIDDLE SCHOOL AGENDA FOR SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS A PART OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/09/middle-school-agenda-for-sexual.html
BEHAVIOR MODELS ATTITUDES AND BELIEFShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-protest-at-busy-intersection-near.html
CULTURE WAR AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/culture-war-and-common-core.html
SOCIAL STUDIES AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/social-studies-and-common-core.html
TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS PRODUCE STUDENTS AS REVOLUTIONARIES: Whole Language Live On!https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/teachers-as-liberators-produce-students.html
RADICAL POSSIBILITIES: YOUR CHILDREN https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Response to AL.Com article "Alabama Superintendent Proposal to Raise Academic Standards."https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/response-to-alcom-article-alabama.htmlSECULAR HUMANISM IS NOW THE RELIGION OF OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/08/secular-humanism-is-now-accepted.html
COMMON CORE: THE EMPEROR IS WEARING NO CLOTHEShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-emperor-is-wearing-no.html
COMMON CORE=PETRI DISH FOR RADICALShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
REVOLUTIONARY PEDAGOGYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.html
Revolutionary Pedagogy: Or, so you thought reading, writing and calculating were why you sent your child to school?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.htmlEDUCATION TODAY:
Politics, Profits, Position, Power, and Prejudice published 1995https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/education-today-politics-profits.html
CAPSTONE EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA) AND MY CONCERNShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2015/01/capstone-educator-and-concerns.html
CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conflict-resolution-or-political-and.html
DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED THE GULLIBLE NATION TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
WHO DO WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FAILURE OF OUR SCHOOLS?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/so-who-do-we-hold-accountable-parents.html
PUBLIC EDUCATION SHOULD EMPOWER PARENTShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/public-education-should-empower-parents.html
CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conspiracy-theories-in-education-truth.html
THE CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATION https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-civil-war-in-education-why-we.html
SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/solve-problems-of-public-schools-hope.html
TAKE A KNEEhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2016/12/take-knee.html

The Tale of an Irascible Old Man, the Love of my Life for 48 years, and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

The Tale of an Irascible Old Man, the Love of my Life for 48 years, and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
 One thing most people in our age group have in common is frequent visits to the doctor. Usually it is a good thing if both husband and wife go to the visits. It was lucky I did go with Joe to his last check up for diabetes with our GP in Panama City, Dr. Marwan Obid. Dr. Obid is a great doctor for what we usually need colds, diabetes, regular old aches and pains. His greatest asset is he knows when to refer someone to somebody who knows more than he does about a certain ailment.
Well, Joe suffered the indignity of the scales, checking the ears (a problem because Joe took the hearing aids out and that is the last we have seen of them), taking the blood pressure (a little high, but hey, we were in a doctor's office. Always concerning.) And then we were led into the waiting room where we waited for the doctor.
Dr. Obid came in and sat at the computer and began checking off the list on the screen. He completed those questions and said, "Well, take this to the check out. And call me when you need me."
"Dr. Obid," I said. "Have you noticed how Joe is shuffling when he walks?"
I then mentioned his memory problems (something I feared because his mother and grandmother had Alzheimers), and the problem with incontinence on occasion. The three things I listed apparently made a bell ring and he said Joe needed to see a neurologist. Joe chose Dr. Jacob whose office is near us and Joe and I had actually come to Panama City to take a deposition of the doctor in a case he had years ago.
Dr. Jacob immediately recognized the condition as Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, a condition often confused with Alzheimers, but one that something can really be done about. One MRI and lots of bloodwork later and Dr. Jacobs could see the enlarged ventricles in the brain. For some reason, the body makes too much cerebral spinal fluid and the ventricles fill up because the fluid does not flow out well enough. That pressure causes the aforementioned problems.
Dr. Jacob then referred us to Dr. Voss, a neurosurgeon in Dothan whose advice was pretty much, I've done some shunts to relieve the pressure, but not with great success in adults. But, if you are determined to do something let Dr. Obid make you an appointment for a cystogram. The radiologist does a spinal tap and removes 30 ccs (they could only get 6 ccs from Joe). Then he inserts "the medicine", a $12,800 shot of radioactive something that will circulate through the brain. (Thank God for Medicare and Humana!) Joe then had to return the following three days to take 20 minutes of more pictures of his brain.
They have assured him he still has one.
We have not gotten the firm diagnosis from the doctor, but those 6 ccs have already made a world of difference for Joe. He no longer shuffles and that makes him SO HAPPY. Also, it seems his memory is better. So he is looking forward to having a shunt put in. This sounds dangerous to me because they are messing around in the brain. But there is hope of relief.
This is not Joe's brain but his is pretty much like this..

We go next week to hear the conclusion of this part of the story that I will include as an addendum later on. Joe's conclusion is, "When can we get an appointment with a neursurgeon who has done LOTS OF THESE PROCEDURES?"


We have visited the hydrocephalus.org website and we found doctors listed there. The one we will probably try to make an appointment with is:
Anthony Martino, M.D.University of South Alabama Health System1601 Center St, Ste 2DMobile, AL 36604United StatesPhone (251) 665-8290Pediatric and Adult
Our daughter-in-law, Brittany, is assistant Director of Development for the Mitchell Cancer Center. She and our son Drew and grandsons, George and Sam, live in Mobile and will certainly be an asset for us there. Plus I have some very good friends around there, including two BEST FRIENDS over the years, Karen Smith Vano and Rick Williams so if we stay at Sylvia's place at Ono for recovery (she has an elevator) we should be good. Family and Friends what greater blessing can two doddering old fogies have?
Now, for the IRASCIBLE part of this story. Today we were at Outback for lunch. I ordered the 6 oz filet and my favorite pecan chopped salad. Joe ordered a lesser cut of meat. I was all prepared to say "nanny nanny boo boo" with my fine juicy cut of meat when much to my surprise, the steak came out flat as (well flat as a flatiron can make it). All of my anticipation disappeared like air out of a balloon. If I am going to pay $21 for a steak, I want it to LOOK like what I ordered! (This happened to me once at Applebees as well.)
I thought Outback was a "cut above". ( I'm not adverse to a cheap pun every now and then.) But, I will not pay $21 for a flat iron steak like I see advertised at Denny's! So, the manager came out and explained (pretty much like the manager did at Applebees) "I am sorry, ma'am. But they get backed up there in the kitchen they use the flatiron to speed things up.""Now when they do my steak," the manager told us, "THEY KNOW BETTER than to use the flatiron on a steak! AND I HAVE THEM NOTE ON THE TICKET NO FLATIRON!"I suggested it might be a good idea to make it policy to treat all of their customers like they do their manager! Just saying!
So this is a warning to all you steak eaters out there. TELL THEM NO FLATIRON WHEN YOU ORDER YOUR STEAK or you too may have to call the manager and tell them that you are not paying for a flatiron steak when you order a filet!
Okay, that was IRASCIBLE ME.
But, when the manager and the waitress made the mistake of saying,"No Problem," when Joe thanked them for taking care of it on our bill...
Well, if there is a pet peeve greater than the "NO PROBLEM" response to this retired attorney, I cannot think what it is. "Yes, there was a problem! Saying there is 'no problem' means you have not comprehended that there WAS A PROBLEM!"
Neither of the individuals understood what he said. No one has the billion times he has said that. So, I am reporting to all of you, if an irascible old man has a problem, DO NOT RESPOND "NO PROBLEM." Because if you do, his wife will have to hear that complaint AGAIN AND AGAIN!
Say, something like, "That was a problem I will work on fixing here at Outback/Applebees. We appreciate your patronage and look forward to your returning."
Later in the kitchen you can say what an old f (ogey) that person was if you like, but this is certainly a lesson our young people could take to heart.
Ah, if only I could draw! Our granddaughter says she wants to start a sit com titled My Grandparents Drive ME Crazy!

We have the appointment with Dr. Martino. 

On to Angola

On to Angola



On to Angola is the third in the Creek Indian family saga. (SWIMMING WITH SERPENTS, THEN, IN PURSUIT) I thought I would share the Prologue with you. I would love to have your input. Several chapters more to go before it is ready to send out to potential publishers or publish myself.

I now retreat back to 1821 and will probably not surface much until this book is finished.

MY CHILD IS GONE — Slavery Song

Hark! from the winds a voice of woe,The wild Atlantic in its flow,Bears on its breast the murmur low,My child is gone!Like savage tigers o’er their prey,They tore him from my heart away;And now I cry, by night by day–My child is gone!How many a free-born babe is press’dWith fondness to its mother’s breast,And rocked upon her arms to rest,While mine is gone!No longer now, at eve I see,Beneath the sheltering plantain tree,My baby cradled on my knee,For he is gone!And when I seek my cot at night,There’s not a thing that meets my sight,But tells me that my soul’s delight,My child, is gone!I sink to sleep, and then I seemTo hear again his parting screamI start and wake–’tis but a dream–My child _is_ gone!Gone–till my toils and griefs are o’er,And I shall reach that happy shore,Where negro mothers cry no more–My child is gone!- See more at: http://www.jankollitz.com/rcc/my-chil...
  

On to Angolaby Sharman Burson Ramsey

Prologue
The mahogany skinned woman, head turbaned with a strip of yellow silk that gleamed in the blistering sun, stood like Lot’s wife as still a pillar of salt, looking at what was to her the end of the world. Her eyes fixed eastward where the bateaux bearing her twin sons disappeared around the bend in the bayou where moss dripping river oaks bent and gnarled by time and tribulation obscured her view. And yet her gaze never faltered. Their terrified shrieks drifted back over the black water. Her chest ached where the big, gruff white man, an overseer, representative of a Georgia plantation owner, had ripped her tiny sons from her clenched arms. The fresh stripes of the whip upon her back stung with the perspiration that dripped from her body … punishment for the fight she put up. She did not flinch.  The pain of those lashes were nothing compared to the pain in her heart. There were not enough tears though her face was wet with them.Lafitte’s agents were stronger than she and now the small bateaux carried her babies further and further away from her where she stood on the tiny island in the morass of Louisiana bayous.  Here Jean Lafitte held his illegal slave auctions hidden away from the authorities at the Temple, a peculiar earthwork mound halfway between Grande Terre and New Orleans.She tried not to breathe for fear she would lose the sweet smell of their little bodies. Silently she cursed the heat for the sweat that washed away the last of their touch and the feel of their curly hair upon her cheeks. Her sons. Her beautiful boys. Just over a year old. Big for their age. They would be tall they said because she was tall. They walked early. They spoke early. They fetched a good price.Barely twenty years old, the woman had already endured much. She’d survived the violence of the Haitian revolution having been rescued as a girl of ten by a boy just a few years older than she.  Just a child himself, he was big for his years and had become a leader of the revolution. Her mother had been a practitioner of the Petwo Voodoo cult. At a service at Bois Caiman her mother was possessed by Ogoun, the Voodoo warrior spirit. She sacrificed a black pig and spoke in the voice of the spirit. But the ultimate crime she committed was to name those who were to lead the slaves and maroons in the revolt. After the death of her mother, who became a major target of the resistance, that boy, little older than she, arranged with some fishermen to take her to a community of free blacks and escaped slaves located on the Manatee River near the Spanish Fisheries on the west coast of Florida. He reappeared ten years later with yellow silk meant for the girl he had saved. The boy, grown to be a massive, ebony skinned man, turned every woman’s head. Yet it was she who had captured his heart. He left but promised to return for her. Then while walking along the shore near the Fishery, she and others at Angola who had come for supplies were captured by pirates and taken to Jean Lafitte in Barataria to be auctioned. Her pregnancy showed early. Jean Lafitte purchased the beautiful woman himself to sell later. He reasoned two slaves were much more valuable than one. She gave birth to her sons.  Lafitte allowed her to keep them until weaned. Zebulon, also bought by the Georgia overseer, promised to watch over them but she knew how helpless a black man was against the will of an overseer and his whip. It was a future her sons would share.From the bayous they would board a wagon and travel the Federal Road to Georgia she’d heard the overseer tell Jim Bowie, an associate of Lafitte’s who had offered to purchase her. His lascivious eyes told for what purpose. The overseer told Bowie he would cross the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers at a place called Mims Ferry and go through Creek country. Bowie wanted to take her with him to Texas. Further from her children.“I hear there’s Red Sticks on the war path in Creek country,” Bowie told him eyeing her and trying to keep his voice down.  In her grief every word was magnified, every whisper heard. Slaves, drained as they were with their own misery, acknowledged her pain. One voice began it, the song that drifted over the crowd gathered for the sale of the two boys, over the bewildered and frightened men and women still in chains awaiting their turn.
Sometimes I feel like a motherless childSometimes I feel like a motherless childSometimes I feel like a motherless childSometimes I feel like a motherless childA long way is from homeA long way is from homeDo believe us, A long ways from homeA long ways from homeYes, sometimes I feel like a motherless child(Why?)Why? 'Cause nothin' ever happens(Nothin'?)Well nothin' good(So what's good?)
The sale continued. More families ripped apart. Still Lafitte kept her apart from the others.  The sun set and night, as black as the future she imagined, obscured the bayou down which her sons had long since disappeared. Sheba lifted her hands to the sky and shrieked a cry of pain so awful God in Heaven must have heard. And then she crumpled to the ground.