tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6034008465040819112024-03-03T19:25:48.680-05:00Agnostic AdoptionKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comBlogger270125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-778241942688587442019-08-27T16:05:00.002-04:002019-08-28T21:04:32.881-04:00Ethiopia return trip #3This is a quick write-up of our trip to Ethiopia in July. It was a short trip.<br />
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We flew Emirates through Dubai. The <a href="https://www.evisa.gov.et/" target="_blank">e-visa</a> got us through immigration quickly, then a long wait at baggage claim. We stayed one night at the Toronto Guest House, good value with restaurants nearby. The following day we took a bus from Meskal Square to Hawassa. Six hours, comfortable, no bathrooms. In Hawassa we stayed at one of the clean, cheap, but noisy guesthouses near the lake. We walked along the lake, went to the fish market, and gawked at the marabou storks. We stayed two nights. We also met up with the other family that we planned this trip with and we traveled together from Hawassa on.</div>
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The bus to Arba Min'ch left super early in the morning, so instead we took a private car. The drive was about five hours. We stayed at the Haile Resort. Definitely not worth the cost, but slept well. Taking 4 nights before starting toward our final destination was a good amount of time to get over jet lag.</div>
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I had arranged for a driver from Arba Min'ch. The driver took us all the way through Konso to Burji. Again, about five hours. Beautiful scenery along the way. </div>
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And then my favorite part - reunion. We spent five wonderful days in the village. We met more relatives - every visit there are more. We learned more family history. The kids crossed language barriers and giggled over the universal humor of ticklish blades of grass and farts. We looked at a lot of photos. We visited the grave of a loved one. We ate until bursting and were told repeatedly that we weren't eating enough. The kids slept in the home of a relative. A steady stream of people came to see us and we lost track of who everyone was. We hugged a lot of people. We drank a lot of coffee. We went into town and watched a match between two local soccer teams. The kids took the cows to graze on the hilltop for the day. We took the donkeys to fetch water. We stumbled through basic conversations in Amharic. We exchanged phone numbers and made plans for better communication and future visits.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hRx7xoOAlau2fqdM_9Eviltjh2HWLzoF3jkSksVPxXipiM7xr9KCNmsaXwg0TrMEqp9LDpthL47ykJA27ysLk1kX699ym0k78LvPNW6ubvRUNK1J5OKr4BWte_FXuSZ7l9fO3DKAnRM/s1600/boys+with+cows3a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hRx7xoOAlau2fqdM_9Eviltjh2HWLzoF3jkSksVPxXipiM7xr9KCNmsaXwg0TrMEqp9LDpthL47ykJA27ysLk1kX699ym0k78LvPNW6ubvRUNK1J5OKr4BWte_FXuSZ7l9fO3DKAnRM/s400/boys+with+cows3a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then after five days the driver came to get us and we returned to the Tourist Hotel in Arba Min'ch. There we waited for news about <a href="https://borkena.com/2019/07/31/ethiopian-authorities-admit-over-50-killed-from-sidama-incident/" target="_blank">Sidama</a>, where the other family needed to go. While waiting we visited a silk farm, which was very interesting, and the kids went back to the Dorze village. On the second day we learned we couldn't go to Sidama, so the other family had their driver take us all back to Addis. We spent one day in Addis, then flew to Dubai. In Dubai we took the train from the airport for a quick look around, then we flew home. </div>
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The highlight of the trip was having the other family to travel with. It was great to have someone going through the same experiences at the same time. It allowed the kids to bounce back and forth between their Ethiopian and American selves. </div>
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The one mistake I made was not getting a cell phone.</div>
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My homework for next time is to improve my Amharic. </div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-23990016047623720612019-07-25T12:09:00.002-04:002019-07-25T12:09:59.120-04:00Simple books in English and AmharicI'm excited to start working on my Amharic again with these very simple books:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRg039VI5dq6nzfL4gH5gI9WqXWlTF-2spjpnISXrWQ7Vw3-5QIuoaMdJwm1txnBPtZTvDqGpayPTOOb2UgVhiB4c1T4fYFOa8GOYJa9QFau5G_9b4hSYTB6i9jON27pEcaLZWFPcGcs/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1484" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRg039VI5dq6nzfL4gH5gI9WqXWlTF-2spjpnISXrWQ7Vw3-5QIuoaMdJwm1txnBPtZTvDqGpayPTOOb2UgVhiB4c1T4fYFOa8GOYJa9QFau5G_9b4hSYTB6i9jON27pEcaLZWFPcGcs/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://openheartsbigdreams.org/">https://openheartsbigdreams.org/</a></div>
<br />Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-20112415583441220842019-02-02T14:50:00.000-05:002019-02-03T12:34:52.758-05:00Black History Month 2019As usual, for my teacher friends to use as needed. In reverse chronological order, beginning with Barack Obama and ending with Phillis Wheatley. The focus is on political leaders, writers, and scientists. Please note that this year I made the list for adult English language learners, so you may need to adapt for children. There is some overlap with past years' lists.<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
Black American was the 44<sup>th</sup> president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Barack Obama<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
movement was founded in 2013 after a jury found a White man “not guilty” in the
shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Its goal is to end racism in the United
States criminal justice system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Black Lives Matter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
Black American was the first female African American U.S. Senator. She represented
Illinois in the Senate from 1993 to 1999.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Carol Moseley Braun<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
Black American won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She wrote the novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beloved.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Toni Morrison<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
Black American, known as “The Queen of Soul,” became the first woman in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Her most famous songs include <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Respect</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Natural Woman</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Aretha Franklin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This person was the first Black American
astronaut to go into space. He became a NASA astronaut in 1979. He flew four
missions to space and orbited the Earth 458 times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Guion Bluford<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">In
1969, this Black American became the first African American woman elected to
the United States Congress. She was the first Black candidate for President of
the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Shirley Chisolm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This
Black American was the first African American justice on the United States
Supreme Court. He was on the Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991. Before he became
a judge, he was a lawyer who won the case for school desegregation in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brown v. Board of Education. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Thurgood Marshall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">These
Black mathematicians sent the first American astronauts into space. They were “human
computers” who worked at NASA. They performed the calculations needed to launch
humans into space – and they did them by hand. You can learn more about these
women in the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hidden Figures</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan (VAHN)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American was a
leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He was a minister who believed in the
power of non-violence. The FBI called him “The Most Dangerous Man in America.”
His 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the most famous speeches in U.S.
history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Martin Luther King Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American is known as
the “mother of the Civil Rights movement.” In 1955, as a member of the
Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, she chose to be arrested on the city bus in order to
challenge racist bus laws. Her arrest started a year-long boycott of Montgomery
city buses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Rosa Parks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 9.35pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This internationally famous Black singer had been denied entrance to
Constitution Hall in Washington DC in </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">1939</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">, so she performed in front of the Lincoln
Memorial. She sang there again in 1963 during Dr. King’s March on Washington.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Answer: Marian Anderson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black scientist studied at
Temple University and worked at Bell Labs. He invented the foil electret
microphone in 1962. Ninety percent of microphones today, including in phones,
camcorders, and baby monitors, use his technology. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
James West<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black athlete broke the
color barrier in baseball in 1947 by playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was
an All-Star player for six years in a row. On April 15 every year, every player
on every team in Major League Baseball wears his number, 42. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Jackie Robinson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black writer was a central
figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Her best-known work is the 1937 novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Their Eyes Were Watching God.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Zora Neale Hurston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">In 1912, this Black American
invented the first safety hood so that firefighters and rescue workers could
safely go into places filled with smoke and poisonous gases. In 1923 he invented
the first traffic signal with a warning light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Garrett Morgan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">17.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American was an
inventor who improved travel by train in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. He
received 57 patents for his inventions. We use his name today when we call the
original and best thing “the real McCoy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Elijah McCoy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">18.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">In 1887, this Black American
designed an important safety feature for elevators – their automatic doors.
Before his invention, people had to close the elevator door by hand. If they
forgot, they risked falling out of the elevator. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Alexander Miles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">19.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American invented
one of the first washing machines in the 1880’s. Her invention was a
hand-cranked machine that passed wet clothes between two rollers, squeezing out
the water and dirt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Ellen Eglin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">20.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">This
Black American was the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth, now Cheyney
University, the country’s oldest historically Black university. He worked to
desegregate Philadelphia streetcars, once spending the whole night in a
streetcar rather than give up his seat. There is a memorial to him outside Philadelphia
City Hall. He was murdered by a White man in 1871 when he tried to vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Answer: Octavius Catto <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">21.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">In 1870 and 1875, these Black
leaders became the first African American senators in the United States Senate.
During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, federal troops briefly
safeguarded the rights of African Americans. Racist state governments revoked
the newly won rights when Reconstruction ended in 1876. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">22.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American escaped
from slavery during the Civil War by taking a Confederate ship and sailing it
north. He was a ship’s captain for the Union during the war and a member of
Congress after the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer: Robert Smalls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">23.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">In 1857, this enslaved Black
American sued for his freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that
he was the property of his owner and that Black Americans were not citizens of
the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer: Dred Scott<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">24.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American escaped
slavery and became an activist for African American and women’s rights. Her
1851 “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention is one of
the most famous speeches in U.S. history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer: Sojourner Truth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">25.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American was a slave
who</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> escaped to Pennsylvania in 1849. Over the
next ten years she completed 19 secret missions to rescue over 300 people from
slavery. You can visit the house where she sheltered escaped slaves on
Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Harriet Tubman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">26.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American escaped
from slavery in 1838 to become a famous writer, speaker, and newspaper
publisher. After the Civil War he became president of the new Freedman’s
Savings Bank. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Frederick Douglass<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">27.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">In
1794, this Black minister founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church,
the first independent Black church in the United States. The church is located
at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets in Philadelphia. It is the oldest
church property in the United States to be continuously owned by African
Americans. </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer:
Richard Allen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">28.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">This Black American was sold
into slavery in 1761 when she was seven years old. She went on to become an
internationally famous poet and one of the first published poets of colonial
America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Answer: Phillis Wheatley <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-81125932099609494752018-11-09T13:56:00.001-05:002018-11-09T13:56:48.387-05:00Ethiopian prideBirthplace of humanity?<br />
Check.<br />
<br />
Amazing food?<br />
Check.<br />
<br />
Gorgeous landscapes?<br />
Check.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.apnews.com/93bc411f2c68438db25b31b3d68943ef" target="_blank">Fifty percent female cabinet?</a></div>
<div>
Check.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/25/660618139/ethiopia-gets-its-first-female-president" target="_blank">Female president (ceremonial)?</a></div>
<div>
Check.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/663012246/ethiopia-swears-in-first-woman-supreme-court-chief" target="_blank">Female Supreme Court president?</a></div>
<div>
Check.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So proud of Ethiopia's recent strides toward gender equity!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-32128693456162825952018-10-22T14:02:00.000-04:002018-10-22T14:21:38.555-04:00How we got here (book and podcast recommendation)I've been doing a lot of learning about the origins of race and racism in the United States, and want to share the resources that I think have been the best.<br />
<br />
If you read only one book about how American racism was constructed, it should be <i><a href="https://www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped-from-the-beginning/" target="_blank">Stamped from the Beginning</a></i> by Ibram X. Kendi. The book presents three belief sets - <i>segregationism</i>, which says that Black people are inherently inferior and racial disparities are natural; <i>assimilationism</i>, which says that discrimination created Black inferiority and racial disparities will disappear when Black people are fixed; and <i>anti-racism</i>, which says that there is nothing wrong with Black people and racial disparities will only disappear when we stop discriminating. Kendi traces these three belief sets through the lives of five figures - Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Angela Davis (this last being the one weak part of the book). I learned so much from this book that I ended up underlining about half the text. It continuously made me realize that there is nothing new about our current arguments about race. Assimilationist ideas run as deep as segregationist ones - if Black people just acted the way White people wanted them to act, racism would be over. Kendi calls this "uplift suasion" - the idea that it is the responsibility of Black people to persuade away racism - and he shows how in the 500-year history of American racism, this has never worked. It hasn't worked because racism doesn't come from anything Black people are doing wrong, nor from White ignorance and hate. Racism comes from a tiny and powerful minority seeking to maintain their power.<br />
<div>
<br />
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped-from-the-beginning/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyEV4ZRPthVXSP1dkBqvZd8msUqJ4-JMVPSxpTNA7EYYOE5MvlxE4Db-fwSl6Wnys01zARuDGg7RkM9nT7pp9rX4vo3KzNgu3BtU2iTBF9Qlm6HpKKRTGX5I-MPC9FZyIuFPRNf5Tkhw/s320/stamped-from-the-beginningNBA.jpg" width="210" /></a><span id="goog_1642696891"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1642696892"></span></div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
If you listen to only one podcast about how American racism was constructed, it should be <i><a href="http://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/" target="_blank">Seeing White</a></i>, especially Episode 32: <a href="http://www.sceneonradio.org/episode-32-how-race-was-made-seeing-white-part-2/" target="_blank">How Race was Made</a> and Episode 33: <a href="http://www.sceneonradio.org/episode-33-made-in-america-seeing-white-part-3/" target="_blank">Made in America</a>. These two episodes will show you in a nutshell how it all began.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you're looking for more, here are a few other books that I've read:</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<i>Race in North America </i>by Audrey Smedley - comprehensive and well-written history.</div>
<div>
<i>Birth of a White Nation </i>by Jacqueline Battalora - not as well written but useful focus on the origins of racism in colonial America.</div>
<div>
<i>The History of White People </i>by Nell Irvin Painter, <i>The Invention of the White Race </i>by Theodore Allen - I haven't finished either; the writing is a little dry, but both are worth a second look.</div>
<div>
<i>Slave Counterpoint </i>by Philip Morgan - a close study of African American culture in the colonial South; I've only read part.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If, like me, you've looked at race relations in America today and wondered how we got here, these resources will go a long way toward answering your question.</div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-58923477904317137062018-10-12T08:55:00.004-04:002018-10-12T08:56:18.408-04:00'Those Kids Are No Longer Yours'<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "mercury display a" , "mercury display b"; font-size: 20px; word-spacing: 0.3px;">"The very concept of 'adoption' in the Western sense—one that involves the forfeiting of parental rights—is so alien that there’s no equivalent word for it in the local languages. It’s unheard of for family ties to be permanently severed."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "mercury display a" , "mercury display b"; font-size: 20px; word-spacing: 0.3px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "mercury display a" , "mercury display b"; font-size: 20px; word-spacing: 0.3px;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/those-kids-are-no-longer-yours-ugandas-adoption-market/" target="_blank">‘Those Kids Are No Longer Yours’: An Investigation into Uganda’s Adoption Market</a> <i>- The Nation, 10/11/18</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "mercury display a" , "mercury display b"; font-size: 20px; word-spacing: 0.3px;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "mercury display a" , "mercury display b"; font-size: 20px; word-spacing: 0.3px;"><i><br /></i></span>Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-3810378083044720552018-07-05T17:06:00.002-04:002018-10-22T14:28:44.552-04:00Another check-in on family plan<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As of today, a hateful
reality-show D-lister has been president of the United States for 1 year, 5
months, and 15 days. How are we doing with our <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2016/11/family-plan-for-trump-presidency.html" target="_blank">family plan</a>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One part of the plan was about emotions vs action. Outrage can fuel
short-term action but can quickly lead to paralysis, and it’s also often not
based on fact. The narrative that everything was fine in America before Trump,
and that we have suddenly, precipitously turned into Nazi Germany, is not
helpful. The first part is inaccurate and offensive – Clinton escalated <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/bill-clinton-1994-crime-bill/" target="_blank">mass incarceration</a> and crippled the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/welfare-reform-tanf-medicaid-food-stamps/552299/" target="_blank">social safety net</a>, W started an unnecessary war
that led to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/20/15-years-after-it-began-the-death-toll-from-the-iraq-war-is-still-murky/?utm_term=.a0492b828436" target="_blank">hundreds of thousands of deaths</a> and tanked the economy, and Obama
separated <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/05/trump-obama-child-deportations-ice-immigration" target="_blank">tens of thousands of children</a> from their undocumented immigrant
parents. The second part, that we are becoming Nazi Germany, some days I
believe it, like when the Supreme Court upheld the Muslim ban. Other days it
seems that Trump is “only” doing what the U.S. government has done for most of
its existence – enrich the wealthy, comfort the powerful, and use any means at
its disposal to keep the rest down. But even if it is true that we’re turning
into Nazi Germany, then the answer is not outrage, it’s resistance. Outrage is
a brief flash of anger; resistance is enduring and strategic. The U.S. has a
long strong history of resistance. Rushing out to start a new protest may make
us feel like we’re doing something. Joining movements that have existed for
years and are led by affected people with experience and a sense of history
will get more done. We need to keep our heads in the right place if we’re going
to be effective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A main focus of our action has been to be more politically active. We are now both elected committee people in our
local Democratic party. We have done a ton of canvassing for candidates at the
state and congressional level. Some have been successful, others not, but one
undeniable success has been an increase in voter participation. In May,
Pennsylvania held primaries for congressional seats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typically off-year primary elections see <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/07/23/voter-turnout-in-primary-elections-this-year-has-been-abysmal/?utm_term=.447714153eba" target="_blank">very low turnouts</a> – if 20% of eligible people vote, you’re doing well. Our statewide
average this May was 18%. T and I canvassed all over town, and in our precinct
at least, after two quick rounds of door-knocking, turnout reached 40%. Now we
have a chance in November to turn both our congressional district and our State
House district from red to blue. (As <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIMgfBZrrZ8" target="_blank">John Oliver</a> points out, state races matter
a lot. In my district, it’s a chance to kick out the guy who constantly tries
to <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2016/04/appalled-at-pennsylvania.html" target="_blank">crawl into my uterus</a> and replace him with a candidate who supports abortion
rights.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our actions also focus on money.
We are making more political donations than in the past, to both local
candidates and candidates in swing districts across the country. We are
continuing monthly donations to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. And we have been giving more cash directly to people who need it. In my experience, the neediest people are the ones least able to access resources and giving
only to programs leaves some people out. In the past year we have given about
$1500 directly to individuals who need it. This falls far short of our goal and
we need to step it up. I am thinking now about reviving the <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2011/09/10-challenge.html" target="_blank">10% challenge</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We also planned to take part
in more protests and contact representatives more frequently. We have done some
of that but not as much as we could. We need to do more.</span></div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-73541925457620084492018-04-29T09:38:00.000-04:002018-10-22T14:33:46.575-04:00The creation of racism<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe categorizing people into “us” and “them” is a
natural human instinct, but racism is not. Racism was created. When my children
have asked me where it came from, I have always told them that slavery caused
racism. In scale and brutality, American slavery was unlike anything the world
had seen. But European slave traders and American planters still had to look at themselves in the mirror every day. Because they couldn’t bear to face the evilness of their own actions, they created the myth of racial superiority to justify
their actions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If something was created, that means there was a time before
it existed. That’s kind of an obvious point, but I had never really thought
about the time before American racism existed and about how it was brought into being.
Recently I’ve been reading a lot about that time. It’s a very specific time and
place – a few decades beginning in 1620 in the English colonies of Virginia and
Maryland. I’m learning about the very first time the word “white” was used in
law in North America to describe a group of people – in Maryland in 1681. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before there were “white” people, there were English, Irish,
Africans, and Indians; “civilized” people and “savages”; Christians and
“heathens”; free people, tenants, and bonded laborers. These were all
categories of “us” and “them” and it cannot be overstated how much life SUCKED
for almost everyone. A few English landowners grew rich and everyone else
struggled to survive and often didn’t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am not romanticizing this as an egalitarian society. But in the time before
racism, the categories were different, and an Irish bonded laborer aligned
himself with an African bonded laborer, not with an English landowner. Before
the creation of “white” people, Africans and Europeans in Virginia and Maryland
shared experiences of servitude and land ownership, married each other, voted
at similar rates, and were treated similarly (mostly poorly) by the law. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">During Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, European and African
laborers united against the ruling class (to hasten the theft of native land -
again, not romanticizing). To prevent these kinds of rebellions from
continuing, the English elite made a </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">conscious
</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and</span><i style="font-size: 12pt;"> deliberate</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> decision to create
the category of “white” and the myth of white racial superiority. It is this consciousness
and deliberateness that is new information to me. In the mid and late 17</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">century, the colonial assemblies of Virginia and Maryland passed law after law
establishing different treatment for Europeans and Africans in owning bond
laborers, manumission, owning livestock, marriage, holding public office,
voting, serving in militias, owning weapons, and punishments for
transgressions. They then required parish clerks to read these laws aloud in
church once every spring and fall, and sheriffs to read them aloud in
courthouses during the June or July terms of court. Historian Theodore Allen
writes, “We must conclude that the general public was regularly and
systematically subjected to official white-supremacist agitation. It was to be
drummed into the minds of the people… thus was the ‘white race’ invented.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I realize, as I learn this history, that I have participated
in a “great forgetting.” Even though I knew race was an invented social
category and I could put the creation of racism into its historical context for
my children, somehow I had never thought about the details. Realizing this
makes me feel horrified at how successful the myth of white supremacy has been.
But it also makes me slightly hopeful. If many of us have forgotten, maybe we
can collectively try to remember. Life in the English colonies in the mid 17th century was brutal and oppressive, but “white” and “black” people lived and
worked and resisted together with little awareness of our current racial divisions.
That image, that knowledge that it happened, helps me visualize a world where
it will happen again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-72728627530285949752018-04-23T14:08:00.003-04:002018-04-23T23:05:26.558-04:00Talking to kids about race and racism<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There
are many great articles about the importance of talking to children about race
and racism. Posting some links here, primarily aimed at White parents:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/opinion/are-we-raising-racists.html" target="_blank">Are We Raising Racists?</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
"White children are exposed to racism daily. If we parents don’t point it
out, show how it works and teach why it is false, over time our children are
more likely to accept racist messages at face value. When they see racial
inequality — when the only doctors or teachers they see are white, or fewer
kids in accelerated classes are black, for example — they won’t blame racism.
Instead, they’ll blame people of color for somehow falling short."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://medium.com/@timjwise/color-blindness-as-intellectual-child-abuse-raising-anti-racist-kids-in-an-unequal-society-cc5e3278a40" target="_blank">Color-Blindness as Intellectual ChildAbuse: Raising Anti-Racist Kids in an Unequal Society</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> “You
know the explanation… Anyone can make it if they try.’ Problem being, when we
teach kids this — the cornerstone of our secular gospel — and then they look
around, noticing in the process that some have not made it to the extent others
have, what do they then conclude? And can we be surprised when that conclusion
might be one that serves to rationalize racial and economic inequities? To make
them natural, normal, the result of some groups merely being better and others
worse, some smarter and others less so, some harder working and others
lazy?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://medium.com/embrace-race/your-5-year-old-is-already-racially-biased-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it-d72de0480ba3" target="_blank">Your 5-year-old is already racially
biased. Here’s what you can do about it.</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://medium.com/embrace-race/your-5-year-old-is-already-racially-biased-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it-d72de0480ba3" target="_blank"> </a>"The crucial question
isn’t 'Why bring issues of racial, ethnic, religious and other kinds of bias
into our schools?' It’s 'how do we constructively engage the harmful biases we
know pervade our schools and just about everywhere else? And what can we do to
shape our children’s racial attitudes before and as they emerge?'"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/summer-2014/what-white-children-need-to-know-about-race/" target="_blank">What White Children Need to Know About Race</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
“Because white students receive color-blind messages, they come to believe that
merely talking about race is racist and, therefore, something that should be
avoided. Students need to learn that there’s a vast difference between talking
about race and being racist. Racial talk leads to greater racial understanding
and helps undermine the power of racist laws, structures, and traditions.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-73776980959510100622018-03-22T22:14:00.000-04:002018-03-22T22:19:38.262-04:00Moments in the life of a rule-following childMe: Will you stop at the produce store and get me a lemon on your way home from school?<br />
Him: We're not supposed to go into stores on our way home.<br />
Me: The school doesn't want a bunch of kids going into the convenience store right after school. But this is just a lemon. At the produce store. For your mom.<br />
Him: I'll get in trouble.<br />
Me: How? By whom?<br />
Him: The crossing guard.<br />
Me: What will he do?<br />
Him: Tell the principal.<br />
Me: Really? The crossing guard knows your name?<br />
Him: No.<br />
Me: Then how will he tell the principal?<br />
Him: He'll look through the yearbook until he finds me.<br />
Me: The crossing guard will sit in the office and look at pictures of 500 kids because you went to the store to get a lemon.<br />
Him: Yes.<br />
<br />
* * * * *<br />
<br />
Me: Here's a hard question. There's no right answer. It's supposed to make you think about power and responsibility:<br />
<i>Chris and Alex (insert any gender-neutral names here) live in a castle which is surrounded by a moat. There is one bridge, which is guarded. One day Chris leaves the castle, telling Alex that if Alex leaves the castle, Chris has instructed the guard to kill Alex. After Chris has left, Alex decides to go visit a lover outside the castle. In the evening, Alex needs to return to the castle, but the guard is waiting at the bridge. Alex goes to a boat captain and tells the captain the problem, begging for a ride across the moat. The captain asks for money, which Alex does not have. Alex goes to a friend, asking for money to pay the boat captain. The friend says they don't want to get involved and refuses to give Alex money. Alex returns to the lover looking for help, but the lover refuses to be involved beyond an afternoon tryst. Finally, desperate, Alex tries to cross the bridge to enter the castle before Chris returns. The guard kills Alex.</i><br />
Here is the question - Who is most at fault for Alex's death? Chris, Alex, the guard, the lover, the captain, or the friend?<br />
<br />
Him: (Look of relief on his face) I thought you said it was hard. It's Alex. Because Alex broke the rule.<br />
<br />
* * * * *<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Me: (Pointing to the left corner of the table) Over here are people who always follow the rules. They never cross against the light. They always drive the speed limit.</div>
<div>
(Pointing to right corner of table) Over here are people who don't follow the rules. They want something, they steal it. They don't like someone, they punch them in the face.</div>
<div>
Where do you think most people are on this line?</div>
<div>
Him: (Points to a spot near left corner)</div>
<div>
Me: Where do you think you are?</div>
<div>
Him: (Points almost to left corner)</div>
<div>
Me: Where do you think Martin Luther King Jr. was?</div>
<div>
Him: (Points to air to the left of left corner)</div>
<div>
Me: Nope. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't like the rules. He broke them so he could change them. He went to jail. He was here (Pointing to spot partway down on table).</div>
<div>
Him: (Mind blown)</div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-76416538398758791152018-02-23T16:00:00.000-05:002018-02-25T06:55:43.252-05:00Centering whitenessI have
noticed something about myself, and I wonder if you, fellow White parents of Black children,
will find this familiar. I notice that in conversations with Black adults about
racism they have experienced, I have a tendency to try to signal that I am “a
good White person.” I don’t do it consciously, and I usually don’t realize it
until after the conversation is over, when I reflect on it and say, “damn it, I
did it again.”<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I have found
it only slightly helpful to let go of the goal of not being racist and
acknowledge that as a White person in America, I have been steeped in the toxic
teacup of White supremacy so long that it’s impossible to not be stained by it.
I will, whether I want to or not, at some point do or say something racist.
There is no point in beating myself up over it, I need to acknowledge it, learn
from it, and try to do better the next time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">But this has
been only slightly helpful because in the end, it still makes the conversation
about racism about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i>. It’s either
“I’m a good White person,” or “I acknowledge White people's racism.”
Either way, a conversation that began about racism against a Black person has
now become about the White person’s feelings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Centering
whiteness – it’s a real thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Last week a Black child was the target of hate speech at my son's school and his mother came to me about it. My response was to speculate about what actions </span>the White school administrators might take and to offer to go to the school with her for support. This response was not useful. What she really needed were my connections to the specific members of the school board who could most help her. But she had to push me to get what she needed because instead of focusing on her, I had once again centered myself and other White people. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I had to sit down to figure out some concrete steps for how to stop doing this. Here’s
what I came up with. It’s something really simple but I’m already noticing it
changing my conversations. Now, when I am talking to a Black person about racism,
I ask myself:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li>What is
their goal? Their goal might be, as in the situation above, to get help for
their child, or to blow off steam, or to offer advice about raising my Black
sons. I guarantee their goal is not to measure how good or bad a White
person I am. Asking myself what their goal is keeps the focus where it belongs, on them.</li>
<li>How can they
use me? The syntax of this sentence is really important. Not how can <i>I </i>help them but how can <i>they</i> use me? Keeping “they” as the
subject of the sentence keeps the focus where it belongs. If they can use me,
great. I'll do what they need me to do. If they can’t use me, then I'll back off.</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Like I said,
very simple, but I notice it making a difference. What about you? How do you
combat the centering of whiteness in your conversations about racism?</span></div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-28899163112571903682018-02-13T16:56:00.000-05:002018-02-14T09:12:44.404-05:00What he needs right nowWhen A was eight years old, I took him to Ethiopia. When he was ten, my mom took him and two of his cousins to Alaska. So when D's tenth birthday was approaching, T and I were very aware that it was time to give D a special experience of his own.
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enter my friend, S. Last spring, she and I were walking laps around the soccer field while our kids had practice. "What are you doing this summer?" I asked. "My in-laws gave us a Caribbean cruise," she said. "The only thing is, I wish we had another kid to take with us so our son won't be alone."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neither T nor I have ever had much interest in going on a cruise. But D? A week of unlimited food and five pools with water slides? Heaven.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So at the end of this past August, he went. S, her husband B, their 9-year-old son, and D. They flew to Houston and boarded in Galveston. They had <i>such</i> a good time. The boys spent their mornings and evenings in the funnest camp ever. In the afternoons they hung out with S and B at the pool. They had shore excursions to beaches in Honduras and Mexico, and they swam with dolphins. At the end of the trip, Hurricane Harvey prevented their return to Galveston, and they ended up with two extra days and an unplanned rerouting to Miami. It was a phenomenal experience for D and it definitely "evened the score" with his brother.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was something else special about this trip. S and B are African American. S has a skin tone that is very close to D's. She told me that everyone assumed they were a family of four. For those ten days, D got to experience being in a family that looked like him. A family that drew no attention walking into a room. It was an amazing gift that S and B were able to give him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After D returned I asked him how it had felt to be part of a Black family, and he said, "cool." That was about all he verbalized. But I noticed, as we moved into fall and winter, that his relationships with the Black adults in his life became more important to him. We had a wonderful fall soccer season on a predominantly Black team with many involved dads, including B, and D thrived. He discovered he had talent as a goalie and he played with a new confidence. I will never forget the pride on D's face as he blocked shot after shot while R, another Black man, literally shouted himself hoarse cheering for him (I should note that R's son was one of the top scorers on the team and also contributed heavily to his dad's hoarseness.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I told R how much I appreciated his encouragement of D, and also of A, who unfortunately had a badly sprained ankle and missed most of his soccer season. R looked at me and said, "You know we're always looking out for them." I get teary-eyed thinking about it. Because he doesn't have to be looking out for my kids, but he is. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we're in the middle of basketball season with the same core group of kids and the bond D feels with this group of dads is only getting stronger. He talks about them, reports on funny things they said or did, and has been trying out an exaggerated version of their speech patterns (one recent Saturday, he said nothing but, "yo, youngbo, chill, chill, youngbo" all day long).<br />
<br />
I'm very thankful that T fully supports D's relationships with other dads. I can imagine an adoptive father feeling some jealousy, but T knows what his son needs right now and if he can't provide it, he's happy someone else can.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other thing is that D seems to want me to be Black (just me, not T). Last month the basketball team had an outing to a university game and he told me I couldn't come because "ferenjis aren't cool." A couple of weeks ago, we watched a few episodes of Henry Louis Gates's "Finding Your Roots" and he turned to me and said, "What percent African blood are you? Like 90%?" It feels like, if he could will me into being Black, he would. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This all seems pretty natural and OK to me. Children his age are figuring out who they are and for transracially adopted kids, the job is a little more complicated. When he asked if I was 90% African, I didn't say, "No, I'm White," I said that it was less than 90% but I probably did have some African blood in me, especially on my Mediterranean side. And look, my hair is curly like yours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But part of me - the part that overthinks everything a million times more than necessary - wondered if I <i>should </i>feel that it's OK and natural. Maybe I should be concerned that my son thinks White people aren't cool? I looked up local therapists who listed racial identity development as one of their specialties. Should I take him to a therapist? I definitely overthink things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually I talked to S, who is a social worker, and she laughed and said, "No, it's normal." She shared with me a few things that her son, a Black child with Black non-adoptive parents, had said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So without reaching <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/03/03/518184030/why-rachel-dolezal-can-never-be-black" target="_blank">Rachel Dolezal</a> heights, I will continue to minimize our differences and focus on what we have in common, and I will continue to surround him with Black role models. D will figure it out eventually.</div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-88875948398927709292018-01-23T18:33:00.002-05:002018-01-26T21:01:07.070-05:00Black History Month 2018For my teacher friends - Use and adapt as you like<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Black
History Month – Scientists & Inventors Edition</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever thought about being an astronaut? <b>Guion
Bluford</b> and <b>Mae Jemison</b> were the
first African American astronauts in space. Guion Bluford was born in
Philadelphia. He was a combat pilot before he became an astronaut. Mae Jemison
was a doctor before she became an astronaut. The next time you look up at the
stars, think of Guion Bluford and Mae Jemison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever traveled on a train? <b>Elijah
McCoy</b> was a Black inventor who improved train travel in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century. He received 57 patents for his inventions. We use his name today when
we call the original and best thing “the real McCoy.” The next time you see a
train go by, think of Elijah McCoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Can
you imagine what driving would be like if stoplights only had green and red
lights but no yellow warning lights? Can you imagine a firefighter going into a
smoke-filled building without a mask? <b>Garrett
Morgan</b> was an African American inventor who created the first traffic signal with a warning light, and the first gas mask for firefighters. The next time
you see a stoplight or a firetruck, think of Garrett Morgan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever seen a security camera? <b>Marie
Van Brittan Brown</b> invented the first home security camera in the 1960’s.
The camera looked through a set of peepholes and sent images to a TV monitor. It
also included a two-way microphone to speak with a person outside, and an
emergency button to call the police. The next time you notice a security
camera, think of Marie Van Brittan Brown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever seen a big truck on the highway bringing food to the grocery store
from faraway places? That food needs to stay cold or it will spoil. <b>Frederick Jones</b> was an African American
engineer who invented the first automatic refrigeration system for trucks. The
next time you eat an orange from Florida or an avocado from South America,
think of Frederick Jones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever had your vision checked? <b>Patricia
Bath</b> is an African American doctor who co-founded the American Institute
for the Prevention of Blindness. She invented the Laserphaco (LAY-zer FAY-co) Probe
to treat patients who are going blind with cataracts. The next time you visit
the eye doctor, think of Patricia Bath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">7.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Do
you know anyone with arthritis? Did you know that many medicines come from
plants? <b>Percy Julian</b> was an African
American chemist who discovered how to use cortisone to treat arthritis. He
made cortisone from soybeans. If you know someone with arthritis, you can tell
them about Percy Julian.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">8.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How
did we send astronauts all the way to the moon? <b>Mary Jackson</b>, <b>Katherine
Johnson</b> and <b>Dorothy Vaughan</b>
(VAHN) were “human computers” who worked at NASA. They did all the math
equations and calculations to figure out how to send a rocket to the moon – and
they did them by hand. To learn more about Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and
Dorothy Vaughan, you can watch the movie “Hidden Figures.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">9.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Do
you like peanut butter? <b>George
Washington Carver</b> was an inventor and a teacher. He researched peanuts,
sweet potatoes, soybeans, and other crops. He came up with 300 uses for
peanuts, including fuel, soap, and peanut butter. The next time you bite into a
peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, think of George Washington Carver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">10.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Do
you like ice cream cones? You probably do! <b>Alfred
Cralle</b> (CRAWL) was a Black business person who invented the ice cream
scoop. Before his invention, getting ice cream into a cone was a sticky mess!
Cralle received a patent for his ice cream scoop in 1897. The next time you get
an ice cream cone, think of Alfred Cralle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">11.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Eat
healthy food! Not too much fat! Not too much sugar! <b>Marie Daly</b> was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D.
in chemistry in the United States in 1947. She studied how the body's chemicals
digest food. Her work led to a new understanding of how foods can affect the
health of the heart. The next time you chomp down on a fresh, healthy
vegetable, think of Marie Daly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">12.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If
you have ever watched a TV show about space, you may have seen <b>Neil deGrasse Tyson</b>. Neil deGrasse
Tyson is one of the most famous scientists in the world. He has written many books
and hosted many TV shows about science, including <i>Star Talk </i>and <i>Cosmos. </i>If
you want to know more about space, check out Neil deGrasse Tyson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">13.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever used a washing machine? <b>Ellen
Eglin</b> was an African American woman who invented one of the first washing
machines in the 1880’s. Her invention was a hand-cranked machine that passed wet clothes between
two rollers, squeezing out the water and dirt. The next time you see a washing
machine, think of Ellen Eglin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">14.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever ridden in an elevator? <b>Alexander
Miles</b> was a Black man who, in 1867, designed an important safety feature
for elevators – their automatic doors. Before his invention, people had to
close the elevator door by hand. If they forgot, they risked falling out of the
elevator. The next time you go on an elevator, think of Alexander Miles.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">15.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever used caller ID to see who is phoning you? <b>Dr. Shirley Jackson</b> is a Black woman who worked at Bell Labs doing
research on telecommunications. Her discoveries enabled others to invent the
portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, caller ID,
and call waiting. The next time you answer the phone, think of Shirley Jackson.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">16.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever used a microphone? <b>James West</b>
is a Black scientist who studied at Temple University and worked at Bell Labs.
Ninety percent of microphones today, including in phones, camcorders, and baby
monitors, use his technology. The next time you record yourself on your phone,
think of James West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">17.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Do
you wear sunscreen in the summer? <b>Jewel
Plumber Cobb</b> was Black scientist who studied skin cancer. She researched the
effects of chemotherapy drugs on human cells, leading the way to better tools for
fighting cancer. She spent her career working for more opportunities in science
for women and people of color. The next time you put on your sun screen, think
of Jewel Plumber Cobb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">18.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Are
you wearing shoes? I hope so! <b>Jan Matzeliger
</b>(YAHN mat-ZEL-lig-er) was a Black shoemaker who was born in Suriname, South
America, and moved to Philadelphia. At that time, shoes were made by hand and
took a long time to make. Matzeliger invented a machine that could make 700
pairs of shoes in a day. When you put on your shoes, think of Jan Matzeliger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">19.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When
is the last time you used a computer? <b>Mark
Dean</b> is a Black engineer who invented many features of modern computers.
Your computer uses a color monitor. It can do a billion calculations a second.
It can send files to a printer. Mark Dean led the development of all these
innovations. The next time you sit down at a computer, think of Mark Dean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Century Gothic";">20.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Have
you ever dropped off clothes at the dry cleaner? <b>Thomas Jennings</b> received a patent for a dry-cleaning process called
“dry scouring” in 1821. He was the first Black person to receive a patent in
the United States. His process cleaned clothes without using water. The next
time you take a suit to the dry cleaner, think of Thomas Jennings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-47714911977369372382017-12-31T15:11:00.000-05:002017-12-31T17:25:36.298-05:00Three winsToday each year I look back on the year and think of all the resolutions I didn't keep, the goals I didn't achieve, the Nobel Prize I didn't get... This year, for a change, I'll focus on three wins:<br />
<ol>
<li>I ran my first and second half-marathons. For the first my goal was just to finish. For the second I set a time goal, and I made it. </li>
<li>I drove with my children across the country. We left T at Niagara Falls and reunited 3 weeks later in Seattle to spend a week in the San Juan Islands. In between we drove to Toronto, Lansing, Lake Michigan, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, the Badlands, the Black Hills, Bighorn National Forest, Yellowstone National Park, Bozeman, Lolo National Forest, and Spokane. We learned history, saw beautiful geography, and met old family and new friends.</li>
<li>I helped local candidates win elections. I knocked on a lot of doors. In May, I helped keep cross-filed Republicans off the Democratic side of the ballot. In November, I helped
elect Democrats to county council for the first time in forty years and
I helped flip our local school board. </li>
</ol>
What were your wins in 2017?Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-54368265022469113722017-12-18T16:48:00.000-05:002017-12-18T16:48:02.420-05:00Parenting winThis fall D was going through a phase where he never asked for anything, he DEMANDED it. I came up with this reminder to help him change his behavior:<br />
<br />
- Friendly face and voice<br />
- Ask, "Could you...?" "Could I...?"<br />
- Reason (give one)<br />
- Thank you (say it)<br />
<br />
The genius part is that the acronym spells FART. He makes a grumpy demand. I say, "D, could you FART please?" Hilarity ensues, behavior improves.Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-27670270366442508882017-10-01T22:20:00.000-04:002017-12-18T16:35:23.560-05:00SuspicionThis happened one year ago. A had just turned eleven.<br />
<br />
He was fundraising for his school. We were walking on our street together. I was standing two houses away from him to give him some independence while he knocked on doors and took orders for chrysanthemums.<br />
<br />
He was knocking on H's door. A police car was driving by. When the officers saw him, they swerved across the road and came to a sudden stop against the curb, facing the wrong way. Two officers watched him. Both their heads turned and they watched my 4'9" eleven-year-old son.<br />
<br />
I called out, "It looks like they're not home, sweetie."<br />
<br />
Both heads snapped toward me. The car swerved back to the right side of the road and sped away.<br />
<br />
For a year, I have tried to come up with an alternative explanation. I keep telling myself, "Maybe they were concerned about a kid locked out of this house." But there was no, "Hey bud, need some help?" And after they saw me, no, "Looks like you got this, Mom." No words at all.<br />
<br />
A sudden swerve. Watching. And another sudden swerve away.<br />
<br />
They weren't concerned. My local police saw my 4'9" eleven-year-old brown-skinned son and they were suspicious.Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-16845725858521282712017-06-21T17:29:00.000-04:002017-06-21T17:29:52.317-04:00End of school yearA has finished 5th grade (on to middle school!!!) and D has finished 3rd. They both had good years.<br />
<br />
A's accomplishments were mostly about academics and independence. His teacher allowed him a lot of freedom to manage his own time and he excelled at his work while remaining challenged and interested. His math abilities are through the roof - he averaged 100% for all four quarters and scored at the 99.9th percentile on a nationally normed test of math achievement. This last score, along with his reading achievement and his teacher's recommendation allowed A to qualify for the gifted program. It's funny, because traditionally "gifted" means an out-of-the-box thinker but A is just really, really good at achieving in the box. If he's gifted, it's at sheer stubbornness and determination. The boy will not give up until he has plumbed the depths of the box, explored every corner of the box, owned the box. But out of the box? No, thank you. Still, he is becoming more independent. He walked home alone from school most days this year. He spent a weekend at the beach with his best friend's family. And his favorite memory of 5th grade - four days at an outdoor education camp in Maryland - nature studies, swamp crawls, and zip lines. <br />
<br />
D also had academic success this year with solid A and B equivalents. His place to shine is memorizing all kinds of facts - presidential history, basketball stats, and geography. Name a year, he can tell you who was president. Name a basketball player, he can tell you how many points he scored his rookie year in the NBA. Show him a blob and he can identify it as the <a href="https://www.zoo.com/quiz/97-people-cant-identify-individual-countries-just-a-map-outline-can-you?mkcpgn=i600006562&ts=fJlc7iwSQ" target="_blank">outline of Belarus</a> (next year I'm definitely registering his school for the National Geographic Bee). The way D learns many of his facts is interesting - he reads the same materials multiple times and then sings information to himself while he shoots an imaginary basketball... <span class="_Tgc">♪ MARtin Van </span><span class="_Tgc"><span class="_Tgc">♪ BUren </span></span><i><span class="_Tgc">(swish) </span></i><span class="_Tgc">♪ 1837 to </span><span class="_Tgc"><span class="_Tgc"><i>(swish) </i></span>1841 </span><span class="_Tgc"></span><span class="_Tgc">♪</span><span class="_Tgc">♪. People are constantly amazed by how much he knows. His other big accomplishment was social - for the first time he has been willing to inviting friends into his space at home. He made a really good friend in N. They've been inseparable at school and have been spending time together outside of school too. It's been exciting to see D step out from under his brother's shadow and form such a strong friendship on his own.</span>Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-33785670373682230232017-05-02T20:55:00.000-04:002017-05-03T12:34:31.012-04:00What else are we supposed to do?Mom, can I go play basketball?<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
You know I don't like you going anywhere.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Aw, Mom, just to the rec center to play basketball.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Listen, any trouble happens, you walk straight home.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I will, Mom, I promise.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ONict5F3w4" target="_blank">And they did.</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mom, I want to go to this party.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Your grades <i>are </i>good, you've earned some fun.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And I'll be there with my own brothers.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Absolutely no drinking, you hear me?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Of course, Mom.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Any trouble happens, you get in the car to come home.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I will, Mom, I promise.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-cop-fatally-shot-15-year-fired-police/story?id=47162793" target="_blank">And he did. </a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
When they killed Trayvon, we were told our sons must never wear hoodies or get in trouble at school; otherwise, they deserve to die.<br />
<br />
When they killed Michael, we were told our sons must never walk in the street or be rude; otherwise, they deserve to die.<br />
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When they killed Tamir, we were told our 12-year-olds must never be immature; otherwise, they deserve to die.<br />
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Tell me, please, tell me, what else are we supposed to do to keep them safe from the people who are supposed to keep them safe?Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-4031984381941777652017-03-04T18:26:00.000-05:002017-03-05T07:22:22.733-05:00Goals for Return Trip #2I had three goals for our trip to Ethiopia. Let's see how well I did.<br />
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Goal #1: Give our kids a positive experience of Ethiopia.<br />
We absolutely met this goal. Six months later, the boys are still talking about visiting their family, about Lalibela and Lake Tana, about the food, even about the Edna Mall. There were definitely things about Addis that they didn't like but those were minor compared to the pride and knowledge of their country that they gained. I give us an A.<br />
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Goal #2: Do it as affordably as possible.<br />
We spent about US $4,800 for six weeks. This includes lodging,
transportation, food, activities/guide/interpreter fees, and souvenirs, but does not include
gifts to family in Ethiopia. It works out to just under $120 per day. We cut costs by mostly staying in guesthouses in the "budget" and "moderate" categories, and by camping for our week in the kids' village. A good strategy was to find cheap accommodation near a nicer hotel,
then get a day pass and use the hotel's pool and other facilities. We probably
saved the most money by not having a driver. Instead we used a combination of mini-buses, buses, bajajes, and locally arranged private cars. For longer distances, we flew using the huge discounts available to anyone who enters the country on Ethiopian Airlines (for example, Lalibela to Addis was only $63 for me and $53 for each child). We only used an interpreter when we were in the village and the rest of the time English and my minimal Amharic were sufficient. For tourist attractions we found the guides on site or those arranged by our guesthouses to be very good and affordable and we didn't need to bring an outside guide. Despite getting ripped off a couple of times, we did well. I give us an A-.<br />
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Goal #3: Be a bottomless well of patience.<br />
I knew the trip would be challenging for the boys and from the first day I saw behaviors that I hadn't seen in years. One of the boys returned to what I call "shadowing," where I start to say a sentence and he finishes it with me but with a quarter-second delay - "What would you-you like-ike to-to drink-ink? Do-do you-you want-want a Fanta-anta?" This was actually a helpful strategy for him to learn English. On our trip I was generally understanding when he started to do it again. But have someone shadow you every day for weeks without a break and you will see how grating it gets. There was also a lot of complaining from one boy, especially when it came to walking anywhere. I did a good job being patient with it but it didn't leave much patience for other annoyances. Between the shadowing and the complaining, I had two blow-ups on the trip. And by the end of the six weeks, with my husband around to share parenting, I had moments when I literally hid from my children. Overall, I give myself a B-.Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-59532912969365336412017-03-03T20:59:00.000-05:002017-03-05T15:35:31.825-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 7We woke up at 5:00AM to be at the small Soyema bus station at 5:30. There are two buses a week to Konso, and there are always more people who want to ride them than there are seats. We waited outside the gates, and when they were unlocked at 6:00AM, T and our teacher friend rushed in like it was Walmart on Black Friday. Luckily we got seats. The bus left the station with every seat full but no one in the aisles, in adherence with transportation regulations. Then it drove two blocks down the road and picked up everyone else who hadn't been able to get a seat. I entertained myself on the two-hour ride to Konso by waging a silent battle for six inches of floor space with the woman next to me.<br />
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The day before, T and I had climbed 30 minutes up a hill to get cell phone reception and call Chuchu, our resident guardian angel in Konso. He was waiting for us at the bus station. He took us to breakfast, to the rock formations known as "New York" -<br />
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and on a tour of a Konso village. Very cool winding rocky streets and hundreds-years-old community houses where teenage boys spend their nights guarding against invaders.<br />
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Chuchu had arranged a van to take us to Arba Min'ch. He said that four years ago I wrote him a review on TripAdvisor that made his tour business take off, and because of that he didn't want any payment. I think his business took off because he's a great guy and excellent tour guide. We did persuade him to accept our tent as a gift, so now he can also offer camping tours (I have his contact information if you're interested).<br />
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In Arba Min'ch we stayed at the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g776853-d6001773-Reviews-Soma_Lodge-Arba_Minch_Southern_Nations_Nationalities_and_People_s_Region.html" target="_blank">Soma Lodge</a>, right on the edge of the escarpment. Positives - amazing view, comfy beds, interesting fellow travelers including a group of adult adoptees returning from Spain, a large troop of baboons living right below us on the cliffside. Negatives - barely functioning bathrooms.<br />
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In Arba Min'ch we arranged a boat ride to <i><a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2011/12/ethiopia-trip-part-4-getting-back-to.html" target="_blank">finally</a> </i>see the famous crocodiles of Lake Chamo -<br />
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and we walked in Ne'ch Sar National Park. </div>
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The rest of the time we hung out by the pool at Paradise Lodge. Honestly, we were done. After the great week in the village everyone was ready to go home, but we had a couple of days to wait and it was more pleasant to be in Arba Min'ch than in the pollution of Addis.<br />
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We flew to Addis on August 19 and stayed in a little hole-in-the-wall hotel. We had our last meals with friends, went shopping for gifts and food to take home, watched some of the Rio Olympics, and in a last minute surprise, got to see <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2014/04/ethiopia-return-trip-part-2-reunion.html" target="_blank">Dawitt</a>, our wonderful guide from 2014. In the early morning of August 21 we took an ancient Lada taxi to the airport and flew home.<br />
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/03/goals-for-return-trip-2.html">last post</a> Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-29690104167008381192017-03-02T13:16:00.000-05:002017-03-05T15:34:33.640-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 6This post is going to be about our week with our boys' family. For the sake of privacy I'm not going to use names or relationships. I will refer to all adult relatives as aunts and uncles and all children as cousins.<br />
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We spent our first night in Burji in Soyema, the only town in the area. At 5:50AM our interpreter (a local teacher who is a friend of a friend) called to say that he was with the boys' family. I asked for a little time to get ourselves together and by 7AM we were at the cafe for our reunion.<br />
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Reunion was beautiful and joyful but I won't be posting any pictures. Here's a picture from later that morning. <br />
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A was immediately comfortable with his family. He remembered them from our last trip. D was happy at first but then started to feel confused and needed to stay at my side.<br />
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After a while we went to the home of the family we had stayed with on our last trip. The adults visited while the kids hung out with a niece we had met two years ago. A few people went to the store for food to take with us. Finally we loaded people and bags into two very stuffed bajajes, and drove out to the village.<br />
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Last time we had come in April when there wasn't much farmwork that needed doing, and a huge crowd had greeted our arrival; this time we came at the first harvest / second planting so the village was quiet, with everyone off working. We set up our tent behind Uncle M's house. Some extra cloths were hung up around the outdoor toilet for additional privacy. We brought out the <a href="https://www.oneworldplayproject.com/product/blue-one-world-futbols/" target="_blank">soccer ball</a> and the kids got a game going. By now D felt comfortable too. As people returned from the farms they came to greet us. Kids came to stare. We went to visit the family of another child adopted to the US who lives in the same village. Then after a dinner of injera and eggs, and as a slight rain started, we went to sleep in our tent.<br />
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The next day I felt sick - maybe the eggs? After breakfast we walked down with Uncle M and our teacher-interpreter to see the farmland.<br />
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Along the way we met the relative of another child adopted to the US, who lives in a nearby village. It was heartbreaking to have only a single picture and no news to give. I told our interpreter that the child now uses a different name in the US. Our interpreter declined to translate this information.<br />
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In the late morning we returned to Soyema to buy more supplies from the twice-weekly market.<br />
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We gave everything to Aunt M, with whom we had arranged for meals during our time in the village. In the afternoon I still felt sick, so I lay down while the kids played soccer. All evening a continuous stream of people came to greet us.<br />
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The following day after breakfast we all went with Cousin C to the farmland on the hill above the village. Uncles W and M brought oxen and we all had a chance to try to plow. Plowing is a lot harder than it looks.<br />
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Later in the morning we had coffee in Aunt C and Uncle D's yard and more people came to see us. </div>
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Then we moved into the house for a more private conversation. We had lunch with Uncles W and M and Aunt M, and in the afternoon the kids went to play soccer. </div>
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After lunch our interpreter left to take his father to the clinic in Soyema so we were on our own. Luckily we have enough Amharic that we could communicate the basics, and with our interpreter gone, more people who before only spoke Burji came forth as knowing some Amharic.</div>
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Aunt M was one of the people who knows Amharic and the next morning I tried to help her in the kitchen (I was not very helpful). After breakfast Uncle W took us to the small village market to show us off and buy the boys some sugarcane. Then I was able to communicate to Uncle M that the boys wanted to help Cousin C bring the cows to the farm. It was T's turn to feel sick, so I went with the boys to the upper fields. They really enjoyed driving the cattle up the hill. At the top of the hill Uncle M plowed while the boys watched the herd and played. After a while D was feeling sick too, so I returned to the village with him. A stayed with Cousin C to watch the cows. Later I asked him how he and Cousin C communicated and he said they pointed at things and named them in English and Burji, counted, said the alphabet, and created miniature plows out of sticks. It didn't matter that they didn't speak the same language, they are the same age, and they had fun together. </div>
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We had lunch at Uncle M's house and then Aunt C insisted that we have a second lunch at her house. By then our interpreter was back and T was going to return to Soyema with him to run an errand at the bank. They went to the road to look for a bajaj, and when one pulled up, T looked in the back and saw a young man we had met in Colorado! He had told me he would be in Burji getting married and would look for us. His family is from a village on the other side of Burji but as the only <i>ferenjis </i>around, we apparently weren't hard to find. T and our interpreter took our Colorado friend's bajaj to town while he stayed and translated for me.</div>
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The next two days we had private conversations with each member of the family and with the other local families whose children are in the US. In each house we sat and talked, with our interpreter translating, and I filled pages in my notebook. Uncle W told us about how he and Aunt M got married. Aunt M told us about how hard it was to grow up without a mother. Aunt C told us about working in the fields when she was very young and being scared of the monkeys. Uncle D - who is a spry 80 years old - told us about the Italians. They talked about what our boys were like when they were little. Uncle W disappeared for half a day to go get a relative from a village in the highlands and when they returned, we found she looks exactly like A. Aunt C told us that Uncle D was a chatterbox in his youth, just like D. </div>
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A and D were interested in some of these conversations but not all, so at times while we talked they went off with other relatives. They went with Cousin C to load a donkey with water from the pump. They spent a couple of hours driving oxen in circles to thresh 'tef, having a blast and getting covered with 'tef dust head to toe. </div>
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The last day we said our goodbyes over meals at Uncle M's house and Aunt C's house and then we returned to Soyema. </div>
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Our week in the village was the highlight of our six-week trip. Logistically, it worked out really well. The tent was comfortable enough. Buying food and hiring Aunt M to cook for us was great. Having an interpreter unconnected to adoption and whose father lived in the village was very important. T, D, and I each had a day when we felt sick, but it was nothing serious. The outdoor toilet was better than expected. The weather was cool and dry enough that a week without showers was fine - we just used a lot of wipes and I wrapped my hair when it got greasy. </div>
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More importantly, for that week our boys were surrounded by love. They got used to walking down the main road and having old women rush up and hug them. People argued over whose house they would eat at and cried over who they looked like. Staying a week allowed us to meet more distant family that we hadn't known existed. We were there long enough to stop attracting crowds and join the family in their daily activities. A week gave me context for a situation that I have mixed feelings about. We got to know personalities, see how people interacted with each other, and imagine what it would have been like for our boys to live here. It was a wonderful week.</div>
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/03/ethiopia-return-trip-2-part-7.html">Part 7</a> </div>
Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-60804954214539403592017-03-01T11:23:00.001-05:002017-03-05T15:33:48.279-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 5After Lalibela we flew back to Addis to wait for T. I halfheartedly tried to book an overnight tour to Awash National Park but couldn't justify the US $400 pricetag. Instead we stayed in Addis, ate fir-fir at Depo St. George House, went to the Edna Mall (Ethiopia's version of Chuck-E Cheese), saw a movie, went to the Natural History Museum, swam at the Hilton pool, and visited with our old <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-amharic-tutors.html" target="_blank">Amharic tutor</a> (yay!) who was in Ethiopia for a wedding. Arafat took us to the airport to wait for T on the night of August 3. We had to wait in the parking lot, since they only let travelers into the airport. Funny D quote - when T came out he was backlit and hard to recognize; D scolded me, "Didn't you see his BROAD shoulders? His RIPPLING muscles?" Umm, no, I didn't see those things.<br />
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We gave T one day to recover from jetlag and then flew to Arba Min'ch. We stayed at the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g776853-d2308340-Reviews-Arba_Minch_Tourist_Hotel-Arba_Minch_Southern_Nations_Nationalities_and_People_s_Region.html" target="_blank">Tourist Hotel</a>, which has cramped rooms but the <i>best </i>restaurant, with garden seating that takes up the entire grounds of the hotel. Unfortunately, maybe because Arba Min'ch has fewer tourists than the historic circuit in the north, it seemed like every store, bajaj driver, and tour operator was trying to rip us off.<br />
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The next day we did a tour of a Dorze village, which was sort of interesting but a very fixed set of experiences - go here, look at this, taste this, buy, buy, buy. The best part of the tour was when we stopped the car on the way back and walked through the conifer forest - a completely different ecosystem than anywhere else I've been in Ethiopia. It looked like the Rocky Mountains. Back in Arba Min'ch I found a print shop to make photo albums for our kids' family - I got LOTS of opinions about which photos I should include - and took A to get his hair braided.<br />
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The following morning we were sitting in the garden restaurant when a man sat down next to us and holy crap, it was Chuchu!!! The guy <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2011/12/ethiopia-trip-part-3-river.html" target="_blank">who had rescued us</a> from the river back in 2011!!! We had kept in contact with him for a while but over the years we had lost touch. It was great to see him again and as it turned out, he helped us out again. Our plan that day had been to go to Konso and spend the night at the hotel owned by our friend's family but Chuchu told us it was a bad idea. A man had been killed by security forces in Konso that morning and there were soldiers everywhere. He told us to go ahead to Konso but he would arrange for us to continue straight through to Burji. So while we were on the 3-hour bus ride to Konso, he was making phone calls. Outside Konso soldiers stopped the bus and had everyone get off and show ID. They were friendly to us but we were very aware of their big guns and unrestricted authority. Back on the bus we continued until the outskirts of town where a group of people flagged the driver down and asked, "Do you have two ferenjis with two kids with you?" Chuchu had sent them. We got off and they immediately drove us out of town.<br />
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A few hours later we arrived in Soyema, Burji. The local teacher who would be our interpreter in our kids' village came to meet us and took us to dinner and the local "hotel."<br />
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/03/ethiopia-return-trip-2-part-6.html">Part 6</a> Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-81312964004225846212017-02-28T14:58:00.000-05:002017-03-05T15:32:53.821-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 4Our next stop was Lalibela, a short and easy flight from Gondar. We stayed at <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g480193-d4290249-Reviews-Villa_Lalibela_Guesthouse-Lalibela_Amhara_Region.html" target="_blank">Villa Lalibela</a>, a small guesthouse that is an extension of a family home. The family was very welcoming; we shared coffee and a meal with them and watched Turkish soap operas together. Best of all, an English-speaking 13-year-old was visiting Grandma from Addis Ababa, and for a while the kids were convinced that we had come to Lalibela to play soccer with Nathi and that the 12th-century rock-hewn churches were secondary.<br />
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When I finally persuaded the kids to leave the guesthouse and walk around town, we got a bad first impression of the tourist facilities when two wannabe guides got into a shoving match in front of us and pushed both me and A. Back at the guesthouse A was consoled and the manager organized a soccer game with the neighborhood kids to take his mind off what happened. He was feeling better soon and a delicious meal at the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g480193-d5534697-i112669409-Sora_Lodge_Lalibela-Lalibela_Amhara_Region.html" target="_blank">Sora Lodge restaurant</a> right on the edge of the cliff helped.<br />
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The next day we went to the churches, bringing our own guide organized by Villa Lalibela. At the main office the manager had heard what had happened, apologized, and gave A free admission. Those guides really were an aberration because everything else about the church tour was very organized and professional.<br />
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The churches were, of course, fantastic. It really boggled the mind to look at these majestic structures and think that they were hand carved out of the mountains.<br />
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Just as cool as the churches - and very fun for the kids - were the tunnels, trenches, and twisting staircases we walked through to get from one church to the next.<br />
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We visited the north group of churches before lunch and the south group after. When it started raining in the afternoon, we went back to the guesthouse to play with Nathi.<br />
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On the third day with the sun shining, we returned to Beit Giyorgis for pictures. Note that entrance tickets to the churches are good for five days.<br />
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We also went to the north side of town to have lunch at the very cool <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g480193-d2353470-Reviews-Ben_Abeba-Lalibela_Amhara_Region.html" target="_blank">Ben Abeba</a> snail sculpture/restaurant. We stopped at the Ethiopian Airlines office for tickets and then hung out with Nathi and at the Sora Lodge during the rainy afternoon.<br />
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/03/ethiopia-return-trip-2-part-5.html">Part 5</a> <br />
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Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-81517961342461383072017-02-28T12:07:00.002-05:002017-03-05T15:30:29.723-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 3Soon after we arrived in Addis Ababa, we heard about deadly clashes between protesters and soldiers in Gondar. It was difficult to get any information about the situation because during the following days the government shut off internet access. The government also tightly controls the media. The best we could do was ask a friend to call a friend in Gondar and get information from there. When we got to Bahir Dar, which is three hours south of Gondar, we got a little more information. Then a traveling family we had met called with a first-hand report. For an American who is used to instant access to multiple news perspectives on almost any event, this circuitous route to information felt very foreign.<br />
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Because of the continued uncertainty, I decided on a private car from Bahir Dar to Gondar rather than a public bus. First we decided to stop in Awra Amba. This is a small community notable for its efforts at gender equality and religious tolerance (more <a href="http://visitawraamba.com/" target="_blank">here</a>). It was a little cultish but interesting, and the community is doing well, with a big weaving workshop, school, and home for the elderly. After Awra Amba we continued north on a gorgeous drive past green farmland - mostly corn and rice - and up into the mountains.<br />
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In Gondar we stayed at the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g317059-d2357135-Reviews-Lodge_Fasil-Gonder_Amhara_Region.html" target="_blank">Fasil Lodge</a>. I'm not sure I'd recommend the location. On the one hand, we could walk right to the castle compound, which is the big tourist attraction in Gondar. On the other hand, the most visited part of town attracts a lot of hustlers and we got hassled A LOT. The southern part of Gondar might be a more attractive option on a future trip. Aside from a burned-out bus in the town center, there was no sign of the recent violence in Gondar.<br />
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The castle compound was great. We had a FANTASTIC guide named Nigusu whose contact information I'd be happy to share. The tour included six castles - <br />
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a bajaj ride to Debre Berhan Selassie church - </div>
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and another bajaj ride to Fasilidas Pool (only filled for Timkat in January).<br />
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We were lucky to have dry weather during the tour but Gondar gets more rain than other parts of Ethiopia. It started raining in the afternoon and continued all through the next morning. Our next destination was Kossoye, higher up in the mountains on the road to Amba Giorgis, and we departed in the rain. At the local bus station competing teenagers yelled at us to get into their minibuses until someone won by grabbing our bags, then we drove around town with the teenager hanging out the window yelling for passengers until we were full. Thirty minutes out of Gondar, the minibus dropped us off in what looked like the middle of nowhere - just a few shops on the side of the road. I asked a woman where the lodge was and she indicated that it was just off the road up ahead. A bunch of kids came running up so I asked for <i>hulet 'tankara lijoch </i>- two strong children - for the <i>tiliq borsawoch - </i>big bags - and we set off with our entourage to the lodge, which turned out to be close by. <br />
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Befiker Kossoye Lodge is right on the edge of a cliff at 3,000 meters but we couldn't see anything because we were in the clouds. It was really cold and a fire was built for us; it felt like a ski lodge. We were the only guests there, which felt a little weird. But once again we got super lucky with the weather because the next day was clear. The views were incredible. We were told that on a very clear day you can see all the way to Eritrea in the north and Sudan in the west.<br />
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We went on a guided hike in the morning and I took approximately a million pictures. In the afternoon we attended a reception for one of the workers at the lodge who had just gotten married. Here's a view of the sunset, walking back from the village -<br />
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The next day we took the Amba Giorgis bus back to Gondar. We visited Empress Mentewab's palace where we peered at the empress's bones by torchlight (the power was temporarily out; though it came back on, the kids asked the guide to continue with the more atmospheric torch). The rest of the day it rained and we were stuck inside.<br />
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It seems perverse that we were being tourists in a time of violence, but life appeared to be continuing normally all around us.<br />
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A few days after we left Gondar, there was a huge demonstration that was met with violence. A few weeks later, at least 26 people <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ambagiorgis" target="_blank">were reported killed in Amba Giorgis.</a><br />
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/02/ethiopia-return-trip-2-part-4.html">Part 4</a> Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-49840660559584827892017-02-27T14:27:00.001-05:002017-03-05T15:31:05.892-05:00Ethiopia return trip #2 Part 2Bahir Dar was green, clean, and friendly, and there was lots to do there. The kids and I agree it was our favorite city in Ethiopia. We stayed at <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g480192-d1646373-Reviews-B_B_The_Annex-Bahar_Dar_Amhara_Region.html" target="_blank">The Annex</a>, a small guesthouse with a beautiful garden full of birds that was a short walk from the lake. I can't say enough good things about this place. The people were very welcoming, were great with the boys, arranged activities for us.<br />
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On the first day we just hung out at the guesthouse for a while, then walked the lake path along Lake Tana, and took a bajaj out to dinner. A bajaj is a little three-wheeled cloth-sided taxi that putters along at 20mph. Riding in bajajes was one of the kids' favorite things about Ethiopia. <br />
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On the second day we joined a tour to the Nile Falls with a van full of Ethiopian tourists. It was a beautiful green drive out to the Nile gorge and then a nice walk first to an overlook -<br />
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then across a suspension bridge -<br />
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and then to the falls themselves.<br />
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After the falls we continued on a loop back to the van and it began to rain. It was pouring by the time we reached the bank of the Nile upstream from the falls and took a tiny boat across. For a while we took shelter with some kids cooking corn and then we took a very muddy shortcut through the kids' village. When we got back to town, we changed out of our muddy clothes, and took a bajaj out to dinner at the Desset Lodge, right on Lake Tana.<br />
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On the third day, the bajaj adventures continued. Gashaw, the guesthouse guide, arranged a private bajaj tour for us. First we went to a viewpoint overlooking the city, near Haile Selasie's palace (we could only do a drive-by of the palace itself, as the guards didn't let us stop).<br />
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Then on a quiet road, the driver let the kids take turns driving the bajaj, which was a HUGE hit.<br />
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After that we went to the extravagant Amhara Martyrs Museum, with its sculpture gardens, towering monument, and enormous (but mostly dry) fountain.<br />
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Then we walked across the Nile Bridge (the one in town) and looked at the hippos. Finally the driver dropped us off at the Tana Hotel at the far end of the lake path, where we had a late lunch with a lovely view of the lake, surrounded by beautiful yellow birds that jumped all over our food when we stepped away from the table.<br />
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On the fourth day in Bahir Dar we did a private boat tour of Lake Tana. First we docked on the Zege Peninsula where a guide took us to the 14th century Ura Kidane Mihret monastery. Gorgeous colorful, sometimes violent paintings, also a nice museum.<br />
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Back on the lake, the boat captain let the kids drive the boat, another huge hit. Then we took the boat to the outlet of the Nile, where we saw hippos, birds, and some kind of swimming lizard.<br />
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We had a late lunch at the Desset Lodge and then walked around town some more and found the beautiful public gardens.<br />
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In the late afternoon we went back to the guesthouse and the boys had a great time playing soccer in the street with kids from the neighborhood. No common language needed.<br />
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On the fifth day, the kids played soccer all morning. In the late morning we got day passes to the Kuriftu Lodge and spent the rest of the day at the pool. There were other kids there and the lifeguard spent hours organizing races and games. In the evening we hung out with an Ethio-British family who was in the country for a <a href="http://aheadcharity.org/home/" target="_blank">development project</a>. They were driving to Gondar the next day. We'd heard about unrest in Gondar and I wasn't sure if we should go so they said they would call with an update.<br />
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The next day A felt sick so we took it easy all day - reading, games, laundry, hair braiding. We heard from the Ethio-Brits that everything was calm in Gondar, so we decided we would go there next. <br />
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Two weeks after we left Bahir Dar, <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Aug-20/368157-after-the-protests-anger-still-boils-in-northern-ethiopia.ashx" target="_blank">security forces killed at least 30 people there.</a><br />
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Read <a href="http://agnostic-adoption.blogspot.com/2017/02/ethiopia-return-trip-2-part-3.html">Part 3</a> Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.com0