I saw life in raw on the streets of San Francisco. I met the cops and the whores and the reporters and the bartenders and the Chinese and the fishermen and shopkeepers. I knew them all, knew how they thought and how they loved and how they hated. When it came time for me to make motion pictures, I made movies that were real, because I knew how real people behaved. Wikipedia records that at age 12 LeRoy hawked newspapers at iconic locations, including Chinatown, the Barbary Coast red-light district, and Fisherman's Wharf, where he became educated as to the realities of life in the city.
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Here is a 1/2 hour video on the Flood Mansion that was converted into Convent of the Sacred Heart at 2222 Broadway, which, when combined with Stuart Hall School for Boys next door and Stuart Hall High School a few blocks away, is both a single-sex and coed school, K-12. One of my students is applying. Two boys I knew in high school lived right below the school, and my sister-in-law attended. Mary Mardel, RSCJ, retired teacher/mistress general and interviewee, turned 103 this year. 1) I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.
2) When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad I’m better. 3) Between two evils, I always like the one I never tried before. 4) A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to be tied up. 5) I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. 6) I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported. 7) I’ve been in more laps than a napkin. 8) I've been things and seen places. 9) Cultivate your curves – they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided. 10) Say what you want about long dresses, but they cover a multitude of shins. My sister, a former elementary schoolteacher, recommends The Tuttle Twins book series for children and preteens. https://tuttletwins.com/
See robopooch at 1:20, a robot from SpaceX. Exploration began at the dawn of mankind. Space exploration has resulted in many applications for life on earth and advances our knowledge of the universe. We do it, or the enemy will and use what is uncovered against us and future generations of free people.
https://rumble.com/vp4qgr-spacex-starship-sets-new-record-with-six-engine-static-fire.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spaceXcentric&ep=2 Written by 15-year-old student in Minnesota and passed on...
Now I sit me down in school Where praying is against the rule For this great nation under God Finds mention of Him very odd If scripture now the class recites, It violates the Bill of Rights. And anytime my head I bow Becomes a Federal matter now Our hair can be purple, orange or green, That's no offence; it's a freedom scene. The law is specific, the law is precise. Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice For praying in a public hall Might offend someone with no faith at all. In silence alone we must meditate, God's name is prohibited by the State. We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks. They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible. To quote the Good Book makes me liable. We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King. It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong. We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong. We can get our condoms and birth controls, Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles. But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, No word of God must reach this crowd. It's scary here I must confess, When chaos reigns the school's a mess. So, Lord, this silent plea I make: Should I be shot; My soul please take! Amen According to Wikipedia, the Mountain Quarries Bridge is a concrete arch railroad bridge across the North Fork American River near Auburn, CA, and was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Also known as the No Hands Bridge, it joins El Dorado and Placer counties and was built in 1912 to transport quarried rock. On 8-19 I posted a photograph of the pond next to my house. The pond is an abandoned granite quarry and was created by damming a creek that runs all year. Doug White snapped this beautiful photograph of the No Hands Bridge. The American River originates in the high Sierra Nevada just west of Lake Tahoe, in the Tahoe and El Dorado National Forests. Its three main forks—the South, Middle, and North—flow through the Sierra foothills and converge east of Sacramento. My family and I have white water rafted the river two or three times, with a guide. The only time we all fell out was on the Trinity River. The reason we went under was there had been a dam release that morning, and the water level was extremely high. When the American River is flowing at its peak, water can top the No Hands Bridge. When you forgive someone, you might suggest it’s water under the bridge. This bucolic aphorism has ties to an ancient Greek phrase, “You cannot step twice in the same river.” In other words, as the river flows on, so does life. Using this aphorism means you’re ready to let the water continue on its way or let bygones be bygones (another aphorism). [source - wordgenius] In the back of the raft are, left to right, my brother, the guide, and me, the sane ones adding ballast. All the rest of the people are a bunch of nuts.
School Mandate
One of my parents pulled her child out of school and is homeschooling, but not all parents can. Here is what some are doing. A November 15th rally at California’s capitol building is sponsored by Our Children, Our Choice CA, a grassroots organization started by two stay-at-home moms who created their own Facebook page. They organized a similar event at the capitol building on October 18th that drew thousands of concerned parents who pulled their children out of school for the day to protest what they saw as a violation of their rights as parents to make medical decisions for their children. “We are not here to take a stand against vaccines,” Tess Van Dusen told the crowd on October 18th. “We are here because we are mothers; we are fathers; we are grandparents; we are teachers and staff members, and it is our natural instinct to protect our children. If you choose to get this vaccine, we stand with you,” said Van Dusen. She and Amber Faddis are founders of the organization. “If you choose not to get this vaccine, we stand with you. We all choose what is best for our children because they are our children, and they are our choice.” Job Mandate A retired cop sent me this statement, a statement to consider as we watch people lose their jobs over a mandate, and I have a good friend who is an EMT and is facing a mandate. “When you find a loved one unresponsive and you call 911, and while you are waiting for the EMTs, does it cross your mind what an EMT’s medical history is? Would you turn him or her away if your beliefs did not match up? Would you pass on giving your loved one a fighting chance to get to a hospital and get care? “When your house is on fire and your child is stuck inside and firefighters come to your home and put their own life on the line to save your child, do you first ask them what their medical and political beliefs are before they save your child? Would you ask them to leave and not help your child because you don’t agree with their beliefs? “When you have a family member who is down to the last hours of life and you can’t get to him or her because there are not enough DOT workers to keep the roads safe and clear for travel – DOT workers who were in a snowplow by themselves and were very rarely in contact with the general public while working – do you feel better missing out on saying goodbye? Is your life better now that those people who made a different medical decision than you aren’t on the road? “When you have a home intruder trying to break into your house to hurt your family, do you call 911 and only ask for a cop who shares your beliefs and turn him or her away because he or she does not, and hope the intruder is intimidated by your personal beliefs and makes the choice to walk away and not hurt you? “When your loved one gets in a car accident and is rushed to the hospital and time is critical to save his or her life, do you first ask if the doctors and nurses who are going to save your loved one’s life have the same beliefs as you? Are you going to prevent them from saving your loved one’s life if they don’t? “We live in the USA. We have lived among people who make decisions every single day that don’t align with our own … this isn’t about a medical decision anymore. This is about a new generation that believes everyone should think the same, everyone should agree on everything, and everyone should see eye-to-eye. That is never going to happen, and you can’t force people into it.” The statement finishes with, “I am not for or against vaccines. I am 100% for people making decisions that are best for them and their families’ health. I have zero judgment either way.” Wordgenius sourced the word, pronounced hak-SEE-ə-dee, and referenced Scotus. It stems from the medieval Latin, haecceitas, which comes from the Latin haec, the feminine form of hic, meaning “this.” The word hic is spoken during consecration of the wine. See the video in the post titled, “Separation.” As a tutor, I know that each child has haecceity, this-ness, and cannot be constrained by categories. Public school tried to constrain one of my students who is a genius. He is happier in homeschooling. Haecceity is a deeply philosophical concept attributed to Scottish Catholic priest and university professor John Duns Scotus (1265/66–1308). He defined it as a non-qualitative property of a substance or thing that is responsible for its individuation and identity, such as a particular person’s unique identity. Scotus is also where the term “dunces” originated. His opponents equated Duns’ followers, who argued against Renaissance humanism, to dullards incapable of scholarship. [Modern humanism excludes God altogether.] When I asked my genius-student what part of a person cannot be created by another person, he said, “Personality.” We were discussing humanoids, which fascinate him. A 1962 science fiction film, The Creation of the Humanoids, which I recommend, posits that the memory of a personality is all that can be placed in a humanoid. Painting, attributed to Guido Reni (1575–1642) or Baldassarre Francheschini (1611-1690), called il Volterrano, oil on canvas, 122 × 100 cm. Owner Galleria Corsini, Florence, Italy.
This Jesuit video about China and Catholicism paints a rosy picture, too rosy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGc75wwoces
Soon, Visalia will have the biggest Catholic parish in America. Sacramento’s St. Stephen the First Martyr, my parish, averages 1,500 on Sunday, small in comparison to St. Charles Borromeo’s 27,000 in Visalia. These numbers require multiple Sunday Masses. Charles is in the Fresno Diocese; Stephen is in the Sacramento Diocese. There are 12 in California. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJhJrP_e2k
The 1962 Mass keeps me separated from the priest. He offers the sacrifice whether I am there or not. Our Lord desperately wants me there, but that is my choice, subject to a promise I made. The separation is suspended when I receive, but only temporarily, until I get to Heaven and the separation that was caused here on earth ends and union is completed. The priest enjoys a union I cannot.
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for? … “Andrea del Sarto” Robert Browning 1812-1889 Facebook said it wants to join the Metaverse. What is that? The metaverse is somewhere, and there you can virtually meet, work, and play using a virtual reality headset, glasses, and device. Below is a You Tube video by Oculus VR, leader in virtual reality. Before I left, the Academy of Art University was planning to develop a separate department for virtual reality, and Oculus was talked about. The School of Visual Development graduates students who contribute art work to virtual reality. A teacher and his students were developing a virtual reality game and used the former St. Brigid Catholic Church for its gothic features. The great science fiction writers of the 20th century, Orwell, Roddenberry (former LAPD), Dick, Bradbury, Vonnegut, and Serling foresaw somewhere as not always utopian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AvXOlcFmPU&t=19s St. Brigid
As usual, Sundays cause me to write. In today’s parable [parabolam in Latin], Matt. 11, 24-30, the word zizania is translated as cockle. Sounds like the flower called zinnia. What is a cockle? 1) Any of several weedy plants of the pink family and 2) any of various chiefly marine bivalve mollusks having a shell with convex radially ribbed valves. The latter are edible, the former are not edible, at least not the seeds - mmm - poison - murder. Why is the parable relevant? The servants of the good man said, “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it cockle?” He said, “An enemy hath done this.” The servants said, “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” He said, “No: lest perhaps gathering up the cockle you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.” Ah, so we must suffer the presence of cockle with the wheat until the end of the world. Then, the wheat will be gathered and brought into the Kingdom of Heaven and the cockle burned. Of course, there is a personal judgment before the end comes. That answers the question we ask when a crime has been committed, “Is there any justice?” zinnia
Geoscientist and astrophysicist Willie Soon separates fact from fiction in the global warming debate. He explains why the forecasts from CO2 climate models have been so wrong and why solar influences on clouds, oceans, and wind drive climate change, not CO2 emissions. Soon has studied this issue for 30 years, and he is humorous, too. Stanford University physicist Elliott Bloom comments. My parents taught me to resist peer pressure with the simple phrase everyone has heard, “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow?”
This is an important lesson for all serious students, and I try to pass it on to mine. Climate change slogans show up in school. The SAT had a reading passage on how two superstitions, Friday the 13th and the number 13, evolved. The passage had no citations or proof. I pointed this out to my student and told her one cannot write junk and get away with it. Some people find it very difficult to resist jumping off the bridge … or swimming against the tide. When it is a riptide, swim along the shoreline until you can escape the pull of the riptide. When free from the pull, swim at an angle away from the riptide toward the shore. Head-on confrontations with riptides will fail. Be smarter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zrejG-WI3U A word is dead
When it is said, Some say. I say it just Begins to live That day. Emily Dickinson Altan, one of the students I tutor, told me about International Baccalaureate schools. One of the high schools he is applying to, Stuart Hall-San Francisco, is a Sacred Heart school and an IB school. Here are some impressive links:
https://www.sacredheartusc.education/#welcome www.ibo.org/ Quora is an amazing community of educators. I joined Oct 2019, two years ago. My entries and comments on English and math and a little bit on other subjects have passed the 10,000 mark in terms of views. Hard to believe. Well, learners are allowed to contribute. This learner has blogged entries from Quora experts and used their answers in lesson plans. One contributor to science received 2,429 upvotes on a single post; so, my milestone is not remarkable.
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