Michael Bates: May 2014 Archives
Remembering Maya Angelou | Feminists for Life
"I was scared to pieces. Back then, if you had money, there were some girls who got abortions, but I couldn't deal with that idea. Oh, no. No. I knew there was somebody inside me. So I decided to keep the baby.... I'm telling you that the best decision I ever made was keeping that baby! Yes, absolutely. Guy was a delight from the start -- so good, so bright, and I can't imagine my life without him.... I struggled, sure. We lived hand-to-mouth, but it was really heart-to-hand. Guy had love and laughter and a lot of good reading and poetry as a child. Having my son brought out the best in me and enlarged my life.... Years later, when I was married, I wanted to have more children, but I couldn't conceive. Isn't it wonderful that I had a child at 16? Praise God!"
Man Terrified To Realize He Could Easily Go On Like This | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Another in a series of painfully insightful Onion stories. Is one writer responsible?
"Gallardo told reporters that as long as he could continue completing day-to-day activities such as doing laundry and grocery shopping, he would be perfectly capable of putting one foot in front of the other until he died--almost certainly alone--in about 40 years, a realization a frightened Gallardo said would nevertheless fail to alter his debilitating behavior in the slightest.
"'Some people take stock of their lives and finally say "enough is enough,"' Gallardo said. 'I can't do that. I'm pretty sure I won't ever do that. I think it's safe to say I'll keep putting up with myself year after year and simply never reach a breaking point. Jeez, that's awful. What am I going to do about this?'"
"'Forget it,' added Gallardo, shaking his head. 'I already know the answer to that.'"
Results of the 2014 European elections - European Parliament
Official results. Interesting to see which national parties line up with which European transnational groupings. Britain's Tories used to be part of the European People's Party, a grouping of Christian Democrat parties, but they are now part of European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes MEPs from Poland, Czech Republic, and a few other countries. Ukip, the top vote-getting party in the UK, aligns with the Europe for Freedom and Democracy group, which includes national parties who elected MEPs in Denmark, Italy (Northern League), Latvia, the Netherlands, and Finland.
Malvern Rosenwald School | Abandoned Arkansas
Julius Rosenwald, chairman of Sears Roebuck & Co., used his vast wealth to fund schools for African-American children all over the rural South. The schools served not only as classrooms but as community centers. The Rosenwald fund had aided in the building of 389 schools in Arkansas alone. The school in Malvern was built in 1929, has been in use ever since, and is currently under restoration. It's interesting to read how the architects oriented the school with windows to the east and the west to make the most of natural light and breezes while limiting the heat of all-day southern exposure.
One of the few extant Rosenwald Schools in Oklahoma is in Lima in Seminole County and sits abandoned and deteriorating. I came across it once while in the area to interview an MIT applicant, and I was stunned by the presence of this substantial public building in the middle of nowhere. In Oklahoma, the Rosenwald fund aided in the building of 176 schoolhouses in 44 counties, including Alsuma, Macon, Oak Hill, Rentie, and Snake Creek schools in Tulsa County, according to the Fisk University database of Rosenwald Schools.
Language map: What's the most popular language in your state?
Based on the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, this article includes maps of the most popular language in each state other than English, most popular other than English or Spanish, most popular Scandinavian, American Indian, Indo-Aryan, and African languages. For Oklahoma, Vietnamese is most popular after English and Spanish, Cherokee is the most popular American Indian language, Swedish the most popular Scandinavian tongue, Hindi the most popular Indo-Aryan language, and Kru/Igbo/Yoruba the most popular African language.
Tulsa World analysis of the top 250 highest paid earners for the City of Tulsa
#250 made $88,989.60 last year as a development services infrastructure manager. #1 is City Physician Philip R. Berry, paid $192,448.56 in 2013.
