Michael Bates: May 2017 Archives
A Story of Slavery in Modern America - The Atlantic
Alex Tizon, who came to America with his family from the Philippines in 1964, tells the story of the woman who was closer to him and his siblings than their own mother, who lived out her final years with his wife and children, and who finally had the chance to return home.
"Her name was Eudocia Tomas Pulido. We called her Lola. She was 4 foot 11, with mocha-brown skin and almond eyes that I can still see looking into mine--my first memory. She was 18 years old when my grandfather gave her to my mother as a gift, and when my family moved to the United States, we brought her with us. No other word but slave encompassed the life she lived. Her days began before everyone else woke and ended after we went to bed. She prepared three meals a day, cleaned the house, waited on my parents, and took care of my four siblings and me. My parents never paid her, and they scolded her constantly. She wasn't kept in leg irons, but she might as well have been. So many nights, on my way to the bathroom, I'd spot her sleeping in a corner, slumped against a mound of laundry, her fingers clutching a garment she was in the middle of folding."
This was Tizon's final story. He died in his sleep in March. "The Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Alex Tizon built an exemplary career by listening to certain types of people--forgotten people, people on the margins, people who had never before been asked for their stories. Alex's wife, Melissa Tizon, told me recently that her husband was always impatient with small talk, because he believed that all people had within them an epic story, and he wanted to hear those epic stories--and then help tell them to the world. 'Somewhere in the tangle of the subject's burden and the subject's desire is your story,' he liked to say."
Tulsa voice artist and audiobook narrator W. B. Ward talks about his craft:
"Ward said he never listened to an audiobook before taking the plunge into his current profession. He said it's recommended that people who voice books listen to others to see how they handle the job.
"'I don't like doing that, and I almost refuse to do that,' he said. 'Instead, I listen to a lot of real old-time radio -- the old Dragnet and the old Blondie. Father Knows Best is my favorite because these guys were actual masters at telling a story through vocals only and making it carry over, and they had to do this on a live basis seven days a week in some cases. So I consider these guys to be absolute masters and, all of us, we are just kindergartners playing in the sandbox right now.'
"Ward enjoys the old radio shows, and he said he uses them as 'sleeping pills.'
"'I used to watch TV to go to bed,' he said. 'But when you are listening to an old radio show, it doesn't matter which way you sleep. If you are watching TV, you had to lay a certain way to do it. With a radio program, it doesn't matter what position you are in or what room you are in. I love it.'"
(Good points. I used to use C-SPAN as a "sleeping pill" when traveling, but I found that light from a TV screen in a dark room would interfere with falling asleep. Also, old-time radio -- "Hancock's Half Hour" is my current favorite -- tends to have a more subdued dynamic range, where the brighter sound of contemporary radio -- car dealership ads, for example -- can rouse you from your slumber.)
Christian parents, your kids aren't equipped to be public school missionaries - TheBlaze
"...your child is not ready to be a missionary. He cannot be a 'witness' to others until he himself has been properly formed in the faith. It's no surprise that most of the young 'missionaries' we commission and send forth to minister to the lost souls in public schools quickly become one of the lost souls. We don't need to sit around theorizing about whether the missionary approach to education is wise or effective. We already know that it isn't. The vast majority of the parents who think their kids are being 'salt and light' to their peers in school are simply oblivious to the fact that their little Bible warriors have long since defected and joined the heathens. You can hardly blame the kids for this. They're just kids, after all. They aren't warriors. Warriors are trained and disciplined. Children are neither of those things. I imagine this is why St. Paul didn't travel to Athens and Corinth recruiting toddlers to help him carry the Gospel into pagan lands.
"Education is supposed to prepare a child to carry the torch of truth. That is, he's supposed to be ready to carry it once his education has been completed. This should not be a 'throw them into the deep end to see if they can swim' strategy. They can't swim. You and I can barely swim, morally and spiritually speaking, and we're adults. Do you expect your child to be more spiritually mature and morally courageous than you?"
OCPA - Oklahoma K-12 Education Spending & Revenue
Easy-to-navigate data compiled from the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System and State Department of Education.
Overview: Statewide education spending, student enrollment, and spending per student; from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016.
District Trends: Select a district to see the 11-year trend for spending and enrollment, and revenue and spending per student.
District Spending by Year: See spending by Function (such as instruction) and Category (such as salaries), both the dollar amount and by percent of total spending. Trend graphs are also included on this tab.
Function Detail: See a district's spending in detail, by Function type and details (objects) for each type.
Spending Detail: See a district's spending in detail, by Category type and details (objects) in each type.
Revenues: See the overview of a district's revenue by year.
Revenue Details: See the details of a district's revenue by sources of money and by funds.
Ranking: Which district spends the most on education, has the most revenue, has the largest enrollment, and the highest spending per students.
You Actually Would Die without Your Coffee: Aleteia
"Research the world over is confirming that drinking coffee keeps you alive ... but it doesn't work if you drink it in moderation. In fact, Harvard researchers found that low consumption of coffee is linked to deaths from heart-related illnesses. To get the health benefits of coffee, you have to drink it like you mean it.
"Drinking three to five cups of coffee per day gives you a longer life, making you 15 percent less likely to die early, lowering your risk of dying from a heart attack or a stroke by 21 percent and slashing your risk for type 2 diabetes by 12 percent.
"Three cups of Italian-style espresso per day cuts the risk of prostate cancer in half. And a study in the British Medical Journal found that coffee helps prevent clogging of the arteries.
"When it comes to your brain, coffee does more than just help you feel alert. It has neuroprotective properties, and drinking it regularly can reduce your risk of Alzheimer's -- but to get the full 20 percent reduction, you have drink at least 3 cups per day."
