My thoughts on Thresholds of Violence: How school shootings catch on by Malcolm Gladwell

"In his new article, The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell uses a well-known theory to contrast early school shooters back in the 1900s with shooters today." - NPR

The world keeps spinning... I just haven't caught up.

Two long weeks into October my body ached for the sun.  Winter is coming.

I wrote a lengthy piece on Sunday tooling many ideas into one.  It seems a rare occurrence these days to sit and ponder.  I am limited by my lazy tongue and shifting themes of interest.  Sternly, I must remind myself that listening is the more important skill.

Listening requires an ability to visualize and imagine (make the movies in my head).  Constructing the here and now in my own mind is how I perceive these stories.

Distracted by a tangent, my memory of Carol Burnett on Colbert and Kevin as... Jimmy.  The voice of JAMES Stewart reminds me of a classic story.  His sound.. country store simple... easy to take in.

In the midst of my memories, I get lost in the many tangents.

Instead of writing, I find a new story to read:

Thresholds of Violence: How school shootings catch on by Malcolm Gladwell.

His voice patiently delivers heavy spoon-fed content.  You could almost quietly imagine him speaking the words in a classic story kind of way.  Sublimely, he lays down a track.  A Minnesota woman looking out her window while washing dishes sees a boy cutting across her lawn.

I try to imagine washing dishes with the dishwasher in the background.

Halfway through the article, I want to phone-a-friend.  I link her in on the conversation #schoolshootings #riot-thresholds #groupthink #columbine.  The article hits an intellectual threshold for a rioting conversation in my head.  In reality, it would seem I cannot muster a quorum.

My tapping and clapping impatient child breaks my attention with a demand.  I will have to find another afternoon to continue pondering about the raging themes of culture.

For now, a child demands attention and I find this is often the most important skill,

The Whispers of Trees

The backyard is our summer space;
  birds singing over one another.
Each focused on their breathing,
  distance moans the sound of thunder.

It is peaceful here, isolating:
  a quiet-enough among the noise.
I hear nothing but breathing
  which itself threatens my poise.

Floating drowns the whispers of trees,
  changing the winds direction.
Fearful tidings settle to a breeze -
  for a beat, I find perfection.

A chill toes the water,
  gray casts over the day.
Birds lament silence
  deciding not to stay.

Leaves, once a gracing presence,
  the yard is now a desolate place.
Remembering that longed pleasance,
  time has marked its beautiful face.

- Anonymous

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Reflections on this Veterans Day November 11, 2015

As a first year teacher coming from industry, I had forgotten all about the morning rituals of public schools.  During the announcements, we all stand to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

At first, this renewed tradition felt awkward for me.  I would look around the room, the words whispered in a single breath no one could hear.  Most stood, but did not recite the oath.  I wonder how many understand the meaning and context.  

I think about the boys and girls fighting abroad in international wars that seem so removed from our daily freedoms and rights. Basic freedoms, many of us take for granted: food, clean water, shelter, safety. Our right to stand in front of a flag and earn a public school education is one of those rights we take for granted.  

The right to an education is not fought on an international battle field - not literally.  Even still, math, science, technology and innovation are being outsourced in order for us to have our stuff cheap. We are losing that battle and most do not understand the meaning and context.

I do not mean to diminish the commitment and honor of those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedoms.  Rather, I wonder how many are now fighting for basic rights we take for granted.  I do not teach history.  I teach Health Assisting in a time when equal access to basic public health is a long fought battleground and mental and emotional illnesses are a shunned epidemic. 

We are at war on our own grounds.  Ideology has shamed us into separation rather than unification. Nationalism is branded by politics rather than the flag itself.  Equal rights, unalienable rights - no matter who you are or where you are in your journey - are still fought for everyday in every interaction with one another right here in the United States of America.

Yesterday, the school followed the pledge with our national anthem.  I stood and faced the flag.  Like every time I hear it play, my eyes well up.  I pledge to continue to fight every day until our rights and freedoms are indivisible, with liberty and until there is justice for all.

#PTSD #trauma-informed #traumasensitiveworld #preventativecare #mentalhealth #education