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THE NAKED EMPEROR Cheney Blood Lust Greek mythology replay Lee Siegel The Daily Beast 10/27/2009 A really good article linking the bloody Atriedes clan of Greek mythology with the Cheney clan. Also see the parallels in Frank Herbert's DUNE series of novels. Thanks to Brian Wilson for sending this article. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-22/cheneys-blood-lust?cmpid=p_yahoo BW http://www.dunenovels.com/ What's your favourite Myth? What parallel do you see in today's times? No Longer Blind They see the Nakidity Pamela Jaye Smith LA 07/31/2009 Finally, some action from the constituents tired of seeing the Naked Emperors. That's our money - directly given by us via our representatives rather than garnered by regular business methods - in those bonuses. No problem with bonuses garnered by regular business practices. But if not... why should the people be paying them? http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090731/pl_politico/25646;_ylt=AhUQ2okLZ6O7_ojNpbH0Lmus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTI4NmNrcWM3BGFzc2V0A3BvbGl0aWNvLzIwMDkwNzMxLzI1NjQ2BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA3Rvd25oYWxsc2dvbg-- MYTHWORKS Ally Exposes Nakidity Cartoons with a Cutting Edge Aurora Miller PANORAMIC ENTERTAINMENT 04/23/2009 MYTHWORKS Ally Aurora Miller has founded a new company, PANORAMIC ENTERTAINMENT. Check out her astute socio-political observations in the Comics section of that website. And check back for further developments in games. ABOUT the CARTOONIST -- Aurora was raised on the premise “Think Globally, Act Locally”. Steeped in Science Fiction, her coinciding passion for the media decided her direction and tactics in the ongoing war against societal decay. She spent her youth as an actor, which lead her to film and television production – because with producers the true power lies. Frustration with Hollywood shifted her focus to video game production, and brought her out of the closet as a gamer. Credits include an Oscar-nominated feature film, a nationally-syndicated television show, a handful of commercials and independent films, and a medal for surviving both Electronic Arts and SEGA relatively intact. http://www.panoramicentertainment.com Extinction Exemptions What would you save? Pamela Jaye Smith Planet Earth 12/21/2008 Okay, here's my take on the hits the environment has been taking from humans in general and on the horrors the outgoing Bush Administration has already subjected it to as well as slights and horrors it yet intends to inflict before it departs, as briefly delineated in the New York Times editorial, "So Little Time, So Much Damage". [link below] Coupled with some recent reading on the Great Extinctions – and many scientists' assessment that we are on the verge of another one - plus my own work a few years ago on the Future of Consciousness Conference, I pondered what four creatures I'd save if this current man-made run-to-extinction is like the worst one of the past and wipes out 96% of life forms. It's one of those good conversation starters for slow moments at a dinner party: "What four creatures would you like to see saved and why?" For this thought-experiment we assume extinction only affects creatures, not plants, and is selective enough to let the rest of that "Circle of Life, Simba" thing keep going. Hmmmm, maybe that's what the Bush Administration thinks… This is a dangerously fallacious attitude and should only be used for provocative thought experiments, not for real life. Well, on with my choices for what I'd like to see saved. 1. Humans. Some of us anyway. All the nice ones and just enough of the wicked ones to keep things interesting. Oh, and me too, of course. 2. Cattle. So we could have hides for leather, bones and blood meal for our gardens, their horns for musical instruments and for holding things, and their meat and milk. Really, how could we get on without yogurt, steak tartare and crème cheese. 3. Caviar. To go with the crème cheese. Salmon roe would probably do just fine and then that way we also have those delicious salmon filets and the scales to use as party glitter, or to grind up for eye makeup. After all, even in an extinction one still wants to look nice. 4. Peregrin Falcons. Just because they're elegant; fierce, beautiful, and breath-taking. So which four creatures would you save and why? Seriously, I do hope we are able to turn around our current run-to-extinction through increased individual awareness, effective and enforced policy changes, and entreprenuerial and mainstream business innovations. Meanwhile, do actually think about and talk about what's important to you to save, and why. And then hopefully you'll be inspired do something to help avoid another great extinction. "So Little Time, So Much Damage" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/opinion/04tue1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=So%20little%20time,%20so%20much%20damage&st=cse The Future of Consciousness Conference http://www.ifgt.org/IGTWEB_UPDATE/FOCcover.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/opinion/04tue1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=So%20little%20time,%20so%20much%20damage&st=cse http://www.ifgt.org/IGTWEB_UPDATE/FOCcover.html Some sites about the Great Extinctions http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/eldredge2.html http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Sixth_Great_Extinction 72 Virgins or Life Imprisonment? Proper punishment for a confessed 9/11 perp Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood, CA 06/05/2008 So one of the confessed perps of 9/11 wants the death penalty? And he no doubt believes that upon death he’ll go to paradise and cavort with 72 virgins for all eternity? Then the real punishment would be not to grant his wish to transfer to heaven via death but rather keep him alive here on earth, in solitary confinement or perhaps doing community service – closely supervised of course. After all, it'd be rather like that twisted joke about how a sadist punishes a masochist? They refuse to. Another twist is that the number 72 in the mis-translated lore actually refers to a one-fifth section of the degrees in a circle (72 x 5 = 360). It is an astronomical measurement used for calendars, seasonal predictions, and explanations of the movement of the stars through the heavens. 72 years is how long it takes the vernal equinox sunrise to move through one degree of the zodiac. Because myths are the stories we tell ourselves to explain the world around us and within us, the use of 72 lovely houris gets the point across to a pre-literate people much more effectively than 72 degrees on a circle. 72 shows up a lot in esoteric lore. In Egyptian mythology the god-king Horus, he of the hawk-head and human body, is bringing his evil uncle Set to trial for having murdered and dismembered his own brother Osiris, Horus's dad. Actually Isis, Osiris's sister-wife went around Egypt and gathered up the body parts and put them together and gave Osiris's body a "special kiss" that allowed her to get pregnant with Horus…but that's another story. Set is on trial and there are seventy-two lawyers involved. And we think California's celebrity trials are ridiculously overloaded with spot-light seeking lawyers. The Gnostic pantheos Abraxas is a composite of five creatures, each of whom comprises 72 units of power. Greeks and Jews both used numerology based on 365, 360, and 72 to determine numerical values of the names of gods and goddesses. 72 is one of the most sacred numbers of the Old Testament and the Hebraic Kabala system where the numerical value of the "Great Name of God" is based on god's name as the tetragram JHVH -- Yod-He-Vo-He, or Yahweh, or Jehovah. So more than likely, the devotee terrorists who shuffle off their mortal coil in a burst of lust for houris (those heavenly virgins intent on becoming instantly and constantly de-virginized) will be not-too-pleasantly surprised to find that the 72 is the tribal god of the Israelites. Or simply a colourful way of remembering your geometry lessons. Bummer. Or not, depending on what they're really after. For more 72's, check Wikipedia under "72(number). Synonyms? Antonyms? Hmm, think about it.... Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood, CA 06/01/2008 Ever notice how close in sound these words are: Ideology / Idiocy Ever notice how close in meaning these words are. TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? The Catholic Church and that Golden Compass Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood 01/01/2008 The Catholic Church condemns THE GOLDEN COMPASS film as cold and hopeless, saying that in it "…hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," and that "…when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane". I find two things really interesting in the Church's condemnation. One is the presumption that man's attitude alone could affect the world and make it reduced, sad, cold, and inhumane. Worlds of philosophers and theologians in every time and culture have pondered and argued over whether reality is subjective or objective. The Catholic Church seems here to be presuming the world's objectivity is affected by a person's subjectivity. Kind of like The Secret. Kind of like the Hindu and Buddhist concept of Maya, the illusion of the world and reality. Kind of like every other presentation of the idea that "What you think about you bring about", as my Texas grandmother used to quote many years ago. Oh, and kind of like The Matrix. I wonder if that's what the Church really meant to say. The second interesting thing is that the conservative Catholic League presumes the movie's intent was "to bash Christianity and promote atheism" to children. Actually, one of the main story devices has a very Christian history. The alethiometer bears an astonishingly close resemblance to a divination device created by a Christian (read Catholic) mathematical genius, missionary, and mystic, Ramon Llull [1235-1316]. Llull's "Ars Raymundi" consisted of three concentric rings upon which were engraved symbols for different attributes of God which were also common among Jewish and Islamic mystics (Cabalists and Sufis). The system involved combining various symbols from the three different levels to answer questions. Llull's intent was to prove that Christianity was the better, truer religion. Perhaps inspired by an Arabian astrological device called a zairja, Llull's invention inspired many others, including not only late Medieval alchemists but also the German Leibniz, philosopher and inventor of a calculator. There are resemblances in Gurdjieff's psychological system of the Enneagram, and modern computation theory often credits Llull with firmly establishing that science. Llull's reputation and status in the Catholic Church varied greatly over the centuries: the Grand Inquisitor condemned him at one point, but they ended up giving him the status of "Blessed" in the 1800s. With that extensive background you'd think someone there in the Vatican history department would have seen the connection between Pullman's alethiometer, used by young Lyra to solve a deep mystery and aid her friends, and Llull's Ars Raymundi, used by him and others to solve deep mysteries and aid their religions. Then again, perhaps they did and that's what bothers them. ***** LESSON TO STORY-TELLERS: You can find the most fascinating ideas in history; like writer-director Nick Meyer told me once in an interview, "It's where they keep the stories". CHALLENGE TO STORY-TELLERS: What other devices, ideas, or systems from the past have turned up in slightly different versions in modern stories? For instance — King Arthur's magic sword Excalibur sure does resemble the Jedi Knight's light saber. The Flying Dutchman sailing ship, best told in Richard Wagner's opera of the same name, has many parallels with the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And others…? Read more about Ramon Llull in the book "Alchemy & Mysticism" by Alexander Roos. An internet search will yield dozens of articles about Ramon Llull. The Skewed View - through Rosie-coloured glasses It is what it is. Pamela Jaye Smith The Airwaves and Cyberspace 06/01/2007 Some things are so self-referential they come to resemble the Ouroboros, the snake swallowing it's own tail. Or better yet, the Mobius Loop – a continuous strip that looks complex and two-sided, but actually has only one side and only one edge. On The View, Joy Behar made a case for American's waking up and getting upset, motivated, and activated about the incredible failures and blatant misbehaviours of the Bush Administration. She had a list, and making her way through continual interuptions by Elizabeth Hasslebeck, did eventually read it. The discussion should have continued on the political points she raised about why Bush was still in office and why we aren't enraged about it all. Instead the political discussion was high-jacked by Hasslebeck and Rosie arguing between themselves, about themselves, and not at all about the important points raised by Behar. The clip of this event is at the YouTube link highlighted below. This is a perfect example of just what Behar was decrying: diversion-by-distraction and the obfuscation of real issues by loud, irrelevant arguments. One almost wonders if it wasn't a ploy by the four people at that table to loudly and dramatically illustrate Behar's point – that Americans don't think, that the media doesn't report the important things, and that we get too caught up in stupid nattering to notice what's really going on. It's also a perfect example of the Centers of Motivation [chakras] at work. Behar was holding and putting forth from her Throat Center, home of conscious creativity, critical thinking, reason, literature, art, statecraft, etc.] Rosie and Elizabeth were solidly focused in their Lower Solar Plexus Centers, home of separatism, power plays, short-sightedness, unbridled emotions, and me-me-me. Unfortunately, Behar was right: Americans are too often focused in the Lower Solar Plexus, hypnotized by frenzied shout-fests, unable to see facts or grasp meanings. It's good for us as individuals and as citizens to rise above the distractions petty wrangling, ask the hard questions, search for real meanings, and envision actual outcomes. Only then can we begin to take back control of this government of, by, and for we, the people. For workshops and seminars on Critical Thinking, contact Pamela Jaye Smith at 323-874-6042. For more on the Centers of Motivation, see the INNER DRIVES book http://www.mythworks.net/myth_innerDrives.asp and the seminar CD "What's My Mythic Motivation?" http://www.mythworks.net/myth_cds.asp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8JRTb4j8EM&eurl=http://www.laist.com/ Also visit these websites for more resources, exercises, and links: Birth2Work – full community education www.birth2work.org Center for Enhanced Performance, U.S. Army Academy, West Point http://www.dean.usma.edu/CEP/ Skeptic Magazine www.skepticmagazine.org The Secret behind "The Secret" Pamela suggests you read this article by -- Cathy Pagano 02/23/2007 Cathy Pagano has a clear and cogent perspective on "The Secret", at Link#1 below. Cathy Pagano is a Jungian Psychotherapist and Life Coach, Astrologer and Teacher of mythic storytelling. She writes about political, psychological/spiritual, and cultural issues. I met Cathy at StoryCon some years ago and always find her insights informative and inspiring. Plus, she's accessible and fun to be around. http://www.opednews.com/articles/life_a_cathy_ly_070323_the_secret_behind__22t.htm www.9muses.biz Rumsfeld a Mystic? Those who say, don't know. Those who know, don't say. Pamela Jaye Smith Washington D.C. 11-15-2006 Is former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld really a mystic? A graduate of the Mystery Schools? A worker of the Light disguised as a minion of the Dark Side? He said -- “…there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." These three categories have more poetic names in the ancient mystic systems: Soph, Ain Soph, and Ain Soph Aur. Soph = the known [same root as the Greek word sophia, wisdom] Ain Soph = the unknown [ain is the negative, like un] Ain Soph Aur = the unknowable The ability to make these distinctions is considered to be a function of Wisdom. And what about all of Rumsfeld’s questions and self-answers, the almost koan-like statements he tossed out with no regard to logic or the goal of the questioner. Could you think of George W. as a “grasshopper” of sorts, ala the old TV series Kung Fu, with Rummy his martial arts guru, “Ah, grasshopper, look within…”. So is Rumsfeld really a mystic? A wiser man than any of us realized? Well, probably not. We probably all realized pretty much what he was all along. All except The Decider, that is. Simple Stones or Precious Gems Perspectives on a Fable Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood 8/23/06 Today I received an email with this fable, meant, I know, to be inspiring. There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But only a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him. "I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I'm giving it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." -Author Unknown Sometimes in our continual drive to get ahead, we forget that those things we gather around us, no matter how precious they might seem, pale in comparison to the love and light we hold within. **** Hmmmm, well, on the surface this looks sweet, and good. But, just going by the words in the story, the precious thing the wise woman had may well have been -- Ignorance. Which as we know, is often equated with bliss. After all, we're never told that she knew the market value of the stone, so for her it could well have just been a pretty bauble. In a giant leap to applying this fable to real life, think of "wise" natives in colonial times who allowed (or were cowed to allow) the Europeans and then Americans to take away the pretty baubles of their lands. E.g. diamonds from S. Africa, rubber from Malaya, copra from the Philippines, oil from Nigeria and Venezuela and Ecuador, cotton from India, cobalt and tungsten from inner Africa, et cetera, et cetera... [Or further back to just about any era, e.g. Romans taking tin from Briton, Incas taking gold from other tribes, etc.] And then in perhaps not too great a leap to today, think of the ignorantly blissed-out (be it from Prozac, American Idol, or the longest work-week in the industrialized world) way we Americans have been handing the pretty baubles of our public services such as energy, roads, health care, transportation, education, and more into privatization (which is too often not too far off in definition and action from privateering). Many of the former colonies have awakened to the value of their natural resources and their own claims to it and are tracking down the stranger who took the precious stone and taking it back, or kicking them out, or at least demanding a share of the profits. I see no sign of this happening yet in America. If anything, the snoring is getting more deafening every day. Yet there are those amazing but rare examples of George Soros, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett giving billions earned from the pretty stones directly back to the people. There is hope then, that if wisdom is asleep in our "old woman" sector, it may be coming awake in the "other traveler" sector. What can we do here in the land of pretty stones? Wake up to the fact that if someone wants something you have, it’s a pretty sure bet they see an advantage to possessing it. Large corporations are notorious for buying up smaller clever inventions or ideas or business plans and then shelving them, thus effectively eliminating pesky competition in this supposedly free-market capitalist system. What are you missing? How can you shift your perspective, extend your vision, work to imagine what other uses your stone might have? Apply both imagination and analytical thinking to the situation. Ask advice of trusted counselors. Research the marketplace. Read history and fiction about your "stone" to see if you've simply reinvented the wheel or in fact invented wings. And even if you do link up with the “other traveler”, keep a hefty percentage for yourself. After all, if those who gather the stones from the stream of life are impoverished into inaction, everyone suffers. Until everyone realizes this and supports it, we must all keep it consciously in mind, whichever role we’re playing at the time. So go out there and find the stones of your creativity and inventiveness, apply your imagination to various applications, and when another traveler asks you to give it to them, offer instead to make a deal that benefits everybody, protects the stream, and trains more people to spot the gems within it. http://http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0192840509/sr=1-4/qid=1156347144/ref=sr_1_4/002-1710714-7118419?ie=UTF8&s=books For more exercises in shifting perspective, read Laura Gibbs' translation of AESOP'S FABLES [at the Amazon.com link above] and apply current individuals and organizations to the situations. Then shift the action, rewriting the events to favor the other side and apply real-life people and organizations to that situation. Ring of Fire versus Walk the Line Conservative America versus Passion and Art Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood 06/21/06 Well, I recently watched Walk the Line and though I admired the performances, I was massively disappointed in the story. It wimped out to conservative, Christian, Republican “family values”. I kept expecting Passion. I kept expecting Fire. What I got was a wimpy paean to so-called family values, even daring to imply that those distinctly dysfunctional families were something to be honoured and held together. Where was the Passion? We saw some setups. We had some hints. But the movie never went there. And yet, that was the essence of the relationship between Johnny Cash and June Carter, to hear anyone (including them) tell it, and to listen to their music. Just listen, for instance, to Ring of Fire. Why did the filmmakers not go for the passion? Why did they forego the powerful mythic alignment of overwhelming love in favour of the current political paradigm of family at all cost? Without asking them I do not know, but shame on whoever it was who made those marketing decisions. Mythologically speaking, Johnny Cash and June Carter lived out the story of Hades and Persephone. Hades, Greek god of the underworld, falls in love with and abducts the fair Persephone, innocent daughter of the Fields and Harvest. Though she is later rescued from the underworld, she has eaten of the food there (tasted the delights, indulged in the knowing) and is therefore required to return for part of each your from the above world to the land of her lover king Hades. Most versions imply she rather looked forward to being reunited with her dark brooding lord. The movie would have been much more powerful and interesting had they followed the myth more. Here’s another thought - what if this biopic had been made in the ‘80s? It so would have been about the passion and the drugs and the dangerous life of the artist. Just look at the 1989 film about Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire. If made today, it’d probably have a much different slant and the title would be from one of his other songs, like maybe When the Saints Go Marching In, or One Minute Past Eternity. The mid ‘00s depiction of Johnny Cash and June Carter in I Walk the Line is an excellent, if disappointing, example of how myth changes over time as society changes what it values. And come to think about it, it’s probably a good warning to the rest of us that we should do a little mini-biography every five years or so, just to keep our perspective clean. After all, time heals all wounds (supposedly) but it’s so often our wounds that produce the great art. So, Make Great Myths -- but do it now! WHAT’S IN A NAME? Quite a lot, if you know how to look at it. Pamela Jaye Smith Hollywood 3/17/06 WHAT’S IN A NAME? Quite a lot, if you know how to look at it. One way Naked Emperors attempt to hide their nakedness is to call it something else. Like, “Fabulously great invention -- Invisible Clothes!” “The Latest Fashion!” "Patriotism!" "Art!" "Religion!" What’s interesting to me is that these obfuscations ever work at all. But as President Lincoln said, “…you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” For President George W. Bush’s take on fooling people, see more at http://www.slate.com/id/76886/ [hot link below] and search for the word “fool”. Here’s a list of some incredibly Nude Imperial nomenclature. MERGERS = the power-grab formerly known as MONOPOLIES. Exxon-Mobile, ABC-Disney, AT&T-SBCGlobal, Murdoch-Fox, Knight Ridder-McClatchy, Microsoft, Citibank and almost every other financial corporation on the planet, Chrysler-Mercedes-Benz, and lots lots more. The last time there was such a concentration of power in so few American companies was during the era of the Robber Barons in the late 19th century. Very similar strategies were utilized back then to optimize profits: vertical integration and control of supplies and services, low wages and few social services for the workers, luring low-wage immigrants to replace local workers, control and corruption of the political process, price-fixing, war profiteering. Similar results also ensued back then: a Grand Canyon sized disparity between haves and have-nots, flaunting of wealth, complete disdain for public welfare, and monopolized service systems offering lousy service, e.g. health care and education. Defenders will point out the generous use of this gobble-gotten wealth such as the Carnegie, Melon, Rockefeller, Getty, and Vanderbilt trusts, foundations, museums, grants, scholarships, etc. True enough. But again, that’s so very similar to what monarchies do that it soon appeared America, which had been founded in great part to distance itself from the oppression of monarchies and the attending aristocracies, had simply recreated it under the guise of independent individualism. Hmmm…. PRIVATIZATION = OLIGARCHIC CONTROL. See above on Monopolies. For more on this one, read some history, try to use your health provider, and check your bank account. TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM = up till now known as WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS, also known as domestic spying. Still illegal. GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM = WAR ON TERROR. This attempt at finding a broader and less time-restrictive term for what the Bush Administration intends to keep doing around the world wherever and whenever they choose failed to catch on, despite their PR body’s attempt to insert it into the public and media vocabulary. Guess it just isn’t snappy enough… or scary enough? BARRIER WALL around Israel = also called by some an APARTHEID BARRIER. STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL, the ruling body of Burma, the SE Asia murderous military dictatorship currently known as Myanmar = used to be called the SLORC, which with its B-movie monster connotation, much better fit their actions and attitudes. INSURGENTS = depending on who’s naming whom. These same people are called FREEDOM FIGHTERS by the natives they are defending, whose country they are trying to free from invaders. COLLATERAL DAMAGE = DEAD CIVILIANS. Sometimes property and infrastructure is included in the term. ALTRIA, a nice, altruistic sounding name, right? Well, this is the new mega-name for = TOBACCO COMPANIES Phillip Morris USA and International, along with Kraft Foods. Then we have a few trigger names, names that require specific actions: GENOCIDE - requires UN intervention. ETHNIC CLEANSING does not. A bit of research into when, why, and by whom a conflict switches from the latter to the former can be very instructive. E.g. Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur. DISASTER - requires government funds for recovery. A SERIOUS earthquake, fire, flood, drought, tsunami does not. Arguments flew back and forth over the Richter count on the Northridge earthquake in what looked to some like an attempt of FEMA to avoid involvement. They eventually did sign on, though. So, when you hear something called one thing, do a bit of an internal Thesaurus search and see what else this “something” might be called. Often, a new name is masking a shift in emphasis, attempting to hide a sordid past, or put something unpalatable over on the public. Like the old adage goes, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”. The public is the flies. So watch out for those honeyed words. A name by any other name could be a trap. ***** http://www.slate.com/id/76886/ TALK THE TALK -- BUT ONLY OUR TALK ghltlh vlghltlhta'bogh DalaD'a' [*] Pamela Jaye Smith somewhere in the American Mid-West 12/12/05 A high school student in the Mid-West was recently reprimanded for speaking Spanish with another student in the school halls. Interesting. If the students had been speaking Latin, would they have been encouraged and rewarded? How about French? Would they have been seen as more romantic? How about Mandarin? Or Swahili? Kind of looks like it wasn’t just about not speaking English, but was rather about speaking Spanish. And in that case, why? Fear of gangs? Concern that the students be equipped to function well in an English-speaking system? I think all students in American school systems should learn at least two languages not their own. It’s great for the growing brains, it’s great for inculcating analytical skills, and it’s great for creating more globally-minded citizens. Though I studied Latin and French, and can still mutter a few phrases, more or less, I’ve also really enjoyed picking up enough Spanish, Indonesian, and Klingon to get by in foreign climes. Speaking Klingon is a great way to deflect bothersome fellow-travelers or unwanted sales-children. The former become bemused and shrug away. The latter occasionally claim to have heard that Klingon is “A very nice place, lady. Buy some perfume? Jewelry? Sarongs?” You’d think they had that omni-translating pescado/kala/dag/sakana in their ears, the Babblefish of Douglas Adam’s "Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy". But until we have a universal language, or translation devices imbedded in our brains, let’s have lots of different languages spoken in our schools -- in specific Foreign Language classes. Let’s teach those languages in the framework of English, and let’s teach students competency in reading, writing, and speaking correct English, which every student needs in order to do well in this country, and in many others. Let’s do it with competent instruction. With support from parents and communities. With an excited sense of making global connections, improving one’s own mind, and -- having fun. And those of us not in schools -- let's us pick up another language, too. It's just as good for grown-up brains, and without the performance pressure of formal tests, can be quite enjoyable. http://www.ilovelanguages.com Do a search for "foreign language instruction" and find lots of courses, both in tapes/CDs and in-person instruction. The Educational Services Teaching Cassettes, available on-line, mostly used, are excellent for a quick "tourist" grasp of a language. [*] A handy Klingon phrase, "Will you read my manuscript?" BITE ME! Please... Aurora Miller & Pamela Jaye Smith 11/03/05 It is interesting to me that so many if the people who refuse to eat meat are the same individuals who say that we all "chose to be here" and that we "chose our experiences before incarnating." To say nothing of the fact that "every creature on this planet is a fellow spiritual being." Do they not see the fallacy of their logic? The continued pretention of the human race? If, in fact, we are all fellow spiritual beings who all made the conscious choice to incarnate, and all decided what we wanted to experience before we got here, how dare they rob these spiritual entities of their chosen Karma? We are all energy processors turning sunlight, water, and food into thought, emotions, and action. To be eaten by the supposed highest life form and turned into human energy and thought and creativity.... that's a great honor. One minute you're a piggy or a sprig of broccoli and a few hours later you're a Mozart opera or a new software program. Interesting how human arrogance can be so blind on both sides of the issue: seeing ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution and at the same time denying our ability to offer a hand up to the "lesser brothers". As Douglas Adams illustrates so humorously and philosophically in the fairy cake episodes of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it's all a matter of perspective. More Info Please! Come back often to explore our MYTHWORKS site: News; Services; Products; Referrals; and Links of Interest. Send mail to MYTHWORKS or phone us at 323-874-6042 with questions or comments about this web site. - MYTHWORKS   Website maintained by: Cecelia Lawshe