Think Global/ The Daily Post

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/think-global-act-local/

Daily Prompt

Think Global, Act Local

“Think global, act local.” Write a post connecting a global issue to a personal one.

A number of countries and companies have long been worried that the costs of tackling climate change (prevention, mitigation, adaptation, etc) will be prohibitive and would rather deal with the consequences. They often assume (or hope) the consequences will not be as bad as scientists are predicting.

Climate change problems also affect people’s health directly, as well as impacting the environment. For example, fossil fuels used by cars in heavily congested areas lead to additional pollutants harmful to human health. Tackling climate change by limiting fossil fuel use and investing heavily in alternatives has the additional benefit of improving health, and even possibly reducing traffic congestion. This is the view of some major reports recently released.

Eighty percent of the forests that originally covered the earth have been cleared, fragmented, or otherwise degraded.

The world’s forests and oceans are natural regulators of carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere — which is a greenhouse gas. While forests are regarded as sinks, meaning they absord carbon dioxide, it is hard to rely on forests to soak up increasing pollution, while forests are increasingly being cut down!

Water is life and without water there is very little and in most cases no life at all. When you talk about lack of water in developing countries, most times people think about lack of water for domestic purposes besides drinking but the problem is worse in some developing countries. In some poor countries around the world, people walk several miles a day just to get a cup of water to quench their thirst and the saddest part is that, children and those who cannot walk such long distances often suffer and die from severe dehydration.

“While many liberal politicians are trying to pass legislation to prevent further global warming, they are facing harsh criticisms from the conservative media. Many Fox News personalities as well as radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and several conservative internet blogs have claimed that the recent north east snow storm is proof that global warming is a myth. Global warming is a term that many suggest was made popular by former Vice President Al Gore. In 2006 David Guggenheim directed a film titled “Inconvenient Truth” which was a informative film about Al Gore’s message of man’s responsibility for global warming. Many advocates say that the proper term would be “climate change”.

Global warming suggests that through man made pollution, we are damaging the planet’s ozone layer, increasing the sun’s affect on planet earth. Global warming has many supporters, including thousands of scientists who claim to have proven that the issue is real and should not be ignored. Recent studies have shown that the temperatures of 2009 were among the top warmest temperatures since satellites started keeping records. A similar study also suggested that the previous decade, 2000-2009, was the warmest decade in almost 2000 years. Global warming supporters believe that there are several ways to reduce the threat of climate change. These methods include transitioning our main energy sources from coal and other fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources such as solar power, wind power, hydropower, biomass energy and geothermal energy just to name a few.

Well, what do you think? Do you think cutting down our forests and building for power and money are hurting us on a personal level or is this all due to progression of countries?

Poetry Contest

The cover photo on this page is a photo of karma. Any karma will do- bad, little , big. etc…. (Photo prompt by Marcella Leff, administrator)

You may write a poem in any style or form but it must be inspired by this picture. Post the poem only. You may post as many poems as you want but comments are counted per poem only.

Winner will be judged by the most original comments. One person can make many comments but only counts as one comment for winning at the end of the time limit. Your own comments do not count because you cannot judge your own poem.

Contest will be from February 10 until February 17, 9:30 pm. All members are invited to enter this contest. You can add your friends to join. Challenge them.

Administrators may post examples of poems but are not eligible to win.

A new prompt will be posted every week

I am late on this contest but I always need the practice of writing poetry so decided to do just that.

 

karma

You said it again

The same old words

You put me down

You curdled my world

You don’t know

What you do to me

As I lay in my bed

And cry tears for no one to see

I have always heard

A saying I hope is true

That what you do twice

Will come back to you

Written by,

Terry Shepherd

02/20/2015

QUOTES

QUOTES.

QUOTES

QUOTES.

Wynton Marsalis, The Very Thought of You

Wynton Marsalis, The Very Thought of You.

Nat King Cole, Around the World

Nat King Cole, Around the World.

Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting – Shugary Sweets

Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting – Shugary Sweets.

Black History Month

You may not know one of a few things about me. One of my hobbies is researching and studying black slavery. I am mainly interested in how the slaves were able to escape and learn to read and write and become who they became in our world.

Today I want to spend a little time mentioning a few who have made a difference in our world.

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States^[1] and Canada^[2] in February, and the United Kingdom^[3] in October.

Slavery is a very ancient institution which is even sanctioned in the Bible: “Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you” [Leviticus 25:44]. While most of the Western world has abolished this practice, there are still some nations that turn a blind eye to a very active slave trade. This is a list of the most famous slaves in history. It is very difficult to write such a subjective list in light of the enormous number of slaves that are known in history, nevertheless I have endeavored to do so

Margaret Garner- Margaret Garner was a slave in pre-Civil War America notorious for killing her two year old daughter with a butcher knife, rather than see the child returned to slavery.

St. Patrick is revered by Christians for establishing the church in Ireland during the fifth century AD. The precise dates and details of his life are unclear, but some points are generally agreed: as a teen he was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland, and six years later he escaped to Gaul (now France) where he later became a monk. Around 432 he returned to Ireland as a missionary and succeeded in converting many of the island’s tribes to Christianity. Late in life he wrote a brief text, Confessio, detailing his life and ministry. His feast day, March 17, is celebrated as a day of Irish pride in many parts of the world.

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and during the American Civil War, a Union spy. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made about thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved family and friends,^[1] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women’s suffrage.

Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February 1818. He was born on a farm on Lewiston Road, Tuckahoe, near Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland. Frederick was the son of an unknown white father, and Harriet Bailey, a slave who was a part African and Native American. Frederick was born a slave on the great plantation owned by the Lloyd family. At times, they referred to him as Frederick Lloyd. When he was eight years old, he was separated from his mother and never saw her again.

In search of a new career, Frederick read Garrison’s Liberator, and in 1841 attended a convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Nantucket. One of the attending abolitionists overheard Douglass speaking with some of his black friends. Impressed, this man asked Douglass to speak at the convention. Although reluctant, he did so, and although he stammered, his speech had a remarkable effect. As a result, and to his surprise, they immediately employed him as an agent to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and a new career was born.

In his new position, he participated in the Rhode Island campaign against the new constitution that proposed the disfranchisement of blacks, which denied them the right of citizenship and the vote. He was the main figure in the famous “One-Hundred Conventions,” of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Here he was mobbed and beaten and forced to ride in “Jim Crow” cars and denied overnight accommodations. (“Jim Crow” refers to the “legal” repression of slavery or segregation). Yet through this all, he remained and saw the planned program to the end.

Douglass went on to establish his newspaper, the North Star, and published it for seventeen years. Furthermore, he lectured, was a supporter of woman suffrage, took an active part in politics, and helped Harriet Beecher Stowe establish an industrial school for black youth. He also met with John Brown, and counseled him. Upon Brown’s arrest, the Governor of Virginia attempted to arrest Douglass as a conspirator. To avoid arrest, Douglass fled to Canada, then England and Scotland, where he again lectured.

On June 22, 1894, Douglass gave an address at the Sixth Annual Commencement of a Colored High School in Baltimore, Maryland. In his address, Douglass said: “The colored people of this country have, I think, made a great mistake, of late, in saying so much of race and color as a basis of their claims to justice, and as the chief motive of their efforts and action. I have always attached more importance to manhood than to mere identity with any variety of the human family.

 

Use it or Lose it/ The Daily Post

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/use-it-or-lose-it/

Daily Prompt

Use It or Lose It

Write about anything you’d like, but make sure the post includes this sentence:

“I thought we’d never come back from that one.”

 

It was snowing. It didn’t usually snow in my area but a rare cold front come storming at us, leaving a lot of us to fend for ourselves. I had a job I had to go to. I worked at the hospital which was twenty minutes away from my house.

I was the head nurse on floor three. People depended on me. I had stressed so much during the night. I didn’t want to drive in this weather; but yet the patients and other staff needed me.

I prayed a lot, asking God to allow me to do what I needed to do with his courage and strength. Morning had come. The snow had not stopped. My neighborhood was so quiet. Not many could get out of their driveways.

The police scanner I had was pretty noisy. I listened to it while making my coffee. Ambulance runs. It seems that mammas had babies during storms with no way to get to the hospital. Elderly were afraid and often had more heart attacks during these stressful times.

I made up my mind I was going to go to work. God would lead the way for me. I finished my coffee and grabbed a granola bar. Getting dressed I kept telling myself it is going to be alright, I am not alone.

Heading out the door with my purse, lunch and keys in hand, I made it through the drifts of snow to my car. The car started a little sluggish but it started. Humming to myself and taking in the beauty of the virgin snow I waited for the motor to warm up.

Feeling safe I headed out the driveway and onto the side road. This road was a beautiful road to travel in perfect conditions. Trees so close to each other it always made me feel like I was on the path to heaven.

Today it was not like that. I saw a few deer. I saw bare branches falling to the ground as the ice coated the delicate life waiting for Spring to arrive to dress them up in vivid, green colors.

A deer ran out in front of me and I swerved to miss hitting it. My car didn’t understand what I was doing and it took a leap towards the edge of the road. It hit a barbed wire fence and bounced back. Turning a 360 it ran head on into a tree trunk. It hit the tree hard enough to jerk my body back and forth once, hitting my head on the steering column.

Dazed, I looked into my visor mirror and saw a trickle of blood running from my forehead. I looked around the car as if someone was in here with me. I didn’t see anyone. I saw the front of the car was crunched.

I tried opening my car door and it opened. I slipped on my gloves and took my car keys and proceeded to get out of the car. Feeling dizzy and almost dropping to the snow, I decided against getting out and sat back down.

I prayed, dear God, I asked you to guide me to work. I am scared, and even though I know thou art with me, I need you to rescue me Lord. Please hear my prayer. Amen.

I sat there in the quiet, warmth slipping away from inside the car. I was afraid to try to start the car for fear of a gas leak somewhere under the hood. I watched the snow falling and took deep breaths keeping myself calm. I knew God would hear my prayer.

I don’t remember when it happened or how long I had been there but the next thing I remembered is waking up in one of ER rooms. A doctor and nurse were standing over me.

“Well Missy, you gave us quite a scare for a minute. Do you know where you are”? I nodded my head. “What happened”?

“Well you were brought in here by a man we have never seen before. As cold as it is outside he walked in here with you in his arms. He was dressed in sandals, and a long tan, colored robe of some sort. His hair was long and he had the deepest, brown eyes. He said nothing and seemed to know the hospital well. He brought you to this bed and laid you down so gentle. We assessed your injuries and then turned to thank the gentleman thank-you; but he was gone”.

Missy laid there thinking about the words the doctor had just said. She thought to herself, I thought we would never come back from that one; but I should have known, God would never leave me alone.

Undo/ The Daily Post

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/undo/

 

Daily Prompt

Undo

If you could un-invent something, what would it be? Discuss why, potential repercussions, or a possible alternative.

I know you are going to think I am crazy when I write this post, but I am a crazy gal. I like the word, FAMILY. Family to me represents the good up-bringing I had. The sitting down at the table together as a family; holding hands and one of us kids saying grace.

The routine of baths after dinner, homework and if we got finished in time we were allowed to watch TV with mom and dad. Bedtime came at the same moment Monday through Friday, and an hour later on weekends.

We had a routine. We always knew we could depend on our parents. We knew the rules of going to school and what our chores were on the weekends. Family, a strong unit, somewhat broken from technology of cell phones and computers.

Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if there were guidelines as there were when we were bring raised. Perhaps time limits on cell phone use and computer time. Not only do the kids today not go anywhere without their cell phones, most of them have computer technology on the phones.

I can’t begin to count the number of times I have entered a public establishment and notice zero smiles. I don’t see people looking up at me and with a nod of the head acknowledging my presence.

Kids, parents, adults, elderly, almost everyone has updated with the times. What happened though? The term, family, the eating, praying, talking together, the guidelines, chores, what happened to family? Without our even realizing it, we ever so quietly traded good habits into a phrase of it’s all about me.

This is sad, more young girls pregnant, elderly respect has been lost to the seas. Looking out for our neighbors has slipped right past us. Maybe it is the era I was brought up in. So for this prompt, I would undo the technology of cell phones and computers, if even for one day. Stand up and take notice. Drink that coffee with a  smile. Go outside and smell those flowers. Wave and say hello to your neighbor, just for one day.