Today would be my father’s 117th birthday. He died 64 years ago when I was 15.)
I took videos of the wildlife for my three-year-old grand-nephew, Sidney, as I walked. It’s primarily turkeys at this hour in the morning. I meditated when I got home after feeding Elsa and washing the dishes.
I have been writing more politically oriented musings. I can no longer take advantage of my white privilege and forget what is happening to non-whites. We live in an era where the forces of exclusion and inclusion are waging a classic battle. I am on the side of inclusion. I can’t say I’m overly optimistic about my side winning, but I can hope.
My parents were refugees from Nazi Germany. We were fortunate, more like wealthy and well-positioned. Therefore, everyone got out alive except for one family unit. They stayed because the man of the house couldn’t imagine supporting his family in the US. He also thought his being married to a Christian would buy him some protection. Well, they both died in Auschwitz. Their daughter survived in a different camp and was brought to the US by my father.
My uncle used to talk to me about that time. He said if the Jews hadn’t been chosen to be the scapegoats, they would have been the best Germans. I was confronted by Jews who came from Eastern European backgrounds. They expressed contempt for the German Jews, who they felt aided and abetted the Nazis instead of doing what they could to stop them. Not that they could have done much about it. He also spoke about why the Jews were chosen. He said they were a convenient target. Most factions had some issues with the Jews. My bet is that if we continue going as we are, the Jews will get it again. All the other factions, including Afro-Americans and Muslims, no less than Right-Wing Christian groups, have issues with the Jews. (Anyone who thinks the Evangelicals value the Jews, think again. They are anti-Semitic Pro-Zionists. Trump already voiced a proposal that all Jews should be made citizens of Israel. That died on the vine – for now. )
I have been trying to alternate writing with physical activity, such as spraying my yard with vinegar to kill the weeds and vacuuming.
As I have been writing my article, I have also been developing a lesson plan to incorporate the method into daily practice. I found myself thinking students should alphabetically and phonetically analyze one sentence a day. Just one. Even a short one. Then they can proceed to read the rest of the text, focusing on automatic processing, checking for meaning as they read, identifying words they read incorrectly, and decoding those they can’t. But first, they should do that one sentence. Ha! Of course, I haven’t been doing that. Like any human being, I lapsed into doing the familiar, having students read and correct mistakes. However, if this method can have the effect I claim it can, as I have experienced it having, then I should have students do one sentence a day. The goal is for them to do that independently. With some, that happens immediately. With others . . . .
