484- DO WE, AS LEGAL AMERICANS, HAVE THE "RIGHT" to SAY ANYTHING, AT ANYTIME, TO ANYBODY?....

1) We have a RESPONSIBILITY, as intelligent and decent members of our American society, to choose our words said to OTHERS around us. They, TOO, have "rights" and responsibilities for members of our working society! Only a selfish, non-caring, thoughtless and IGNORANT person would cross over the line into my face. And vice-versa to that person.
"Rights?" Your "rights" STOP when you get into MY space, which is my face!! I understand that decency principle. However, more and more others do not understand or give a damn about that "face space."
2) And the problem is....WHAT do we do about it in 2010?.................................

483- PHOEBE PRINCE....YOUR SOUL IS IN HEAVEN!........

A) Our care and love go to Phoebe, a 15-year-old freshman from Northhampton, MA. Phoebe was from Ireland and attended South Hadley High School. This beautiful girl was mocked by students...they stalked her, they harrassed her. Two males have been charged with statutory rape. And, on January 14th, she hanged herself at home....bless her beautiful soul!
It appears that no school officials will be charged in any way with this senseless death. And, after her death, some caring students posted, on Facebook, a tribute to Phobe. That, readers, had some extremely sicko persons posting sickening words about Phoebe on Facebook, after her death.
This is now 2010...think back...how has our American society evolved...and even why? And I'll be the first to proclaim...what is happening to our beloved and great American society?.....

B) Phoebe was the cruel victim of BULLYING by a group of peers. Our society is beginning to talk about bullying out in the open during the past couple of years. This Sociology guy feels it is time for national discussions and resolutions...NOW! Bullying not only includes the physical aspects but the psychological intimidation of this serious social problem. Don't forget, too, that not only are the youth affected BUT adults!
YOU think back in your life, please, and even now. I'll wager that you knew, know someone in your adult life that was, is a victim of bullying....?

C) But let's get to the very core of how to solve it.....

D) A recent paper stated that the 'bullied' should calmly talk with the 'bullier'?...that the 'bullied' should not condem or get even with the 'bullier', but get the 'bullier' to talk, get to know the "billied'? This sounds like too much BULL to me!

E) WAIT.....after pondering since her death, this sociology educator realizes that the school administration SHOULD be held responsible and accountable, in some legal way, also, for the death of this tormented girl! She was only 15, from another country and culture. The principal and others within the school KNEW what was going on and did not protect her!!! Now, they're rationalizing and making excuses to protect themselves, to cover their own selfish tushes.

482- DO AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS "TEACH" LEADERSHIP?....

A) NO! In general, I've never seen a specific class that teaches a high school student HOW to become a leader. It's left up to the individual to pick up even segments of the all-important abilities to LEAD after high school. And, high school is where the huge majority of young persons at least have a chance at learning those needed personal skills for later usage in their more mature years.
B) LEADERSHIP is highly visible all around our American society. We can "see" and identify LEADERS throughout our society. Therefore, some GOOD educators in the know and tuned-in local leaders could have the necessary skills to devise such classes and to be able to teach huge numbers of high school student during their formidable years, but are not given the chance or opportunity! Millions more, after graduation every year, slip by, not even afforded a chance. It is a fault of our current high school education program! A fault that MUST be rectified, too.
C) And whose fault it is that millions of students aren't, across America, given the necessary academics to be exposed to and learn about the basics needed for at least having a chance to evolve into a leader in our society? It's obvious to me....and most of you all!
D) Colleges and universities, by virtue of their higher education status and experiences, demonstrate and do inspire, by example, important attributes considered all-importantly necessary in American society to formulate "leadership" qualities. That leaves, however, those millions every year of high school youth, through no fault of their own, never being "taught" or exposed to the needed attributes for LEADERSHIP on a local basis, statewide basis or nationally, simply because they do not move into any higher forms of education.
D) The retail business world in our society, for years, has provided their own system of creating and building LEADERSHIP, but the large numbers are not there...yet.
E) I feel that American public high schools, in general, are not rising, by far, to their leadership capibilities, therefore, letting our society down when we need them the most. Again, parents and high school students, who care, should get involved and demand.....

F) Another direction on education? Are public high school students in our America being taught about everyday problems in society and reasoned methods on how to simply SOLVE PROBLEMS during the rigors of growing up in our 21st society!...well?

481- EXISTENTIALISM!...........................

a) "A philosophy that emphacises the uniqueness and isolation of the INDIVIDUAL experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's actions."
b) "...every individual is solely responsible for giving their own life meaning and living that life passionately and sincerely."
c) "The individual is a free and self-determining person...."
d) "...the importance of human individuality and freedom."

But I, and others, also feel and believe in the importance of old-fashioned faith...in myself and in others! What does a person have within one's very core of being, without some form of FAITH in something or someone?

480- WHO WAS THIS EMINENT GREEK THINKER NAMED SOCRATES, And WHY IS HE STILL A UNIVERSAL SAGE?.....

a- He was born in Athens, 470 B.C. and was the first of the great ancient Greeks thinkers!
b- He, along with Plato and Aristotle, in time, are responsible for the philosophical foundations of the Western cultural world.
c- Socrates was at home in the streets and especially the marketplaces. Can you imagine someone being and doing that in our American Society today?
d- His method of seeking "truth" with others included questions and answers, using a dialogue method! His goal was to check the logic and truth of philosophic posers.
e- It is true that we believe that he wrote nothing down, not finding anything ever in writing. For over 200 centuries, we know about his thoughts and actions from being
written down by one of his students...PLATO!
f- As a philosophy major, the squire used and uses the "Socratic-style" method of teaching and idea presentations in person and in writing!
g-

479- "WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS MORE DARK C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E...."....

Best when you sing this to the tune of "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...." How about that DOVE chocolate! Yes, the latest research from UNEEDA THE-C Company, based in Sweetwater, Texas, proves that dark chocolate really does make you smarter than the average Yogi Bear, cute-r in your everyday life than a Teddy Bear and fitt-r than someone who exercises at least four times a week in your local Rec Center! And how about those "Promises" sayings inside the wrapper.....!

478- MORE.....C-E-L-T-I-C.....W-O-M-A-N!.....

CELTIC WOMAN...uplifting...refreshing...spirited....
Chloe Agnew...Lisa Kelly...Meav Ni Mhaolchatha...Lynn...and Mairead Nesbitt (fiddle player).
You're invited to go to YouTube first before proceeding, please, if YOU choose to do so!
Type in CELTIC WOMAN and then "Songs From the Heart"...listen a bit, if you so choose, from the PBS Special in Ireland.
And do I have a fave Celtic Woman? Yes...Mairead! She's the one who fiddles, dances and doesn't sing. If you do go to YouTube, Mairead dances like a fairy...a pixie, all the while playing her fantastic fiddle. She's unbelievable playing that fiddle and moving all around the venue. Seems like Mairead just couldn't be playing her fiddle and still dancing all around, but she is and does!!

477- SANDRA BULLOCK----VIRGINIAN!...CONGRATULATIONS!...

Sandra Bullock, Academy Award winner for Best Actress for 2009!
We're proud of our Virginian! She grew up in Northern Virginia and attended high school there.

The latest...what happens when one married spouse CHEATS on the other one? Personally, I feel that Sandra Bullock is a classy lady in every way...a rarity in the film world. We're with you, Virginian!

476-........"THE COVE"......................

A) This documentary earned an Academy Award, recently, for THE Best Documentary for 2009!
B) The subject was the slaughter of Dolphins (the animals) in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. For centuries, migrating DOLPHINS have been, are herded to a hidden cove, where they are netted and slaughtered, not killed, but slaughtered with SPEARS and KNIVES by humans from over the side of small boats.
C) The brave, committed documentarians and camera crew disguised their cameras as rocks. They had originally wanted to openly film but were watched, relentlessly, as they travled around that area of the Japanese islands.
D) As always, YOU do your homework, especially going to YouTube and viewing at least one o three tapes. A warning to you...be prepared for the slaughter! Tell a friend, please, about what's happening to the world's mammals...dolphins! Thanks......

475- MY UNICORN FARM.......

A) I readily admit it! I want and need a Unicorn farm waaaay out in the countryside in my native Virginny....
B) Why a Unicorn farm? I call it my "IMAGINATION FARM!"
Too many kids grow up losing their unique ability to THINK IMAGINATION, imaginitively, for one reason or tother. This original thinker hasn't lost that creative ability and honestly hope that YOU didn't, haven't, won't lose that little bit of your inner soul or being involved with that wonderful and creative world of imagination!
C) Forgot...I wanna, with my earnings one day from writing blockbuster novels, also have a cabin in the New England woods, with a unicorn or three on the farm's property! Just gotta be careful and not forget that. And, to all the readers across America and the world, soon, who will be reading that first novel entitled---THE SERPENTINE BOND!
D) The epic novel is about seven (7) university students--four coeds and three guys--who form a bond, as friends. But, near the end of the 600+ page plot, one of the chums turns around the friendship and into a---------beware America!

474- YES, I AM MOST PROUD OF.....SARAH!.....

This Dad spent quality time with my beautiful daughter on weekends when she was 'widdle' and got to know her during her munchkinhood. She was always a fast learner, curious for learning about the world around her, especially on all the many adventures we explored, historical places we visited and respected people we met during her childhood. And she liked films and acting. In recent years, this Dad has gotten to know her as an adult and am sooo proud, also, of her indepth and mature kinda thinking...you go, daughter!!

473-...CARLOS...."THEY HAVE GUNS!"...A 7-YEAR-OLD HERO!....

You need to know about CARLOS!
He's 7-years-old and is America's newest HERO....and who is CARLOS?
Three scumbags broke into the family home in the Los Angeles area, and Carlos pulled his younger sister into a bathroom and locked the door. With a cellphone he had thought to take with him, he called 911. There, he talked with the dispatcher, Monique, begging for help for his parents, all on the 911 tape. At that point, one of the scumbags broke open the bathroom door and pulled the boy and his sister out.
What did our hero CARLOS do next? He told them that he had just called 911.....they left, without taking anything or hurting anyone!!!
At this time, on Wednesday evening, the three scumbags are still at large. GET 'EM, LA detectives!

And what about the other person deserving heroic statis, here? MONQUE! She instantly realized that little Carlos was sincere and worked on keeping him as calm as possible under the intense circumstances....

"Tell me what's wrong with me, and I'll listen to the end of my nose!
But tell me what's right about me, and I'll listen to the end of my mind!"
ron squire steffey

472- TWO RUSSIANS and an AMERICAN!.....

Today, Monday, March 8th, this sociology guy stopped by the Bruton Parish Church parish house and, on this warm, sunny blue sky afternoon, walked out and about on the historically famous Duke of Gloucester Street, with my trusty Nikon. Who should appear but two Russian coeds, sitting on a bench...visiting America...doing needlepoint!
a- Their conversational English was excellent, my French once studied was not.
b- We three, two Russians and one American, got along remarkably well, talking about their visit to Colonial Williamsburg (CW). I have, often, when biking or photography in the Restored Area, chatted for a moment or three with visitors. Like with the two coeds, my fave local history info story is about how there is a two-lane parkway, tunnel, underneath that quiet colonial scenery spreading out from our Duke of Gloucester Street.
c- The submerged tunnel runs below, beside the old 1770 Courthouse, over to one portal at the windmill, with the other portal end beside the Williamsburg Inn.
d- Ready for a little secret? Look in the Courthouse Green grass, near the popular stock and pillory. There, you'll discover a 6-foot diameter piece of metal in the grass! Lean down close...you can hear the traffic below. That round piece of metal was originally a tunnel hole, an "escape hatch" for the Colonial Parkway tunnel below! Now you know a little secret....

471- E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N....SIMPLY LEANING HOW, NOT WHAT, to THINK!!......

.....not WHAT to think, which is indoctrination!

A) Social Commentary: this educator sees, too often, either clever brainwashing or just plain supidity in too many of our public classrooms and American educational society. And that simple theory of American education has always, from the past, come from state and especially local levels. Now, the federal goverment is directly trying to or is creeping into our everyday education lives with WHAT to think, not HOW to think. Don't believe me? Pay attention all around YOU.....YOU, please, do the paying attention and YOU, please do the thinking!
Thank enough of you for "seeing" and understanding, on your own, why EDUCATION IS SIMPLY LEARNING HOW TO THINK....period!
B) And, by the way, many thanks go to those in-the-classroom educators who, every day, think up creative and inspiring daily lesson plans, impressing upon their students HOW to think! I've personally witnessed some of these exciting educators' classrooms in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida and, yes, Virginia. They, in my opinion, are the educators who make a difference in a classroom.
C) Recently, in a Wall*Mart (the local social center), I paused when three former students came by to chat, one at a time, and share about a few educators who had challenged and inspired them while in school, and other teachers who had not!
D) This guy was humbled when all three thanked me for being one of those few inspiring and challenging educators! While working on WORD, with that last important chapter (#32) for THE SERPENTINE BOND!, it gets mighty lonesome researching and creatively writing a 600+ page novel in the solitude of a study! And those kind words of personal support, standing in that social center at Wallmart*, meant everything to me...thanks!
E) HUGE thanks go to those educators, not teachers, who challenge their students and classes in HOW to learn as the most important element in our American education! Again, look around you in our society...and think for yourself....

470- NATIONAL ISSUES DEBATE..."TRAINING ANIMALS to PERFORM"...DAWN BRANCHEAU, TRAINER...

First...our sincere thoughts are with Dawn Brancheau and her family!

a- "No one should have been in the water with that whale!"...911 call.
b- A 'killer whale' is actually a dolphin....
c- DEBATE: should the 'government' get involved, in our American society, and ban all activities involving people and 'trained' animals! Should, in particular, 'Tilikum' be put to death? On a local level, dogs have been put to death for------, why not this "Killer Whale" dolphin?

469- CLELSEA KING.............................

A) Chelsea King, 17-year-old high school senior honor student from Poway High School near San Diego...all of us who care know that she is now in Heaven....

B) If you would like to leave a message on Facebook....must have an account, then, you sign in and type in her name in the upper right corner...thanks.......