Senor Parrot's Perch

Our college president shared this video from Youtube with the school ( the video is at the bottom of this post) . I see these changes almost everywhere I look. The world is changing fast and if I don’t make efforts to look ahead then I lose the chance to change with it. Same for you.

Wealth changes its location extraordinarily fast. Look at the rise of some of the largest companies today. They weren’t around when I was a child; they rose from new technology after I’d become an adult. And look at the shift in relative economic power from Europe to Asia, to India and China, specifically, only a short while ago regarded as backwaters and now economic powerhouses.

I’ve had many students at the community college where I work who are struggling to rebuild their lives after the factory where they worked for 30 years shut down, either because the products were outdated and lacked customers or they crushed by competition. These are reliable persons willing to work hard, but no place to work that pays enough to keep the house. Other students have seen the handwriting on the wall and returned to rebuild their skill set and jump to a more stable ship.

They’re back in school, learning new things, stretching their minds like never before. They’re retooling themselves for the future. Education is critical. The earlier we attain it, the better it sticks. The broader it is, the more reliable we’ll find it. Especially math and science. Don’t like it? Get over it!

Video: Shift Happens

So, it seems that when teaching fails, some NYC Public School principals may just might resort to Voodoo to turn things around.

Over on Joanne Jacobs’ blog she tells us about one NYC Public School principal who allegedly tried the Voodoo cure on her school. Read about the gory details of sprinkling of sacrificed chicken blood and consulting tarot cards to rid the building of evil over here: Voodoo school cure at Joanne Jacobs.

Alas, Joanne tells us that the principal in question was relieved of her duties – a step that the NYC Public School officials may feel to be more effective at removing evil spirits than splattered chicken blood.

I would not be discouraged at this, however. Should this ex-principal begin offering workshops on the effectiveness of Voodoo at educational conferences, we can be confident to see adoption of these methods by public school by public schools across the country, along with seances and wiccan rites.

Elise is a young girl with a passion for painting and getting it just right. One day she is painting outside, when she stops to run inside for lunch. When she returns she’s astonished to find a fairy stuck by her wings into her painting. There is nothing to do but wait for a new pair of wings to grow, so Elise brings her painting inside to keep the fairy until her new wings grow in.

Then Mom, proud of her daughter’s painting, as every mother would be, enters the painting into a contest and Elise is desparate to save her new friend.

When I read this aloud with my 4 year old, she became as stuck to Stacey Duford’s story as the fairy’s wings to Elise’s painting. She laughed and exclaimed gleefully at the wonderfully expressive and comic illustrations by Wendy Popko. This book was an immense pleasure to read with her and became a favorite. My 10 year old, a voracious reader after her mother’s and father’s hearts, found it just as entertaining.

This book is another treasure from a small stack of books I have from the regional publisher, Mackinac Island Press, in Michigan. I’ll be talking about the others as well over the next few weeks before school starts back up. Its a great pick for tickling a kid’s funny bone.

You can find out more about The Fairy Painting and many other excellent books for kids at the The Mackinac Island Press website.

The Figureheads, a Milwaukee-based Hip-Hop group, has won the 2007 Parent’s Choice Gold Medal Award . Their music is a truly unique expression of hip-hop, focusing on positive experiences and self-image. If you kid likes hip-hop but you hate the message that most groups push, The Figureheads are for you.

The Figureheads started in Madison, where I’m from, and my oldest daughter is a fan. The Figureheads began writing and recording their music while one of the members worked for Integrated Development Services (IDS), a Madison-based provider of services for families with children with autism, ADD, Sensory Integration Disorder, and other related problems. He had been working with a particular child and written some songs especially with him. The founder and director of IDS, Andy Paulson, was excited about the possiblities of using his music to aid other children, starting Kiddo Publishing and producing a CD especially for kids with special needs. For a short time the Figureheads were on contract with IDS to write and perform.

For more information, check out

• kiddopublishing.com
• Parent’s Choice Awards
• figureheadsinc.org