Grounds Maintenance at Durham Schools? Call BETC!
This article addresses Durham Public Schools’ Bionomic Educational Training Centers or BETC program, which *pays* occupational course of study (OCS) students and teachers to install and maintain raingardens and other sustainable landscaping on school campuses and private properties: https://www.dcomanagingforresults.org/environmental-stewardship/bionomic-educational-training-center].
Covid Camping and Bear Hounding
During our 14-day quarantine after contracting Covid, my 5th-grade son, husband and I went camping in West Virginia and got educated in ways no classroom can provide. Despite our generally positive assessments of the Mountain Mama, our introduction to “bear hounding” was the lesson that stuck most…
My Covid Followup
Since my post a few weeks ago about my family contracting COVID (and the disturbing revelation that negative Covid PCR tests are wrong at least 20% of the time), a lot of people have asked me what it was like to have COVID as a doubly vaccinated 50-year-old. Here's my best attempt at putting it into words:
Thanks, Durham, I needed that! (EK Powe Elementary School Playground Dedication)
This morning was the dedication of a 3-years-long stormwater-control and playground redesign project at EK Powe Elementary School, on the edge of the Watts Hospital Hillandale Neighborhood in Durham, NC. It is the result of collaboration between the EK Powe PTA and Principal, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, Durham Matching Grants Program, Durham Public Schools…
On Forgiveness
Support Whistle Blowers: I used to harshly judge people who, after having knowingly enriched themselves in an unethical system, call out that system and try to lock the door behind them - hypocrites! But they are far better than the alternative majority, who knowingly enrich themselves in the same unethical system and wholeheartedly support it.
Protect Durham's Crown from Development
The Eno River needs protection from impervious development *again* 🥺. If you live in Durham or North Carolina, please write your elected representatives in support of saving the land surrounding the Eno River and the few remaining pristine places we have left.
Covid PCR Test Results are wrong 20% or more of the time!?
How can we base quarantines, travel, and returns to work/school on tests that report false negatives, at best, 20% of the time? Please do NOT assume that you don't have COVID if you test negative but have symptoms of the illness. Read this article for details…
To Dr. Mubenga and the DPS Board of Education (re Principal Hiring Process)
This is the letter I sent to the Durham Public Schools Superintendent and School Board to implore them to *truly* choose a parent/teacher/community-oriented principal for my son’s and all Durham public schools, not just by their words but by the expectations that are communicated to prospective candidates as well as their previous records in this regard.
Guns
I felt the same way when I first heard Coldplay's Guns that I did when I first read Jonathon Swift's Modest Proposal. Even the most obvious and entertaining presentation of the truth won't change people's minds; but it can instigate and perpetuate the discussion until it leads to action.
Public School Use of Covid Funds for Outdoor Learning Should Incorporate Curricula and Sustainability
…My 15-years experience with DPS administration is that ‘outdoor learning’ is too often interpreted as benches, gazebos and sidewalks (and maybe a few potted plants), which may provide outdoor seating areas but do not exactly encourage engagement and learning…
Asking for Forgiveness Later
American society has put layers of rules in place over its existence. Privileged people, who are generally white, have been permitted to bend those rules; while non-privileged people, who are generally people of color, have had to follow them to a T …
City Budget for Green Programs/Jobs More than Just Lacking
This is the email I sent to Durham’s mayor and city council members today regarding the city budget: I am deeply concerned by this year's city budget's lack of new investment in green jobs, particularly for the Bionomic Educational Training Center (BETC) program and the Impaired Stream Improvement Program (ISIP). In fact, I think it is negligent of the city not to provide substantial funding for these two programs, given that…
Alison Krauss and Dead Raptor Fledglings
On May 20, my neighbor down the street sent a group text that said, “Our back alley pine tree hawk nest has two fledglings. Very fluffy. So cool!”…
Cultural Appropriation and NPR's 2021 Tiny Desk Contest
While at a beach in Costa Rica where many local residents were soliciting business, I suggested to my teenage daughter that she get her hair beaded. She'd done it once when she was little, and we both loved it. We'd support local business, and it'd be fun. My daughter promptly told me that I was being racist and educated me about cultural appropriation…
The Kinks, Predatory Marketing, Durham's Elf, and Feline Broccoli
Fat cats eating broccoli and other musings on another capitalistic American day.
N.C. Bill Hinders Local Tree Protection Ordinances, Underscores Need to End Gerrymandering
A couple weeks ago, our tree maintenance company requested that we contact our state legislators to oppose a NC bill requiring localities to receive state approval for future (and many existing) tree protection requirements. For decades, the state-created NC Forest Service has encouraged and assisted local governments in Developing Tree Protection Ordinances. NC State and other NC Universities have also gone to great lengths to educate local governments and the public about the importance and ways to develop tree protection ordinances. And now the Republican-majority NC General Assembly is setting itself up to negate these same local tree protection ordinances.
Gum Stump Squirrel and Asheville
Now for our (final) college update (at least for this year): Five days ago, with 36 hours to college deposit deadline, my 17-year-old son Seamus was still deciding between UNC-Asheville ($11K/year after scholarship and aid) and Berklee in Boston ($46K/year after mostly aid) in pursuit of a Music Technology/Production degree.
The College Drama Continues, Mac
My theme song today is, of course, the last college-apps composition and production from my 17-year-old son, Seamus. From everyone he/we have talked to (including Berklee grads), if Seamus wants to go into Music Production he should just move to LA, New York, Nashville, or another music city (including Asheville but with some disdain toward Boston) and actually get an entry-level job at a music production company rather than going into debt to Berklee. …
The Willow (Seamus Rooney) plus Berklee Update
Among the four Berklee Music Production grads that Seamus and I had the good fortunate to talk with (thanks Watts Hospital Hillandale Neighborhood List Serve!), the consensus is that Berklee’s pretty awesome... with these caveats…
Is Berklee Worth it? Weighing College Options for Child #2
We are still waiting for my son’s financial package from Berklee, but our online research indicates that it will cost >4 times what UNC-Asheville has offered him. We know UNC-A is a great value. This year, U.S. News & World Report ranked it the seventh-best public liberal arts university in the United States, Forbes magazine ranked it #21 in the country for "Best College Value", and the Princeton Review ranked it within the top 13% of America's four-year colleges…