I Speak of Dreams

Boosting Service Learning at Your School: The LEAGUE

This is an interesting concept:  you have a service-learning or philanthropy project at your school.  How can you boost student engagement and meet like-minded students elsewhere?

The folks behind the LEAGUE (yes, it is always capitalized) had the same question, and devised a platform to do just that:

Our mission.

The LEAGUE is a school and web-based system for service learning that builds character and empowers young people to "do good" in their community, the nation and the world.

Our vision.

Change the world by empowering young people everywhere to get in the game of giving thoughtfully of their time, treasure and talent to make themselves, their community and world a better place.

The LEAGUE provides lesson plans and a way of tracking student and class participation in service learning projects.  The fundamental unit is the classroom teacher, who becomes a LEAGUE coach for a particular project.  (I suppose another adult, such as a Scout leader, 4-H leader or the like could also be a LEAGUE coach.)

The LEAGUE'S board  and advisory commission look impressive. The LEAGUE is also on Facebook and Youtube.  It looks promising -- go check it out and get involved.

A Real American or a "Looter"?

Jabbor Gibson commandeered a school bus that was sitting empty and unattended on a street somewhere in New Orleans. (August 31, 2005?)  He filled it up with complete strangers --100 of them -- and drove the bus to Houston.

"I just took the bus and drove all the way here...seven hours straight,' Gibson admitted. "I hadn't ever drove a bus."

If this young man has legal costs, I hope somebody starts the Jabbor Gibson Get 'Er Done Legal Defense Fund.  (update: somebody has started a web page for the young man, offering a medal; there's also a Wikipedia page)

His actions are being reported as "extreme looting".  Is that because of his race?  In my dictionary "looting" means stealing goods for your own personal enrichment. 

Never Too Old to Excel

My sister Nance was the first American woman to cross the finish line in the 1988 Olympic marathon (Nance started as a fitness runner)  Now Anna and Ennis have told me about the best living desi athlete: 94 year old runner Fauja Singh. 

He not only set a new 200m title, but halved it from 76.8 seconds to a mere 49.28 seconds. He has also set the UK record for the 400 meters, 800m, 1 mile, and 3000m.

I wonder if he also plays gatka.

 

A True Love Story

one true love story referred me to another, Tightly Wound:

Kids, Gangs, and Alternatives

For kids that are like me, coming here helps me understand that you can do it too. So you don't have to join gangs or anything like that"

Why gangs? Why gang membership? Because they are better than the alternative. So the anti-gang is beefing up the alternatives.

Why Can't We DO Something?

Marijo, who works in the trenches, writes an essay on caring for the ambulatory mentally ill.

Goodbye, Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve died October 10, 2004, from complications from an infected pressure sore. Reeve's paralysis dated from an unlucky fall while competing at a horse trials (the introductory form of three day eventing).

I wanted to put up a picture of Mr. Reeve mounted, because he was passionate about the sport. He was a big man and came late to riding, but he loved it. I couldn't find one, although he appeared in several equestrian magazines in the early 1990s as he became more involved with the sport.

Fare thee well, Christopher Reeve. You showed great dignity.

(the image is from Doug Jones who is a township supervisor in Grosse Ile, MI. He is doing exactly what Reeve was doing, and loving it. The photo is from 2002.)

Dove Rainbow, Pop-Pop, and Helenma

The Mehras took in an Idaho teenager, and changed her view of life. What would you do that would make a difference?

(I'll wait to see the follow-up...if Dove Rainbow is still going toward college and independent life in 2005).

Rana's Blog

The 13th anniversary of Dad's death was last week. Mom's 80th birthday is coming up. I miss them, and I am also relieved to have graduated from elder care.

One of the doctors described me in his notes as her “aggressive and focused support system.” Bite me. Get yourself thrown into a hospital at the mercy of tests, procedures, nurses that make Ratchett look compassionate, and all the attendant bureaucracy and see if you don’t want a friend with the demeanor of a Rottweiler defending your sorry butt when you’re too sick to do it yourself.

Rana's blog has lots more than caretaking, but go there and learn. (Ronni found her.

A Life of Grace: Brad Strickwerda

Bradley Strickwerda is a shy, kind, athletically inclined 20-year-old. His family is of Dutch heritage and it shows in his pink skin and brilliant blue eyes. But Strickwerda, a counselor at Camp Rainbow Gold, has six inoperable brain tumors that are growing and spreading. He has been fighting the disease for the past five years.