Sister Pearl's World

20 Years Of Sundays With Liane Hansen

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:35:17 -0500

“Liane Hansen is celebrating her 20th year as host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Over the past two decades, she’s interviewed hundreds of newsmakers and performers and covered breaking news events from the release of Nelson Mandela to the capture of Saddam Hussein. Here, a look back at some of Hansen’s standout moments.”

"Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of..."

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:17:03 -0500

“Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I’m black and I’m proud.”

- Jimmy Rabitte (via josaleigh)

"When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal. But when a Muslim does it,..."

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:29:07 -0500

““When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal. But when a Muslim does it, they call it jihad.””

- — Victor Benjamin

My heart goes out to all of those in the Fort Hood community. We here in Binghamton know first hand the pain and trauma of such a tragedy. But PLEASE, PLEASE do not make this a reason for hate. For anyone.

“Mexico has taken steps to allow the increasing number of...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:51:25 -0500

“Mexico has taken steps to allow the increasing number of foreigners who flood into the country each year, whether legally or illegally, to apply for citizenship.

Most of Mexico’s immigrants come from Central America, but at least one million of them arrive from United States.

Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from the central Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, where many of the US immigrants say they appreciate a simpler kind of life.”

"It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth-and that we have no..."

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:35:57 -0500

“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth-and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up-that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (via justbesplendid) (via ma-salaama)

"You can’t easily group people who come from as far away as Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio de..."

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:23:52 -0500

“

You can’t easily group people who come from as far away as Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with people of Mayan, Incan and Taino descent who have mixed with Spaniards, Africans and Jews. We are about so much more than where we came from or how we look.

The essential point is that we don’t come together in a real way until we set foot on U.S. soil. That’s when our “Latino” experience begins. Latino is an American identity.

It is a word to describe Americans who are drawn to each other by this intangible cultural link, the similarity of the way we run our families, our devotion to faith, the warmth of our personalities and our connection to a history that recognizes no border to the south.

Latinos are a people who celebrate the new culture they’ve created in the United States while struggling each day with whether we need to assimilate or integrate into this new society. We ask ourselves what good things we want to preserve from our culture and what American values we want or need to adopt. And that question never goes away, not one, two or three generations beyond immigration.

”

- Soledad O’Brien explores Latino experience, mixed-race heritage

Dia De Los Muertos celebrations at Hollywood’s Forever...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:38:32 -0500

Dia De Los Muertos celebrations at Hollywood’s Forever cemetery.

Click through to see the entire slide show of costumes, altars, art, and celebrations.

Hiking History: England’s Ancient Ridgeway Trail

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:34:14 -0500

Hiking History: England’s Ancient Ridgeway Trail:

“The “road” looks like an old farm track, rutted by the odd tractor in mud, and makes for wonderful walking, as it undulates smoothly over the level ground at the top of the ridge. It’s close to silent up here. Soon the sound of traffic fades from consciousness, and we move back into a world of bleats and birdsong, and soughing wind.

“This is what I’m after,” Rory tells me. “To get away from the sounds of petrol.”

“Escape the carbon age?”

“Back to the Neolithic. Where it’s quieter.” “

I’ve foud a new hiking goal. This summer, the Camino Santiago across northern Spain. Next summer, this one?

“Sugar Skull Girl” By Andrea Zuill

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:19:19 -0500

“Sugar Skull Girl”

By Andrea Zuill

Feliz Dia De Los Muertos

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:11:51 -0500

Feliz Dia De Los Muertos

Thinking in English again is hard.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:42:33 -0500

claudianunezcespedes:

One day I won’t have to think in it primarily ever again.

I’ve noticed that my spelling in English has started to slip. I do so much more reading and writing in Spanish than I do in English anymore. It’s affecting my literacy skills in my own language!

Facing Identity Conflicts, Black Students Fall Behind

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:53:32 -0500

Facing Identity Conflicts, Black Students Fall Behind:

“The identity issues facing middle-class black and Latino teenagers might be a clue as to why they don’t do as well academically as their white and Asian counterparts, some researchers and educators say. The teens often live in dual worlds: the suburban one they live in, and the rougher street life they see glorified in the media.

Known as the “minority achievement gap,” the lower average test scores, grades and college attendance by black and Latino students have long perplexed researchers. Many have focused on the values and attitudes of students and whether black students think doing well in school is “acting white.”“

florencio: havanadonnalina: feastingonroadkill: Advert 1951....

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:39:28 -0500

florencio:

havanadonnalina:

feastingonroadkill:

Advert 1951. For the Language of Romance and Opportunity.

“Be ready if opportunity should take you to a Latin American country in the future”

Suppose it knocked a couple of weeks off the training camp in the Everglades.

una bicoca

‘Cause I’m always trying to find new ways to motivate my students :P

hikergirl: Poe and friend (Getty photo by Omar Torres /...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:29:46 -0400

hikergirl:

Poe and friend

(Getty photo by Omar Torres / October 30, 2009)

A representation of one of the stories by of writer Edgar Allan Poe is seen in an Altar of the Dead close to the library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead on November 1 and 2 in connection with the Catholic holy days of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. Tradition includes building altars honoring their deceased relatives and this year, the UNAM dedicated the altars to Poe. (via Chicago Tribune)

"Much Brazilian deforestation is connected to soybean cultivation. As much as 70 percent of areas..."

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:58:42 -0400

“

Much Brazilian deforestation is connected to soybean cultivation. As much as 70 percent of areas newly cleared for agriculture in Mato Grosso State in Brazil is being used to grow soybeans. Over half of Brazil’s soy harvest is controlled by a handful of international agribusiness companies, which ship it all over the world for animal feed and food products, causing emissions in the process.

Meat and dairy eaters need not be part of this. Many smaller, traditional farms and ranches in the United States have scant connection to carbon dioxide emissions because they keep their animals outdoors on pasture and make little use of machinery. Moreover, those farmers generally use less soy than industrial operations do, and those who do often grow their own, so there are no emissions from long-distance transport and zero chance their farms contributed to deforestation in the developing world.

”

- Nicolette Hahn Niman, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma”

Why Leaves Really Fall Off Trees

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:16:53 -0400

Why Leaves Really Fall Off Trees:

“According to Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden and a renowned botanist, the wind doesn’t gently pull leaves off trees. Trees are more proactive than that. They throw their leaves off. Instead of calling this season “The Fall,” if trees could talk they’d call this the “Get Off Me” season.”

clothedinsky: sarahcreek: Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah This is...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:16:33 -0400

clothedinsky:

sarahcreek:

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

This is one of a very few songs that make it into my “beautiful music” playlist… Songs that take my breath away, even when I hear them for the 84th time, songs that lift my spirit, songs that make me feel closer to God and Creation, etc. In other words, songs that have a similar effect on me as when I visit the Cliffs of Moher or when I saw my first Rodin sculpture.

I feel happy just thinking about this song.

claudianunezcespedes: dailyme: Lesbian couples stand in front...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:49:11 -0400

claudianunezcespedes:

dailyme:

Lesbian couples stand in front of Argentina’s National Congress gathering signatures to support a possible law bill on gay marriage in Buenos Aires, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Gay and lesbian activists think Argentina is ready to become Latin America’s first nation to legalize gay marriage and they’ve got a growing number of supporters in Congress, which opened debate Thursday on whether to change dozens of laws that define marriage as a union between a “man and woman.” The sign atop reads, in Spanish, “Marriage Law: The same rights with the same names.”

wow. This is huge. If a Latino country passes gay marriage before we do…

Spain already has. (One more reason to move there — hooray for a progressive society!)

"Miss, when does 2010 start?"

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:47:47 -0400

““Miss, when does 2010 start?””

- One of my ninth graders, 7th period today. No joke.

“The red dot at the center of this image is the only light...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0400

“The red dot at the center of this image is the only light left over from the star that collapsed on itself when the universe was 600 million years old.”