Introduction Yes. We’re all eager for our schools to reopen. The Covid-19 pandemic has now ravaged our country for over a year, killing more than half a million people, causing great economic hardship to all but the wealthiest, and exacting a savage psychological and emotional toll on our entire population. Everyone agrees. Social isolation and […]
REOPENING OUR SCHOOLS – A Teacher’s Perspective Read More »
It took me three years to write the first draft of my novel, Fruit of the Devil. Writing was ecstasy—the story poured out of me as if it were being channeled. The characters came alive. Then I found out the horrible truth—that “writing is rewriting”—and I embarked upon what has now become five years of revising, editing,
Rough Cut Resurrected: Watsonville Peace & Unity March Read More »
Here’s a nice song to listen to if you don’t mind having a second window open while looking at the slides. I am an American Citizen. A Patriot. My family has lived, worked (mostly as coal miners, farmers, and teachers), loved and died on American soil for over 400 years. I love my country. I’m
March for Science ~ Washington D.C. Earth Day, 2017 Read More »
Please Listen to Tish Hinojosa’s song, “Something in the Rain” Today, a new generation of teachers has awakened to the pesticide issue, and the embers of Farm without Harm have caught fire again. The new group, which meets once a month in Salinas and once a month in Watsonville, has named itself Safe Ag Safe
Is Your Child Being Exposed to Dangerous Pesticides? U.S. EPA Chief Pruitt just gave the okay to Chlorpyrifos, a brain harming pesticide the agency knows to be extremely dangerous to children. Want to know what else is your child is being exposed to? HERE’S HOW TO Become a CITIZEN RESEARCHER. “Kids today are sicker than
CITIZEN RESEARCHER Read More »
Rough Cut: {The True Story of “Prudenciana” Elementary School} A California History snapshot: Designed and painted by artist Guillermo Aranda, Mary Flodin, and Amesti GATE students in the late 1990’s, the mural above depicts the cultural and natural history of the land where the school was built, from the time of the native Ohlones through
Rough Cut: Prudenciana Elementary School Read More »
Our Safe Strawberry Working Group met last night at the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council Offices in Salinas with the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner, Eric Lauritzen and seven other county, state, and federal pesticide regulatory officials. This meeting was a follow-up to the June 2 public meeting that overflowed the Cesar Chavez library in Salinas,
I’ve taken the last 6 months away from my novel to go back to classroom teaching in the Pajaro River Valley. My middle school classroom – a well-equipped computer lab in a state-of-the-art Google Classroom paperless school – is surrounded by agricultural fields. Many of my 7th and 8th grade students are children of freseros
Organic and Sustainable Agriculture – Re-Designing the Food System Read More »
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION AT http://bit.ly/1pkc8oC to urge EARTHBOUND FARM to Support Measure J! Don’t Frack My Salad! Little San Benito County, California, is engaged in a David and Goliath struggle with the Oil Industry over fracking. San Benito is a scenic and historically significant county, with priceless agricultural and ranch lands. It supports a
Don’t Frack My Salad Read More »
“Ring the bell that you can ring forget your perfect offering there is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in” – Anthem by Leonard Cohen I worked on writing my story every day for three years, from 2010 to 2013. Then, last Fall, I took a full time teaching job with a
“The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.” Luna Leopold This weekend, the University of California Santa Cruz Common Ground Center (“Education for a Just and Sustainable World”) sponsored a series of programs about restoring our watersheds. The keynote speaker was Brock Dolman of Occidental Arts &
Our Watershed as a Lifeboat, Our Whole Earth Watershed, “Planet Water” Read More »