Has it really been a month?

It really has been about a months since I last wrote and I apologize for being so busy!  I had a wonderful-stressful Halloween (Samhain), but mostly due to decorating my house.  I added the photos to my Flicker account, so enjoy!

Again, I've been so busy with my art and trying to get back into school I haven't taken to time to focus on my spirituality.

For starters, crazy hoarding lady is gone, I no longer work for her and I no longer work with my original nanny family.  Their pre-schooler is going to school now and the mom decided to quit work and stay at home.  I hope the best for them.

I work for a new family now, two kids, 5 and 11 and I am happy with the pay and hours.

Right now I'm going to focus on my art until school begins, I'm starting the winter quarter, and I'm actually happy I'm going back to school.  My older sister, wants me to finish my Creative Writing degree, but I want my Early Childhood education units and to be certified so I can have a better job and then finish my degree.

It took months for the IRS to fix my tax paper issue so I could even go back to school, so there is nothing I could do anyway, plus I'm in good standing at the junior college and need the GPA boost to go back to state.

I'm not too worried about money, I'm content, but my sister worries.  I'm glad she worries because it will help me see through my already started degree.

Altogether, really busy, but it's nice to leave a little update, I miss writing here, but I have to promote my Etsy store too, and that can be a full time job.

Educating for the Future

by Southbanksteve

I am a product of the education system here in the United States and I listen to program after program on NPR only to realize the system does not benefit the children anymore.


Billions of dollars go into the US school system and unless a student is from a wealthy family or apart of a wealthy school, chances are he/she will have a severe lack in basic education.


California spends, on average, about $8,887 per student, this is about $260,000 going into the class room, $68,000, on average, goes to the teacher where is the rest of the money going?


When teachers buy their own supplies, work 70+ work weeks, have to pay off a master's degree where is the money to help they be paid for their time and energy in the classroom?  


Even though California is one of the lowest in paying per student in the public schools, a quarter of a million is still a huge chunk of change and if the teachers aren't getting it who is?


Obviously it's the infrastructure filled with janitors, secretaries, administrators, who take up most of the funding.  I'm not saying schools do not need infrastructure, however, it is far from streamlined considering how teachers have to buy simple school supplies like paper.


This is a monstrous problem in the system and I truly believe no one wants to deal with it.  charter schools can be better, but not always, however the greatest difference between a charter school and a public one is if the charter fails it's shut down, but if the public school is failing it receives more money.


How does that make any sense?  It sounds like an absent father who throws money at problems rather than go to the root of the issue.  I'm not saying looking into the school system will be easy, but it looks like the whole body needs a therapist.

by Stroble, David

Root causes for the issues pop up everywhere; teachers, money, parents, students the government, but I think we need to dig deeper to an older issue.  Placing similar age groups together, learning the same subject at the same time, different classrooms or no, has not  proven to be an effective teaching practice, honestly it is an experiment.  


To go to a more recent time, the 1950s, schools trained college bound students and blue collar workers on different tracks, but with the manufacturing leaving the US to countries like China this system is no longer valid.


The roots of the educational system are flawed and unless we rip out the old dying roots the system will just try to grow again leaving the education of the future no better than before.

Dream: Shapeshifting Father to Significant Other

by AT2663 

I recently remembered another dream, so I wrote it down and used Dream Moods to help me interpret it.  Any good dream sites I should know about?


This dream was a little long and filled with symbols:


At first the dream started out in a casino, I think it was in Lake Tahoe, because of the forested atmosphere later in the dream.  I'm a person who takes risks when I need to, but I wasn't betting in this casino.  A man was, very happy, don't remember his face very well, but I don't recognize him.


Since I wasn't taking the risk, maybe the dream was telling me to take one in this casino.  The man just  was on a winning streak and just won $10 in nickels.  The nickels could follow suit in the risk taking factor because of the number five.  However, I did not take the risk and the dream moved on.


Later in the dream I'm was at a farmers market, I was just looking and went into a comic shop.  The farmers market could mean something I need was there, maybe a healthier diet?  I didn't buy anything there, but I did buy a comic in the comic shop.  I left, got on a bike and started biking down a road where I bumped  into my father.  He looked at the comic and said it was silly.  Perhaps I just need to be silly sometimes.

http://www.mindat.org/photo-36880.html

He was holding a tourmaline quartz while he was walking to a fundraiser at a local elementary school for ninth graders.  The quartz probably shows a union of masculine and feminine energies because it both has black and white in it.   Why my father was holding it was a mystery.  


The mention of an elementary school brought back memories of being relentlessly teased and along with the number nine could mean I'm finding closure about my past.  I biked to the school and I noticed some very short swings, another reference to childhood and perhaps how short it was for me.  I also saw some children playing in the distance, but I do not go there.


Inside the school a bunch of people were still setting up and I look at the menu.  It was an all you can eat shrimp buffet and I'm allergic to shrimp.  I saw my dad and told him I would help out, but I couldn't eat the food.  He said sorry and decided to drive me back to the farmer's market to pick up something to eat.


At the farmer's market my father and I ordered rice bowls and as we waited I turned around and saw my current boyfriend, Mike,  standing there instead.  The lady who was making our order asked Mike what kind of noodles he wanted and he snapped back "I told you I wanted rice."


I looked at him and said, "She just wants to get your order right."  I held my boyfriend and kissed him, he smiled back.

by Tammy Farrugia

The strangest part of the dream was my father suddenly turning into my boyfriend.  I know they look alike and are almost the same height, but the sudden transformation is strange.  I'm already pretty self reliant so I'm guessing when I saw my father doesn't mean I'm dependent.


However, my father turning into my boyfriend was a symbol of our current relationship.  Mike reminds me of my father and I think he is the sweetest man on the planet, considering some of my baggage he deals with.  I'm just going to take it and run because I can't ask for anyone better than my dad.

War On Kids

By unidentified [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

The War on Kids documentary film shows how the American education system is broken and needs to be fixed if we want children to develop critical-thinking-intelligent minds.


College really opened my eyes up to history, liturature, psycology, all ignored by my private Christian school.  The school did, however, instill crititcal thinking in me, although it was supposed to be for other religions, practices and lifestyles, I applied it to the Christian faith and found holes in logic.  I think I went through the stages of grief and finally moved onto my agnostic life until I found witchcraft and Wicca.  


In the documentary they show the shift from Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" to medicating our children with powerful drugs equivlient to cocain and meth and making schools a "Zero Tolerance Zone" for violence and how police arrest children for bringing nail clippers to school.

Phtographer Unknown

The documentary starts with an extreme cartoon featuring "evil children" who will not listen to their parents and prepare molotav coctails.  Are parents afraid of their children?  Yes, the war on drugs spurred a movment into making children into criminals before they became them, a kind of self-fulfilling profecy.


At first the "Zero Tolerance" only covered guns, then it would cover any kind of weapon, incuding wallet chains, then just strictly violence, like the kindergartener "firing" a chicken nugget at a teacher.  Each step pushes down on children, controlling them and when the policy doesn't work, parents drug them.


I'm not personally afraid of children, I love letting them play outside, explore and avoiding homework at all cost.  Homework is another way schools reach beyond the eight hour school day and make children work overtime.  There is no time to socialize, be creative, be interested and we expect newly graduated high schoolers to be creative, innovative and independent when they were subjected to a system of control like a prision. 


The fear in this country created a snowball effect going beyond protecting children, but openly making them criminals and refusing their rights.  It is not legal for a child to be questioned without parental concent, hardly any child is read their miranda rights and their being emotionally manipulated by the school personel they trust.


Cameras, metal detectors, police officers canvas shools now and why?  To keep guns and violence out of school, but we brought the guns and violence in.  A modern educational facility today looks more like a prision, so is it a wonder children act like criminals?

Fear feeds this mindset and the false promise of safety.  Students do not feel safer, studends feel watched and become paranoid.  

America really doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to educating out chidlren.  Teachers want quiet in an over croweded classroom where children are board, ask questions, fidget and the teacher diagnosis them with ADHD.  I would be labled ADHD now, but was I just an average child full of energy?  

Keeping children indorrs, under rules and strict schedule damages our children, so let your kids be kids, not drones of the state.

Hey Nanny

My Painting, Oh No Snow White

I started out in school seeking a degree in creative writing, but as time passed I realized I'm not a writer at this point in my life.  I just haven't lived enough to really write anything, so I've returned to another love of mine, childcare.

I find such joy in caring for children through learning and exploring and at the moment I have one job and another soon.

The parents I work for are liberal, understanding and extremely flexible, especially when it comes to me continuing school.

I think I've earned weekends off, especially after working for over 6 years without much hope for a Saturday or Sunday off.  One of the worst phrases I used to hear was "Have a great weekend!"  I'm sorry, but if you say those words to a retail/food service employee, you have committed a serious social crime.

I'm here working for eight hours on a day you have off, how do you think I feel?

I am past this now and I don't have to work weekends unless I want to.  This gives me time to focus on my art and perhaps I will write a great novel or set of short stories.  Many writers do not reach their peak until they're early thirties, maybe by then I will have something to write.

I can see why I need to write, to hone my skills in storytelling, much like how an artist takes many life drawing classes in order to understand reality before they bend reality.

Caution Zombies

I've wanted to write a screenplay about retail, especially about my coffee shop job, I never realized how much pain I've caused to the coffee pusher.  That's why people who mull around and don't know what they want piss me off.  Know what you want, then get in line these people want to think beyond you and smoke some pot in the back.

I never understood the lack of respect retail workers receive.  Heads up, we're people, have feelings and deserve better healthcare and a living wage.

I truly believe forcing the young to work a part time job, go to school, eat badly, stress about money is unhealthy for everyone.  Also, when you work retail for a career it promotes very unhealthy mental and physical habits out of fear of losing your job.

Why didn't I become a nanny years ago?

I think I was scared or just didn't know what I wanted but now, thank the gods, I do and living how I want.

More Strange Dreams and How Did My Niece Do

Again, two strange dreams, I can remember, from the past few nights:

1. My boyfriend and I went to a Pinkberry and were accused of stealing money from them.
2. A comic book depicts the future through poems and vivid illustration.

I thought the comic book one was very interesting. And apparently I laugh in my sleep, according to my boyfriend anyway,

As for my niece's interview, Starbucks was ok, but Whole Foods basically hired her, so I think my energy sent a good boost. YAY!

Right now I've been sick off and on for about 2 weeks, this cold is hitting me hard at the moment so I'm a little groggy, even though I'm hyped up on serious caffeine, girls gotta work.

On a more magical note, I think I'm going to get a box and focus on honoring Brigid at the Fall Equinox, mainly to help me keep track with school and such. I will decorate the box and put a new fact/something I learned or researched in the box to show her I'm learning and devoting time to better my education. It's just a small offering, but I'm trying to earn at least Bs in all of my classes so I don't feel so bad about myself.

Blessed be,
Shadow Moon

Living on My Own To Focus

I swear I have artistic ADD; one day I want to paint, another I want to write, then I want to record a video. I can't finish anything and it leaves me frustrated.

Right now I'm working on a script with a friend and I can't seem to be motivated, mostly because of the material details and my unfamiliarity with them. The main character is a middle-aged-coming-out-of-the-closet-gay, who is married to a woman, and has a son. None of these facts apply to me, so I think I need my friend's help to bring the character out.

However, I do need to focus on school right now. I'm taking some child development classes, an art class, and sign language. I needed a break from all of my Creative Writing major stuff, most of it is boring anyway, and all of these classes will help keep my sanity and find a better job.

I don't want to be so dependent on my boyfriend, who is so sweet, but as a student I'm limited on everything. Kind of sucks really.

I have discovered I need to focus my energies so I'm not so scatterbrained. Meditation isn't one of my strong points, but even sitting down and writing in a journal of sorts would be good. Too many distractions.

I think I need to call on a solid god/dess for this semester. The first one coming to mind is Athena.

Last Summer, when I was alone and free, I called of Eris, fuck was that interesting, mostly because I had boundless energy, dated about 15-20 guys in July, made a bunch of videos, wrote. My ADD was booming but focused in a way, however it left me exhausted for the beginning of the school year. But life didn't fall apart until I quit my job and was so depressed my grades just fell like rocks.

I really just want to get out of school, in 2 years. I will talk to a counselor, I will find out if there are any alternative classes I can take, I will kick some ass, I will write my scrip and paint to keep my sanity. I will focus.

Blessed Be,
Shadow Moon

Being Sick Sucks

Of course on the first week of school I catch a nasty cold. Not only did I miss class, but two days of work. DANG! I really need the hours :( And I'm hoping I receive a call from a library job soon...16$ an hour...shelving books...air conditioning...an English Majors dream....

I've just been so wrapped up in school, work and stuffy noses that I'm thankful the full moon is coming :)

Also, my fiance was almost hired for a scam. I'm just so angry at people who use these hard economic times to take advantage of the financially desperate. It takes a very twisted individual to call and promise a job which requires lying and manipulation to accomplish. GERR, it just makes me so MAD!

So, onto a witchy matter, I recently did a tarot reading for my fiance and I'm happy because he is a Christian and he did say it helped give him some clarity on his situation. I'm new to using tarot, but I seem to have a ability, as long as I stay focused :) I understand all the forms of divination are just to be used as a tool for life changing decisions and problems, not an absolute guide to what shall be. Because the individual can change their own future depending on their choices.