2019 Westland Photography Contest

Westland Library Photography Contest 2019

Have you ever entered a photography contest?

That's what I did recently. It was the Westland Library Photography Contest 2019.

I entered five photos, one in each of five categories. The rules required that all entries must be taken in 2017 to 2019. It was fun looking back at several dozens in the photo library on my iMac.

Of course, the vast majority were not 'contest' quality. I quickly selected several without much forethought. Then I got to thinking. What is a good photo? So I entered that question in Google. Lots of hits flashed on the screen. After reading several, I liked the one:

The most important element of a good photograph is the ability of the photo to communicate with the viewer. It should tell a story through its composition, lighting, and most importantly its subject matter.

Dario Endara 

Professional photographer, Netherlands

With this definition in my mind's eye, I went back to my photo library and thoughtfully selected the best five for the contest.

This process was a lot of fun. Looking at many, many photos and  wishing there were more photos to select.  Also I was motivated to improve my photography skills.

Would you help me? It's easy. Just give me some feedback when looking at the photos. You could use the definition by Dario Endara (see above) or you may have your own eye for a good photo. Either way I would appreciate your ideas by either leaving a comment at the end of the blog post or send an email to bobfrank11[at]gmail.com

By the way, two of the photos were award winners.

Venice Canal 

#1 Venice Canal
Category: Travel or Landscape

This photo was taken from a bridge on June 30, 2018. There are over 390 bridges in Venice! Two days later I took another photo from the same bridge but from a different angle. I must have liked the view. We, my daughter, Maria, grandson Austin, and  granddaughter Maya were on a Road Scholar Intergenerational educational program. Four days in each city, Rome, Florence and Venice.

Joyful Mary

#2 Joyful Mary
Category: People or Portrait

Mary is my dear friend. It was January 30, 2017 and a very cold winter day in SE Michigan. During a visit, she was wearing a bright red insulated vest. As always, her bright eyes light up the room and her smile warms your heart. So I got out my iPhone 8 plus, opened it up to the camera app, turned on the Portrait mode and here is the result. At 97, Mary projects joy in every way.


Train Station

#3 Train Station
Category: Architecture - Buildings, Bridges, Structures

Nancy and I were on the Amtrak Wolverine 351 train heading for Chicago. It was January 10, 2019. We were meeting our friends Bob and Becky to see the musical play "Hamilton" that evening. As usual the Amtrak train makes a few stops on its trek to the windy city. Fortunately I sat next to a very clean window. With my iPhone on my lap ready to snap something of interest, the train stopped at the Kalamazzo station to pickup and drop off passengers.  What caught my eye, as I peered out the window was the sign hanging from the roof. My thought was 'hey we've got 138 miles to go'. So I got this photo.

Fast forward to my search for a photo for this category. That's when I found the train station image. I liked the building's old design and the sign of course. But what I saw, perhaps for the first time, was the man listening to his music while trudging past the station as I snapped the photo. I'm sure it wasn't intentional to have him in the photo because the sign was my point of interest.

This train station seemed to tell a story. Of course. it's the viewer who actually reads the story from their experience. The story is personal and subjective.

Nancy and I heard a very interesting story about the train station. About a month ago, We went to the FedEx store on State St. in Ann Arbor to have 8"X10" prints of our photos for the contest. Dre, the Customer Salesperson, did an expert job in printing our photos.
As Dre was about to pull out my flash drive from his computer, I asked him if he would take another look at my photos and give me some feedback? He said sure. When the Train Station showed on the screen. He paused. His eyes narrowed as he studied the image. Then with a quiet, soft voice he said, "I went to school there [Western Michigan University]....the homeless hangout there....the bus terminal nearby too....I was the president of the Black Student Union....one Saturday we [the students] served box lunches to them [the homeless] there and the bus terminal....there's a park nearby with a sign showing the same mileage to Detroit and to Chicago."

By the sound of his voice, the soft smile, I got the feeling the photo initiated a memory, a sense of pride in helping others.

From his story, I knew the photo communicated. It aroused an emotion. It was a good photograph.


Woodpecker

#4 Woodpecker

Category: Animals

This woodpecker is about to eat some bird seed. It's on the corner of an observation deck that overlooks Kent Lake, in Kensington Metro Park, about 40 miles NW of Detroit.

Well you might wonder how the bird seed got on the deck on this chilly, April morning. One of our hiker/sailors left the bird seed after feeding some little chickadees from their hand. I belong to the American Sailing Institute (ASI) we have most of our sailboats at Kent Lake during the sailing season. When the boats are in storage, we go hiking every Tuesday morning, weather permitting. 

There are an abundance of wild animals in the park. We often see white tail deer, sandhill cranes, blue herons, and lots of smaller birds such as the woodpecker.

The woodpeckers hang around watching the little chickadees eat from the outstretched sailor's hand. As I was about to return to the hiking trail, this woodpecker landed on the deck. Pulling the iPhone out of winter parka pocket, I snapped off a half dozen shots. The one above was the best of them. It would be a better photo with its peak in the bird seed. Better luck next time.

Challah Bread 

#5 Challah Bread
Category: Still Life

Baking bread is a fun thing to do. For these two loaves I made the dough and Nancy braided them. I often take photos of my bread, muffins and cookies without anything else near the baked goods. But this time I got one of my favorite cookbooks to add some interest. While you might think the bread recipe is in the cookbook, it's not. 

Challah is Jewish bread that is braided for special occasions. However I found a great a recipe in "The Village Baker: Classic Regional Breads from Europe and America", by Joe Ortiz. I use the recipe from this cookbook for all occasions.

Summary

All of the photos were taken with my iPhone 8 Plus. All of them except Joyful Mary and Challah Bread images were taken spontaneously. It was a lot of fun looking at my photo library for these five photos. 

Award Winners

Challah Bread took first place ($50) in the Still Life category. Venice Canal took second place ($25) in the Travel category. What a delightful surprise when I got the phone call informing me of the awards! 

iPhone 6 for $199! Really??

Hey I'm hooked on Apple products. I've got an iMac computer, iPad 4th gen, iPhone5 and a Apple TV. Also my three old iPods that are in use at various times. I like all of them. MacWorld magazine comes into my mailbox once a month. That sounds like a full disclosure. Well it is.

 I've friends that love their Samsung smartphones. One of them asked me why I spend more money for these Apple products when he is very happy in his cheaper  PC/Android world. To answer that question is another story.

Last week the iPhone 6 came out. So being hooked I just had to find out if I was qualified to get a new iPhone 6. I wasn't looking forward to ringing up ATT to learn when my two year contract expires or did it already expire? After all I kept reading that the new iPhone 6 only costs $199 go the 16 GB model. My budget can handle that. 

After pressing a couple of  buttons on my old clunky Panasonic wireless phone, After going through three menus a text message is sent to iPhone 5 saying congratulations I'm eligible for an "upgrade". That's sounds good right from the start. "Hold on" as the Brit's like to say. Does that mean I can order my new iPhone 6! 

Then I go back to yet another menu to press zero to talk to a nice customer sales rep. After about 15 minutes of marketing lingo, she says that I've got to wait until February 9, 2015 to buy it for $199. That's the day after my birthday and when a new contract begins if I sign one, to get the brand new iPhone 6. 

Was I disappointed? Yes. But now after reading this  zdnet article I'm glad I was't eligible.

 I'm re-thinking ATT Mobility and how to pay for the new iPhone. 

A Missing Pet

Oh how painful it is when your pet is missing. It may be your beloved dog or cat. Regardless it's so easy to think of the worst. Did he or she get hit by car? That's the thought I have when my partner's hound dog Willow bolts out the opened door.

The last time this happened was two years ago. It was a warm summer day in Michigan. Blue skies, huge white puffy clouds hung in the sky.

Family Christmas Tradtions

Introduction

It was the first week of December. As a tutor I was sitting in the ESL (English as a Second Language) class listening to the teacher describe an assignment for the adult students. Since it was Christmas time the assignment was to present to the class either a family Christmas tradition, or a Christmas tradition in their home country or some other country tradition that is celebrated.

The assignment got me thinking about my Christmas family traditions. Specifically what are my traditions? What is the best way to tell the story? How should it be presented?

My starting point was a mental image of what I was soon to do and that was putting up my tree and the other decorations. My family traditions soon became clear.

Family Christmas traditions are unique and not usually found in other homes. Traditions have their origins in the past. Mine started nearly 55 years ago.

Family Christmas Traditions

Once upon a time two young people fell in love. His name was Robert and hers was Rose. Oh how they were in love.

One day in August 1958 they got married. The sun was brilliant. The skies were a deep, rich blue. The clouds were huge, pure white and filled with promise. They spoke their vows. The one Robert remembered was “... for richer or poorer” because they had so little money.

The first Christmas Rose sewed two Christmas stockings made from red felt with white trim at the top. One said Robert and the other Rose. These stockings by tradition would be filled by St. Nicholas with little wrapped gifts.  Little did they know, it was the start of a family tradition.

Soon after their fifth Christmas together they were blessed with a baby boy. They called him Randall. Then the next Christmas Rose sewed another stocking. It had “Randall” stitched at the top. In the autumn of the following year this family was blessed with another boy. They called him Roger. Very soon Rose was seen sewing a fourth Christmas stocking with letters Roger stitched at the top. Less than two years would pass when this happy family was blessed with a baby girl. Robert named her Maria. The next Christmas Rose sewed the fifth and final Christmas stocking. Maria’s name was stitched to the top of it.

Christmas after Christmas Santa filled these stockings with small wrapped presents for this happy family.

Then one Christmas,  eleven year old Maria gave her father a beautifully illustrated book, “The Night Before Christmas”. This was the beginning of the second family tradition. For several Christmas’s Rose gave Robert a Christmas book. Each year he would look forward to reading another new Christmas story.

As the years went by the small children grew up to be fine adults. One by one they left home to find their place in the world. Robert and Rose had an empty nest. They were like newlyweds, free to come and go as they wished.

Then one day in July of 1995,  just a few weeks before their 37th wedding anniversary, the sunlight was dull, the sky a lifeless blue, the clouds pale white with dark grey edges and filled with grief. Rose departed. She left this world a better place. Robert remembered another vow of so many years ago, “Until death do us part”.

Then Nancy came into Robert’s life and it became new again. Nancy encouraged him to celebrate Christmas anew.  One year she bought him a small little Christmas tree. The ends of the branches light up and change colors, blue, green, red, and white. This tree makes Christmas new and fresh. Each year Robert places his Christmas books under the tree. The days leading up to December 25 he reads the stories.

Robert finds that Christmas time and indeed the rest of the year is filled with joy and gratitude for Nancy’s love.

December 10, 2012

The Christmas tree that changes colors. A gift from Nancy.

My collection of Christmas books. Note the book "The Night Before Christmas" (lower left)

Robert's Christmas Stocking note the small  bell on the  toe.

Street Food Chain

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

Years ago I saw an illustration depicting the food chain. It starts with a large fish (reading left to right) about to eat a slightly smaller fish and that one is about to eat another smaller one etc. until the last one is a very small fish.

After witnessing streets in numerous Chinese large cities in my 2005 trip here and this current trip there is two significant differences. First there are more vehicles and pedestrians. Secondly, there are more roads but still not enough. But what remains the same is the street food chain.

That food chain can be best described this way: at the top are large trucks, then buses, small trucks, 155 cc motorcycles (no fat hog Harleys), motor scooters, bikes (both 2 and 3 wheelers) and then you guessed it, humans of all ages.

The trucks, buses, and cars are seen as blending, weaving, cutting off and horn blowing.

The drivers' strategy appears to be get ahead of the next vehicle as soon as you can, so the option to cut off the driver behind is available.

Everyone knows how the food chain works on these streets.

Turning to pedestrians and how they fair. When people step into the street they go as far as possible, stop and wait for the vehicles to pass before continuing. They must have nerves of steel because I've seen cars pass by within inches with no apparent alarm. There were times my heart was in my throat when seeing such a close call.

Drivers either either slow down or speed up when seeing a person in front of their path. It appears that they don't want to leave their lane anymore than necessary.

I'm not sure this Chinese free for all on the streets and roads with little traffic regulators i.e. traffic lights and stop signs can be sustained. As more and more cars are added to the roadways and smaller motor vehicles too the traffic snarl will demand change.

But then maybe not as one driver said to me "The traffic moves now. Change would make it stop".

-Bob

Li River Boat Cruis

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank


This time email from China brings a blog post from Nancy...
June 26, 2012

Today's four hour boat ride from Guilin to Yangshou was picture-perfect. Take your best memory of a Lake Superior Picture Rocks boat ride and extend the rocky landscape by three more hours.  Mix in, if you can, views of the Pinnacles, Canyonlands, and Glen Canyon National Parks all covered in lush, tropical vegetation. What a treat! We took many, many photographs.

 Later this afternoon, we will go to the walking streets to see many local handicrafts and then we'll complete the day's adventure by attending a ballet light show, after dark, if the weather holds. Guilin and Yangshou are very special places, for Chinese and for visitors. The pace is slow and noticeably different from other cities we've visited.
-Nancy

Scenic Guilin

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

The Guilin metropolitan area is over 4.5 million in population. It seems that every Chinese city has 5 to 8 million people. We are staying in a suburb about 40 minutes by taxi from the heart of downtown. It was raining when we arrived yesterday. It's the monsoon season with high humidity.  It has the feel of the current weather in Florida.

The area is surrounded by mountains with two major rivers flowing through it. The images in this Wikipedia page are representative of what we have seen today. Guilin, as every sizable city in this country, has a history dating back centuries. But I was surprised that it got its name in 1940.

I'm sure people who live in mountainous regions anywhere in the world would laugh to hear people call these foot hill size land forms mountains. But this city has a mountainous feel to it.

I've noticed that the drivers of motor scooters, battery bikes and motorcycles do wear helmets here. Well perhaps 5 to 10 percent do. Compare that to the other cities we've been, where helmet usage is almost zero. Why the difference here? My guess is it's due to the heavy rain fall, not because they are more safety conscious.

Talking about safety conscious, vehicle seat belt usage approaches zero percent. Well, maybe not that low, but I've been told seat belts are just not used in China. Maybe it's because most drivers are first generation and that car usage is relatively new to many people. There was quite a discussion in Chinese when I asked that our driver provide seat belts. The next morning all the seat belts were in place. Our driver actually belted me in as if to show me how it was done. That act brought an internal smile. But I did say thank you. I can just imagine what a laugh he and his buddies had chatting about this silly American wanting seat belts.
-Bob

Thoughts on Shu Yuanmen

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

This time email from China brings a blog post from Nancy...

The street of brushes, Old City Xi'an, 21 June, 2012
I remember Shu Yuanmen from my two visits to it in 2005. Handicrafts and artisans fill these five streets with goods. There were relief carvings and soap stone stamps, exquisite cut paper rose windows and intricately cut shadow puppets, charms, bracelets of jade. Everywhere souvenirs and chatzkes were colorful and plenty.

Ah, but the brush stores. The brushes took my breath away. Imagine the front of a deep, narrow shop entrance hung with brushes neatly arranged by every size , including six foot brushes on the edges of the opened doorway. As you walk under this brush canopy you see brushes hung above your head- running the full depth of the small shops, the sides of which are filled with rice papers. How these shop owners make a living is curious as everyone seems to sell the same goods. I found my perfect brushes in a shop run by a young, smiling man who was gracious and patient, as I tried out the brushes with water and paper, but ferocious and stubborn when Jia Yue and Wan Huan ( Crystal ) tried to negotiate the price. I succeeded in convincing all that the final price was very satisfactory to me, although JiaYue is still certain that I overpaid. I now have three new calligraphy painting brushes to use in America.
-Nancy

Learning English at the Park

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

This time email from China brings a blog post from Nancy...

We are in Xi'an, this week, and then we will tour Guilin for one week before returning to Shanghai. Last night Hongying, her husband, and son took us to a neighborhood park for an after dinner stroll.  18 babies from one to two years of age were on a blanketed area, learning English to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. GymBaby was the name of the group of leaders. With clapping hands, stomping feet, touching noses, toes, it was quite a site. Learning English to music, who would have expected such a sight. This was a local neighborhood scene with no tourists. Jia Yue was asked if we are their tutors. He tells them that we are friends, and we are welcomed into the evening's events, openly.

Bullet Train in China

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

Bullet Train - China

We arrived at the Suzhou Train station in plenty of time prior to its scheduled departure. Hongying assures us the trains run on time.

As we approach the entrance with our luggage in hand we join the crowd around the opening to the massive station. The guard allows only two persons to enter the area where four x-ray machines are in operation. In typical Chinese fashion there must be 40 or more people crowding around the opening without any line or sense of organization. Pushing with a hand or elbow is acceptable not to be taken for rudeness. It's just the way it works anywhere you would expect a line in the US. In China it's everyone for themselves.

We got to the turnstile twenty minutes early and we were second in line. Well it appeared to be a line. The turnstile lights up, and that is the signal for about twenty some passengers to form a clump of humanity around a machine that will allow one person at a time to enter. About five people cut in front of us. We all move about twenty five feet forward only to gather around the escalator to go down to the train loading platform.

In a few minutes a bullet train quietly zips into the station. It's on one set of tracks over from where we are waiting. This train looks sleek and streamlined. It was a preview of ours which shows up ten minutes later.

Our reserved seat tickets says car 8. We only have to walk about 40 feet and board this up to date train car. On time we pull out of the station. What a smooth quiet ride no rocking no jerking. All announcements are in Chinese and English. I think they are getting ready for the North American and European travelers.

After two smooth stops and starts we arrive at the Hangzhou station on time. Hangzhou's population is 8 million.

My overall impression is that this is travel at its finest. Well, I'm sure not all China trains are like this one but they have shown it can be done. If our government shifts some money from subsidizing air travel to trains then people will want to travel by rail.
-Bob

Photo of Shanghai

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank


Here is a photo from Dad's trip. He posted this recently to his Flickr page.

Shanghai Pudong (new city)

Wuxi People Watching - Continued

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email. -Roger Frank

Wuxi Collage

Wuxi [woo-she] is a 2.5 hour drive outside of Shanghai. It has many, many high rise apartment buildings. My guess it has a few million in population. The smog here is worse here than Shanghai. The sun penetrates occasionally to cause some shadows. But it always feels like an overcast gray day.

We enjoyed a few hours walking around a large park at one end of a sizable fresh water lake. Since it's Saturday and the first weekend after student high school senior testing the park had more visitors than usual. A word about senior testing. This test will determine, in large measure, what career path the student will take. A great deal of pressure is put on him or her to be good enough for a college career. There are a few parents who think this an unfair way of determine the start of their child's career.

Back to the fun of people watching. Here are most of the tee shirts I saw with English words. Today I took notes.

A woman in her 30s walking at a  freeway plaza wearing white tee shirt with colored letters "Today I'm a Boy  No. 2"

A man in his 20's wearing a shirt saying "Keep the Party Going". Hey I agree!

Another man in his 20s his shirt stated "I Love Green Stop [pollution I guess]. Me too.

A woman's shirt said "Give Baby Love".  While another woman in her 30s wearing a very dressy shirt with a black cursive style wording that said "Perfectly". Another woman's shirt stated "Why Always Us?" I felt like saying to her "I agree!!".

A teenage boy's shirt emphatically said "Live Likes a Rock Star". Yes the word is "Likes". An 11 year old boy with high energy wore a shirt that said " Gridiron est 1984 pass throw". Another 7 year old had a shirt with "Frank Morrello Italy" on it. There was more words which I'll check my photo to see it.

Hongying laughingly told me "I think you like to watch people rather than the this beautiful park. Really I like to do both.
-Bob

Photo Credit: JoniPoon,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wuxi_collage.jpg

Shanghai People Watching

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. The following is from his recent email.
-Roger Frank

To the Museum

Shanghai Museum

We took a 40 minute subway train to the Shanghai Museum which gave me an up close chance to people watch. While waiting on the platform two teenage girls were standing nearby. One wore a white tee shirt with large black bold letters "Why Not Love". She declined to be photographed. But later I snapped her photo on the train.

Another T-Shirt
Later in the day on the busy street another teenager's tee shirt read "I Didn't"  It's common to see shirts and sweaters with English words which makes me wonder does the wearer understand the meaning of them?

By the way all the streets are very busy, filled with people.
-Bob


Photo by CyeZ,  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shanghaimuseumexterior.jpg

On the Way to China!

I am currently house sitting at my Dad's place while he and Nancy are traveling in China. He asked me to post emails that he sends to me into his blog in order to share his experiences and impressions of the country.  He can't post them directly due to the Chinese government's block on Google. (This blog is a Google product, so he can't access it.) While this isn't his first trip there, I'm sure he will have many new things to share. -- Roger Frank


Gate K12 Chicago O'Hare Airport - June 13, 2012

We had over 2.5 hours to wait for our next flight that would take us to Shanghai where we will begin our 18 day China adventure. While Nancy and I are not in China we both are in the spirit of having a good, no... outstanding vacation.

After a 15 minute walk to get to gate K12 where we are to board American Airline's flight 289, I started to read "Planet China" on my Kindle. Soon I started my favorite airport pastime, people watching.

Here are my thoughts and observations at gate K12:

* Where are all the pieces of wheel-less luggage? You know the ones you had to pickup and carry. I did not see one. You might find one in my basement. Nancy says she has seen them for sale at an Ann Arbor yard sale for 50 cents. I suppose they would be useful for camping trips.

* During a stroll through one of the many concourses  at O'Hare I find a Barbara's Bookstore. The store jogs a pleasant memory. While visiting John and Charlaine when they lived in Oak Park, IL they introduced me to Barbara's Bookstore. A real classy place. I find it too difficult passing a bookstore especially you have time on your hands. I'm attracted to a couple of hardcovers. Well I left my magazines and books (hard cover type) at home in favor of those on my Kindle and iPad. I wonder just how many books were bought at an airport and never finished? I mean those that were started while waiting at a gate then read on the plane but then shelved at home unfinished. While I can't recall buying any at an airport, I've got some unfinished ones on my bookshelf.

* While washing my hands in the Men's room, I look in this crystal clear mirror above the sink when suddenly my image dissolves into the face of a sexy young woman (hey, believe me I didn't touch a frog like those in a fairy tale) I'm not sure what the ad promoted aftershave lotion I guess. What a creative but expensive way to advertise. Sorry, no photo shot for this observation.

* Upon returning to gate K12, there's Nancy teaching a little Chinese boy how to draw using her colored pencils. In a few minutes the drawing session was over, and the boy returned to his parents who were sitting two in front of us. Nancy is in her element when teaching people to draw or sail a boat. After Nancy left for a walk, I asked the boy's parents if I could take a picture of him. Of course they were delighted. After I took three shots, I asked his mother his age. She and her husband beamed ear to ear as she said, "Four -- four next Sunday".

* My final observation was another unique ad as we got the call to board American Airlines flight 289 for Shanghai. This ad was from of all people the Peace Corps! When was the last time you saw a Peace Corps ad? It was on a lighted panel located between two boarding podiums. It said, "Never have to start sentences with "I should've…". While I agree, but I find that difficult to do.
-Bob

Guest Writer

Introduction

Hello readers of Eclectic World! I've been asked if I could do some guest posts here by the blog's author who happens to be my father. How could I say no? :)

My Regular Gig
I currently blog over at Detroit Video Daily, so if you're interested in the happenings of the Motorcity come on over and check it out. So enough of my shameless plug...

Okay, but Why?
Why will I be guest blogging here at Eclectic World? All I can say at this point is stay tuned, and you'll  find out!

Source of Grief

Last February I attended a funeral. While sitting in the chapel observing the immediate family which consisted of six members ranging in age from 74 to 8. I was thinking of their grief and others as well including mine.

This question lingered in my mind: What is the source of grief when the person who died is a close to you or close to one you love?

The question is not new to me. I've considered it many times since July 1995.

Here is my answer: Death has taken away the future with our love one. No planning with him/her. No dreams of a better relationship. No making amends if any are needed. So grief is about the lack of a future.

A View of Our System From the Left

This 11 minute video gives an animated overview of the crisis of capitalism from the left by David Harvey. With all of the major problems we are facing as a nation, it seems to me our 'system' often referred to as capitalism is just not questioned at least in the main stream media.

Historically we have had major problems/crisis and have worked them out with good ole American ingenuity as my grade school teachers called.  Harvey's main point is that we have worked them out in the past but not sufficiently to avoid the next crisis because we have not changed our system.

In 11 minutes Harvey gives a credible summary of the causes and processes of our system's problems at least from the perspective of the political left.And as he admits, he doesn't have a solution but wants to contribute to debate.

Roger's Resources

Disclaimer: Roger's Resources blog is authored by my son Roger J. Frank.

I added Roger's Resources to my blog roll. The blog's subtitle is "It's Never Too Late To Learn!" What a positive, simple statement, a philosophical one as well. The blog's title could just as well be Roger's Educational Resources but perhaps he has more content in other fields than education in mind.

Since Roger Frank is a teacher for Urban Neighborhood Initiative (UNI) at the All Saint's Center in Detroit's Mexican Town, he writes some of his posts in Spanish as well as English. I'm sure the visitors, whose first language is Spanish, find the blog most welcoming. However any English Second Language (ESL) learners will find a wealth of content on the this blog as they continue to improve their English skills.

For example, the ESL learner can learn to speak Enlgish correctly by watching and listening to the videos listed in the Video section. How does a learner practice speaking the T sound correctly? The first link in the Video section is a great help in learning to speak the "flap" T sound and the "true" T sound.

A dedicated student or the casual one could learn to speak and write English correctly by spending some time each day at Roger's Resources. Keep in mind this blog is for every learner who wants to improve their English skills. 

"It's Never Too Late To Learn!"

Sun Set at Grand Manan Island New Brunswick Canada

Off in the distance is Maine.

Stunning News President Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

I received a tweet this morning from a person I'm following. It had a link to the NY Daily News. Was this a hoax? So I checked the NYTimes and sure enough they published the news also.

What will this change? A sitting president with the Nobel Peace Prize can only help the vision he has given.