Live and Learn New Mexico!

So I was looking at the NM legislature's website, at the Bill Locator, and saw House Bill 96, NM grown produce for schools and others,  ( http://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/15%20Regular/bills/house/HB0096.pdf ). Great idea!!  The bill also creates a job for someone to implement the program. It means local growers would profit and that only strengthens us. It also promotes a healthier diet for our school children. What would be really cool is to take this a step further and involve students in the program, where they can learn about the agriculture business, business practices in general, and other good things. The person hired as stated in the bill could have a student committee and they could get credit for the work they do to help support the program. That's all I've got today. I'm distracted by the snow. I was afraid we wouldn't get any more this year. Schools are closed, even APS. Woo hoo! Not that it matters much to me now but I enjoy the spirit of the great A

When I quit my job at UNM-Los Alamos, I felt like I  needed a backup plan in case my nonprofit turns out to be a total bust. I looked at the different kinds of things I could do on a part-time basis and ended up signing up on Wyzant ( wyzant.com ), a website that helps parents find tutors for their kids. Nothing really happened for a while but then I got my first job with a lively six-year-old. Yesterday we had our first lesson. I went with the plan to get to know the child and see what kinds of things we would need to work on. Just as I anticipated, I learned a lot. I met a funny, friendly little girl who couldn't wait for the lesson to end so she and her mom could go get "ballet stuff" for the classes she would soon be taking. Her mom, however, was the typical post-parent/teacher conference parent who fears that her little girl will be put into special education classes because she is having trouble with reading and math. It isn't the kid who worries about the

From the get-go on this nonprofit, I have been determined to avoid political influences as much as possible, knowing that it isn't possible to be 100% nonpolitical. However, as I do my research each day and read my regular blogs and newspaper articles/editorials, I am realizing that perhaps I need to keep an open mind about politics -- or at least more open. My opinions about politics are based on what I experienced in the past but things are a-changing in New Mexico, I do believe. I say this because I am starting to see students taking part in the political process in order to advocate for a better educational system in New Mexico. They question the effectiveness of the current NM Secretary of Education and the need for standardized testing. And they not only question these things, they challenge them, and they support their opinions with solid research. They understand social media and they are using it to its maximum potential. These aren't kids just ranting like spoiled b

What a dreary Monday it is, just when I was looking Spring-ward. And why is it that, even though I now work from home, Mondays still suck? I had no clear idea what to blog about today. So I will just start typing. Saturday I attended a community fundraiser for Friends Helping Friends, I believe it is called. I found out about it at the last minute and it was minutes away so I went and ate spaghetti casserole, garlic bread, and biscochitos. I didn't really stay long to talk to many people. It was mostly senior citizens. But I do think that it may be a nonprofit to approach later when I need volunteer tutors. Last week, I spoke to a friend's university class (teachers working on their master's) about what I am doing and how I got to this point. I got off track a lot. There is so much to say and I wasn't that good at keeping it concise. But I had fun being in class again, and I think the students had ideas I hope they will share with me in the future. Maybe they can he

Throughout my career, I've learned much, mainly that it's time for change in education and that it can't happen within the rigid, backward-thinking educational box we've built over the decades. I went from knowing nothing about how politics affect our schools, our teachers, our children...to thinking that if I just learned how to "play" politics, I could still achieve the goals that I thought were important. Work the system.The end justifies the means. That was many years ago... It wasn't until I started working in adult education that I started to see that there was NO WAY I could achieve anything worthwhile within this messed up system and we need to perhaps build another system from scratch. And it's time! To me, the big picture is that our educational system is being corrupted by capitalism -- more and more money is being poured into education but the teachers don't see any of that money; it goes to textbook and test publishers. Seriously.

We tend to thing about online classes as a response to a need in distance education, that is, we can reach more people who live in rural areas. But, if we look at it from a different perspective, that of UNM administration, for example, online ed also alleviates the need for parking spaces, not only for students but for the instructors as well. This is one practical need to offer more online instruction. I get it. I have tried buying UNM parking permits for my kids but there were issues with that that made it not worth the expense. Then the kids starting giving each other rides to class so there was no need for parking. However, it meant a lot of extra trips back and forth to campus. I finally broke down yesterday and gave my daughter one of my credit cards so she can just park in the parking structures on campus and I don't have to give her a ride. She tried that out yesterday and had to fight her way to a parking space. I wondered if, by the time she got to class, she learned

I am going to get up on my soapbox today and talk about politics, upcoming generations of activists, and where I see us going in the future. Let's dive right in. People are losing jobs and they can't get new ones because there simply aren't jobs out there to be filled.  More importantly, we can't "create" jobs anymore, and we can't live the American dream (which honestly isn't the dream of most Americans) to work hard and end up being self-made millionaires. We need to face that and find new ways to address the issues. It's not about innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit -- we have that. We always have had that. In fact, it's just that spirit that has brought us to where we are now. Think about it...isn't the whole idea of technology to simplify our lives, to allow us to enjoy life without having to work so hard at it? But capitalism/materialism and the pressure to live the American dream forces the average Joe to become ambitious,

As my kids have gotten older, they have adopted a healthier diet and my son has a great interest in growing organic produce. He juices all the time. One day, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and I decided to try juicing myself. I couldn't take the drastic step that the guy in the movie did, conducting a juice fast for 60 days, but I knew that if I could incorporate more veggies and fruits in my diet, I'd be much healthier. So I hit the grocery store and noticed the ready-made, natural/organic smoothies in the produce section. I bought two for $5 and took them home to try them. And they were good!! So I started drinking one each morning...and then I started buying the larger cartons and drinking them twice a day. I feel really good! I have more energy and I'm more focused, which is a great help as I try to get this nonprofit going. I went out and bought a juicer one day, thinking I'd start making my own. I read the simple recipe that came with the juicer and thr

I got up this morning, later than usual (I sleep much better out here in the "country"), made my chai latte, and sat down to the computer to do what I usually do first thing in the morning, watch TV. No, I don't meditate. I don't write. I don't read. I watch at least one show from start to end on Netflix and now on a free week of Hulu. For those of you who turn your noses up at TV and refuse to let your kids watch, get over it. Just as it was in the beginning, television can be a powerful tool for learning. The problem that TV snobs have, in my opinion, is that they think learning has to be dull and pedantic. God forbid that our kids might actually learn from a sitcom!!!! I remember my son Daniel, in fifth grade, I think, watching stand up comics and their political commentaries on TV. He even wanted to be a comedian himself. One day, I got a call from his teacher, who wanted to tell me how impressed she was by his comments on illegal immigration

Seems like I will never be done with moving. But I know it's almost over. And today the plumber is here to put in new pipes where the tree roots took over. Just in time!! It's time to really look for funding but I am also looking at how to promote my new nonprofit. It's interesting to see all the opportunities offered by Facebook, Wix, Amazon, and others when you sign up on a business page. As soon as I made a Facebook page for Live and Learn New Mexico! I started getting great tips and opportunities. Of course, most cost money but what's new? I will be selective and frugal. I am also reaching more people on LinkedIn. I do believe that networking is important, not just online but in person as well. I will begin to visit the communities I hope to serve soon, putting the word out about our program and finding classrooms, teachers, etc. This week, I will have lunch with a friend in the East Mountain area. She has expressed an interest in helping with the program. The f

I almost quit reading Bait and Switch . So far, the author is spending much money on job coaches, job search seminars, professional development, networking, etc. She mentions that some of the trainers are looking for "regular" jobs themselves and doing this in the meantime. I get the impression that the principles they teach are not necessarily ones they ever used themselves. I don't know...just wasn't that impressed. But then I got onto my email this morning to the usual list of jobs available from different job hunting websites. About a month ago, I signed up for one and ended up getting bombarded by five or six. Occasionally, though, I open one up. I did that today on a Jobungo email and there was actually a job that I would like to do and fits right in with my business. So I watched a long video about it and then applied. Let's see what happens. In the meantime, I will continue reading Bait and Switch .

Looks like things are finally working blog-wise. Got my blogger.com blog linked to my website and Facebook, I think. And the blog page on my website is looking good, too. I also set up a minimal business page on Facebook. I need to start building that up. I think that's important. I tend to read the Los Alamos Daily Post's Facebook page more than I do their website. I like to be able to Like things and make comments. I want my Facebook page to be that functional. It allows for the interaction that I need to make my business work. I want to hear from everyone who cares so that I can make this nonprofit truly meaningful. Social media seems to be the way to go.

Yesterday, I started reading Bait and Switch , a book by investigative journalist Barbara Ehrenreich. I had read her earlier book, Nickel and Dimed , about her experiment to see if a person could really make a living on a minimum wage job. In  Bait and Switch, she enters the white collar working world to discover why even the most prepared and educated aren't guaranteed good employment in today's world. The book was published in 2005, much earlier than my own ideas about this were formed. I am looking forward to seeing if the author comes to some of the same conclusions I have -- that today's world has technology that makes work done by people almost obsolete and that instead of trying to create more work, maybe we ought to quit working so hard! Of course, it all comes down to money and the need to make it... this blog focuses on education but there is a big picture. Just as our work is changing with the changes in how we do it, so is education changing as the need to