Live and Learn New Mexico!

I went to the Outside of the Classroom meeting yesterday. Good turnout. There were many young people there, many paid to attend, which is fine. We live in a capitalist society; every effort we make should be rewarded with money, right? We have to play the game for now. I paid my daughter, who helps me with L&LNM, to go with me. I have to say it was nice to talk about what we learned in the car on the way home. I learned a lot. I learned that, in all the years I've worked in education, the conversation hasn't changed one bit. At this meeting, we participated in a world cafe activity,  where you talk with one group about a topic, report out to the group at large, then regroup and talk about a follow-up topic and again, report out. The topics centered around the systemic problems we see in our education system, the mindsets we need to break free from, etc. But the conversation was the same old stuff that had little to do with systemic problems. The same ideas of hel...

I finally sat down to explore the  Civnet  website. CivNet is a locally grown endeavor. I had signed up as a beta user not long ago and I've been getting regular email updates as people post their project needs on the site. Yesterday, I went through my emails and started clicking on all the links in each CivNet message. I found many wonderful things.  Green bike lanes One of the first projects I noticed posted was for green bike lanes. What did that mean? Is this a project to put in bike lanes that follow sustainable, environmentally safe practices? Turns out, no. It means what it says -- this project needs people to help them paint the bike lanes on the Lead and Coal bridges green. I could help with that. I didn't sign up for anything, though, not yet.  Identify learning labs Instead of putting it in my own words, I will quote the purpose of this project.  "This initiative will enhance the learning experience by pairing "learning laboratories" wi...

L&LNM would like to start a program that converts houses from oil/gas to solar/wind/sustainable energy. We would convert one house at a time, and the people who own the house, their neighbors, etc. will do the work with help from local businesses/schools.  In many towns, there is a Rotary Club or similar organization, and they often award small grants for projects like this. A small grant could be all it takes to convert one house to solar. After one house is converted, those who worked on it and learned can help with the next house.  People are gaining skills that could get them jobs but more importantly, people are helping each other achieve incredible things without going into debt. Communities are pulling together to solve problems. Short post today so use that time you just saved not reading and go out and learn something new!

Live and Learn New Mexico! (L&LNM) has been focusing on getting the word out that we are here to help New Mexicans learn toward a better life. This spring, we have been concentrating on the New Mexico part of our name. We have been researching, blogging, and curating (supporting other NM organizations on Facebook by Liking and Sharing their posts).  Just as we suspected, New Mexico is full of amazing people who know we can change things for the better if we just pull together as communities and help each other succeed.   For the last year and a half, as I've been blogging and putting my posts on Facebook, I've "boosted" some by paying to get the post out to more people. This worked to build a following but I discovered that FB will only help so much.  If I boosted one post twice, for example, I'm pretty sure FB just re-sent it to the same people I paid to reach the first time. Boosting a post twice was a waste of money. Then a kind person read one o...

I have never been more ashamed and embarrassed to be an American, so much so that I feel the need to explain to other ordinary people who don't live in the US that I am not what my government purports me to be. 1. I'm not a capitalist. I've spent my adult life trying to get that good job with benefits. I played the game, competed, job hopped, moved up the career ladder. It took me a long time to realize that basically I was providing cheap slave labor for businesses that gave me NOTHING in return. Why was I working so hard when my employers in no way, shape, or form cared about me, and when I felt no confidence that I would be able to retire EVER? 2. I am not a member of a democracy. The average American has no voice at all. Elections are rigged. Political processes are a joke. Presidential candidates are a joke. Our government shares a bed with big business. It's all about money, and I'm tired of money. The correct term for what we are is Corporatocracy.  ...