Dear dragonflies, bees, wasps, butterflies, mosquitoes, moths, beetles, cicadas, crickets, spiders, ants...

I came across this great sentiment on the World Peace Diet's website.
 

"May compassion and love reign over all the earth for all the tiny beings who live in the soil, the trees, the water, and the air, creating harmony and balance with your songs, your pollinating of flowers, your graceful flight, your mysterious transformations, and your miraculous ability to literally create soil in which new plants can take root.

Dear dragonflies, bees, wasps, butterflies, mosquitoes, moths, beetles, cicadas, crickets, spiders, ants, and all of you who suffer immeasurably at the hands of people who do not understand the miracle of who you are, who poison you, stomp on you, and destroy your homes.

You are so small, and many of us who do care about you find ourselves bringing you harm.

We ask for your forgiveness and your help and together we bear witness to your suffering, take action to permanently end it, and send out our energy field of love and compassion to comfort you and to transform the hearts and souls of those who support the violent oppression of all of you.

Our love is all around you. Compassion encircles the earth for each of you and for all beings."

( 7 daily prayers by Judy Carman www.peacetoallbeings.com)

Service Learning

Service learning, whats that?  Some might say it's the same as community service.  It's not too far off, however there is an extra cool little spin on things when it comes to service learning.

First off, service learning may not be as simple as helping out an organization who asked for time or money.  Service learning involves not only one's helping hands and understanding mind, but it stretches a bit further to ensure that individual's begin see to a bigger picture.  Not only might someone be volunteering a Friday afternoon to sort canned foods for a local food pantry, but they might begin to consider the dilemmas of extreme poverty within our very own communities that lead to hunger and often malnutrition.  This connects to overall health and wellness, and perhaps even an interest in food activism.

In my opinion, service learning seeks to understand root causes of an issue while seeking ways to provide both short and long term solutions.  

Favorite Homework Assignment: Professional Folder

I recently completed a M.Ed program with a focus on Humane Education.  It wasn't a month later before I was asked to teach a few of the freshmen seminar courses at the college I work for.

During the first term, so much of the course was focused on helping students transition into a potentially new country, state, city, campus, shared dorm room, field of study etc.  The curriculum included a lot of logistical support, for example how to change your meal plan, registering for courses and knowing who your Academic Advisor is.  In addition to meeting one on one with each student to ensure they have made at least one meaningful connection with someone within the first few weeks, there was also a lot of focus on instilling some of the basic necessities of any successful student or person in general, i.e. time management, organization, motivation and the like.

My favorite assignment to the class was to have each student create a "Professional Folder," something I was not required to do until my senior year of college.  Within the folder students were required to include a minimum of 15 items.  Such items might include a resume, employment postings, research opportunities, articles relevant to their field etc.  Some students even included a sample cover letter or even papers they have written.

This was such a worthwhile project when I was in college, however I wish had started building something like this sooner. Perhaps I would have been more intentional about the choices I made regarding my "next steps" early on, as opposed to just beginning the whole thought process as graduation put a bit of an urgent spin on things.

If you were to ask most of the students in this first class, I believe they might agree that the Professional Folder was a helpful assignment.  In fact, one of the students received an opportunity to conduct undergraduate research during the the following academic term.  Certainly her genuine personality and true work ethic is the main reason she landed this opportunity.  I do wonder though, if this little nudge to sift through employment opportunities and to tighten up a resume in within her first ten weeks of college might have encouraged her to reach for such opportunities a bit sooner...

"Sati’s (8 years old) face is blacked with carbon dust from recycled batteries. Often she looks so black, that children in her neighborhood call her ghost. She works in battery recycling factory at Korar Ghat on the outskirts of Dhaka. She earns less than Taka 200 ($3.50 approx) per month." (Taken from http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/4_tips_on_using_photos_online on 5.18.10)

Amy’s Ponds and Hundred Acre Wood

I drove Liane to the airport for a 5:55am flight to Florida this morning, and since I was wide awake I decided to hop on a birding adventure with the Genesee Land Trust and Rochester Birding Association for 7:30am.

We spent over three hours observing fields, forests and wetlands. Here is a list of our sightings:

• roughneck swallow
• tree swallow
• cat bird
• eastern king bird
• scarlet tanager
  
• wood-thrush
  
• boat-tail grego
• red breasted grosbeak
• young bald eagle
• king fisher

Some people saw a green heroin, and we heard a downy woodpecker as well.

It's funny though, most of my pictures are not of birds at all! It was just so nice to get outside for a bit.

The birders

Rich colors in the moss and leaves

Unidentified feather

These stumps reminded me of the Albert Paley sculpture at RIT, the Sentinel

Scarlet tanager, far then close up.

Mendon

Our chickadee trip soon turned into a deer watching/squirrel feeding adventure!

As the last few seeds began creeping between my fingers, I couldn't help but wonder "how do I end this snack break?" Surprisingly he was ok with me just backing off, thank God!

Highland Park Lilacs

In full bloom...

I love the few floating purple ones here

The sectional

Timmy really knows how to kick back and relax.

ET Freak Out

It looks like Celia forgot she fell asleep on ET and woke up a bit startled!

Squirrel

Louis watches his new friend each morning.