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20 May 99 - 09:29 AM (#80078) Subject: More Casualties From: The_one_and_only_Dai Breaking News (from BBC) - 4 students shot at Heritage High School, near the town of Conyers, east of Atlanta. Looks like somebody decided it was going to rain. Anybody remember "I dont like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats? |
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20 May 99 - 10:01 AM (#80084) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice This morning I had a horrible dream right before I woke up, that I was at a school where a student was shooting everyone with a rifle. Now, I find that there was a shooting this morning, just as I was having this dream.
To follow up on what happened at my school--
The boy who broke my son's collarbone in January confessed a few days ago to writing one of the recent bomb threat letters found at the school. He is a 6th grader, who wrote the threat and left it in a hallway where it would be easily found. He will be charged with felony endangerment. This is after I warned the principal about this kid being dangerous... and they didn't want to take his behavior seriously. alice |
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20 May 99 - 10:28 AM (#80094) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice In case anyone wants details on this, at this point, there is one girl in stable condition in the hospital in Conyers, Georgia, from the shooting this morning. Other students were injured. The shooter is in police custody. He had two guns, a revolver and a shotgun. |
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20 May 99 - 10:58 AM (#80109) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Bert Alice, I hope you go to that principal and sy "I TOLD YOU SO" Bert. |
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20 May 99 - 11:16 AM (#80118) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice Well, Bert, I am not going to waste my breath on the school administration. They are clueless. They will shortly be notified that I registered my son with the county to be homeschooled for 7th grade. He will go over for orchestra class, but other than that, I don't trust that school to be safe.
I am currently working with my boss on creating a project for 12th grade students nationwide to create artwork that will be marketed through our company, promoting positive themes such as friendship, family, nature, music, etc. A percentage of sales will go back to the student's school district, and a scholarship program will be set up. We are working to develop a way our company can contribute a vehicle for inspiring youth and community, and for students to express their thoughts and feelings through artistic expression. I am working on the details of the proposal right now. I think the themes of art based on music would be appropriate to generate money for music programs.
We are responding to this problem by creating a way we can promote positive ideals and activities for youth. alice |
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20 May 99 - 11:34 AM (#80121) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Allan C. Good for you, Alice! It is refreshing to see someone do something positive to counter something so very negative. Any public speaker (or parent) knows that an audience (or child) will often only hear the last part of any sentence which begins with, "Don't". It is far more productive to offer positive alternatives and initiatives. I hope this project touches every school in the country - maybe even beyond! Thanks, Alice! |
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20 May 99 - 11:48 AM (#80128) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice Well, Allan, I used to regret that my fine art degree turned into a career doing tee-shirt design, but now that we are doing this, I feel very positive about the ability to reach people. I used to smile when I would see people in airports and grocery stores wearing souvenir tee shirts with my art; a shirt they had bought somewhere like Yosemite, or Branson, or Santa Fe, etc. Now, I realize that wearable art is a way that kids can express themselves and feel uplifted that their idea and creation is spreading a message around the country or beyond.
I want people to realize that there are alot more good kids than bad ones, and that kids in general want to have ways to grow in constructive, uplifting directions.
Here is a little bit of what my boss and I wrote in the rough draft of the proposal yesterday:
The aim of this program is to help our graduating youth, by artisitc means, depict how they see social issues. The development of their artwork into a tee shirt product will provide funds for education, experience in business merchandising, and confidence in creative abilities and self expression.
Our goals include: alice |
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20 May 99 - 11:53 AM (#80130) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: The_one_and_only_Dai Alice, I've been pretty disgusted by today's events in the news (you've probably just woken up to them), but I can honestly say that your initiative has gone some way to restoring my faith in the human part of Humanity. It's a brilliant idea. |
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20 May 99 - 11:57 AM (#80132) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice How about a part of the Mudcat Kid's page that is a call for entries from youth who write folk song lyrics on themes that address the needs for this generation to rise above the violence, to point to positive directions for this young generation to grow... Alot of young people use art and music to express what they think and feel...it would be good to see the Mudcat provide a vehicle for young people to put their lyrics on the internet. alice
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20 May 99 - 12:00 PM (#80134) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: The_one_and_only_Dai I should apologise to everyone for starting (yet another) BS thread. To go some way towards correcting matters: Blew my smoke on a sunny day, when the first black powder came my way. Hot lead ball from a muzzle cold to win fair lady and take your gold. I know it hardly seems the time to talk of blue steel so sublime. I can understand your point of view. To tell the truth I'd scare me too. Match, wheel and flintlock, they all caught your eye. Pearl-handled ladies' models, scaled down to size. I am the peacemaker, so the theory goes. But I don't choose the company I keep and it shows. Maxim and Browning, they helped me along. Stoner, Kalashnikov thrilled to my song. Now there's one of me, for each one of you, So how can you blame me for the things that I do? Now I take second place to the motor car in the score of killing kept thus far. And just remember, if you don't mind it's not the gun that kills but the man behind. words by Ian Anderson © Chrysalis Records Ltd., London, UK, 1988 - All Rights Reserved |
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20 May 99 - 01:20 PM (#80149) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Alice, thank you for sharing your caring and creative idea with us! This is exactly the sort of venue needed for kids. We have a theater group in town that reaches out to ages 13- 18 in which they create the plays, produce and perform them- often on very topical subjects. I'd like to do something like that with music, too (in my next life). Dai, that song is says it all for me right now. Allison |
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20 May 99 - 01:34 PM (#80153) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Jeri Dai, please don't apologize. The day when music makers don't take an interest in the world outside music (BS) will be the day the music really dies. I've been watching CNN. Someone just commented that youth mental health programs in many states have disappeared because government funding was cut. This reminded me of a discussion I had with some one back around '82. This individual was someone I list in my "top 10" of people I respect, but in this case he was wrong. In his ideal world, people should pay for citizenship, and only those who could pay would receive benefits. I argued that if this happened people who couldn't receive medical care would increase and eventually start infecting those who could. Illness of any kind doesn't recognize rights. Congress kept cutting funding to various public program (can you remember "free clinics?"). The rate of sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and many vaccine-preventable diseases began to rise to epidemic proportions. During the budget-war government shut down, Washington DC's Department of Public Health wasn't there. Now it's mental illness that's becoming epidemic - just add it to the list. I know there are a lot of other contributing factors, but permissiveness, availability of guns, peer harrassment, and the rest have always been with us. The only thing that's changed in recent years is a drop in program funding. Sorry for my long-windedness - it's a subject I care deeply about. |
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20 May 99 - 03:13 PM (#80175) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Moonchild Alice ... don't you live in Montana? These school shootings seem to be happening in suburban schools, mostly, not inner city schools. Is it because suburban schools think this is a city thing and could never happen in their ideal little community. I don't have children, but have no doubt about whether I would send them to public/private school or homeschool. I would homeschool. Alaska, where I spent most of the last decade, and specifically Fairbanks, is well-tuned to the homeschooling process. I worry about children not being socialized, but I suppose no being socialized is better than being injured, maimed, or dead. Very best of luck to you and respect for making this decision... moonchild |
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20 May 99 - 03:57 PM (#80183) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Alice Actually, moonchild, the more I learn about home school, I realize that it is a way that children can be even LESS "isolated", because alot of their education can come from community volunteer work, museums, travel, work apprenticeship, independent research, etc. It is a myth that homeschooling equals isolation. One family I know who homeschooled their kids started because they were living in Alaska, and continued after moving to Montana. Their son finished 12th grade work at age 15. There are many advantages for students if their parents can find a way to do it.
Yes, I am in Montana, but even rural areas are not immune to "copycat" behavior, and the media reaches everywhere. The social ills that are affecting youth today are part of the fabric of our culture, whether urban or rural. alice |
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20 May 99 - 11:40 PM (#80340) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: manylodges (inactive) Alice, In this day and age, hats and tee shirts are the billboards of youth. I think what you are planning is the first real positive workable aproach I have heard yet. Way to go. I heard this tonight " if you ignore your they will go away." It pictured a young man sitting in a chair with cuffs on his wrists. I have been taking my kids with me camping since they could breath. We have a good relationship and they have learned to respect other people and property. My son lives to work on cars and his tee shirts and mine refleck our views toward what we like. I think you are on the right track. |
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20 May 99 - 11:52 PM (#80343) Subject: RE: More Casualties From: Nan Guns don't kill.............people with guns kill! I have never had respect for the NRA |