Zero African Americans in 113th Senate

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My father always used to say, “It could be better, but it could be worse.”  And that analysis is so apropos for the African-Americans in the upcoming 113th US Congress.  African-Americans make up 13% of the population but 9.6% of the Congress.

It could be better, a whole lot better if you’re looking at the Senate.  There are zero African-Americans in the United States Senate.  In our entire history there have been only five elected, and one appointed, for a total of six. There are many theories as to why African Americans have not gotten into the upper chambers.

It could be worse, a lot worse.  There is a record number 44 African-American members of the House of Representatives up from 42 in the 113th Congress.  As for power in a majority Republican House, the African-American House members who are majority Democratic lost three full committee chairmanships and over a dozen  sub-committee chairmanships. So to sum it up, if you’re looking at the Senate, it is dismal and downright depressing with zero. But, if you’re looking at the Congress as a whole, we’re making progress as a nation.  No matter how you look at it there’s still more work to do to achieve equality.

Sources:

http://mobile.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/politics/political-winners-include-women-immigrants-20121108
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/11/13/1175491/113th-congress-diversity/?mobile=nc
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=113th+congress+&view=detail&id=97803655535D3084658B7BDA958B6A1DEBBA34DA
http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=131094.0
http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/influencealley/2012/11/5-milestones-in-congressional-demographics-09
 
I’m Barbara Talley,  The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Native American Veterans

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This is Native American Heritage Month. We’ve just celebrated Veterans Day, please enjoy these stories of Native American men and women who fought for this country even after broken promises, broken lives, and broken dreams.   Check out their audio or video stories on Experiencing War, at the Veteran’s History Library of Congress special project.

“Born on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, Dan Akee was sent at age six to a boarding school in nearby Tuba City.  He saw action on four Pacific islands, and by the last, Iwo Jima, he was starting to show the psychological effects of prolonged exposure to combat. After returning home, he had persistent problems with nightmares and took to drinking.”

Learn more about Dan Akee and get first-hand experiences from Marcella R. Le Beau, Roy Daniel Bailey, Dan Akee,  Joseph Beimfohr, Steven L Bob Jr.,  Ed McGaa, Leroy Mzhickteno, Chester Nez, Lewis Sawaquat.

I’m Barbara Talley,  The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

The Future of Education: Free College Courses-Textbooks

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Who says you can’t get anything of value for free anymore?

Now education is open sourced.  Several top universities are offering free on-line courses to anyone on any topic imaginable. There is no excuse NOT to learn a new language, skill, or to keep abreast of the newest technologies.  Just like You-tube, Firefox, and GoogleVoice have offered valuable free services, now colleges are catching the FREE wave.   There are even over 160 free textbooks. (The Textbook Revolution also is a resource for free books.)  You can learn right from your home or wherever you have computer access.  The training is free, but you pay for testing and accreditation.  For those who are changing careers or upgrading their skill-set and are tight on money, this could be the answer.  Knowledge is still valuable even without the certification which you can get when you can afford it later.  The knowledge now can assist in getting that new job or promotion.

ImageLet’s say you want to learn calculus, math, science, computer science, finances, humanities, physics, history, or prep for the Math SAT or GMAT, try out http://www.khanacademy.org.  They have over 3500 videos. WOW!

“MIT OpenCourseWare makes the materials used in the teaching of substantially all of MIT’s undergraduate and graduate courses—more than 2,100 in all—available on the Web, free of charge, to any user in the world. OCW receives an average of 1.9 million web site visits per month from more than 215 countries and territories worldwide. To date, more than 125 million individuals have accessed OCW materials.” http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

And, they aren’t the only ones, Harvard, Berkeley, and the University of Texas also offer free courses. https://www.edx.org

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses (550 free on-line courses)

http://www.openculture.com/free_textbooks (160 Free text books)

http://www.academicearth.org (Pulls together lectures from multiple universities on a topic)

http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/ (Can’t forget Apple University. There’s an app for that!)

http://www.free-ed.net/free%2Ded/

Another school based in South Africa advertises, “Regenesys Business School is the first business school in the world to offer free business education, making all learning materials freely available online in this revolutionary initiative.” Be sure to check them out also at http://regenesys.co.za/free-edu/

The OpenCourseWare Consortium Aggregates over 22 Universities

“Most courses offered on OpenCourseWare are available as free audio or video lectures for free, and under open licenses. The easiest way to find a course you’re interested in is to search the OpenCourseWare Consortium site, which aggregates courses from over 22 universities in the US alone, including MIT, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and the University of Michigan, and features courses on tons of different subjects, from business and economics to architecture and physics. Most universities have their specialties, of course (MIT, for example, has a bounty of resources in engineering), but between them all, you should be able to find pretty much anything you want,” write Life Hacker in their article, Where to Get the Best Free Education.

The future is bright and a new education is just a click away, FOR FREE!

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

All Change Happens in The Current Moment

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Do you want to experience significant change right now?  You can,  if you just realize that all change happens only in the current moment.  Master the current moment and master your life.  All you have to do is think, say, and do the right thing in this moment, and the next, and the next.  And guess what, you’ll be different and things will be different!  You can make change right now by doing the following exercise.

Do this exercise right now.

  1. Think of something that you wish to experience or receive more of in your life right now.   Don’t worry; it’s okay to ask.   That’s the only way you will receive and anyway, you deserve it! We live in an abundant, loving, and harmonious universe.  It’s important to see the universe as abundant if you wish to receive from it.  If you see it as limited, shrinking, and hostile, this won’t work for you.  Okay, have something in mind?  Great!
  2. Now think of how you can assist someone else in getting that same thing.  Thought of a person?
  3. Write down their name and prayerfully think of some way to assist that person in some meaningful way.
  4.  NOW DO IT!
  5. Then report back later and share the wonderful results you are destined to experience.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

America’s Diversity Votes and Wins!

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Even beyond the excessive attempts to disenfranchise voters, in spite of an effigy of the President with a noose around his neck, and even with so many other disparaging and racial sentiments arising out of the 2012 campaign, I am more hopeful and proud of my country than ever. American’s voted that they care about each other.  Even when they may not agree with each others ideologies or lifestyles, they still voted that everyone should be included and deserves to be counted and have civil rights.  The landscape is changing and I am optimistic about the future for the following reasons!

  1. America’s first African-American president wins not only the majority of electoral votes but also the popular vote, the most successful Democratic candidate since FDR by margins.
  2. The 113th Congress will have at least 19 female senators – more than ever in U.S. history.
  3.  Hawaii elects America’s first Asian senator.
  4. Wisconsin elects America’s first openly gay senator.
  5. Nevada elects Steven Horsford, its first African American Congressman.
  6. Voting was up for African Americans, young people, and Latinos despite the unprecedented number (25) of voter suppression laws passed last year.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.