Here is a cultural difference

We can see a clear cultural difference between peiple from Germany, who like order, and people from South America who might tolerate some mess or disorder or different activities in a classroom.

Iran “Marriage Crisis,” India and China Need Women

RoadLovers Presents

CULTURAL CURIOSITIES 

Iran “Marriage Crisis,” India and China Need Women

Iranian ministers are worried that there’s a “marriage crisis” in the country.  The average marrying age has climbed since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.  The government is discussing taking a huge leap and legalizing matchmaking websites to nudge singles to get married at an earlier age.  The reason for the panic?  Officials are afraid delayed marriage will lead to a loosening of social mores.  The average age at which Iranian men  marry has risen from 20 to 28 in the past three decades.  Iranian women typically now marry between 24 and 30, five years later than a decade ago (also almost spinsterhood in this society) (Chicagotribune.com).  China and India head the list of Asian countries where the ration of males to females has remained stubbornly and artificially high.  The birth sex rate in China is now an “alarming” 1.13.  Unfortunately, sonograms are being used in Asia to identify female fetuses, which are then aborted in large numbers (discovermagazine.com).  U.S. Factoid: A 2010 U.S. study by research firm Chadwick Martin Baily claims 17% of those married in the past three years met online; other studies go as low as nine percent (washingtonpost.com).

Posted by JKMcCrea@gmail.com

Lanikai - The Most Enchanted Beach on Oahu

The view from a beachfront home in Lanikai.  Notice the color of the water.  It's for real!

6 a.m. and even the sunrise is special in Lanikai

Photos taken in Havana in 2012

See a blog about photos taken in Havana in 2012

Click here

I hope my students will watch these videos... and then interview their relatives.... IF ONLY FOR A SECOND

Look what a book project can do for a person.




Or a group of people.



People who were ignored.

I like how books can change people's
lives and grab the public's attention

People who felt that the best days of their lives were behind them.



People who felt trapped by their illness.




People with cancer who had lost their hair.



If only for a second, can they forget that they have cancer?




This series of photos comes from a video that has over 16 million hits.   I hope that my students will take time to interview their relatives, to ask their older relatives to tell stories... so that "for only a second" their relatives can be the center of attention.




I want my students to touch history.   Ask your parents, your grandparents, your uncles and aunts to tell you about "what life was like 30 years ago."




If only for a second, can my students live in the past?



At my school, several teachers have aunts and great0aunts and grandmothers who are OVER NINETY YEARS OLD.  Imagine what those people have seen!!




I hope their stories can be captured.





I encourage you to look at the videos below and think about your relatives.  Ask, "What do you remember?  What should I know about?"





Then call me and let's get those memories into a book.   Then you can give those stories in a book to your grandmother or other old people in your life.

SEE THIS DOCUMENTARY

THE MIMI PROJECT



Here is a documentary about veterans who contributed to the victory in Europe.

SEE THIS DOCUMENTARY

SEE THIS DOCUMENTARY

SEE THIS DOCUMENTARY

What can one page do? A tribute to Dennis Littky

Dennis Littky's book is 8 years old this year.   The Big Picture:  Education is Everybody's Business is still available.   Why not look at this book?   This book inspires my husband:  at least once a week I catch him looking at it.

Why not just click here?

Learn about the school (video)

Falafel in California, thanks to Erik Friedl

I have learned a lot from Youtube.  A reliable source of unusual cultural items (that make me say, "hey, I've never seen THAT!") is Erik Friedl's channel www.Youtube.com/aiglon27.   Here is a link to a recent video that he posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN79R-oCnx0


Click here and you will see the following images:

Warning:  When I saw this video, I wanted to click pause and drive out to the local Arab deli and get some cous-cous and falafels.
Be sure you have eaten something before watching this video or looking at the rest of this blog.

 Here is the description of this video as it appears on Youtube:

A vibrant pan-Arab celebration in southern California featuring Arabic cuisine, music and dance. The festival-goers hail from countries that span North Africa from Morocco to Egypt and extend across the Middle East from Lebanon to the nations of the Arabian Peninsula. With the momentous and historic changes sweeping their ancestral homelands, Arab Americans have raised their voices in response to the raging civil war in Syria, the movement toward Palestinian statehood, and the backlash encountered in the post-9/11 era.

Filmed and edited by Erik Friedl.

I'm ready...

Erik's videos transport me (without the delays of an airline trip or the cost of a ticket) to the locales that he has captured with his camera.  He uses a larger camera than I do, so he gets kids ask him, "What TV station are you with?  Can we get on TV?"

"We come here to learn about each other."

Exuberant members of the audience.

 Kids who strike rapper poses

What TV show are you from?


Are we going to be on TV?

See more 

Restore the wetlands  
An appreciation for southern California's coastal wetlands and the vital role they play in maintaining a healthy environment and balanced ecosystem.

Presented by Susan and Dan Gottlieb. Directed, filmed and edited by Erik Friedl. Music by Nathanael Barbey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nGYnpWs-uU