Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 25, 2024
** Sunday afternoon, March 3, from 5:00 to 6:30 (come & go) you are invited to come by “Lanterns on the Trail,” an event to honor and remember those we hold dear. Lantern sacks, music (bag pipe, acoustic guitar, Native American flute), wisdom readings from diverse writers and cultures, and more. The Keith House is one of Fort Worth’s newest conference center, located in Clearfork, next to The Press Cafe, on the Trinity River. “Lanterns on the Trail” is a free, community event sponsored by Project 4031, an unduplicated local nonprofit serving hospice patients and their families.
- Mental Health research has found singing in a choral group or choir to have a positive role in preventing isolation and depression. It shows increasing social connections and adding a satisfying and meaningful element to an individual’s life. So, sing out, sing on!
** Diane, a “Sunday Letter” reader, added to last week’s counter & chair exercises. On cold winter days she walks around her home going room to room and also does her walking at her office. Diane’s message to me, to us, is keep moving, find your way.
Shift your ears and mindset from critism, especially self-criticism to a desire to treat mistakes, getting it wrong, as an opptunity to get it right , apologize to others, and add one more life lesson to your journal.
- Fort Worth schools now host food pantries in 19 local schools. Students, faculty, and community residents shop the food pantries supported by our local Food Bank. In 1975 Dave, Lonnie, Earnestine and I (we were the staff at Englewood Center) met with school principals and administrators in Poly area of Fort Worth. We tried urging local schools to consider becoming a resource in addition to an education center. Later, Fort Worth education leaders did broaden the inclusion of the local school as a community resource, but not in 1975. It is nice to see this dream of our become a reality.
** It is my understanding parents who have experienced the death of a son or daughter in a school shooting, such as Uvalde , TX or Parkland, FL, have allowed the attachment of an AI developed voice to their child’s image. The purpose in doing so, is to make calls to the offices of elected officials to promote strengthening laws on gun safety and prevention of mass shootings in schools. This would be a brave step for any parent, now also bringing pain and “the missing” of a child in a new way.
This one is worth the search. There is a new Crayon box titled Colors Of The World. A traditional crayon box has 1 brown crayon. The Colors Of The World box has a very light rose to 22 shades of in between brown. And more similar color creation designed to meet the standard of “looks like me.”
This week’s media recommendation: Netflix’s “Is That Black Enough For You?” 2 hr. 15 minutes. The documentary traces the heritage of black movies, actors, story lines, dates of release, and the role of financing these productions. There were many black actors and movies I did not recognize or have any knowledge. Sometimes personal growth begins with what I don’t know, rather than what I do know.
Roy, needing a new crayon box and movie guide
My Kinder students would have been fascinated with the new crayons. They often colored their families with the black crayon but never seemed happy with the results. Young children don’t see color and must be taught to be wary of people different from them. We really need to be more like children discovering the world every day.
I am always encouraged by your thoughts and comments.
Growing up questions of crayon colors was not in my awareness. I now wish they had been.
For me, good to see Colors Of The World. If I find the new box I will buy several for elder and youth at Como.
You be special to me, to us. We will slide into aging together. Roy
Excellent thoughts, ideas and recommendations. Will definitely find the video and report my findings. The colors that look like me is a no-brainer, but oh, how long it takes for our brain to catch up with the realities necessary to make ALL a part of our life and love. I’m reading a new book about James Baldwin. Found a line of thought that I had missed in my earlier readings. Baldwin’s activism was not centered on what someone could do FOR the blacks, but what others could do WITH the blacks. That makes all the difference in the world as it doesn’t allow separatism. You and Beth are the role models for us all in doing the WITH stuff. Keep it up and keep sharing WITH us.
Do love and appreciate the shift from FOR to WITH.
Backup logic: Right outcome…..right people….right path
Roy
The project that you are referring to which uses AI to utilize the voices of slain children is called The Shotline Project. I heard a segment on NPR with the parent who founded the project, along with the voice of their son who was shot. The shooting of children haunts me. Our Crisis Response Canines are frequently called out to the Family Assistance Centers that are created—-Uvalde: five dogs and handlers, 33 forensics interviews, 800 family members visited by the teams. There are so many more that we have been deployed to. Personally, Violet and I were deployed to the Las Vegas, New Mexico High School shooting, New Year’s Eve, 2022; and to the one-year anniversary last year. I pray daily for gun regulations to change and get war weapons out of the hands of civilians.
Love to you and Beth always. Thank you for honoring Garnis and Gilly and lighting up their extraordinary lives during Laterns on the Trail.
This one, to you and I, is troubling.
Memories, feelings that may have settled, now up and out again.
I do not know enough…need to hear more
BUT, if staff presented the AI voice as a program optiion I would have not approved
I would have asked, “tell me again what our common goal is?
OK, let’s find another way to respond to and meet that outcome goal
A view from the semi-informed listener…….
Roy