…Please extend my appreciation to Jill for traveling to Ukraine, Romania & Slovakia to visit with Ukrainian moms. …Please thank her for recognizing the important role of teachers. Her statement, “the teachers are the glue that help these kids deal with their trauma and deal with the emotion and help give them a sense of normalcy” will resonate with many educators….
…I bring this up because I worry that this lingering mentality among a small # of folks in towns like Steubenville has taken hold. I wonder what we can do about it. I know you do, too. Perhaps the jobs you are promising will help folks reestablish their sense of self-worth & they won’t have to drag us all down….
Beware! Reveling at the WH on 5/5 is in questionable taste!…In my opinion, yesterday’s Team USA event is a much more appropriate WH occasion. The NYT reported that there were 600 Olympians there, including monobobber, Kaillie Humphries who recently defected from Canada to escape brutal coaches….
…I plan to read Erica Chenoweth’s book, “Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know.” I look forward to learning about her evidence for the claim, that there are “four key factors behind successful nonviolent campaigns: large-scale participation, loyalty shifts amongst regime supporters, tactical innovation, and resilience in the face of repression.”..
I just read the WP article about Vaughn Smith, the DC carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages. He says that speaking someone else’s language brings them a “splash of happiness.” Please invite him to the WH whenever you have a foreign visitor. He would be a great way to promote multilingualism which might help bridge our cultural divide.
