Olympic Runners

Alex Paramo Today my daughter ran around a track several times to raise money for her school. While this is a great cause, I wondered why everyone is not running around tracks to raise awareness for the need to better and more equitably fund our schools. As we all know, the U.S. position as a top educator has been on the decline for several years. Why are our elected officials not making education their top priority? Are our children not our future anymore? There are over 55 million students in our public school system, isn't it time we make those students a true top priority? While the U.S. spends more money on education than any other country, our teachers are not the highest paid and therefore it is unclear what these funds are being spent on. Additionally, public schools face budget cuts that force them to eliminate Arts and other programs. It is time that we have a comprehensive national strategy/plan to bolster up our public education system. A plan that includes leveling the playing field to ensure that every child, regardless of income, has an equal opportunity and access to a top-level, education that includes the Arts and extra-curricular activities. A plan that includes a strategy for developing our current crop of teachers, while also attracting talented individuals who are dissuaded from the profession due to the low pay. A plan that includes funds for parent education programs that would enable parents to sit down and help their children succeed academically. A plan that would place new/emergent technology at the finger-tips of our students. A plan that includes inserting peace strategies/education into the curriculum. Unless we demand increased funding by reorganizing our national priorities, we might have to enlist Olympic runners for our public school fundraisers. I would gladly vote that we take at least half of the military budget to finance the new national education plan and I think you would too.

Creativity and the Masses

Community Publishing supports
community/local based artists
of all mediums

Alex Paramo

In a recent New York Times - Room for debate series discussion, contributor, Cecilia Conrad (McArthur Fellows Foundation) stated, "Reports of the death of American creativity are an exaggeration." While I have not combed through all of the various "reports," it is a well known fact that funding for arts programs in public schools have been or are being cut significantly. This short-sighted approach toward meeting the ever increasing budgetary crunch has and will have many negative societal repercussions. In terms of innovation, which I believe is fueled by the profit motive, there are some public funds and private foundations that provide funding for new ideas in business/industry. There are also, some public funds and private foundations that provide funding for an extraordinary student(s) around the country, but what about everyone else? What does our model say about how much our society values creativity in general. Educators are familiar of how Howard Gardner clearly illustrates the existence of multiple ways of learning and the importance that "musical intelligence" (for example) plays in a child's development.

Several pertinent questions come to the fore when considering the question of creativity and innovation. What values does our society place upon creativity? That is the root question. Are the creative arts just the domain of the wealthy and upper economic classes? If it is generally accepted that the arts are quite beneficial in the learning process to our children, why are they being squeezed out?  Perhaps we should consider the question, what kind of people are being "produced" in our public schools. Is the production of automatons the goal? Are we producing simple beings that do not think creatively and also lacking critical thinking skills, just to dump them into the ever expanding low paid workforce?

The vast majority of our children attend public schools. Fortunately for us we are the majority. We can change the curriculum, insist on funding for the arts by voting for pro-public education candidates. Instead of sitting at home watching old recycled shows and movies, we can also support local arts/artist by going out and visiting a local gallery, checking out a local band, attending community theater, buying the books of local authors. We must not forget that we, everyday folks set the agenda. In fact, we are the agenda, and we must demand a complete curriculum that includes Art Education so that our children grow up to be well-rounded healthy citizens.

Peace, Harmony and Mercy

Alex Paramo

 Last night, September, 13 2013, I had the pleasure of attending Peace Talk Radio's 10th anniversary Concert for Peace show in Santa Fe, NM. My 6 year old daughter Marisol and I were guests on the Peace Talk Radio recently (show to be broadcast in November), to discuss our multimedia eBook, Princess Marisol & the Moon Thieves. One of the performers last night was Rahim Alhaj, the master Oud player and composer originally from Iraq. Mr. Alhaj had been a political prisoner in Iraq, lost many friends and was subject to torture and similar indignities. Before playing each piece, Mr. Alhaj would provide an anecdote or a tidbit of information pertaining to the piece and it's relationship to the many recent wars and occupations in Iraq (Iraq - Iran, US - Iraq I, US - Iraq II). For example, according to Mr. Alhaj, in parts of Iraq there is a birth-defect rate of between 50 to 75%. It is also known that millions of innocent Iraqi citizens, including women and children, were killed in these wars. The pain and heartbreak that Mr. Al-Haj felt and feels is evident in his beautiful music. Despite his suffering, Mr. Alhaj is committed to spreading peace.
The devastation, carnage, suffering and waste of resources of war are incalculable. In the U.S., at a time when we should be collaborating on solving issues involving affordable quality education, healthcare, multicultural understanding, and economic justice (to name a few), our leaders are contemplating violence against another nation yet again. Some of our best minds are wrapped up in research at our Universities creating weapons of mass destruction. Our creative minds in the media have been become bankrupt of integrity due to the corporate profit motive. The other guest entertainer at the concert was Mary Gauthier, acclaimed folk/americana musician who sang touching songs of personal suffering, redemption and self actualization. This morning I, like many people in the Albuquerque area, was awakened by the rumbling, determined, violent sounds of thunder. It caused me to reflect and think about how I might feel if my dear, precious Marisol had to wake up in the midst of the chaotic sounds of war: sounds of pain, suffering, death and disaster. I pray that is never to be the case for her, and that no child will ever have to experience that calamity. Unfortunately as I write this, that is the experience for many people around our world, and our country is on the precipice of contributing to the tragic chorus of war. Perhaps we all need to go through a personal transformation, like Mary Gauthier has, and find redemption by demanding from our leaders that they seek alternative solutions to conflict, build bridges of understanding, foster mercy and engender peace.