Thought About It.

Defiance in a strong body can be perceived as strength, but the eyes. Bianka's eyes demand something her body is not offering.

"Many persons have the wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." Helen Keller observed in her blindness. In the blindness many others have who can see with their eyes; their hearts deny the existence of their contradictions, and they remain, at least, consistent with their inconsistencies. In truth, how can one live deep in their denial? In all honesty, we all know how. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/18/18

To Point This Out.

An ideal of a teacher, Darla Crane. She isn't ideal in the strict sense of the word; in another sense she teaches from a socially unaccepted way of living as a woman! By way of the Cross (of Jesus) she is a whore, as employment her livelihood is made by sex in cultural consciousness shared worldwide as an option of survival specific for girls and women! It is justifiable in a world subjugated by low under developed spirits, but the outcome has no justice to it at all. None of that matters because the movement of life lived like this is more important than the counter to its movement. Special people change the nature of prophecies and trends. Normal people say they'd like to, but won't. 

It's like this: People say they'd love to raise exceptional children, or do better raising their children, but in the presence of those who have at high levels of skill, they realize they cannot because they won't accept the 'how'! Why this is, and they are like this, rest in what they don't know about themselves and face from within. They'd rather wait until regret is their guest, and their death is imminent. This is belief in the reverence for the deathbed confessions. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5/20/18 

BLACK HISTORY month: Education

The Tale of Two Sides 

A Bronx teacher sparks outrage for using black students in cruel slavery lesson
Americans are up in arms about a white public school teacher teaching her students about slavery by demonstrating or rather trying to recreate the experience for her students. The story reads thus:

Kids and parents say this Bronx teacher needs a lesson — in racism.

"Middle School 118 teacher Patricia Cummings shocked and traumatized children in her social studies classes when she singled out black students and told them to lie on the floor for a lesson on U.S. slavery — and then stepped on their backs to show them what slavery felt like, students and a staffer said.

Students said Cummings, who is white, pulled the insensitive stunt in multiple seventh-grade classes as part of a unit on the infamous Middle Passage, in which Africans were kidnapped and brought to America as part of the slave trade.

Kids and adults in Cummings’ school, where the student body is 81% black and Hispanic and just 3% white, were horrified by the offensive lessons they said occurred roughly two weeks ago. 

“It was a lesson about slavery and the Triangle Trade,” said one of Cummings’ students, who asked to remain anonymous.

“She picked three of the black kids,” the boy said, and instructed them to get on the floor in front of the class. “She said, ‘You see how it was to be a slave?’ She said, ‘How does it feel?’ ” 

When a girl on the floor made an uncomfortable joke and said she felt fine, Cummings stepped on her back, the student said.

“She put her foot on her back and said ‘How does it feel?’” the student said. “ ‘See how it feels to be a slave?’ ” 

Cummings was removed from her post for a couple of days following the incident but then returned to class and was in school Thursday.

However, the $68,934-a-year teacher was reassigned away from children later Thursday, after the Daily News contacted the city Education Department about her slavery lesson.

“While the investigation has not been completed, these are deeply disturbing allegations, and the alleged behavior has no place in our schools or in society,” said Education Department spokeswoman Toya Holness.

MS 118 Principal Giulia Cox declined to comment. - story by Kerry Burke for the New York Daily News Thursday, February 1, 2018 

I just have one reaction and it isn't alarm. I am annoyed at the several things about this badly researched article, but one thing initially catching the teacher within me is this: "How shallow are Black Americans?"

There are hands on approaches that must be employed teaching children about slavery because we are moving further and further from the 'feel' of the era. Lies and denial are slowly are eroding the feel of the reason the lessons need to be told to children, who are being raised remotely.

This Bronx teacher was paid to teach in a school with only 3% white students about a subject whites across the country are trying to rewrite. Trying to avoid this history are we to understand no creativity is allowed to teach this subject? Why is the teacher's vision and written plan not made public? Is the issue really about a white woman who has taken the place of the African Storyteller? Do Black Americans tell their stories in depth to their own children, or rely on the schools?

There are more unanswered questions this article did not explore and each one tells on us. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories Feb. 2, 2018

Poor Unrighteous Teachers

Intermitting sometime, I still ask, If Racism is taught, who taught the first racist? ●◎● Anyhoo, “You are my slave.” ● "School officials say there will be no more Civil War-related student dress-up activities at a Georgia elementary school after its “Civil War Day” sparked conflict among students, parents and others.

Big Shanty Elementary School last month invited fifth-graders to dress up as characters from the war. {Yes, in 2017]

The mother of a 10-year-old black child says a white student dressed as a plantation owner approached him and said, “You are my slave.”

In a Thursday letter to the mother, Corrie Davis, a Cobb County assistant superintendent assured that student dress-up activities related to the Civil War have come to an end at the school about 25 miles northwest of Atlanta.

With more than 110,000 students, Cobb County is Georgia’s second-largest school system." 

~ Michael Scipio  

It annoys and angers and lastly saddens me how shallow the approach to history is popular today. It is weak-kneed. Black and white parents and teachers haven't the strong character or the scholarship to match the imagination it takes to teach at each level what a child needs to understand about his country; this country.

We are paying a price for this level of mimicry of righteousness, and the cowardice of the adults in this country that is the most violent and intimidating nation on the planet! Trying to tidy up a dark past is impossible to do. The European and the Euro-Americans wrote everything down. The record of their exploiting, killing and taking have always been sources of pride and their achievement by blood is what makes American great; it is 'the' thing Americans are most proud of. It is a helluva contradiction, but lying about it and carrying on like we are 'sensitive' is hypocrisy, and laughable.

In the end citizens look weak and pitiful. ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (Oct. 22, 2017) 

The teacher is important in the education of a child.  

The teacher is important in the education of a child. What inspires boys to go to school is different from what inspires girls whom the system is made for. Boys need movement. If you won't let them play, let them imagine. If you don't develop the whole, suffer with the parts disconnected from the wholeness Life was meant to express! Resolution of this problem is as complicated as denial. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

What Daughters Teach

I have permission to tell this story. I will keep it short because it is long. Ted's first born was Nicole. Until she was in her early teenage years she was always with her father. Ted, by his own admission chased women 17 of his then 20+ years of marriage. He had all the advantages of access to women. He was a public bus driver and a gospel musician. Three daughters, one son and one wife and one mother he loved dearly. In fact, his mother fell terribly ill once, and he prayed a prayer asking God to take a certain amount of years of his life to give to his mother. God did this and to the letter of the request. 

But, this story is about a father's sexual promiscuity and his daughter who found out and in her outrage struck him the deepest blow she could to his life's framework. She got pregnant by a 27 year old man, and flaunted it in her father's face. She was 14 years old. It was an awful thing to help a man through when his chicken's came home to roost! I did what I could, but I'd never known until then how deep a daughter's hurt can become revenge and her revenge a torrent of rain and thunder and worst, lightning! Before she reached the end of her teenage years she had four sons by four different men all at least a decade older than her! 

She is married now. Last I heard she was in a good place with her father. Her father and mother are still married. The question everyone who knows this story asks is why is she still married to this man? I asked her one day in the midst of the whole story, which I've only shared a bit; why she stayed with Ted. She said, "I had a choice like a lot of women. I could on one hand, leave him. The other choice was to pray for him. I chose to pray for him. It was hard, I tell ya'. God showed me all the women he was with." 

I was astounded. I could barely believe what she said, but she didn't lie or exaggerate. It was not  in her to lie, nor was it a talent of hers to tell tall tales! She knew even the first women he lay with. She asked God to not show her their faces, but their clothes, location and whatnot. Her husband didn't know this until much later, but she was successful. It was about 18 years before something sudden happened to Ted and he gave his life to the Lord and learned how not to chase women. It is something he never learned how to do until he asked me to help him and teach what I knew to him. 

There is much more to this story I have to decide whether to use or not in this format. Some things should be said, other things should be written. 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Jan. 15, 2017 

"Men who want one time with Sienna West are men who want someone for nothing to care about casting her aside as a conquest. When those men have daughters will their daughters remember this about their fathers?" - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

musings held close to craft

Charlize Theron said, 'We all understand situations where it's swim or drown. Sometimes we surprise ourselves when we start swimming and see how well we can do it!'

            

.

Christina Ricci in black outfit contrasts her pale skin. It is sexy. What is more appealing is what she says and thinks. For example she once said, "I'm very shy. I can't even act that well when the camera's not on. I get really embarrassed." She pointed out, "I don't have any training, and I don't believe in training. Of course, people who don't have any training always say that."

From people who are OK in their craft, or mediocre such declarations are held in contempt by accomplished people. But, for those who are autodidactic learning is their teacher. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12.6.15

 

LOVE: a warrior's teacher

A love warrior. Is there a correlation between love and war? Are the two compatible? Does one need the other for survival, or justification? Gives me something to ponder because for me during the battles I lived through as a police officer years ago I found ways to extend love and love and see the sacred within lives in the midst of violence and blood. Being loving in a violent swirl of dangerous men has none of the sentimentality of a romance novel. It has to do with a warrior's aptitude for depth and commitment. Love is part of an innate ability to restore one from the rigors of being violent protecting others lives. For the warrior detached from sentimentality something is developed that connects some warriors to a depth unimaginable for ordinary people and for men it is a love we have to measure against our mother's love where the patterns for understanding and being loved originate from in this lifetime.

Love warriors. What does it mean to you? - Gregory E. Woods 5.29.15



Krista Allen's finger up !

Their Heart Stories



Black woman defying something within her.

September 15 ·

 

The pose of Black women defying something within them is often heralded. We tend to ignore the signs left in the wake of a woman's passing. At times, beauty is a curse. It blocks the view of a woman's pain pitting her against the idea of herself and facts of her life. Young and between the two pillars her foundational structure determines her next step, the way she turns and smiles into a man's eyes and the words she utters into her future can easily hide her self from the spirits she protects herself from. Who teaches our young women? Who does not teach our young women? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/24/15

https://www.flickr.com/photos/benavente/albums/72157621757052253

Drumming in Sunday drum circle at Malcolm X Park in Washington D.C.
 photo by Pablo Raw



black French maid sat upon her desk.

September 15, 2015  ·

Teacher of the Year?

I had elementary school teachers who were good looking. One was a stunning beauty, but mean like you wouldn't want to believe, and I have to say I had to endure. I learned to look beyond my teacher's beauty, and with beauty gaze into what was awe inspiring sometimes, perplexing other times and still within what came to be a creative process I developed to survive school, which I disliked, I decided to learn from them and the horrible experience of their contempt for me and boys.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9.24.15





 

Outrageous envy?

Teacher Bae, Patrice Brown in September 2016.

"I just wish they would respect me and focus on the positive and what truly matters—which is educating the children of the future generations and providing and caring for them."

Patrice Brown told Daily Dot responding to the raging criticism about her fashion sense as a 2nd grade teacher in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bad Teacher? Sexy Woman?

Teacher Bae. Clothing Controversy. Inappropriate for a School Environment or No?

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Sophia Reed in Entertainment 


Recently we have all been exposed to the teacher bae controversy in what she was wearing to work. To be honest I am a woman who is black AND curvy; and as soon as I saw the pictures I thought that her attire was not appropriate.  I saw the pictures when they first came out before anyone was even talking about her clothes and that was the first thing that came to my mind.  “Why is her dress so short?”

I think that she is a gorgeous women and her body is beautiful. But at the same time we ALL need to be mindful of our body types.  There are some really cute dresses and skirts that I have bought that look great on women who have a smaller butt than mine.  But when I put it on, if I were to bend over then everyone would see what was underneath my skirt.  If I wear that skirt to work I should not say that if a skinny girl is wearing it she would get less criticism them me. Of course she would.  Her butt is not showing when she put on the skirt….Mine is.   The fact of the matter is that the outfit, fits differently on me than it does her, and as a grown professional woman I have should have enough sense to know that wearing something where my backside may be exposed when I sit down is not a good idea.

Because I am a curvier girl I do not have be mindful on what I wear to work and how it comes across. As we all should be.  And if something looks appropriate on someone else and inappropriate on me, I need to be able to take it off.  I know that we have all seen people wearing things that they have no business wearing it does not matter if they are curvy, skinny, tall, or short.  So for myself, my problem with her work place attire is not about her being curvy, but that she should be more mindful that she is in a school environment and understand that some of her outfits are not a good choice for a school environment.

I will admit that I do not think ALL of her clothes are bad or inappropriate. But I will say that schools have a dress code for students and if students are not allowed to wear a tight bodycon dress to school, then why should a teacher. Most schools do not allow a skirt or dress to be more than 3 inches above the knee for students.  So why would a teacher wear something that is more than 3 inches above the knee? 

My high school did not allow students to wear shorts.  And this was in Texas where it was hot.  How crazy would that look if a teacher wore shorts to school, and the schools tell us we cannot not?  Teachers should set the standards for students.  There is nothing wrong with looking good.  But you can look good wearing appropriate clothing to work.  I should be able to tell the difference between your working clothes and your clubbing those.  They are not the same things.

When determining what you should be wearing to work, you need to take a few things into consideration. You need to think about where you work.  Working in a school is not the same as working at a fashion magazine.  You can get away with different attire at a fashion magazine then you can at a school.  These things should be common sense.

I may be in the minority with it comes to Miss Teacher Bae. Because most people seem to think that she is being discriminated against.  But speaking from experience, there are some things that I chose not to wear to work because it is too clingy, too tight, or too short.  I feel that, these things are the mentality of a professional. I never want to come to work and have to be sent home because what I am wearing is not consistent with the organization's dress clothes policy.

Teacher, Patrice Brown or Paris Monroe of Atlanta controversy about her fineness.

Cameron Diaz playing Elizabeth Halsey in Bad Teacher.

Teacher, Patrice Brown a 2nd Grade teacher at Boyd Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia

in her classroom.

Grandmother speaks ...

A TEACHER NEVER SHELTERS YOU FROM EXPERIENCE

" You can never tell someone about an experience that she is going to have. You can never tell her how to behave or how not to behave, because then you would be cheating her of that experience.

A teaching from Grandmother...."
 

"The Woman of Wyrrd"

Much love and spirit,
Lynn V. Andrews

Lynn V Andrews

#lynnvandrews
#womanofwyrrd
#shamanisim
#lynnandrews
 

PRACTICE 38



April Rameé wrote, 'Embark upon a personal journey. Each step decided by truth and joy. This is the way to manifest your dreams and grow beyond your limits.'



"Our young women who crave the direction of the aged, and their wisdom and the example of maturity from the women around them are all around us. Without Grandmother-Teachers they can became violent within the throes of their despair, and lash out. Western societies do not depend on the spiritual wealth of their women. These societies are corporations more than anything else, and their primary energy focus (the acquisition of things) gives women young enough to be bait a place in the scheme of things under the dictatorship of its patriarchy: property.

What happens to the old happened to the young. What the young experience needs to be heard. The stories translated by their Elders engaged in the assembly of power, the work of empowerment, and the love of life need to be with the young women, and the young men who are not prepared for them, or initiated into the mysterious role of their manhood…” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (Dawn Wolf)
March 25, 2011




SEEDS Distribution Co'coon
Asana on a pier.


PRACTICE 21

FATHER TO HIS SONS

Son, this is from a level of spiritual warriorship not for the faint of heart, or the untrained. This fight is within you, but what will your Medicine, your life dictate for  you to undertake? is the central question to answer. To engage in this dialogue online is senseless. But, to engage in the dialogue is full of good common sense. As you age periodically examine your shield reading and discerning its language. - your father (Gregory E. Woods) 12.13.13

The Teaching  

"The kind of shield that allows only the thought forms of light to enter and returns all darkness and destruction to the sender." ~ Agnes Whistling Elk, elder & Grandmother teacher of author Lynn Andrews  



Sara Dastjani
October 8, 2013 



16TH PRACTICE

"Relationship Advice To All My Single Friends - Your worth is what's in your head, what's in your heart, and who your spirit worships. Value and worth are not predicated on what's between your legs. (Excuse me for going there but I want to help somebody understand that love is different from lust). If someone can't love you for you unless you give it up, then you need to throw up the peace sign and bounce." - Dr. Sinclair N. Grey III  12.9.13

Leslie Vega's t-shirt
says real deal about powers and power.

There is scriptural support for the adage, "I have the pussy I make the rules!" and common knowledge proof of the fact of that power over men's lives and purpose. - Dawn Wolf 12.9.13











Well put together is the idea that we are parts of a whole circle. As the poet, Walt Whitman said, "I am large. I contain multiples. I contradict myself." So too do the pieces of our circle of being echo the same conflicts. How do you manage and balance sexual energies if your life pattern has been one of promiscuity with little, or no discipline of spirit and mind? Worse how does that happen as a single person new in the Jesus Walk with all of the high expectations of their church family resting upon him/her? 

There has to be a return of the ancient ways of initiating people into the penetrating mysteries of sexual energies because sexual energies and our relationship with the energies of Creation, creativity, divinity and our direct probes into the deity we worship copulating with our sexual energies. The ebb and flow of those energies are inseparable. The Puritanical approach has failed miserably for centuries to rid people of sexual desire. Shame has not stopped the inevitability of release, and hell and damnation are not enough to turn us away from each other when the heat is on. Why not revive the ceremonies and rituals that aided our ancestors' spiritual walks more effectively? There are no guarantees. It is our word, our intent and our will that need the teachings.- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12.9.13

pregnant Black women having sex.

MAGICAL CREATURES IN NATURE

2 children playing
July 19, 2013
from Telma Regina Garcia 

Look at that joy! That picture has captured the spirit of children whose spirit has not solidified in their bodies yet. Children's spirits take a few years to ground into the body and their learning should be in accordance with that process. The rigid role of the traditional teacher is detrimental to a  child's development at this level. Ignorant of the requirements of a teacher to teach to and from the subtle elements is not a reason to continue the practice of harshness heralded as education, or to force children into formal school settings at the tender ages when they should be exploring the details of the world-at-large. 

Harshness and judgement have never produced light or made it easy to discover magic, but the two are fundamental to the approach children are forced to accept as necessary to succeed in school and life. Isn't that cruel?

We are born into magic, not sin. Childhood requires four (4) things and harshness and judgement are not a two (2) of the four (4). - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9.19.13





O tempo
A vida é o dever que nós trouxemos para fazer em casa.
Quando se vê, já são seis horas!
Quando de vê, já é sexta-feira!
Quando se vê, já é natal...
Quando se vê, já terminou o ano...
Quando se vê perdemos o amor da nossa vida.
Quando se vê passaram 50 anos!
Agora é tarde demais para ser reprovado...
Se me fosse dado um dia, outra oportunidade, eu nem olhava o relógio.
Seguiria sempre em frente e iria jogando pelo caminho a casca dourada e inútil das horas...
Seguraria o amor que está a minha frente e diria que eu o amo...
E tem mais: não deixe de fazer algo de que gosta devido à falta de tempo.
Não deixe de ter pessoas ao seu lado por puro medo de ser feliz.
A única falta que terá será a desse tempo que, infelizmente, nunca mais voltará.

Mário Quintana 

a happy couple in Brazil by Telma Regina Garcia
June 12, 2013