Quotations On The Importance of Compassion

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“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

                                                                     Albert Einstein

 

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“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

                                                                    Dalai Lama

 

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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

                                                                   Aesop

 

“Compassion, and not brutality, is the true sign of strength.”

                                                                  Charles F. French

Hope Blooms~

I hope you enjoy these beautiful photographs from Cindy Knoke! We all need hope.

Cindy Knoke

Christmas Blooms,

opened a month late,

on January 20th, 2021.

As if to celebrate,

new leadership for the USA.

Hope delayed,

blooms and grows.

Cheers to you from The Holler’s late bloomers~

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An Article Published on ReadersMagnet!

I am very pleased to announce that I have an article published on ReadersMagnet about my book Get The Draft Done! Helping Writers Finish Their First Draft by Charles F. French. https://www.readersmagnet.club/get-the-draft-done-helping-writers-finish-their-first-draft-by-charles-f-french/

I appreciate this opportunity. If you can, please check it out.

Martin Luther King Jr Day–2021

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Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and I would like to offer a few of this extraordinary American’s quotations as a tribute to him. He was one of the finest, most decent, and empathetic people in the history of the United States of America. We should all remember him and honor his teaching, his legacy, and his call for justice for everyone.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

Thank you to all writers!

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To all the writers out there who are working hard, who are drafting and revising, submitting and self-publishing, thank you! You are the conscience of society, the teller of tales, and the creators of myth. So, from one writer to other writers: thanks!

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Please continue to write. Do not pay attention to any negative people, any nay-sayers. Be proud of what you are doing, and say to yourself and the world–I am a writer!

The New School Opening… Part 3

Here is the 3rd part in Jennie’s series on the new school opening. If you have never been to her blog, please go there. She is an extraordinary teacher.

A Teacher's Reflections

Emmett painted this picture of walking into school on the first day.
Do you see the sun?  That came straight from Emmett’s heart.

Yes, there was even more that happened over the first days of school.  On our science table there is an old and very heavy book about Earth.  The photos are fascinating, all taken from above.  A child was lugging the heavy book to the floor to see the photos.

Heavy and old is definitely cool.

I asked, “Do you want to see the photos?  Let’s play “The ‘Stop Game’ and see our planet Earth.”

Seizing the moment is what I do, because it’s the opportunity for some of the best teaching.  So, we played ‘The Stop Game’.  I fan the pages of the book, and children yell out “Stop!”  Whatever that page happens to be, I stop.  That’s the page we study and learn about.  All week…

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Today… the New School Opening

Here is part two in the series by the excellent teacher, Jennie, about the opening of the new school!

A Teacher's Reflections

My previous post was ‘the night before’ opening school in our newly renovated building.  Here is what happened :

First things first- we opened ‘the box’, the one children packed up with their treasures so they could be part of the move, too.  I’m not sure if anyone remembered what was packed away, but the children were thrilled when the box was opened.  It was like finding a long lost friend.

Inside there were:

• Two puzzles
• One set of yoga cards
• Two rocks
• One block
• One community block with a Groton Community School photo
• Two magnifying glasses, each very different
• Six vehicles
• One large road mat

(Books were not part of packing the box.  They would have been treasures, for sure.)

The first thing children did was play!

   

The loft is a big hit.  Don’t you wish you’d had a loft to play in when you…

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The Night Before… the New School Opening

Here is the first of a wonderful series by Jennie, the excellent teacher!

A Teacher's Reflections

It’s the night before the opening of our newly renovated school.  I’ve done all I can do before children arrive tomorrow morning.  You know how hard a move is, and this was a major one.  Teachers have worked long and hard to transform the new space into warm and welcoming classrooms.  We still have some work to do, but we’re ready for children.

Did you see (in the video) the box on the small table, decorated by children?  When we began to talk about the big move, our first activity was to have children pick a toy or something from the classroom that was important, something they wanted to ‘pack up’, too.  Tomorrow our first group activity will be unpacking that big box.  We’re excited!

We have our loft back.  We have big windows for children to see the playground and the woodland landscape.  We’re only steps away from going…

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Quotations on Democracy

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”

                                                          Abraham Lincoln

 

“There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter.”

                                                           Barack Obama

 

 

 

“What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.”

                                                            Robert F. Kennedy

 

“Those who vote and respect the will of the people  in elections are true patriots; those who riot and perform acts of sedition are traitors, as are those who support the insurrectionists.”

                                                           Charles F. French                                            

The Return of the Ghost: Hauntology, Hontology & the Art of Growing Good Horror From Dead Things Today

Please read this excellent post from KC Redding-Gonzalez!

Zombie Salmon (the Horror Continues)

It has long been surmised by the Literary Establishment as well as much of our genre establishment that the best of the ghost story is behind us.

“Authority” after “authority” has said so. Yet since the 1980s, there has been a growing American fascination with ghosts in general that is eerily reminiscent of that early twentieth century fixation on seances and spiritualism. From talk shows featuring modern-day mediums to Hollywood offerings that range from comedy to romance to outright Horror, right down to ghost hunters and fascination with demonology and witchcraft… we have become obsessed with ghosts.

Isn’t it ironic that we seem unable to capitalize on this successfully in the genre? And why is it that so many other academic researchers outside of Literature have seen the obvious and are actually studying the phenomenon?

Maybe it is time to wake up – to see with open eyes what these…

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