Trailers as Classrooms in NYC

Article: As neighborhoods in New York explode with population growth, the NYC public school system doesn't have enough classrooms, especially for the younger grades. So they have been housing over 7000 students in trailers, half of which are in Queens (where my husband is from!). The trailers sit outside regular school buildings and serve as overflow classrooms. Mayor Bloomberg vowed to get rid of them by 2012 but they still remain. One handyman who works for the city says he has chased possums, mice, turtles and raccoons from them. Other problems with the trailers: the electricity doesn't always work; the heat breaks down in winter and it is too humid in spring. The walls make it hard to hang things on. To go to the bathroom, or for gym, art or lunch, the kids have to put on kids in all kinds of weather (rain, snow, etc.) and trudge to the main school building. The trailers are literally falling apart and the city must come up with solutions. What solutions can you think of? Click here for pictures.

What You Can Do With a Harmonica

Today I have finally caught the cold that all 3 kids have had on and off for the last 2 weeks. So the current event today will be a puffy one. Have your kids ever tried to play the harmonica? If so, they may be excited to see what you can do with a harmonica if you have extraordinary perseverance at practicing. Click on this VIDEO to hear and listen til the end!

Potatoes for India

Article: India is a country of extremes: terrible poverty and great wealth. Millions do not have enough to eat, even though India grows enough food. The problem isn't one of poor farming but poor distribution. For instance, India's biggest crop is the potato; India is the second largest producer of potatoes in the world (after China)! The problem is that potatoes are harvested in the winter. Local farmers sell what they can and the excess are sold to distributors, who store them in cold-storage warehouses and sell them back to the local population at elevated prices later on in the year. What is a solution? 

One solution is extending the shelf life of potatoes in the hands of local farmers. Israel is doing research to help solve this problem. Perhaps Israeli solar energy technology could help: farmers could build small storerooms with solar panels to generate electricity for refrigerators and keep the storage rooms cold. A scientist in India is looking for ways to collaborate with Israel to find a solution. 

What solutions do you have? 

New Attempt to Boycott Israeli Architects

Article: Each country has a national association of architects. These associations come together into a united body, called the International Union of Architects (IUA). The IUA was founded in 1948 as a place where architects of the world could come together free from discrimination. This past week, RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects (UK), narrowly passed a motion calling for Israeli architects to the suspended from IUA. It claims that Israeli architects contribute to settlement building in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and therefore should be excluded from the international body of architects. This move is part of the BDS movement's goals of isolating Israel culturally, politically and economically.

Discussion Questions

• Define these terms: architects, suspend, discrimination, motion, BDS
• How is this an example of discrimination? 
• Kids: pretend you are an Israeli architect. Make the argument for why architects and artists should be above politics and not let politics decide what they can or cannot do. 
• How would you feel if you were an architect in Israel right now? 

Teenager sacrifices his life to save his friend

Article: A 16 year old from Northern California, Mateus Moore, and his girlfriend, Mickayla, were going to a dance party at their high school this weekend when they were struck by a train. The train was not moving fast but somehow neither Mateus or Mickayla heard the train nor felt its vibrations. Mickayla, who is in the hospital with critical injuries, told her family that she and Mateus were walking across the tracks to get a snack at the time of the accident. They decided to walk across the tracks instead of taking an underground pedestrian tunnel because they felt the underground tunnel was too dark and potentially dangerous. As the train came, Mateus shoved his girlfriend out of the direct path of the train and in so doing, sacrificed his own life.

Rescued Baby Reunited with Rescuer

Article: 26 years ago, there was a terrible car accident when a drunk driver plowed into a car with a mother and infant. The car was demolished. A Good Samaritan named Shelley (ask kids what this means) pulled over to help. As she went to check on the mother in the driver's seat, she heard a baby crying. She managed to get the baby out of the car seat. Shelley was worried the car was about to explode. The mother kept crying for her baby and falling in and out of consciousness. Shelley held the baby, Nicole, until paramedics arrived. She went with them to the hospital in the ambulance. A few days later, Shelley called the hospital to check in on them. She heard that baby had been paralyzed from the neck down. Shelley assumed it was her fault, for moving the baby. 26 years later, she happened to see a baby video of Nicole on the Internet and recognized the baby she had once rescued. She contacted the family and found out that Nicole had been paralyzed as a result of the accident, not Shelley's actions. She has since become close with the family.

Obituary: Israeli soldier Meir Har-Tzion

Article: Meir Har-Tzion passed way this weekend. He was one of Israel's most fearless soldiers. He wrote books, studied by Israeli soldiers, about always completing your mission no matter what, how to fight alone at night, retaliation, never abandoning a fellow soldier, and loving the Land of Israel. As a soldier, he is legendary for his bravery. He was raised on a kibbutz and loved to hike. In the 1950s, he went out to hike into Syria with his sister, Shoshana. They were kidnapped by Bedouin and jailed in Syria for weeks. Also in the 1950s, he hiked by himself into Jordan to visit the ancient city of Petra. In 1954, his sister Shoshana and a friend were killed while hiking in the Judean desert. Har-Tzion left the army, set out with some friends and weapons, snuck into Jordan, caught 5 men from the tribe that had killed his sister, and killed 4 of the men, leaving the 5th alive to tell the story. He was jailed upon his return from Israel and suspended from the army. Later on, he was shot in the throat during a cross-border raid and saved by emergency field surgery. He fought in several of Israel's wars and died in old age, as one of Israel's most courageous warriors.

Discussion:

• What do you think of his actions as a soldier? 
• Which of the stories do you find most shocking? Why?