Professional golf at the highest level returns next week with the restart of the PGA Tour season at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. With so much time offroughly three months since the Players Championship was canceled after one roundbecause of the coronavirus pandemic, the worlds top golfers are certain to be eager to resume competing, pursue their livelihoods and feel some sense of normalcy. Eagerness and readiness arent interchangeable, however.

In anticipation of the restart, the question many observers have is a simple one: What kind of golf can we expect to see? Given most players have been practicing at home in recent weeks, the usual aspects of the gamehitting bombs off the tee, striping irons into greens and scraping in nervy three-footersshould be readily embraced and, largely, executed to a familiar high standard.

The primary challenge that awaits, then is more mental than physical. Bobby Jones once said that competitive golf is played mainly on a 5-inch course, the space between your ears, and that certainly hasnt changed. What has changed is the environment in which that competition is conducted. In a post-COVID-19 world, where tournaments will be played with a new set of realities governing them that will take some getting used to, requiring a new way of thinking and an increased level of patience. Some guys will adjust faster than others.

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Basically, how guys prepare for competition isnt going to change. These guys know how to get ready to play golf, and they know what to do when the gun goes off, Dr. Bob Rotella said. Obviously, things going on in the world have affected their daily lives, and it has affected the rhythm of their season, their practice and so forth, but they cant let that get in the way of their proven methods and mindset. Having said that, human nature dictates that everyone is different.

Inside the ropes, its going to change the least. Playing the game is still playing the game, Dr. Mo Pickens agreed. But whatever the way things were at the last event we played, we arent going to see that coming back, maybe ever. A normal week is going to be different. We will still have the traveling circus, but it is going to be a different circus.

A memo sent to the players last week and obtained by Golf Digest outlined some of the differences that players can expect at Colonial. Those include an initial coronavirus test upon arrival, another on Saturday, daily temperature checks and other safety measures such as grab-and-go meals. A 37-page document the tour released May 12 outlined numerous precautions, including player interactions with caddies and equipment personnel.

There could still be other modifications, too, depending on the site. At least the first four events on the revamped schedule will be conducted without spectators in attendance.

There are three kinds of people in the world, and we are going to see how those three groups handle things early on, said swing instructor Sean Foley, who is equally attuned to the mental side of golf. Some guys are going to struggle, because they cant handle the changes and think everything is a pain in the ass. All they see are the negatives. Theyre the victims, people who perceive themselves as the only ones who are suffering. Then there are the guys who need time to figure things out. They will adjust, but maybe need a week under their belts, maybe more.

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 07: A general view of the driving range at Spyglass Hill Golf Course prior to the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on February 07, 2020 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

And then youll have this group of guys who are going to find the opportunity in this. Guys who are more like Brooksie [Brooks Koepka], who have the virtue of acceptance and say whatever and realize that the paradigm has shifted and adjust to it. They accept the challenge and any potential adversity.

For the players Pickens works with, the point he has expressed is to accept that tournament week is still evolving, and its likely going to continue to do so even after the restart. So what I say to my players is to find a way to put yourself in a setting you might already know, he said. [The situation] could be like junior golf, where you show up, warm up, and go play and there is no one around to watch you. No frills. You might never go in the locker room. It might be like a British Open where you get five or six guys together renting a house, you get a chef, stay in all week, and maybe that isnt a bad thing to do now. But the key is to be ready to change your mindset and be ready to have to make more plans for what you do in your day. The comforts of the tour and travel arent all going to be there.

When it comes to sharpening their games, Pickens, based in Sea Island, Ga., where a number of tour players live, has harped on several messages. He has emphasized to players taking an approach much like their offseason, breaking down statistics and concentrating on perhaps one discipline. He has outlined a program that includes 12 practice sessions over six days with a mandatory day off, and with variations to prevent staleness. He also has encouraged more walking as the restart nears. Its amazing how important that is, both for the fitness aspect and getting back into that competitive rhythm after regularly playing out of a cart, he said.

Rotella goes back to believing that players largely know what they need to do to get ready. His emphasis is all about pitfalls in attitude.

Ive told guys, dont try too hard. Others you have to tell them dont get too caught up or lost in their golf swings, Rotella said. Others you just want them to concentrate on one aspect of their game that they are trying to improve upon as a way to not put pressure on their whole game. For the most part, I should think its their short games. And yet others, they might try to be too perfect because their expectations are pretty high based on so much time working on things. I can see some guys overpreparing or picking their games apart, and they have to fight that.

Then its just a matter of remembering their routines and sticking to them regardless of whatever else is going on in the tournament.

Sergio Garcia warms up on his driving at the practice range of the KLM Open at The International Golf Course on September 12 2019 in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Photo by: Dean Mouhtaropoulos

Or not going on, which, at least for the first month, will be the presence of spectators and their accompanying reaction to shots.

The PGA Tour might not like to hear this, but while players have an awareness of fans and can feel the presence of fans, they are so good at getting lost into their own little worlds that they really dont notice them that much as they play from shot to shot, Rotella said. Would they rather have a gallery watching them so they can show off and be cheered? Yeah. But when they play at home against their buddies, they are going at it and trying hard, and there are no fans. Same thing. I think the adjustment isnt going to be that great. And by the way, its not like no one is paying attention. That TV camera is still there watching.

Some guys do feed off a gallery, Pickens said. I wonder if a guy like Phil Mickelson will enjoy it as much without fans. I can see where some players arent going to be enthused about just playing golf. Other guys dont like the crowds and the fanfare and signing autographs, or interviews, and they will think its phenomenal to just play golf and be done.

The main thing, insists Pickens, is for players to be open to change and enjoy the return to the thing they love to do. Youll want to be a little more self-aware than you were earlier, he said. You need to have a thankful attitude and an accepting attitude, but you have to have an intentional attitude to where you are doing what needs to be done.

In other words, a change of outlook is crucial to success going forward. But so is a commitment to not changing the things that work.

Talk about mind games. And golf is hard enough already.

Im looking forward to the human experiment that is about to unfold in front of us with golf as the laboratory, Foley said. I keep seeing this reference of a return to normalcy, and let me tell you, we arent ever going back to what we view as normal ever again. You can either get stuck in that rut of wanting to go back to the way things were, or you can adapt and move forward. Its going to be fascinating to watch who adapts and figures it all out.

Story continues

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Wait wait GO!: The best advice for players on how to be mentally ready to restart the 2020 PGA Tour season - Yahoo Sports

In the wake of the senseless murder of George Floyd (and countless others), thousands of people across America are taking to the streets in protest. These protests, which are happening in several cities, are the result of the rampant and unchecked police brutality that terrorizes people of color. One such riot took place in Louisville, KY, where protesters vandalized a statue of the citys namesake, Frances King Louis XVI.

Now, his self-proclaimed heir Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, the Duke of Anjou, is weighing in on Twitter to share his thoughts.

Ah yes, in this time of violence and collective anger, will no one think of the statues? The mindbogglingly tone deaf tweet could have only come from a self-styled royal whose lack of self-awareness rivals King Louis XVI himself.

If youre a little rusty on your history, King Louis XVI was the last king of France before the French Revolution. Louis XVI, while an ineffective and ill-suited ruler, did provide support to American colonists in their war for independence against Great Britain (in an effort to stick it to their long-time fellow European enemy.) In the ensuing revolution, Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette were convicted of treason and condemned to death via guillotine. That sort of thing tends to happen when your citizens are starving to death and desperate for equality.

Naturally, Twitter rallied together to tell Louis Alphonse exactly where he could stick his royal objections:

And heres the kicker: that statue of King Louis XVI was a notorious re-gift that bounced around France for decades because no one wanted it!

The statue ends up as an apt metaphor for royalty: stony, self-aggrandizing, and utterly useless. Topple white supremacy and decorative nonsense like this.

(via Twitter, image: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

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Twitter Unites to Roast an Heir of Louis XVI Who Weighed in on Americas Protests - The Mary Sue

Poker players are an interesting bunch.

As rational as they may think they are, they also tend to be quite superstitious.

This can be observed in all things they do to bring luck to their side. (Such as having a lucky charm, for example.)

Somewhere in between fact and superstition, there are things like personology, and pseudosciences in general.

Could they be of any use when playing poker? Or are they a total waste of ones time?

Pseudosciences are practices that havent been found legitimate by the scientific method.

Another way to say this is that theyre bodies of knowledge that havent been objectively verified. Or at least not yet.

Its interesting to observe how some popular forms of pseudoscience were, at one point, taken quite seriously.

The biggest example of this is astrology.

Many people today see it as total nonsense. But its status centuries ago was like that of astronomy today.

The same goes for alchemy. This was a legitimate form of chemistry in many peoples eyes.the

In fact, both practices are still highly regarded by many.

Its just that not everyone who practices astrology or alchemy today is worried about their scientific status. And why would they? So many other things have been called pseudosciences as well.

Theres a page on Wikipedia just for that, by the way. And its quite a surprising list if you ask me.

Sure, astrology and alchemy are there. But so are neuro-linguistic programming, psychoanalysis, and even the technical analysis in finances.

Ironically, one topic that its not on that Wikipedia page is physiognomy.

Although, nowadays, it usually goes by the name of personology.

Physiognomy, in whatever name its called, goes back at least to Ancient Greece.

In a nutshell, this is the belief that ones physical characteristics, especially ones face, say a lot about his/her personality.

According to those who study physiognomy, everything about your face means something.

Seriously, everything: the distance between your eyes, the shape of your nose, the size of your lips, the width of your face

As Ive said, people have studied this over centuries. And its come in and out of fashion countless times.

One of its most famous revivals came in the early 20th century.

Almost a century ago, American judge Edward Vincent Jones observed facial patterns in people charged with certain crimes.

He then set out to systematize his thoughts, eventually calling it personology.

It became quite a big deal, which led him to establish a personology foundation in California.

Today, one of the most prominent teachers of personology is a woman called Naomi Tickle. And shes adamant in saying that this is a science.

According to her, it can help you in countless ways.

One of the most important ones would be finding the right career for you.

Since I myself have never tried it, I dont know how accurate those analyses would be.

But I know of at least 2 things that give this new physiognomy revival at least some credibility.

In recent times, its been suggested that our hormones have an influence on certain physical traits.

Testosterone levels, in particular, seem to be noticeable in a mans whole body.

Those with a more squared jaw, for example, are said to have higher levels of this hormone. And the same would go for those whose ring finger is much larger than the index finger.

Apart from biology, another ally of personologists has been the development of face recognition systems.

The advances in this type of technology are making it easier to find patterns in peoples faces.

Consequently, its making it easier for personologists to test their theories.

But is it enough to make this body of knowledge more credible than others?

Those in the news media know that people are fascinated by the kind of stuff that personologists study.

Anything that has to do with ones personality is going to generate some attention. And this fascination will happen regardless of any type of scientific validation.

This is easier to observe when we take a look at how people react to some other pseudosciences.

One example here is graphology, which is the study of a person according to his/her handwriting.

Another is chiromancy, which is the study of ones hands.

For some, even your sleep position can mean something. (They havent invented a cool name for it yet.) But personology (or physiognomy) has an advantage over all those other studies.

Personologists dont need to ask anyone to write in cursive. (Many schools dont even teach kids how to do it anymore.)

They also dont need to have any prior information about someone.

In other words, it doesnt matter if you dont want to reveal your birthday or your sleep position.

Theyll be able to give their verdict about you just the same.

Ok, so whats the type of information we can get with the study of personology?rea

Basically, anything that has do with ones character.

This is an important distinction for poker pros to have in mind.

We all make guesses about others based on their ethnicity, clothes, gender, age, and so on.

These and other things are all considered types of cold reading. That is, they are broad generalizations based mostly on social constructs.

For example, if you see an older man at your poker table, your first reaction will be to think that hes less aggressive than a younger guy.

If youre up against a Scandinavian, you might think hes loose-aggressive.

When facing a guy from China, youre inclined to think that hes a math whizz.

The study of personology would lead you to make some of those kinds of inferences.

With the exception that, if what Tickle and others say is true, your level of accuracy would be much higher. And potentially quite lucrative, if we are to believe what she says about someones nose. According to her:

You have to really look at that from the side profile.

Ok. And then?

Well, heres an analysis of a particular type of nose:

The Roman-shaped nose is a bossy nose. It likes to be in charge. They are also very aware of costs.

And heres what she says about another, quite different type:

The ski-jump nose is a monetary carefree nose, one that likes to spend all their money without a care about saving for tomorrow.

Does it mean that, at first, itd be easier to bluff someone who has a nose like Tom Cruise?

I have no idea. Because, until now, I always thought those characteristics depended mostly on ones ethnicity.

In any case, theres at least 1 variable we should always bring to our analyses of other players. And itd be wise to at least talk about it before reaching any type of verdict on someone.

Body language is the type of information that depends on your perceptions about someones reactions.

At a poker table, we call those reactions tells.

Some tells can be faked, for sure. And some players are prone to do just that. (Theyre actors, as Mike Caro says.)

But, with practice, you learn to distinguish what reactions are more reliable. And sometimes one single tell you have on someone is enough for you to make a lot of money.

If youre a live poker player, I dont need to say much more about the importance of body language.

So, whats my point in mentioning it in this article?

If you know how to mix your knowledge of body language with cold reading, youll have quite an edge at poker.

The thing is: your cold reading must be based on solid principles. And its up to you to decide if thats the case of personology or any other pseudosciences.

Theres 1 last thing to be said about personology.

Even if it doesnt turn out to be a reliable source of information, its important to notice that its generated stereotypes. And, over thousands of years, people have internalized those stereotypes. (Consciously or not.)

Thats how people become racists, misogynists, and so on. In fact, even those who are the victims of stereotypes internalize them.

After all, they live in the same society as everyone else. So, studying any type of cold reading is an excellent way for you to raise your self-awareness.

Because you start to become aware of things youve been led to believe all your life.

Once you identify a certain pattern, you may feel that same reaction you always did.

The difference is that now youll be able to disidentify from it. As you see, it becomes a matter of choice.

Nelson Mandela once said that if you can be taught how to hate, you can be taught how to love.

In this second case, though, youll have to be your own teacher.

At least until youre able to find one whom you find to be trustworthy.

See the rest here:
How to Read Your Poker Opponents - Poker Tells and Body Language - BestUSCasinos.org

Reading about Brown v. Board of Education over Google Meet. Holding one-on-one Zooms with students struggling with their emotions. Planning lessons on criminal justice reform for the fall both in-person and remote, in case school buildings dont reopen.

Educators across the U.S. already adapting to remote teaching due to the coronavirus pandemic now find themselves facing another challenge: supporting, educating, and engaging students during waves of protest and unrest. The outrage stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other recent police killings of black citizens has led to demonstrations, violent clashes with police, and curfews in numerous cities.

Navigating discussions about race relations, police brutality, and systemic racism can be challenging for teachers even during normal times. But grappling with these topics during a pandemic, when school communities cant learn together in person, is even more difficult.

Students who may have been willing to share fears for their safety in person might not open up over a classwide Zoom. Teachers who previously picked up on students emotions while watching them in hallways now have no window into their frames of mind. Some students may not even have reliable internet access to join live instruction.

Still, many educators know that its during these challenging moments that they are needed the most.

For many schools that serve predominantly black and brown low-income communities, moments like now are why we teach, said Leslie-Bernard Joseph, chief executive officer at Coney Island Preparatory charter schools in Brooklyn.

Chalkbeat spoke with educators across the country about how they are trying to meet the needs of their students, faculty, and parents during this challenging time. Their answers reveal struggle and frustration but also ingenuity and compassion. If youd like to join the conversation, tell us how your school community is handling this moment.

****

As protests continued late into Friday and Saturday nights across the country and the five boroughs, Principal Robert Michelin lesson planned. He and faculty stayed up until midnight both days, planning the next two weeks of school at Gotham Professional Arts Academy: check-ins with students, a town hall, compiling historical texts and video clips about race, and a Day of Action on June 12.

For some reason, George Floyds murder is hitting me really, really hard, Michelin said. And I think part of it is because Ive never been in a position where this has happened and I have almost 200 babies. And its this moment where you have to decide whether or not you want to keep their rose-colored glasses on or you want to share the truth. ... We have to give them something that gives them some power back.

Protests have taken place in all five boroughs of New York City over the past few days, some leading to violent confrontations with police and hundreds of arrests.

Gotham is part of the citys Performance Standards Consortium, a group of more than 30 schools that graduates students based on projects and portfolios. Last week, Michelin held an emergency faculty meeting after a freshman student, during a Zoom class discussion, typed in the chat box, What if gotham presented a zoom call to protest about racism?

On June 12, the school will host a Day of Action on Zoom and invite other consortium schools to attend. Students will spend the next two weeks designing activism projects to share that day, which could include music playlists, art work, or even Zoom-coordinated performance art. The final product will be up to students.

The beauty of this and the value of this is that were still committing to our values as a school, which is, we dont want to tell students how to demonstrate their mastery, he said.

On Monday, teachers will check in on students, some of whom are also processing the trauma of losing relatives to the coronavirus, Michelin said. The school will also host a town hall where staffers will talk about the news and the history of police brutality. Students will break into subgroups to talk about how theyre feeling. And if students feel prepared to watch, the school will show the video of Floyds death.

They need to understand that sometimes its better not to look away so they can actually hold on to the feeling, that raw feeling, so they can turn those feelings into actions, Michelin said, adding the school will offer links to news coverage if students dont want to watch the video.

Michelin is hoping that this helps fill in some of the gaps for students who want to participate in protests but cant.

I think the fear of being out in the streets is really real because theyre not trying to contract the virus, Michelin said.

*****

At Lawndale Community Academy on the west side of Chicago, Michael Bryant teaches middle school math and science but slips in a daily current events lesson. His students often say they dont read or watch the news, but he tells them its important to know whats happening around them and around the world. He wants to get them thinking.

On Monday, Bryant plans to post articles about the looting and destruction that spiraled out of some protests over the weekend and open up the topic for discussion: Do you think this is right?

He guides them through how to have respectful debates, how to identify when articles take different viewpoints, and how to evaluate facts without jumping to conclusions. Hes proud of them for asking questions, such as why former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin wasnt immediately arrested for Floyds death, or why the other officers involved havent faced charges.

Talking about current events also lets Bryant, who is black, open up a bigger dialogue about systemic racism and police brutality with his students, who are all African American. Reading about the coronavirus outbreak, for example, led to conversations about the disproportionate health care issues that African Americans face.

I feel it is my responsibility to inform the students of whats going on and how this education is going to help them better themselves, Bryant said. Education changes a lot of things. Look at the community we live in, health care, jobs. A lot of this stuff is going on because people are frustrated.

****

Last week marked the final week of the school year in Denver. At Manual High School, located in the historic heart of black Denver, those final days of remote learning time revolved around giving students time to make up missed work, with no time to introduce new material.

But that didnt mean that school leaders were not already working on how to incorporate frank discussions about policing, race relations, and racism into classes next fall.

William Anderson, who heads the social studies department, described heavy discussions among the social studies and humanities teachers he works with all of them black men.

Do we teach our students that the police are a terrorizing, occupying force within our communities? Anderson said. Do we teach them about what the police should be? Do we teach them about the origins of the police? Do we urge them to be the police?

That last question provoked a range of thought, he said, from hell no to the idea of graduating an entire class from the police academy to reform the institution from within.

Where we left off was being able to create a space for the conversation, said Anderson, 37.

With so much uncertainty about what school will look like in the fall Denver, like many school districts, is contemplating a mix of in-person and remote learning Anderson said he is urging teachers to avoid dwelling on logistical questions.

This is the time to be dialed into the content we want to teach. Use this time not to worry about whether its remote or not, in class or not Screw all of that. Dont worry about any of that til we are in August.

He said hes confident that teachers can teach these tough issues regardless of what school looks like, in part because remote learning will no longer be new or different after the last two-plus months.

Yes, 100%, these kinds of conversations can take place, he said. Its just going to be slightly different. If anything, it might allow us a broader and bigger opportunity to have these kinds of conversations.

****

Leaders at Coney Island Preparatory charter schools where 74% of students are black and Hispanic and where nearly 83% of students are from low-income families view this as a pivotal teaching moment. The network has an elementary, middle, and high school that together serve about 1,000 students.

This is what were preparing our students for and so we have a responsibility to help our kids process this moment, Joseph said.

The Brooklyn school is first focusing on staff. This week, the school will host several optional group discussions for teachers about the recent turmoil. There are specific discussions planned for educators who are black, Asian, white, and specifically, white women. (White teachers make up 44% of the staff, while 31% are black, 6% are Asian, and nearly 6% are Hispanic, according to data Joseph provided.)

I think theres a desire from leaders of color within our organization to both protect our own mental sanity and our kids, Joseph said. I think there is a desire from white leaders in our organization to do more, personally reflect on whether they are the Amy Coopers of the world, he added, referring to the white woman who gained infamy for calling 911 on a black birdwatcher who asked her to follow Central Park rules and leash her dog.

Leaders at the school are creating lessons focused on recent events for student advisory periods and sent tips to teachers for weaving recent news into their daily lessons. This includes anti-racist guidance for teachers that suggests books and articles to read, television series to watch, and social media sources to follow. Teachers were also sent information how to teach about racism, race, and police violence from the group Teaching Tolerance.

One of the challenges staff will face, he said, is explaining to students how they can safely advocate for change when we know there is a danger and that theyre at risk just by virtue of being black or brown.

The other challenge is tailoring lessons for students in different grades. Talking about systemic racism looks different with their high school students, who have read Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow, versus chatting with second graders, he said.

Our kids know they are entering a world that is deeply unfair, deeply inequitable and the generations before have failed them, he said. While our kids are excited about the opportunities ahead of them to go to college, theyre also deeply skeptical.

******

It didnt take long for Kay Palmer to hear from a worried student. She was logging into Google Meet Thursday morning to teach language arts and math to her fourth grade class in Trenton, N.J., when a student asked, Did you see the news?

Palmer asked her class for time to prepare. She came ready during live instruction on Friday, armed with several articles about Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. She hopes her students would read them and see the power of one person speaking up about injustice and enlisting others to create lasting change.

The conversation ran two and a half hours, covering the Black Lives Matter movement and running into their math lesson. But for Palmer, that was OK.

From a teacher standpoint, the goal is not to teach and say this is how you have to do it, but show this is one way to do something, she said. If I could teach the kids nothing else from this moment, thats what I want.

As a white educator teaching mostly students of color, Palmer was glad her students asked her to talk through the violence they were seeing, particularly during remote learning. But she said the fact that theyve been meeting virtually for several months made the conversations less awkward than they might have been.

I dont know if we could have had that dialogue if we werent seeing each others faces, live over Google, every day for the past weeks, she said. I feel some may be less likely to say something online moving forward than if we were meeting in person, but I want to keep the dialogue open to see what happens.

****

For Sabrina Anfossi Kareem, one-on-one conversations with her students at a Chicago charter school are happening through email, a platform called Remind, and over the phone. But the high school English teacher began that relationship building in person months ago in the classroom.

Students are being honest with me only because we spent time at the beginning of the year going over that I want honesty, to see the students humanity, and then develop that relationship over time, she said, adding she worries about building that closeness if schools start remotely next year.

Kareem reached out to her black students in recent days to ask, How are you holding up? Do you need an ear? And the answer from some was yes but they wanted to talk more than they needed a lecture. Im not talking a lot during these conversations, she said.

Aside from listening to students, Kareem believes she needs to use what she hears to influence change at her school. This includes ensuring administrators know black students dont always feel their concerns are heard, as well as advocating for high-quality anti-bias and anti-racism training.

I dont want to attend another peace circle led by an untrained adult who thinks theyre being restorative when theyre really harming everyone in the room with their lack of self-awareness or ability, she said. There are plenty of quality organizations doing this work. Schools should not be spending out the nose for instructional or testing products while making it up as they go when it comes to [anti-bias and anti-racism] work.

****

Classes are out at Westerville North High School in Ohio, but history teacher John Sands is still thinking about how he and other white teachers should approach educating students about events like Floyds death and its aftermath.

Sands and his students grapple with these tragedies in a contemporary world issues class at his suburban Columbus school, which is predominantly white with a growing black student population. He said he is sensitive to the issues that come from a white teacher tackling these topics in classes with black students. I always tell my kids, Im the white middle-class guy ... that to many of them represents a lot of whats wrong, he said.

In the class, Sands and students discuss identity, read the works of Malcolm X and James Baldwin, then eventually work up to discussing systemic racism and its role in their lives.

Some students choose to open up about experiences from their lives, making racism tangible and personal and not just an abstract concept for classmates. Its much more powerful when it comes from their friends and their classmates, he said.

Sands and English teacher Cat Stathulis are launching the schools first African-American studies program in the fall. He hasnt started considering how hed have these discussions remotely, but his instinct is that discussion board posts wont be enough. I think I would want to be live with everybody, in some format, to have the discussion, he said.

Carrie Melago and Eric Gorski contributed to this report.

Read the original:
Moments like now are why we teach: Educators tackle tough conversations about race and violence this time - Chalkbeat Colorado

Philippine energy developer turned global sustainability banker, but also an island girl who teaches yoga.

Hometown: Manila, Philippines

Fun fact about yourself: I am a certified yoga instructor. I took a short hiatus from work to pursue one of my lifelong dreams of taking an intensive 200-hour yoga teacher training. I teach yoga not because of profit, but because I believe in the benefits that the practice has for the mind and body. I want to help people who need healing both mentally and physically.

I am also a florist. I founded a floral styling and online delivery business back in the Philippines which made a 54% net profit margin in my first year of operations.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of the Philippines Diliman Bachelor of Science in Business Economics

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Energy Development Corporation (EDC), Head of Strategic Planning & Budget

Where did you intern during the summer of 2019? Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) under Structured Finance, Singapore

Where will you be working after graduation? Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) as a Structured Finance Associate for renewable energy & infrastructure investments

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I was selected to lead 10 other MBA peers as Head of the Assistant Facilitators for The NUS MBAs flagship Launch Your Transformation program. The compulsory program was an intensive five-day management communications boot camp for the new intake of MBA candidates. What we made them do was not easy, as we pushed the students out of their comfort zones in a safe and supportive environment.

In my section, I remember one Japanese student who was very quiet and reserved. He really struggled to deliver a short speech in front of an audience as he often forgot his words and felt so nervous. As his facilitator, I asked him to deliver his entire speech again but this time in his native language. Although the majority of the audience did not understand Japanese, his energy level and his presentation delivery changed immediately! He was confident and expressive, and everyone in the room could feel the sudden change in how he communicated. Throughout the week, he worked on his communication skills. We trained him to deliver in English but with the same confidence as he would deliver in his own mother tongue. It was so fulfilling to see my fellow MBAs, whom I mentored, become more confident and outspoken after participating in this five-day boot camp.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? At NORD/LB, I helped to close a 100MW solar portfolio deal (50MW refinancing and 50MW plant to be constructed) in Australia. The transaction is the largest certified green loan by an Australian renewable energy company and its combined portfolio is expected to generate renewable energy sufficient to power ~49,000 homes, or an equivalent of ~225,000 tonnes of C02 per year.

This deal is close to my heart because this was my first finance deal since I took a leap of faith to make a career switch, which also involved a move to Singapore and a change in the industry. I was so accustomed to building energy projects from a developers perspective. This time around, it was very refreshing and insightful to be working from the other side of the fence as a financier. This experience allows me to move closer towards my goal of contributing to sustainability and growing clean energy investments, particularly in developing markets.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Assistant Professor Joel Goh was my professor for Managerial Operations and Analytics. Apart from his impressive credentials, I am amazed by the high energy he brings to every single class. I will always remember the practical and valuable lessons he taught through case studies and his own personal experience. Through him, I stretched my thinking and developed a rigorous framework of approaching a business problem. I can truly say that taking his class alone made my experience at The NUS MBA worthwhile!

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? The annual MBA Olympics is easily my favourite tradition. The Olympics is a great opportunity to come together as one NUS MBA family in friendly sports matches with the other five MBA schools in Singapore. The competitive spirit and camaraderie of the NUS MBA students come alive during this period, as we spend days (and nights!) practising and preparing for the different sporting events in order to maintain our title as the defending champion for three consecutive years! It shows that the NUS MBA students are not only intellectually gifted but well-rounded and athletic too!

Why did you choose this business school? I chose the NUS MBA because I knew this was the place to be if I wanted to advance my career with a particular focus on the fast-growing economies in Asia. Born and raised in the Philippines, I understand the struggles and challenges faced by developing countries. I know in my heart I wanted to serve my country. First, I needed to learn from more progressive economies like Singapore. This beautiful country is a melting pot of diverse cultures with very efficient systems and disciplined society. As we can see with all the developments today, the opportunities in Singapore are endless and The NUS MBA in Asias best business school is a clear pathway for me to tap into the richness of what the Lion City has to offer.

What is your best advice to an applicant hoping to get into your schools MBA program? Understand yourself and your motivations for applying to a B-school. Once you have created a deeper self-awareness, you can now set your intentions and goals. NUS Business School looks beyond academic qualifications or achievements to focus more on your aspirations and your potential. Since The NUS MBA has a great student/faculty ratios with accessible interaction with the faculty, the school carefully handpicks each unique individual based on the diversity he or she can bring to the table. If your authentic self is clearly reflected in your application and manifested during the interview, then your chances of getting in can increase!

What is the biggest myth about your school? Many people perceive the NUS MBA program as heavy on theories as opposed to actual application. The first semester may be more focused on knowledge and hard skills as core modules are introduced to strengthen our fundamentals. However, through club activities and access to the larger communities at NUS, I was exposed to numerous networking and industry learning opportunities. I also had the chance to participate in several case competitions and a global immersion program to London.

By the second semester, I was able to leverage the foundation established in the earlier semester and really dive deep into areas I found most interesting. This was through the myriad of elective modules and the experiential learning component which provided me with additional practical experience. For example, through the MBA Consulting Project, I spent five months guiding a non-profit organisation (NPO) to develop its long-term strategic plan. My consulting team and I conducted intensive research and analysis and presented our findings and recommendations to the NPOs board members.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing youd do differently and why? If I could repeat my MBA experience all over again, I would take the opportunity to immerse myself even more in the extracurricular activities and events the MBA clubs offered. There is never an uneventful weekend throughout the program and before I knew it, the 17 months just flew by so fast! Looking back, I would have attended more industry talks, participated in more interactive workshops, and joined more networking events even if it was not my targeted industry or area of interest. There was so much to learn by just being there.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire Shikha Malhotra because of her strong passion and proactive advocacy for gender balance and women empowerment. This is not just among peers but throughout the entire school. She is a natural leader and influencer who has made a strong impact to the school in so many ways, including connecting people together, moderating external panel discussions, and representing the NUS MBA across the globe.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? Growing up, my father was a huge influence in my education and career choices. His extensive experience in clean energy solutions and passion for addressing climate change inspired me to also pursue an energy and sustainability track. My father spent close to two decades in the clean energy industry working in at least 12 Asian markets. He shared with me the challenges and roadblocks he often encountered, as well as creative business approaches to address these issues. He once told me that he was working towards creating a sustainable future which he may not even be a part. This is what inspired me to keep learning, keep solving problems in ways I can, and keep sustaining what we have for future generations.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First, I want to lead the closing of a large clean energy investment project in Asia. Second, I want to grow my own business venture to support climate and sustainable investments in developing markets, particularly for my home country, the Philippines.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I would like to be remembered as a person who helps others, a person who leads by example, and a person who makes things happen.

Hobbies? When Im not on my desk, you can find me practicing yoga on the mat, cooking in the kitchen, or swimming in the sea (as a born and raised island girl on the beautiful beaches of the Philippines).

What made Corinne Mae M. Ablaza such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2020?

Corinne has been an influential and effective student leader in her MBA cohort and has continued to be a well-liked and respected member and contributor of the NUS MBA community. During her MBA candidature, Corinne integrated well into our diverse cohort with students from more than 20 cities, actively contributing to numerous group assignments and case studies and securing good grades.

Corinne also struck a good balance between academics and active participation in the programs experiential learning and extra-curricular school activities. Most notably, she was one of the student leaders responsible for organising numerous student-led initiatives and impact projects. Corinne has been an excellent ambassador of MBAs in general and the NUS MBA in particular. I am confident that she will continue her strong contributions and make the NUS MBA proud of her accomplishments as an alumna.

Associate Professor Nitin Pangarkar Academic Director, The NUS MBA Program National University of Singapore Business School

DONT MISS: THE ENTIRE 2020 MBAS TO WATCH or THE BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAS OF 2020

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2020 MBAs To Watch: Corinne Mae M. Ablaza, National University of Singapore - Poets&Quants

Instead of an optimally integrated global economy, anchored by Chinese technology and infrastructure, the world is facing the One Road, One Plague phenomenon, which underscores how Beijings systematic deficiencies could easily spread across beneficiaries and beyond.

In their groundbreaking Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno meticulously analyzed how the best intentions of modernity have descended into the horrors of the twentieth century. While the Enlightenment project is understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, which is aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters, they explain, the wholly enlightened earth is radiant with triumphant calamity.

A similar theme runs through the works of other intellectual luminaries of the time, from Karl Poppers The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) to Georg Lukacss The Destruction of Reason (1952), which placed these monstrous perversions of Fascism and Stalinism as a symptom of totalistic understanding of truth, namely the idea that fallible men could politically superimpose a contrived utopia on complex human societies.

In many ways, the globalization project is the manifestation of a similar form of totalistic understanding, whereby the compression of time and space through advanced technology and economic interdependence would supposedly guarantee the greatest possible peace and prosperity on earth. Though the West, particularly the United States, served as the torchbearer of globalization in the twentieth century, China has emerged as its latest and most enthusiastic advocate. Through the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Communist China has sought to present itself as the vanguard of globalization, albeit with new characteristics.

But the ongoing global crisis due to the China-originated pandemic is a forestate of the inherent risks of greater integration under Beijings umbrella. Instead of an optimally integrated global economy, anchored by Chinese technology and infrastructure, the world is facing One Road, One Plague phenomenon, which underscores how Beijings systematic deficiencies could easily spread across beneficiaries and beyond. With greater integration into a Sino-centric global order, the world will also be more vulnerable to systematic deficiencies, if not pathological patterns of governance, in the Chinese political system. Thus, much-needed reforms in the BRI projects external implementation should go hand in hand with internal reforms in Beijing.

Xi Must Be Obeyed

Speaking at the 2017 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared, [W]e should build the Belt and Road into a road connecting different civilizations. The following year, during a high-profile speech before leading scientists and engineers in Hainan, the Chinese leader went so far declaring: [W]e do not need to chase [after other countries]we are the road.

To be fair, the BRI is far from a monolithic national project. Studies have shown that its origins were actually private-sector driven (think of Hewlett-Packard) and accelerated by entrepreneurial local government units. Soon, other local governments in eastern and coastal regions of China joined in, seeking to take advantage of expanding infrastructure connectivity across the Eurasian landmass. The communist regime in Beijing simply hitched its wagon to the private-sector and local government-driven infrastructure projects.

Despite its eventual consolidation as a Chinese national blueprint, the BRI mega-infrastructure development project has been messy, fluid and uncertain both in its conception as well as policy direction, not too dissimilar from the unruly U.S. transcontinental railways project in the nineteenth century. Far from just serving as an overarching imperialist project, careful analysis shows that its more self-protective in nature, primarily driven by anxieties over the security of Chinas vital and expanding communication lines across the world.

Above all, the BRI is multidimensional, marking the convergence of multiple forces and interests, from facilitating Chinas long-term plans of developing landlocked hinterlands and underdeveloped region to outsourcing internal productive glut and infrastructure overcapacity amid a slowdown in global demand for its exports, and assisting and promoting troubled State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which employ tens of millions of workers, through the provision of lucrative projects overseas.

Not to mention, globalizing Chinas technological standards, developing trading partners basic infrastructure to enhance their trade absorption capacity with China, and enhancing access to rare commodities across the developing worldfactors that are crucial to the countrys long-term economic development. In short, the BRI is arguably much more about addressing domestic economic imbalances, upgrading national champions, and internationalizing Chinese techno-industrial standards to escape the much-dreaded middle income trap than a clear-cut, aggressive project of world domination.

One Road, One Plague

Recent years have also shown Beijings willingness to make adjustments in its global strategy, underscoring the dialectical nature of its foreign policymaking. Heir to both ancient political strategic and Marxist-Leninist ideology, the leadership in Beijing continues to think in dialectical terms, taking into consideration the correlation of forces and overall balance of power in the international system in crafting its global strategy.

Encouragingly, China has shown a degree of sensitivity to global feedback, from its (partial) concessions in the decisionmaking layout of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), foregoing absolute veto powers, to greater focus on debt and environmental sustainability in the BRI projects. As a result, we no longer speak of the AIIB as a direct rival to existing International Financial Institutions (IFIs), while a growing number of experts are touting the birth of BRI 2.0 following Beijings admission of imbalances and deficiencies in its recent infrastructure projects overseas.

During last years BRI summit, the Chinese president emphasized high quality growth, good governance, and the need to protect the common home we live in.

Operate in the sun and fight corruption together with zero tolerance, a visibly sober and less-triumphalist Xi said last year. Building high-quality, sustainable, risk-resistant, reasonably priced, and inclusive infrastructure will help countries to fully utilize their resource endowments.

Nonetheless, the Chinese vision of globalization has been hounded by countless risks and challenges. Last year, Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad told me how even middle-income countries are susceptible to debt trap, since [If] [w]e borrow huge sums of money, if you cannot pay money, you'll become under the influence or the direction of the lender... If you cannot pay your debt, you find yourself subservient to the lender.

Aside from the more extreme cases of Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the vast majority of countries, however, deal with another kind of dilemma. There is the risk of China chimera, namely the yawning gap between Chinas rhetorical promises of large-scale investments and the reality of its minimal, substandard investments. (It remains to be seen how the so-called BRI 2.0 addresses this.)

This allows China to get maximum geopolitical bang out of its largely imaginary buck, allowing the Asian powerhouse to extract huge geopolitical concessions by overawing supposed beneficiaries with large-scale offers of technology and capital. Not to mention, co-opting authoritarian and/or corrupt clients in the developing world as well as leveraging increasingly asymmetrical trade relations between Beijing and its neighbors.

As a Turkish expert shared during a BRI conference in 2018, one big concern of Chinas trading partners is the One Road, One Way phenomenon, whereby the upshot is ever-larger importation of Chinese products without corresponding increase in the productive capacity of partner nations. As the recent China-originated pandemic shows, however, the challenges and risks ahead are far greater.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has hit countries across the ancient Silk Road hardest, has revealed a new layer of risks in Chinas BRI project. As Minxin Pei explains, the coronavirus pandemic is, in many ways, a symptom of a governance deficit in Beijings increasingly authoritarian system, where pathological secrecy hobbles the authorities capacity to respond quickly to epidemics.

Chinas systematic cover-up during the crucial phase of the crisis as well as its unwillingness to be transparent about the origins of the pandemic doesnt bode well for its BRI vision, which has already been hobbled by a fundamental lack of transparency. The threat we confront is beyond just debt trap, but instead proliferation of corrosive practices and deleterious results of authoritarian patterns of governance with potentially disastrous consequences.

Thus, the future of Chinas globalization vision will be determined not only by the BRIs evolving structure and actual implementation overseas, but also domestic patterns of decision-making. How China responds to the current crisis will tell us a lot about how it will shape the next wave of globalization.

Richard Heydarian is an Asia-based academic and author of, among others, The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China, and the New Struggle for Global Mastery.

Image: Reuters

Excerpt from:
China's One Road, One Plague Tragedy - The National Interest

Corona Virus has comes to push America and the world ahead and not backwards. The Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory called America a nation of kindness. America has open arms to people of all races, creeds, ethnic groups and religion. America welcomes new immigrants which have entered the country legally. America offers a stable government with a stable economy. It also has the most powerful military in the world.

It is great to say that America is the safest country in the world. America has been hit hardest by Corona of all nations in the world. The truth is that no place in the world can be called perfectly safe. There has never been a completely safe place in the world. Besides being conflicts between nations, national disturbances such as civil wars, crime and disease; there are also natural catastrophes hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes which are unpredictable. Today the whole world is being warned about global warming dangers. Depending on America or any other nation for security, depending on the security of money, there are always dangers which are unexpected. For this reason there is a need for faith in God and religion.

There are ways of limiting the dangers that are in life. One way is through insurance, life insurance, health insurance, fire and liability insurance etc. The main way is through education. Children need to be educated to distance themselves from these dangers. Children should be educated to appreciate the importance of life. Life is an opportunity and challenge for everyone.

America offers the best in material life. America is a democracy giving the freedoms which makes life more pleasant. One of these freedoms is freedom of religion. America does not force a particular religion on its citizens. America was established as a nation under God, but in America there is written in the first amendment separation between church and state. The Declaration of Independence all men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America according to the Declaration of Independence has received life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from their creator, God Almighty. America does not have one religion as did the Byzantine Empire or the Ottoman Empire but has freedom of religion which is the Universal faith.

Freedom of religion gives each person the right to choose his religion according to his needs. There are three major religions which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These religions have in them many sects. In Judaism there is reformed Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Judaism divides up into Modern Orthodox, Chassidic Orthodox and fundamental Orthodox. Christianity has in it Protestant and Catholic which divide up into many types of Christianity. Islam divides up into Sunni and Shiite with its branches. Each American has a choice which church, synagogue or mosque to attend. He may not want to be active in any religious activities. He may be atheist, agnostic and strictly secular. Freedom of religion is the Universal faith of every American whether he chooses it or not.

Almost every person is born with a connection to some religion. Before Democracy came into the world and before was founded America in 1776, the world was ruled by theocracies. Judaism was the first of the theocracies. After Judaism came Christianity centered in Rome. The Byzantine Empire also called the Roman Empire almost conquered the whole world. The people were forced to adopt their religion which was Christianity. In opposition to Christianity was the Islamic movement centered in Constantinople the Ottoman Empire. Through these three faiths almost every human being in the Western world and the Middle East come from families which have once adopted one of these faiths. The Jewish people are the remnants of the Biblical Nation of Israel which was conquered by the Romans. The Jewish people were scattered throughout the world practicing their religion in foreign lands.

Theocracies Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire pressured the people in foreign lands to adopt their religion. Theocracies are generally one religion, one party nations. They may not give free choice and threaten the lives of people of foreign lands to adopt their faith. Jews practiced Judaism in many of these lands under the pressures of people of other faiths.

Today America and the world have changed over to democracy which offers freedom of religion. Freedom of religion can also be called the universal faith. Immigrants come to America with a religion which they inherited from their forefathers. They may be Christians, Jews, or Muslims. America is the land of the Universal faith with freedom of religion. Orthodox religions are derived from theocracies without the freedoms which are in democracy. Orthodox religious people have a battle controlling their children from assimilating into the Modern Society which offers them freedom. The universal faith revealed in the Free World is not a religion; it is a faith connected to all religions. Israel is also a democracy with freedom of religion. European nations are democracies with freedom of religion.

Religions are theocracies based upon scriptures which are against conversion to other faiths. The Universal faith may be more dangerous to Orthodox religions than the pressures of other Orthodox faiths. Children assimilate easily into Universal faith. National religions emphasize family purity. Education of children needs an Orthodox approach. An Orthodox approach will prepare their children for marriage without promiscuous sex. Public Schools do not educate children in the traditional way like religion; to prepare for marriage and to build a family.

America was once the safest of all countries. America was called a Nation of Kindness by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Freedom of religion the Universal faith is the highest ideal equality free of racism. When it comes to education of children is needed practical discipline which is offered by Orthodox religion. Orthodox day schools very often separate sexes. Public schools have almost always mixed sexes which leads to premoscuity. In America people have a choice where to send their children to school. They can choose a private school of their own faith which may cost money, or send their children to Public School for free. Jewish immigrants came to America from Europe without money and sent their children to Public Schools. In America Jews have assimilated the most in Jewish history. The Universal faith, freedom is a great danger to Jewish heritage. The same danger is also to Orthodox Catholics and Islamists living in a free country with the Universal faith.

The same dangers exist in America for Jews and the children of other Orthodox faiths through intermarriage. America courts will not discriminate between faiths and marry interfaith people. These interfaith marriages assimilate American immigrants to become Americans connecting to the Universal faith. The Universal faith is a great ideal to make America a nation without racism. When it comes to education of children it can end up creating sexual promiscuity if it separates from religion. The roots of the Universal faith is in religion. The Lubavitcher Rebbe recommended to Americans to study the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah. He also recommended for Public Schools to institute interfaith prayer A moment of silence.

The model of the Universal faith given in Bahai was to unite democracy and theocracy. Theocracy is important in child education. The Universal faith and democracy is an ideal for each person to reach love of his neighbor without hated and free from racism. When democracy separates from religion it loses its true purpose. Religion and private religious schools are important for the survival of America.

Religions differ conflict in many of their customs but all religions agree that sex is prohibited until marriage. They all agree about the importance of procreation. The Universal Faith cannot discriminate between one religion and the other but can teach those morals and ethics in which all religions agree. These morals and ethics can be taught in the name of the Universal Faith in public schools. Liberal democrats have taken control over the American educational system rebelling against religion.

Corona has taught the world the importance of quarantine. Quarantine is separation from the evil of disease. Returning to normalcy requires protecting Americans from a future virus. America and the western world were not prepared for Corona virus and were struck hardest in the world. America brought freedom to the world which was abused when people separated themselves from religion. Freedom can be destructive to the family unit. Pope Francis in one of his messages said, Family is the cradle of life. America needs to protect their families from diseases which can come from sexual promiscuity. It can only be accomplished through proper education in the old traditional values taught in religion.

Civilization wants to go ahead. Going back to theocracy is not the answer. Americans and people living in the Modern Society will not give up freedom. Corona virus called by Madonna the American entertainer and guru on her website the great equalizer has united the religions of the world together in interfaith prayer in Jerusalem to reveal the Universal Faith.

Corona has also taught mankind the importance of quarantine separation from evil which is emphasized especially in child education by Orthodox religious faiths. There are two parts to the Universal Faith as taught by Bahai and Progressive Jewish Spirituality, the Universality of Faith and education of children in the morals and ethics of religion.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe called by his students The Messiah of the religion of Moses, recommended to the USA and the world, education in the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah. In the United States was established Education and Sharing Day in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

The Kabballah Esoteric Jewish Mysticism divides up education into three levels which are nursing, child education and adult education. Many movies today are restricted to children called Adult Movies. Before you can learn to run first is important is to learn to walk. Civilization has reached the highest level of unity through democracy, freedom of religion. The foundations of democracy come from theocracy. Democracy developed from theocracy. These foundation should not be forgotten. The importance of child education should not be forgotten. The danger of freedom is when is forgotten the importance of child education in the way of the Bible.

Internet has united the world. It is part of the Universal Faith. However internet may be dangerous for children if it is not supervised properly. Adults can browse as they please, but children need supervision on the way to become adults. The goal of President Trump is MAGA. He wanted to unite America with religion through weakening the Johnson Amendment. The opponents of President Trump were Liberal democrats who wanted to separate America from its ancestors. Democracy comes from theocracy. Democracy can be an improvement to the theocracies of the past. Corona has come to push America and the world ahead and not backward. Ahead does not mean divorcing from religion but incorporating religion with freedom in the Universal Faith.

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Corona Enlightenment - The Two Sides of Truth Unity and Separation - Communal News

The sole focus of an enlightenment programme is to instil, in the breasts and psyche of Ghanaian citizens, a consciousness of fidelity to the Republic; pride in our culture, traditions, institutions and achievements; awareness of civic rights and responsibilities; and an African identity. We seek to stand out as a powerful and highly influential Republic that, with the divine help of God, shall build a better universe for mankind.

Our academic mission and curriculum is the most potent antidote for poverty, disease and various other social obstacles that continue to deprive the average free citizen from realising a dignified life in Ghana thus service, first and foremost, to God and ancestors duly; family and enterprise; district and province; and the Republic to which distinctive duties are owed.

The Ghanaian Dream and Renaissance

The Ghanaian Dream is to be an erudite and moral law-abiding administrator of your household and an industrious entrepreneur or public servant; a proven catalyst of district development; an accomplished statesman and, or, innovative industrialist to the province; and above all, a distinguished architect of the Republic.

The Ghanaian Renaissance is a full expression of our traditional aesthetics in beautifying our public institutions and private enterprises a form of ultra-nationalism and love for our Republic that crystallises the diverse cultures of each clan and nation-state.

Centres of Scholarship

It is the paramount responsibility of government to ensure education, at whatever cost necessary, is provided to all Ghanaians, wherever they may find themselves on the map, without regard for their individual social and economic circumstances.

The quality of indigenous scholarship and excellence of educational institutions ought to be a great source of national pride, a worthy continental export and our rightful claim to global fame.

To each Province, a model deluxe primary and secondary centre of scholarship which is culturally aesthetic inspired by a fine blend of indigenous ancient African architecture and modern technology must be constructed in its Provincial capital. Each monumental structure, an edifice that evokes fascination, must be furnished with a baronial public library; palatial classrooms; resident halls; a banquet hall and private museum; athletic facilities; a grand theatre hall and state-of-the-art science and technology labs.

The government must make provincial funds and bursaries, at secondary and tertiary education, available to students proven exceptional in academia; sports and theatre.

Centres of Scholarship should be separated, administratively, from institutions of dogma such as traditional shrines/temples, mosques or churches. The educational curriculum should include, at the conclusion of secondary school education, optional service to either the government or military as a prelude to university studies.

Our Republic must unswervingly aim at, and strain our treasury to procure, despite the ever-present question of finance, quality education for our citizens.

The Era of Enlightenment.

In an era when multiple esoteric fraternities were established on the Gold Coast G. H. T. Lyall inaugurated, in 1874, the Masonic Club; the Good Templars founded, in 1877, by the General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission and Commanding Officer of the Castle garrison, with the support of Lodge Deputy Grand Chief Templar, J. P. Brown; and the Odd-fellows was instituted in 1880 the Mfantsi Amanbuhu Fekuw, also known as the Fante National Political Society, was established in Cape Coast, Central Province, Gold Coast in 1889 to deliberately to revive African literature, fashion and music.

A legal colossus, eminent political reformist and publisher who hailed from the Central Province, as well as a pioneer of the Fante National Political Society, John Mensah Sarbah joined the Fante Public School Company, a missionary enterprise which in 1903, founded the Mfantsi National Education Fund that, by 1905, financed the Mfantsipim Secondary School.

Sarbah, an altruistic person, embodied the values of a true patriot dedicated to enlightenment and renaissance. He set up a scholarship for students and staff members to protect the perpetual success of Mfantsipim.

It is through the ethics and values of our centres of scholarship that the Republic could harness a meritocratic Ghanaian society where there is equal opportunity for all citizens, abundant reward for ambition with an emphasis on individual freedom and national unity.

There is, therefore, still an urgent need, as bluntly expressed by the Gold Coast Aborigines Protection Society in 1902, for educated Ghanaian citizens, and not westernised Africans, committed to the ideal of a Republic with a revered and ethereal civilisation. While our indigenous institutions must meet internationally acceptable standards, our enlightenment programme must be devised on the basis of Ghanaian exceptionalism.

I cannot emphasise enough; this is Ghanas Space Generation. This is the generation of rationalism, freedom of thought and enquiry.

***

The author, Vincent Djokoto, is Business Executive and Columnist. Twitter/Instagram @VLKDjokoto

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Enlightenment, the Ghanaian dream and renaissance - Myjoyonline.com

A cyclist passes by the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on May 26, 2020.

Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

It has long been evident, though not necessarily obvious to all, that the ground of America's economy was shifting beneath our feet.

The very institutions that laid the foundation upon which the "American Dream" was built, were in decay.

Their facades may still have been bright and reasonably well-maintained, but their interior walls became discolored and their support beams rusty and fragile.

A dozen years ago, it became increasingly apparent to me that something more than half-measures and lip-service were required to re-lay that foundation to ensure prosperity for all, particularly, for the next generations to come.

Indeed, when I first thought of writing this column, I was among those recommending that the U.S. rebuild the entirety of its infrastructure to stimulate an economy ravaged by the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) and subsequent Great Recession while using that crisis to bring the U.S. economy fully into the 21st Century.

Sadly, amid the building hyper-partisanship in Washington, President Obama was only able to pass $800 billion in relief and stimulus. That was far short of the estimated $4 trillion required to do the job.

The bill that was passed barely allotted any money for rebuilding anything.

Instead, it was used to fill state and local budget gaps, extend unemployment insurance and offset a small portion of the $17 trillion in capital losses accumulated in the GFC.

Rebuilding our physical infrastructure; hardening our critical infrastructure; updating the nation's electrical grid; modernizing federal, state and local technology and procuring productivity-enhancing tools simply has not been, and still isn't, a true priority of the Federal government despite the obvious and increasingly pressing need.

While this was exposed, in stark relief, during the Great Financial Crisis, it was illustrated even more clearly, only a decade later, as America faced its first great plague in over 100 years.

Like the GFC, the emergence of the coronavirus and subsequent economic lockdown, made quite plain the structural reforms needed to revive the U.S.

It also exposed the deepest of racial divisions that still plague this nation.

The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade or Breonna Taylor, along with a disproportionate number of people of color killed by the coronavirus, have made, more clear and vivd than ever, the institutionalized racism that has prevented every citizen, no matter their race, creed, color or religion, from obtaining equality of opportunity, if not outcome.

Beyond that, there remains a pressing need to make America truly great for a next generation of Americans while also supporting a recovery strong enough to restore normal daily life to the citizens of today.

Consider the implications of the virus-induced recession that has toppled the domestic and global economy.

America's longest expansion was stopped dead in its tracks by the Corona virus pandemic.

While the virulence of this illness is not unprecedented in human history, the Bubonic Plague and the "Spanish" flu killed more people, the sudden impact that disrupted economic life in 2020 is without parallel.

Within only a matter of weeks, 90% of the American population was told to "shelter-in-place." By early April of 2020, some 25%-50% of the nation's economic output was completely shut off.

In the first ten weeks of the American pandemic alone, some 41 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits, many times the number of the previous peak in filings.

It has been estimated that the unemployment rate will top 30%, exceeding the highest jobless figures of the Great Depression, while the economy could contract by as much as 30-60% when all is said and done, marking the deepest economic decline on record.

Economists hope that recovery from the pandemic will be speedy, both in terms of the human and economic toll. But such optimism, while typical of Americans of all stripes, may be misplaced.

For the first time in modern history, we've witnessed just how deeply our most cherished institutions have fallen into disrepair.

The anti-science approach of President Trump has led to delays and mixed messages from infectious disease experts, likely exacerbating both the human and economic toll.

His divisive comments, as race riots erupted around the country, propelled us back in time, much as his economic policies are wont to do, to 1968 and to that summer of violence and discontent that scarred an entire generation of anti-establishment youths.

As a consequence, the disruption and associated behavioral changes that took place as the pandemic, and subsequent violence, spread may well have long-term consequences.

That does not mean the U.S. won't ultimately recover. And with the proper policies and incentives, the economy of the next 50 years could be, quite conceivably, far stronger than the economy of the last 50 years.

Working from home (WFH), social distancing, limited physical contact and increasing dependence on technology via telecommuting and telemedicine, may radically alter how we live and work for years, if not decades, to come.

The Federal Government and the Federal Reserve will have spent, or lent, untold trillions of dollars to support large and small businesses and replace much of the personal income lost to the rapid shutdown of the U.S. economy.

In this "whatever it takes" moment, deficits be damned as a the first few rounds of government assistance have provided as much as $6 trillion, or roughly one-third of U.S. GDP, to help right the ship of state. There is likely more, maybe even much more, yet to come.

Even that assistance, however, has been unevenly distributed, despite the government's seemingly best efforts.

Still, at some point in the relatively near future, therapeutic medicines and, ultimately, a coronavirus vaccine, will allow us to return to some sort of normality.

Medical technology and innovation will heed the call to action and deliver solutions both to control future pandemics and measures to ensure that our work-a-day world becomes more flexible and more resilient over time.

However, the septic shock that the economy has suffered, both on the supply and demand sides of the economy, and along political and racial lines in society, has also given us pause time to reflect on the type of world to which we want to return once this crisis has passed.

As nature abhors a vacuum, it has been fascinating also to observe that the global work stoppage has significantly reduced, or eliminated, the pollution clouds that are visible over vast areas of the world.

In China, Europe or the U.S. CO2 levels fell by 35% during the period when human travel plunged precipitously.

The Himalayas became visible from miles away, Los Angeles smog was wiped away while blue skies reappeared around the world.

It stands as testimony, and confirmation, that anthropogenic activities have greatly affected the environment and also proves that we are capable of taking steps to more quickly address climate change than previously assumed, provided we show the wisdom and the will.

Having said that, the resumption of production in China has already brought the clouds back. That will soon be true elsewhere in the world, as the global economy re-starts its engines of growth.

Clearly, this shock should prove to be a wake-up call, not just to America, but to the world, as well.

How can we re-create the relative peace and prosperity of the post-World War II period? This is the critical question that we all must address.

Can we restore and improve upon multi-national alliances, and address the political, economic and social imbalances in the United States that have been laid bare by an invisible enemy we were ill-prepared to fight, or one we have not battled with for far too long? The simple answer is yes. But, getting to yes may be far more complex.

The U.S. has many inherent strengths, but also some glaring weaknesses that have been brought to light in an extremely short period of time.

The U.S. has the most sophisticated higher education system in the world, the most vibrant valleys of innovation, a robust financial infrastructure and a resilient workforce that, historically, has overcome world wars, prior pandemics and other dislocations, only to emerge stronger in the end.

However, those institutions were hamstrung by a lack of leadership, both in the public and private sectors, the former focused on power rather than policy and the latter focused too much on profits over shared prosperity.

As in prior period of restructuring and reform, a new class of leaders and a new enlightenment among the elite will be required.

This time, however, that will likely not happen without a top-down restructuring of how America handles the challenges of the future, without looking to the past.

These challenges that include everything from the distribution of healthcare to a radical re-thinking of how it does business.

The focus needs to be on the governed and not the government on all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

America can be re-built, and it can be as prosperous as it once was. But it will need visionary leadership that has a keen and perceptive eye on the future.

It will require reimagining a U.S. economy built for 2050 and beyond, not 1950 and before.

We must not look to the past to restore America's greatness. The triumphs of yesteryear are relics of an age gone by. Coal, steel and smokestacks are not America's future.

Enlightened governance, enhanced technologies, advanced infrastructure, lifelong learning and adaptability are the keys to our economy's future success.

We desperately require a new image of an America that, while already great, can renew its domestic power, project an image of global vitality and industriousness, and re-engage with our allies, upon whom we so obviously rely, to realize the restoration of a peaceful and prosperous world that shares its riches with all and holds malice towards none.

Continued here:
Ron Insana: Rebuilding the American economy to bring peace and prosperity to all - CNBC

Kensh: Seeing Nature Lets get right down to it

Break through is a must if you want to verify the truth of this one great life and not just take others words for it, hiding behind the Buddhas robes, as it were. Or hiding inside your own robes. Hiding in the bells and smells of Zen orthodoxy. Or spending a dharma career trying to talk others into believing that non-enlightenment is really enlightenment. Exhausting!

Rather than just do a little bit of good for a short period of time, the aspiring bodhisattva vows to profoundly benefit living beings by helping them awaken. As I said above, for this, break through is a must. You cant help beings break through unless youve done it your-nonself. Then, in addition to the exquisite joy that comes from doing what can be done with this life, blabbing on about it might just flow from your heart.

A more typical message in contrast to saying break through is a must was exemplified in a dharma talk I recently heard from a teacher in one of the large St centers in America. The speaker said that because aspiring to awaken is a desire like any other desire, and that awakening doesnt come when we want it, and when some people awaken and others do not, it creates an unsettling power dynamic in the community, they do not emphasize break through at all in their community, and instead emphasize how were all already Buddhas.

First, if you cannot tell the difference between the desire for fame and gain and aspiring to awaken for the benefit of all living beings, Id suggest attending to these feelings with more subtle mindfulness, and see what you find.

Just because you can quote Sawaki Rshi doesnt make it true.

And, yes, there are issues that arise when we focus on kensh, but if Buddhism stops being about awakening, whats the point? We have psychotherapy, secular mindfulness, pharmacology, Netflix, and many other things to help people feel better, so if Zen practice is not about awakening, and instead is about becoming a ceremonial technician, for example, the end of Zen is near at hand. And appropriately so.

Dont throw awakening out with the bathwater!

In contrast, here is the attitude that Dhu recommends:

I vow that this mind of mine will be firm and will never retrogress. Relying on the protection of the buddhas, I will meet a good teacher, at a single word from them forget life-death, realize unexcelled perfect awakening, and perpetuate the wisdom-life of the buddhas, in order to repay my debt of enormous gratitude to the buddhas. (1)

So refreshing!

Dhu himself made this additional vow:

I would rather substitute this body of mine for that of all sentient beings and undergo sufferings in the hells than ever with my words compromise the buddhadharma [by bending to accommodate] customary etiquette and in the process blinding everyone [i.e., what I am about to say to you is not a case of bending to accommodate your feelings]. (2)

Well, Ive totally jumped the gun of this post, placing the cart in front of the horse. To paraphrase the translators bracketed clarification, what Ive said to you is not a case of bending to accommodate your feelings. But I grew up with in-depth training in Northern Minnesota nice, which means Ive just got to add, Sorry about that.

Before this kensh rant, I should have said that this is the ninth of ten posts in this series, so now, after the horse left the barn nearly six-hundred words ago, Ill share the usual series introduction and disclaimer:

In the recent translation ofThe Letters of Chan Master Dhu Pju,translators Jeffrey L. Broughton and Elise Yoko Watanabe offer nine themes, motifs, that emerge in the letters about how to do keyword practice ( hutu, Japanese,wat). Ive been sharing them on theVine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Trainingfor students working with keywords (e.g., mu), and Ill also be sharing them here for others who might be interested. Close study of an ancient text can help both students and teachers notice details of the method and refresh their practice spirit. If you are working with a keyword with another teacher, consult with them, of course, and rely on their guidance.

This breaking through or passing through leads to a state wherein you dont have to ask anything of anybodyyou know for yourself:

Letter #29.3: Also, if your mind is agitated, just lift to awareness the keyword of dog has no buddha-nature [i.e., wu/mu/no ]. The words of the buddhas, the words of the ancestors, the words of the old monks of all the regions have myriad differences; but, if you can break through this word mu , youll break through all of them at the very same time, without having to ask anyone anything. If you intently ask questions of other people about the words of the buddhas, about the words of the ancestors, and about the words of the old monks of all the regions, then in endless aeons youll never attain awakening! (3)

Some of the practitioners Ive met who have come to me reporting a previous kensh, actually have. And a fair number, the majority, have mistaken samadhi or boon experiences for kensh. Others seem to have had a glimpse of true nature, but its become a calcified part of their identity, and so putting it to use in ongoing practice verification to benefit others, takes some time and skillful practice.

But despite whatDhu seems to be saying from this extract about not needing to ask anyone anything, the full text and annotations makes it clear that he is addressing another issue instead of doing the practice of lifting the keyword, Secretariat Drafter L, to whom letter #29 is addressed, was inquiring about traveling around asking questions of various teachers, depleting his energy for the Way. In that context,Dhu encourages him to do diligent keyword practice and see for himself.

Just like old Dgen said, Why abandon your own sitting place, disrespectfully wandering through another countrys dust? If you make one mistaken step, you miss the crossing over that is in your face. (4)

Traveling around with straw sandals, or via Zoom, in order to collect an impressive bevy of stories, Teachers Ive Asked About the Dharma, is a waste of precious time. Focus! Only doing diligent practice will open up awakening, not the number of hours you log on Facebook or Twitter either! And with awakening, personally knowing the truth of the buddhadharma, rather than relying on the words of others, no matter how venerable they might be, such that you can truly be of service to the many beings wandering in life-death.

In other words, asking a well-trained and clear-eyed teacher about the dharma aint going to magically awaken you.

Usually.

Unless and until you do the work and suddenly are ready, like the persimmon that goes SPLAT! Working with a teacher, breaking through, verifying your kensh in face-to-face meetings, and benefiting others is the Way.

Secretariat Drafter L might be the type of guy (yes, theyre almost always guys), who after a dharma talk begin a question with, Well, Katagiri/Suzuki/Uchiyama/Maezumi (etc.) Rshi once said, Blah, blah, blah.

Where does this end?

(1)The Letters of Chan Master Dhu Pju,1.4: Shows the mental work necessary to extinguish habit-energy from past lives,trans. Jeffrey L. Broughton and Elise Yoko Watanabe. Modified.

(2) Op. cit., 7.1: Dahui certifies Lis awakening.

(3) Op. cit., Introduction: Recurring Motifs in Huatou Practice.

(4)Eihei Dgen, Fukanzazengi, (General Advice for the Zazen Ceremony),trans. Dosho Port.

Dsh Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teaches at theNebraska Zen Centerwith his wife, Tetsugan Zummach sh. Dsh also teaches with theVine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training,an internet-based Zen community. Dsh received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Rshi and inka shmei from James Myun Ford Rshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. Dshs translation and commentary onThe Record of Empty Hallis due out in early 2021 (Shambhala). He is also the authorofKeep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri.

Read more from the original source:
Break Through Is A Must: More On The Keyword Instruction Of Dhu - Patheos