The month of July 2017 has been amazingly packed for me:
I returned to Minnesota on the Fourth of July after a 16-day sojourn tending to my mom. Thereupon, I pounded out several blog articles; issued the June and July editions of my academic Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota; took a group to the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona to see Comedy of Errors, worked on assembling two books (Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect and Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education), made an appearance before the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education on 11 July; then headed for Dallas with Barbara on 13 July to celebrate Mom's 96th birthday.
Our celebration for Mom's birthday was a multiday experience of great joy spent with loving friends and family members. The celebration began on Saturday, 15 July, and continued until Barbara and I departed on 20 July. Successive days featured a trip to McKinney, Texas (where Mom grew up) on 15 July to dine at Rick's Chophouse on the town square; attendance at East Dallas Christian Church followed by a gathering for Sunday dinner on 16 July (Mom's day of birth) and then Ryan's arrival that afternoon; a big celebration with balloons, flowers, a Mexican meal of my preparation, and cake on 17 July; continued rejoicing at the serendipitously named Celebration Restaurant on 18 July; and a day and a half of continued super discussion, tours of Dallas at my behest, and conversational review of festivities on 19 and 20 July.
Barbara and I then headed for numerous spots in and around Big Bend National Park along the Rio Grande in Texas; to the historically African American Langston University and town of the same name in Oklahoma; and back home to Minnesota yesterday evening, Friday, 28 July.
As I move into August and September, I'll be plunging full speed ahead serving my students in the New Salem Educational Initiative, putting finishing touches on the two books, and conducting the usual round of activities pertinent to the K-12 Revolution.
I returned to Minnesota with a bevy of calls and requests for help from my previously enrolled students and many others who know that I am their only resource for the quality of academic service and loving attention that I render.
Thus am I forever motivated anew to advocate for long-denied people living at the urban core; I feel honor bound to those who request my help.
The K-12 Revolution is gathering force.
I am pressing decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools to deliver that excellence of education for which our students and families have been waiting a very long time.
They will deliver such an education, or they will they will embrace the professional and public consequences for their ineptitude.
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ReplyDeleteDear sir,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to know that you had a great family time. God bless you all.
I have a question regarding your book:Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education, specifically about its chapter about Islam. I remember reading it and writing to you about some comments I had in mind. You welcomed them and even provided me with your email address and until now I haven't sent you those notes mainly because I want to provide the necessary references related to my notes. My question is : have you used Islamic books as references or orientalist publications?
As a Muslim, my main source of history of Islam was obviously Islamic and I recently discovered orientalist writers like : Washington Irvin or Karen Armstrong.
There was a curiously distinct contrast between them and their Islamic counterparts.
I'd like to know your opinion about it.
Thank you.
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ReplyDeleteHayet--- Thanks so much to you once again for your kind thoughts and abiding interest. As to my overview of Islam in >Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education<, in addition to reading the >Qur'an<, I have read many world religions texts by authors such as Huston Smith, John Noss, and Karen Armstrong. Also, while I have never been to Saudi Arabia or other places in West Asia (Middle East)or North Africa, I have traveled to and visited mosques in Malaysia, India, and other parts of South, Southeast, and East Asia. I welcome your comments and deeply appreciate your interest.
ReplyDeleteDear sir,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to answer my question. It looks like we have an open window for exchanging information and I'd really love to discuss every source you used in your work and add mine as well.
I'll send you my initial notes+ references by email this weekend and look forward to have an enriching discussion of them.
Thanks again, Hayet--- I look forward to communicating with you as to your own perspectives on Islam, and any other matters that affect the information base of our precious children.
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