The Heroes Among Us: Will You Be One?

The rescue of the three women held captive in Cleveland is a horrible and fascinating story.  The hero of the story is Charles Ramsey who heard the screams and broke down the door to get Amanda Berry and her child out, which led to the rescue of Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight.  I absolutely love this man's honesty and unpretentious attitude:

Seriously, I want to have beers with this guy and listen to him tell stories.  What an incredible person! 

The interview that is also interesting is where Mr. Ramsey discusses how he had felt that "something was weird about that house," a year ago. (At about a 1:32 into the video.)

His friend told him he was being paranoid - I love that he said, "Had I known what was going on, I would have done all this heroic stuff a year ago!"

How often do we have gut feelings about something and ignore them as "being paranoid"? Or we're afraid of stepping on someone else's toes or offending someone? I know it happens to me sometimes, and later, I wish I had acted on the feeling.

Recently, a friend of mine, Southern HockeyMama (aka "SHockeyMama), had a chance to act on a feeling or walk away.  Like Mr. Ramsey, she decided to act.  In my eyes, she too, is a hero:

SHockeyMama loves kids and kids adore her (actually, you can't meet her and not like her or forget her - she's just that special kind of person who has such a good heart that it is impossible not to love her).  She loves to spend time with kids of all ages and will help out her friends with childcare when needed.  Last week, she was dropping off a little friend at a preschool when she was confronted with a sight that she couldn't believe was happening.  An assistant teacher had a little boy, about four years old, pinned onto the floor, holding him down with her knee and restraining his hands, while the head teacher sat and read the other children a story not two feet away from the crying boy.  The little boy was crying and begging for the teacher to let him go.  SHockeyMama was shocked to see this and asked the teacher, "What are you doing?" the teacher said, "He keeps bothering my little friends and he needs to stop." Under the pretense of taking a photo of the child she was dropping off, SHockeyMama took two photos of the situation, then said "Good-bye" to the child she dropped off and walked out of the room.  As she left, she mentioned what she had witnessed to the person working the front desk, noting that there were video monitors displaying the activity of the various classrooms near the front desk.  Then she left.

As she drove home, she contemplated her options: Should she wait until the school day was over and show the little boy's mama the photos and let her handle it?  Should she ignore what she witnessed and not make any waves - maybe there was a reason why the little boy was being restrained? Should she contact the preschool and let them know what had happened? Or should she contact her friend, MNHockeyMama, about the story and let her take put it out to the wide world and let the preschool be eviscerated by the media for allowing that behavior to go on at that location?

Ultimately, SHockeyMama decided to call the main 800 number for the preschool company and tell them what had occurred.  The person she spoke with was as shocked and appalled by what SHockeyMama had witnessed and gave her an email address to send the photos and her information to them, which SHockeyMama did immediately.  Within an hour she received a call back, informing her that the Minnesota office had been called and that the situation was being take care of.  Within an hour of that call, she received another call from the Minnesota Director, who informed her that she was on the way to the location and that SHockeyMama wouldn't be seeing that teacher in that preschool again.  All the people with whom she spoke thanked her for alerting them to the situation and assured her that they would see that this wouldn't happen again.

The next day, SHockeyMama went back to once again drop off the same child at the preschool.  Neither teacher was in the classroom that day.  On her way out, the facility's director called her into the office to tell her "Thank you" and "You did the right thing."

SHockeyMama saw a situation that shouldn't be happening.  She could have walked away and kept her mouth shut, but she didn't.  As she stated on her Facebook wall: 

The reason I'm sharing this because I wasn't going to, is because if you see, or know of a child being abused, or cared for inappropriately "STAND UP FOR THEM ." Sometime their voices are just too small to be heard.

 Both SHockeyMama and Charles Ramsey are heroes.  They didn't have to listen to their guts telling them what they should do - Mr. Ramsey could have ignored the screams and stayed home, and SHockeyMama could have walked out of that preschool and not said a word to anyone.  But they didn't.  They both saw or heard something disturbing and listened to their guts and did the right thing.

If only we all would be as brave as these two heroes, and stand up for those who can't speak and/or act even when we know there could be danger or others who might deride us for acting when they refuse to act, the world would be a much better and safer place for all.

More Questions re East Ridge High School Black Panther Announcement

Updated 5/6/2013 12:31pm
A new development on the East Ridge High School/Black Panther controversy.  According to Robert L. Stephens' blog, his mother, Marquita Stephens, was allowed to go into ERHS on March 21, 2013 and conduct a "training" for the teachers on how they're "processing" the controversy.  According to this infamous OWS protester, the teachers involved in the training had no problem with the Black Panther announcement on February 14, 2013.  This information was confirmed by the FOIA'd emails - it was discovered that there were a series of emails between Ms. Stephens (her information was redacted, but the email's content includes discussion about a presentation) and Principal Harper that included some sort of book, a teacher survey and a 25 minute presentation by Ms. Stephens.  The information referenced in the emails was not included in the FOIA'd emails (the link to the Google doc no longer works), so the concerned parents are very curious as to what was presented on the same day that Ms. Stephens went to the South Washington County School Board meeting and presented Robert L. Stephens' letter to the editor of the Woodbury Bulletin.

At the first school board meeting the concerned parents attended and presented their concerns to the board, Steve Ellenwood also offered to go into the school and discuss the history of the Black Panthers and the concerns of the parents to the teachers.  His offer was brushed aside by the board.  Why, then, was Ms. Stephens allowed to do a presentation? What are her qualifications for this honor?  She is a social worker working (or has worked) with a non-profit adoption agency; what part of that qualifies her to "train" teachers? What about the report by Robert L. Stephens regarding how the teachers expressed no issues with the announcement? Is it that they are all indoctrinated to believe that as long as it was done in the context of Black History month that honoring socialist, militant groups over the school PA system, without including any classroom discussion time, is the right thing to do? Or is it because they were afraid of being labeled "racists" if they spoke out as those concerned parents have been by the supporters of the announcement?  Isn't this a form of bullying by the administration? Or possibly the teachers were concerned about speaking out due to the fact that the district is planning to cut 22 teaching positions to save $1.6 million in the next budget?

There have been researchers investigating the Stephens' backgrounds over the last few days.  Some of what has been discovered requires further investigation, however, one discovery may explain how and why Robert L. Stephens is completely radicalized in his beliefs about America.  There has been some evidence discovered that seems to show that the late Reverend Dr. Robert L. Stephens, Sr. was a proponent of Black Liberation Theology - the same theology preached by Obama's controversial Reverend Wright.  More research is being conducted to verify this possibility, but from what has been unearthed so far it seems likely that it could be true.

So, how does that possibility relate to the ERHS Black Panther issue?  It would seem to make sense that if the Rev. Dr. Stephens ascribed to Black Liberation Theology, that his wife, Marquita, is also a proponent of the same belief system as would be their children.  In that belief system, the Black Panthers would not be viewed as the violent criminals they were, but as liberators of oppressed people.  Is that what Ms. Stephens "trained" the ERHS teachers to believe as well?

How are Marquita Stephens, Principal Harper and Tishanna Brown connected?  From Robert Stephens' LTE, it is known that he graduated not from East Ridge High School, since it was not open in 2006, but Woodbury High School.  Did his younger brother attend ERHS?  Or are the three mentioned above acquainted in another way?  It seems that according to the emails (see below) between Principal Harper and Ms. Stephens that they were working together on the teacher training presentation that Ms. Stephens performed on March 21, 2013.  What exactly was taught during that "training"?  Why weren't the concerned parents notified by the district that the "training" occurred or was planned?  If Ms. Stephens truly wants a "dialogue" between the various groups in the community, why was this training kept secret?  Why wouldn't the concerned parents also be invited to the "training"?

Last week, one of the concerned parents was strongly advised by a school board member (with witnesses) that the parents should remove their children from East Ridge High School due to the concerned parents' persistence in requesting that the school board investigate the Black Panther announcement.  The school board member obviously feels concern for the children, why doesn't it seem to concern the rest of the board?  Why isn't the board seeing the need to stand up and speak out about the possibility of harassment (or worse) of concerned parents' children at ERHS?  Is the school board afraid of the announcement supporters? And if so, why?  Is it the fear of being labeled, like the concerned parents have been, as "racist"? Or is there a more nefarious element at work? Are the administration and school board members being pressured to continue to try to sweep this issue under the rug and allow the concerned parents to receive the brunt of the accusations that their concerns are racially motivated? If that is the case, why are they caving to the pressure? Of what or whom might they be so afraid?

FOIA'd Emails

OWS Protester Stands Strong with ERHS Black Panther Commemoration

Remember this dramatic video from the 2011 OWS protests?

Robert L. Stephens at OWS in DC in 2011

Heart-wrenching, isn't it? So, so sad, even though when one digs into Robert L. Stephens' story a little more deeply as The Blaze did, one would discover that Robert Stephens graduated from Carleton College (average cost: $42,942/year) in 2010 and now studies law at The George Washington University Law School (average cost: $70,449/year). 

And who could forget Glenn Beck's follow-up on this man's "story"? 

Glenn Beck outs Robert L. Stephens' lies

The Blaze was the first major news organization to dig into Robert L Stephen's dramatic fabrications:

There’s just one problem: Robert Stephens’ story is (surprise!) completely bogus. His father has a Ph.D. and two master’s degrees; his mother also has a master’s degree.

Phone inquiries into the county property records & taxpayer services office reveal that the Stephens family home is not and never has been in foreclosure, that property taxes had been paid in full this year and the remaining balance on their mortgage for the half-million dollar home is less than one year’s worth of tuition+fees at their son’s law school.

The nail in this empty protest’s coffin is a delightful phone conversation I just had with Robert’s mother, Marquita, where she admitted Chase Bank indeed was not “taking” their home from them. Instead, due to a recent “reduction in income,” they’ve decided to hold a “short sale.”    ~ Meredith Jessup

After that story broke and Robert L. Stephens was exposed for the big-time street actor that he is, one would think that he would go back to George Washington University and finish his education.  But, that apparently wasn't his plan.  A few weeks ago Robert L. Stephens decided to delve into the issues happening back in his hometown: good ol' Woodbury, Minnesota, where Robert had graduated from Woodbury High School back in 2006.  The Black Panther Announcement at East Ridge High School in Woodbury proved to big for Robert to not comment on: in a letter to the Woodbury Bulletin: I appreciate the students and teacher that decided to share the poem and explain the Panthers’ complex historical significance over East Ridge’s intercom. 

Later that week, Roberts' mother, Marquita also joined in her support of the Black Panther announcement at the March 21, 2013 school board meeting, where she read Robert's letter to the editor and then discussed how she supports the ERHS administration encouraging the reading, but also how the school district could do better with integrating all Americans' history into the curriculum (a point on which we may agree):

It strikes me as somewhat ironic that Robert L. Stephens denigrates Woodbury High School with a few of his remarks in his letter to the editor, for example: In a high school climate where I experienced racial antagonism from both students and teachers... This rings hollow when one considers that the high school where he seems to have experienced terrible hardships is the same high school that prepared him well enough scholastically to be accepted into Carleton College - not exactly the easiest school in Minnesota to get into.  Robert also mentions being one of the few Black males in Woodbury High School’s class of 2006; as reported by The Minnesota Department of Education, in 2006, 20% of WHS's student population were minority students, and this year that number has increased to 25% (with WHS also ranking 16th in U.S. News & World Reports Top High Schools in Minnesota list, well ahead of the 36th ranked East Ridge High School).

At the last school board meeting on April 25, 2013, five community members stood up and spoke to the board about the Black Panther Announcement at East Ridge High School.  Three people were, once again, asking the board to investigate the matter, while two people, who happened to show up late and just "decide" to speak - with nothing prepared, (hmmmm Barb Brown, did you maybe make a couple of phone calls when you saw the topic on which Linda Stanton, Gary and Susan Richardson were addressing the school board that evening?) but who just wanted to show their support for the district's handling of the matter. One of the two supporters was again Marquita Stephens, who again voiced her support of the school district's handling of the East Ridge High School issue.  

As Meredith Jessup said so eloquently,   Only in America could a kid have been blessed with so much… and only in America could he still claim to be a victim. America’s capitalist society has apparently leveled a grave injustice against his family and Robert will not stand for it...  

Apparently, instead of moving away from the too conservative Woodbury, Ms. Stephens has set about opposing all those crazy conservatives instead.  (Watch for a future blog post on how, if she and others critical of the concerned parents would actually LISTEN to those parents, she and the others would actually find that they agree on more within this issue than they disagree...)

UPDATE: This story has been picked up by Meredith Jessup and The Blaze! 
Check out: INFAMOUS OWS ACTIVIST TAKES HIS PROTEST HOME


More information on this issue:

VIDEO: BECK RESPONDS TO LIBERAL PROTESTER’S FICTITIOUS SOB STORY

LYING LIBERAL PROTESTER RESPONDS TO BLAZE’S ‘RIGHT-WING ATTACK’

UPDATE ON BLACK PANTHER ANNOUNCEMENT

Superintendent Claims Black Panther Case Closed, Calls Blog "Threatening"

What If?
The Black Panthers were Unabashedly Marxist

Updated May 2, 2013 1:39pm


UPDATED 4:35pm, 4/30/2013 

Please Pray

Today is a momentous day.
A friend of mine is a 31 year old mama who has incredible faith.  She is currently in surgery, having a double-mastectomy to remove the breast cancer with which she was recently diagnosed.  Many people are in constant prayer for her and her family right now.

It is also the two year anniversary of another friend's husband's death.  He was 48 years old when he succumbed to a massive heart-attack just before his son's Regional hockey game.  My heart hurts for the family.  His last words to his son were "Do Good."  His family has taken those words and turned them into a "pay-it-forward" campaign.  It is a beautiful thing.

Today is also the final public input meeting before our school board decides what they will be doing with our district's budget.  There's so many issues with the three options that they have put forth that it is difficult not to turn to the board and say "SCRAP THEM ALL AND START OVER!" Combined with the budget is a battle over a school building in our district that is currently run by an inter-district group.  Our district wants the building, which currently houses 6-10th graders, and move an elementary school into it so they can make room for the elitist Spanish Immersion "choice program" in a neighborhood elementary school.  It seems that none of the school board members are taking into consideration the disruptions in the lives of the neighborhood school kids' move to a new school or in the lives of the kids who currently attend school at the contested building.  Their only concern seems to be for a small minority of students in a program which their parents have chosen to place them.  This is so wrong on so many levels. I am hoping that there is a huge turn-out at the final budget meeting as well as the other two meetings this week - the regularly scheduled school board meeting tomorrow night and the Town Hall hosted by local legislators on Saturday.

Finally, the news from Glenn Beck regarding Eric Holder's assertion that the government could, in fact, decide to use drones to kill American citizens on American soil if they determined that there was a threat large enough to do so is more than disturbing.  It is sickening.  I would like to know why there seems to be no one in Congress brave enough to start impeachment hearings?  Where are the ones who are willing to stand up for America and fight this man who wants to be a dictator?  What kind of America will be left for my children?

So many people and issues taking up my thoughts and prayers today.  Please pray for my friends as they go through surgery and the reminder of how long they've been without the one they loved; please pray for people to come to the meeting tonight and speak out against a runaway school board who have forgotten for whom they serve, and please pray for our country and its leaders.

Late Fall Grays

As the month goes from the vibrant hues of reds, oranges, and yellows into dreary shades of brown and gray, so does my mood.  The news from around the country - OWS sheeple complaining about the cold, cop-killer literature found at protests, more disturbing info regarding Fast and Furious and the like - is more depressing every day and seems to match nature's mood as she prepares for winter.

It is the time of year when, along with the last minute Halloween costume prep (my kids seem to have decided mom is capable of whipping together any type of costume in very short amounts of time and test that skill every year) my entire being wants to go into hibernation mode along with the squirrels and bears.  Yarn and the thought of long days spent in front of a fire watching a marathon of Reese Witherspoon or Sandra Bullock movies call to me as do the stacks of books at the library - how many books can I get through this winter? - their siren call overwhelming.

Recently, I picked up a book on the "Staff Favorites" shelf at my local library called,  "Literacy and Longing in L.A." (Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack).  I'm only about 20 pages into it and actually may not finish it since the main character seems to mirror me a little too much.  When she gets depressed, she goes on book binges - reading day and night until the funk passes.  I can relate to that habit all too well, since I do the same. There's just something about books that soothes my soul - escaping into a world created by a fantastic author is so much easier than dealing with the realities of a hockey mama's world sometimes.  Through books, I've traveled with special agent Scot Harvath as he saves the country from another terrorist attack or with the Jewish slave girl, Hadassah as she, through her own life example of love, shows her Roman owners the way to Christ.  Even the "chick lit" books - "brain candy" to me - offer a moment to live vicariously through someone else's eyes, to escape the drudgery of the every day tasks required of a (ho-hum) stay-at-home mom of four.  I can burn through a "brain candy" book in less than a day and often do in the summer.  My choices are not limited to fiction, I also check out (and, in the case of Glenn Beck books, often buy) non-fiction books, usually political in nature, to try to understand more of what is going on right now.  My non-fiction collection includes "A Patriot's History of the United States" (I keep hoping my SwimGirl, now in American History at school, will pick it up but she has yet to do so), "Culture of Corruption" by Michelle Malkin and Jason Lewis's new book, "Power Divided is Power Checked" along with a variety of Biblical texts, biographies and memoirs (my favorites being by the sassy author, Jen Lancaster).

One of my dreams is to write and publish one of the many stories floating in my brain, but every time I sit down to write, the fear that the story will suck is overwhelming.  Sometimes I'll write a chapter or two, then read what I've written and think "Do people really talk like this? No." and scrap it.  I keep wishing for an invention that would enable the frustrated writer to connect a USB cable to his/her brain (maybe a port right behind one ear?) directly to the computer, so that everything that writer "sees" could be directly downloaded into the computer in whatever language desired.  Think of how much easier it would be to get those stories out!  Of course, there's always the chance of some rogue government taking the device and using it for nefarious means, which could create a lot of issues since there would be no way to know if what was being downloaded was actual memories or figments of a person's imagination.  Imagine being prosecuted for things you had only imagined! What trouble we would all get into. (Or maybe just me since my imagination has always been far crazier than my actual world.)

This is still a young blog, but I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who also finds themselves in the doldrums at this time of year and if so, how do you deal with it?