Celebrate diversity: 55 years since Brown vs Board

58 years ago, in Topeka, Kansas, a lawsuit was brought against the Board of Education by 13 parents on behalf of 20 children according to Brownvboard.org.

On May 17, 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents, granting African American students the right to attend any public school.

The case originates in Topeka, when a young African American girl named Linda Brown, was told she could not attend a public school close to her home. Instead, she was sent to an "All blacks" school nearly an hour away.

Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that the "separate but equal" doctrine was in clear violation of the 14th amendment "which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws."

The parents involved in the Brown v. Board of Education case weren't the only to petition the government regarding segregation.

In the late 1800s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that having segregated railroad cars conformed to the 14th amendment in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling was impacting to the state of Kansas because it declared that all public locations were justifiably segregated.

Five different cases originating from five different states (Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, DC) with 200 plus plaintiffs were combined under the Brown v. Board case, which created a domino-effect across the nation which begged for social change.

Women protesting Brown v. Board: "We like you, but we don't want you in our school". Flickr photo by Techne.

According to the History Channel Web site, the U.S. Supreme Court required public schools to "integrate with all deliberate speed."

Today, residents in Topeka, Kansas, celebrated the courts ruling. Linda Brown just happened to be one of those attending.

"How much it's meant to so many people all over the United States, not only all over the United States but the entire world," Linda Brown said.


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Without the Brown v. Board act, we would not be able to appreciate the great diversity our world has to offer. Open minds would be fewer,hatred would perhaps run rampant and we wouldn't be celebrating our first black president.

Fortunately, US history has proven that people will always stand up for the greater good, and our constitution will be there to back them up.


Map provided by Google.

To view a short clip of "This day in History" click here. Provided by History.com.

Kilt wearer or cross-dresser: you decide.

Most of us have experienced a time in middle or high school where school officials have decided a certain type of clothing inappropriate. For me, popular, inexpensive shoes (the ones with blinky lights in the heel), BK's were forbidden because they were potentially "gang" related.

Even Halloween costumes were monitered closely for offensiveness.

Utah however, has decided that a student wearing a kilt could be misconstrued as a cross-dresser.

In an article posted today on Standard.net reports that student Gavin McFarland, of Scottish heritage, was told to change from his kilt after many complaints by students and teachers. The principle Craig Jessop said that wearing the kilt could be misconstrued as cross-dressing.

District spokesman Nate Taggart disagreed "We certainly do not consider wearing a kilt, especially for a school project, as cross-dressing."

A public apology will be issued to McFarland and hopefully the state can take this as an educational directive.



McFarland's mother said it best in the article, "A kilt is a distinctive garment. Nobody mistakes it for a skirt."

The description provided by Wikipedia: the kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century

These are my thoughts exactly. Hopefully the school will take it upon themselves to educate one another about different cultural backgrounds.

Principals should be trained on when its right to make comments, because its these statements that could land the school in the middle of a lawsuit.

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Weekly there is a gentleman at LBCC who wears a pink plaid mini skirt with stockings, and you can definitely tell that it is no kilt.

At first, I was quite surprised, and now it is just one of those things that makes LBCC unique. I feel fortunate we live in a pretty diverse state, and I hope that my future children will grow up with respect and knowledge of cultural diversity.


Commenters came across very passionately on the site:

Ryan wrote:

...and on the other hand, it's sad to see a school administrator, who was just trying to do his best, trashed so publicly in this manner. I'm sure Gavin's parents did a fine job yelling at Mr. Jessop, teaching him a lesson before this article was published. Thank you for humiliating and bullying our underpaid educators who occasionally make a mistake.

Kevin wrote:

I just found this article in the Seattle PI. All I have to say is the principal's ignorance regarding Gavin's kilt is symptomatic of the false multiculturalism that has pervaded modern education. By that, I mean we have lost practically ALL knowledge of eastern and western European customs and their influence in America. Pretty stupid that a school principal, who likely has a Masters' Degree or higher, would make an assertion as dumb as that. Then again, graduating from college does not guarantee smarts.




Flickr photo by alan(ator).

Celebrate Christmas the Floridian way

Christmas in Florida comes early this year, when a report was filed Monday May 6, 2009 by an anonymous caller to the Fort Pierce police department that two palm trees lining the 800 block of South Indian River Drive, had been uniquely decorated.

Decayed fish, toys, and seagulls with ropes around their necks had been strewn about the trees.

Animal control cleaned up the scene and put ropes/toys into evidence.


Commenters on the TCPalm website had some interesting thoughts about this.

namvet67 wrote:

I am sure its just a "religous" practice, someone
is trying to summon their "god or gods". Happens
in Miami/Dade all the time!!!! As far a serial
killers are concerned, most do have some animal
mutalation in their backgrounds.It is a harbinger
of things to come in a lot of cases, as is the
guy who tried to abduct that young lady in Vero
last week, he is someone who should be sent away
for a long,long time.This guy attempted to spirit
away this lady in a van and we all know what he
had in mind. Wonder what his attorneys will come
up with in his defense??Insanity perhaps?

BORF was more sing-songy:

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas ....

Guards in Florida prisons shock kids

April 24, 2009 was "Take your daughter/son to workday", across the nation.

Ten Florida prison employees have been suspended and one fired, while investigations of guards using stun guns on as little as six children who were visiting, continue.

A news article from the St. Petersburg Times reported early Wednesday May 6, that up to six children are victims of a real life "show and tell" game. Three separate prisons have revealed that guards zapped the victims, ages ranging between 8 and 14, with "electronic immobilization devices," a.k.a the stun gun, which produces a 50,000 volt shock.

When George Sapp, deputy secretary of institutions for the Department of Correction, heard rumors that the Franklin Correctional Institution in the Panhandle ordeal was not an isolated one, he began calling wardens and discovered that Indian River Correctional Institution in Vero Beach and Martin Correctional Institution in Indiantown had similar events take place.

However, Gretl Plessinger, a corrections spokeswoman, said that the three situations were "separate and unrelated," suggesting that no coordination or planning was to have taken place.

Matthew Foster, attorney for one victim said that his client "sustained abrasions and trauma when the powerful jolt knocked her to the ground, requiring a doctor's treatment."

The Department of Corrections is leading the investigation with House Council on Criminal and Civil Justice Policy keeping a watchful eye.

"If we think the department is not thorough and is taking care of its own, we'll step in," said State Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, chairman of the House Council.

The ten suspended employees are currently on administrative leave with pay, and will be notified by mail if and when they can return to work.


Since high school I have been an avid listener of the radio show Loveline featuring Dr. Drew and various hosts (including Adam Corrolla and Striker). To liven up the show, they played a game called "Germany or Florida" in which you had to guess where a crazy story originated.

Florida seems to be taking the cake in the news this week, producing one horrific story after another.

Personally, I am not surprised that this situation happened, and really that it was only a matter of time. I would not be surprised to find that more prisons around the country have experienced situations like this many times.

What I would like to know is how the situation came about? Did one or two kids mention it, and sweet talked the officers into a live demonstration? Was it an idea floated between the officers?

Next, I would like to know how the story leaked? It makes you wonder if the children were bragging to their friends, and a teacher found out; or if a prison employee reported it to their superior; or if the child told the opposite parent who responded accordingly.

Then I would like to discuss the fact that tazing children unnecessarily should involve a punishment much more harsh than losing a job or suspension with pay.

Personally, I feel like this falls under the category of "cruel and unusual" or even torture, no matter the context of how the situation came about.

This just proves, that not every fertile person should be reproducing.

photo credits: photo of Drew Pinsky provided by shell belle (Flickr); photo of stun gun provided by yoheiyamashita (Flickr).

Holocaust survivor speaks at LBCC

Alter Wiener, Holocaust survivor and author of “From a Name to a Number” spoke at LBCC Tuesday, April 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. to an audience of 300. His speech was about his experience of the Holocaust, learning from history’s mistakes, celebrating life, and was followed by a question-and-answer session.

Wiener began his speech by telling us he was not here to entertain, but to tell us his story.

It began when Wiener was 13, after Germany invaded Poland and people were fleeing for their lives. Separated from their father, Wiener’s family tried to leave the country unsuccessfully. They learned three months later that, along with 37 others, Wiener’s father had been shot and left for dead in a ditch on the outskirts of Poland.

Not long after, the Gestapo came for Wiener’s oldest brother and, when Wiener turned 15, he too was sent to a labor camp. That camp was called Blechhammer. Soon after arriving, he discovered his brother had been there for a year.

He described the car that transported him and many others to Blechhammer as hellish.

“People died standing up because there was no room to lay down and die,” Weiner said.

Conditions at Blechhammer weren’t any better. Wiener shared an 8 by 10 foot room with 24 other people. There were no mattresses, pillows, or blankets – only bed frames that were already inhabited by roaches and mice. For breakfast, they were given stale, moldy bread and for dinner a watery soup. One might be considered lucky if their bowl contained a floating potato or onion.

Four months after arriving at Blechhammer, Wiener was transferred to his second labor camp and later transferred to his third, fourth and fifth camp.

He learned that Jews weren’t the only ones being persecuted. It came as a surprise when he saw groups marching into camps wearing different badges and soon learned that 30-40 different groups of people were persecuted, including Soviets, homosexuals, and gypsies.

Wiener described several unfathomable events that took place during the three years he was living in camps. He told of one particular event where a commander entertained himself by having everyone in Wiener’s barracks stand under the cold showers for an entire night. When the sun came up, he sent them to work.

Many actions were criminalized in these camps, including talking to each other while working and bartering for food, as Wiener learned after trying to trade his watch for some bread which he never received. When the commanders learned of the trade, they whipped Wiener 15 times.

Finally, on May 9, 1945 the Russians liberated his camp and Wiener was set free, weighing only 80 pounds. With only four surviving family members left out of 123, Wiener felt his time in Poland had come to an end and decided to move to the United States.

Now Wiener lives in Hillsboro, and speaks regularly at schools, churches and prisons about his experience. Instead of dwelling on atrocities committed against him, Wiener wanted people to learn that he believes that “we should be judged on an individual basis”

Wiener concluded many points in his speech by reiterating his belief that Hitler was a man without a heart, and someone needed to teach him to love.

Wiener was also very quick to point out the ignorance of Holocaust deniers, like the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“How dare he say so,” said Wiener, “there are photographs, and buildings, and graves, and I’m still here carrying my physical and mental scars. If you are tortured once, you are tortured every day.”

Audience members were moved to tears and gave Wiener a standing ovation before the speech was opened up to a question and answer session.

Alter speaking to students individually after the speech.

When I interviewed audience members, most left with mixed feelings of hope, sympathy and curiosity. Bob McCormick, a retired vet and education major at L.B.C.C. said, "my heart is opened more, there is great importance in passing this lesson on to our children."

Another audience member, Zachary Dietrich thought that the story about the watch was most shocking, "how anyone could be punished for trying to eat isn't fathomable."

photos by Becca Martino.

Thank you mass media.

Ah mass media hype [aka mass hysteria]- how I loathe thee, you embarrass an aspiring journalist like myself.

When I originally discovered and reported about the swine flu last, I was very concerned. After all, a huge number of people seemed to be immediately sick.
It's been exactly a week since I first read about it, and even while the number of sick has increased in Mexico city, and there are cases all over the U.S. those numbers are still very minor and insignificant to the number of people who die every year from the flu.

Right now, numbers reported by AP suggest that 140 are sick in the United States. 140 Out of 300 million people living in the United States? Tell me HOW THAT DESERVES 24 news coverage?

That is why I REFUSE to watch, listen or pay attention to any of the news during times like this, or during election season, and I think you should refuse as well.

Lack of creativity has brought our beloved mass media providers to report on one topic 24 hours a day. Even during the same news reports like AP or T.V. segments and companies like Fox or KGW repeat the same thing over and over again.

How many different ways you can say 1,000 people in Mexico are sick, you might get sick too, wash your hands because there is no cure? ONE YOU IDIOTS. Please explain why one needs to devote a whole hour news program unless you're going to bring me original coverage.

Does Obama not have enough to do without the media blowing topics way out of proportion?

There are two logical explanations for everything.

1: Residents in Mexico City live in a more polluted, crowded environment than most in the U.S., with little options for quality health care.

2: Numbers are rising in the U.S., because those experiencing regular flu symptoms decide to get screened. Normally, we would stay home and wait it out.



Here in Oregon, WOU has decided to close campus classes and events through Monday because there may be a potential case.

Shutting down a college campus is not going to stop the spread of the flu, it's going to accelerate it because kids wont have homework and they're going to go party, or have fun in the sun.

According to the NYTimes, Cairo, Egypt, is experiencing a more serious problem, all because of mass hysteria created by the news. They are forcibly slaughtering all the pigs in the country as a precaution.

So friends and family, when you hear the news, check your sources and take a step back so you can logically analyze the situation, and put a blanket on the fire that is mass hysteria.

Kazakhstan Hearts UFOs

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, would like to properly welcome UFO's when they arrive on our lovely planet, thats why a typical field or air-strip will just not do.

According to an article on All News Web, Kazakhstan is in the process of building the world's first alien embassy. The embassy is sure to include a guesthouse, a translation service, and theatre.

The Caspian Sea, which borders Kazakhstan, currently houses an underwater base which is supposedly being used by UFOs.

"Fuad Gasimov, the head of neighbouring Azerbaijan’s national Aerospace Agency
has confirmed this to be the case and has gone on record stating the old USSR
constantly monitored alien spaceships regularly entering the water but kept this
a military secret."

So it makes sense then, our accepting friends in Kazakhstan should be the first to welcome our ET friends.

The original post came from a website in Cyrillic, but some responses to the article are in English.

IQXSORG writes: Bravo to the Citizens of Kazakhstan!

Thank you for the post and hello from Dayton, OH U.S.A.! IQXS sends you sincere good wishes for your excellent project and hopes your skies will be filled with incoming "visitors" soon! The world is watching! Kudos on being true future-thinkers, unafraid to challenge the status quo! We salute your efforts and wish you the best! Ciao!IQXS

Pleya must be a journalist because he/she writes: Where is the visual evidence? Pictures of the building & surrounding? Any pix of UFO above the Caspian Sea?

Lets take a minute to applaud Kazakhstan for welcoming our outer-space neighbors. Nothing shows diversity like welcoming extra-terrestrials.

Another reason to applaud Kazakhstan? For putting up with this crazy story. I for one, think it's a rumor, facilitated by well known actor Sacha Baron Cohen. You may recognize him as Borat, or Ali G.

Here is why:
1st: In an article in the NY Times, written by Noam Cohen [Noam is one of Sacha's middle names, that he could have been using as a writer] he spoke about Raëlians, a group I will label as extra-terrestrial enthusiasts, who were sent to build an Alien Embassy in the Holy Land.


2nd: While Kazakhstan is not the Holy Land, Cohen's character Borat, was a reporter from Kazakhstan.

3rd: If you google the article, it does not appear in any reputable news journals like the Times, Washington Post or even the Oregonian.