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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Marion Williams O Holy Night

With an amazing grace, a powerful yet lyrical voice, and unmatched improvisation skills, Marion Williams punctuated her sanctified shouting with gut-wrenching growls, low moans, joyful whoops, and soaring, angelic falsettos that made her one of the most influential singers in gospel music. In her heyday she was hailed by some critics as one the greatest singers in the U.S.

Williams was born in a Miami ghetto, the daughter of a West Indian butcher and a South Carolina laundry woman. When not working, her father would give music lessons, while her devout mother introduced to her to religion. Williams' own love of gospel music began in childhood, and she would sing and listen to it at every opportunity.

Track Listing
Sample

No Room at the Inn
When Was Jesus Born
Packin' Up


The 1961 release of Black Nativity, a gospel production performed on Broadway, alerted the theatrical set to the power and transcendence of religious music. The performance featured stirring vocals from gospel stars and text provided by noted poet Langston Hughes.


Swing Kids (German: Swingjugend)

The youth of the western world was celebrating the end of global economic depression and the approach of modern times during the 1930s and 40s with a riotous explosion of dance and music called Swing.  However, in Germany a repressive fascist regime under Adolf Hitler tried to impose its iron will on the German people, and keep them isolated from any international movements that threatened to undermine Nazi philosophy.  They were composed of 14 to 18-year-old boys and girls in high school, most of them middle or upper-class students, but with some apprentice workers as well

Similar conflicts arose when swing became more popular in other countries. In Germany it confronted the Nazi ideology and was forbidden by it. It was offensive to the Nazis because of its lyrics (that sometimes promoted free love and sexual permissiveness), but also because it was performed by African – American, as well as Jewish musicians. It was labeled as “nigger music” and “degenerate music.” That’s when The Swing Kids (German: Swingjugend) arrived. They were a group of jazz and Swing lovers in the 1930s, mostly concentrated in Hamburg and Berlin. The name Swing Kids or Swing Youth was a parody on the numerous “youth groups” in Nazism. They also took parody in their greeting “Swing Heil” which mocked the Nazi's “Sieg Heil.”

The female Swing Kids, meanwhile, wore long, flowing hair and penciled eyebrows, lipstick and nail polish. Naturally, the Nazis were scandalized by such wanton displays of Hollywood influenced degeneracy, as true German woman had a pure beauty and kept their hair in Heidi braids.

Hamburg was the hot spot, especially in terms of historical raids on swing youth, though Berlin, Frankfurt, and many other cities across all the countries of the Third Reich also had groups. Authorities and other citizens called the youth Swing-Heinis and Swingjugend — at first insults of a sort, but soon proudly adopted by the youth.In the beginning the Swing Kids were apolitical, but later, by the aggression of the Gestapo and Hitler Youth, they evolved into a non-violent refusal to the National-socialist culture (even though they were not an organized political opposition).

“(...) Our Youth must learn nothing else, but only to think like and act like Germans! We must get our boys into a Party organization at the age of 10, where they can be immersed for the very first time in the totality of pure German spirit.  Then, after four years, they will be transferred from this Young Folk (Jungvolk) into the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend).  — excerpt of Hitler’s speech at Reichenberg, December 2, 1938

Contemporary Nazi Reports and Measures regarding German Swing Youth.
The Nazi authorities considered the dance craze of the Swing scene a particular menace. Swing was viewed as a very dangerous foreign import, because it was rooted in immoral Black ”jungle music” with accompanying allusions to wild, indiscriminate sex.  Even worse, as far as the Nazi officials were concerned, Swing was a deliberate product of Jewish media moguls in America that, if spread to Germany, could contaminate the blood of  its own youth.  Youngsters caught up in a possible invasion of Swing would revert to more primitive forms of African-inspired behavior.
Youth Resistance in Wartime Germany

Jazz music, with its high spirits, fun and originality, was viewed of as democratic. Moreover with its ”non-Aryan” roots Jazz was considered a product of the American lifestyle and was therefore frowned upon by the Nazi’s who found the Jazz music degenerating.



The ”Swing era” of the mid 30’s through to the end of the 40’s originated from America. Swing music was played as set arrangements in a big band. This had the effect of limiting improvisation, which also meant that the Afro-American influence was less apparent.
They would whistle swing songs and sometimes walk with one foot on the curb, the other on the street — a sort of limping swagger they called the “lotter step.” (Whistling Eddie Carroll’s “Harlem” was the way the Frankfurt swing youth hailed each other. Berliners switched from “Goody, Goody” to “Jeepers Creepers.” Liepzig had “Flat Foot Floogie.”) As they were teenagers, they of course made up new, obscene lyrics to many songs.

“Swing Kids Behind Barbed Wire”

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Great Moonshine Conspiracy: The true story behind the movie Lawless

Franklin County Virginia was once called "The Moonshine Capital of the World”, where corruption and exploitation put working families up against the most powerful men in the county. The Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial

Franklin County, Va., was called The Moonshine Capital of the World during the Prohibition. And you can’t make that much illegal whiskey without drawing the attention of the federal government. In 1935, more than 200 farmers testified about their role in a massive racket involving some of Franklin County’s most powerful men. Jesse Dukes of Big Shed Media brings us the story of the great moonshine conspiracy, as told by writer Charlie Thompson. Learn more about his book "Spirits of Just Men" at the Moonshine Conspiracy website.
Franklin County Virginia was once called “The Moonshine Capital of the World.”

"Spirits of Just Men" at the Moonshine Conspiracy website.
The Great Moonshine Conspiracy

Monday, December 23, 2013

Chess boxing: The City of London's new sport

Podcast
Tim Wulfgar, the president of the World Chess Boxing Association, told the Today programme's Justin Rowlatt that the two component sports have "a great deal in common".

He continued: "They attract a similar type of mentality - people who enjoy the thrill of the combat," noting that chess can be "absolutely brutal".

Mr Wulfgar also explained that since the sport has opened a new base in the City of London, events "have attracted quite a few people from the banking and finance sectors".

"People in the City like to think that they're tough and can fight, but also like to think that they're intelligent as well," he added.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Bob Dylan on Robert Johnson

I copied Johnson's words down on scraps of paper so I could more closely examine the lyrics and patterns, the construction of his old-style lines and the free association that he used, the sparkling allegories, big-ass truths wrapped in the hard shell of nonsensical abstraction-themes that flew through the air with the greatest of ease. I didn't have any of these dreams or thoughts but I was going to acquire them. I thought about Johnson a lot, wondered who his audience could have been. It's hard to imagine sharecroppers or plantation field hands at hop joints, relating to songs like these. You have to wonder if Johnson was playing for an audience that only he could see, one off in the future. "The stuff I got'll bust your brains out," he sings. Johnson is serious, like the scorched earth.

 As great as the greats were, he goes one step further. You can't imagine him singing, "Washington's a bourgeois town." He wouldn't have noticed or if he did, it would have been irrelevant. More than thirty years later, I would see Johnson for myself in eight seconds' worth of 8-millimeter film shot in Ruleville, Mississippi, on a brightly lit afternoon street by some Germans in the late '30s. Some people questioned whether it was really him, but slowing the eight seconds down so it was more like eighty seconds, you can see that it really is Robert Johnson, has to be-couldn't be anyone else. He's playing with huge, spiderlike hands and they magically move over the strings of his guitar. There's a harp rack with a harmonica around his neck.

But I'd never heard of Robert Johnson, never heard the name, never seen it on any of the compilation blues records. Hammond said I should listen to it, that this guy could "whip anybody."  I had the thick acetate of the Robert Johnson record in my hands and I asked Van Ronk if he ever heard of him. Dave said, nope, he hadn't, and I put it on the record player so we could listen to it. From the first note the vibrations from the loudspeaker made my hair stand up.

From Spirituals to Swing
An Early Black-Music Concert from Spirituals to Swing

And it completes a circle, since in the early Sixties the young Dylan heard the first reissue of Robert Johnson’s music and, he says, “Johnson’s words made my nerves quiver like piano wires”. In Chronicles Dylan says it was the combination of Robert Johnson’s “dark night of the soul”, Woody Guthrie’s “hopped-up union meeting sermons”, Brecht and Weill’s sardonic style in Pirate Jenny and the 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s surreal dislocations that came together and gave him his own voice.

Robert Johnson

Thursday, December 19, 2013

New York City Scores on National Tests Stay Flat

New York City’s scores, like all urban districts, have improved overall since the tests were first administered, though achievement gaps between black and Latino students and their white counterparts remain nearly the same. And the city, like most urban districts, trailed national averages. New York also posted lower scores than New York State as a whole.

New York City’s performance on national math and reading tests for fourth- and eighth-grade students remained relatively flat last year, according to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP.

Federal officials on Wednesday released scores for 21 urban school districts. Compared to other large cities, New York City posted average scores on the math exams for both grades and for the reading tests in eighth grade. New York City showed slightly above average scores in fourth-grade reading.

Anyone interested in the state of our nation’s education should start by looking at progress in these urban districts, which face a concentration of the challenges all schools grapple with to some degree,” said David P. Driscoll, chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP. “By volunteering to be part of TUDA, these districts gain insights and data they can use to focus their academic efforts.”

The National Center for Education Statistics began administering both math and reading tests in 2003 every two years to a representative sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students.

Here's how the New York City scores shake out, on a scale of zero to 500:
  • Fourth-grade math: The average score was 236 in 2013, compared to 234 in 2011. The difference in scores is not considered statistically significant.
  • Eighth-grade math: The average score was 274 in 2013, compared to 272 in 2011. The difference in scores is not considered statistically significant.
  • Fourth-grade reading: The average score was 216 in 2013, and was also 216 in 2011.
  • Eighth-grade reading:The average scores was 256 in 2013, compared to 254 in 2011. The different in scores is not considered statistically significant.
Trial Urban District Assessment
NAEP ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL DESCRIPTION EXCERPTS 

Full descriptions of the achievement levels can be found in the 2013 NAEP Mathematics and Reading Frameworks on the Governing Board site


NAEP Reading – Grade 4
Basic: Students should be able to locate relevant information, make simple inferences, and use their understanding of the text to identify details that support a given interpretation or conclusion. For example, students should be able to make simple inferences about characters, events, plot, and setting in literary texts such as fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction. When reading informational texts such as articles and excerpts from books, students should be able to identify the main purpose and an explicitly stated main idea.
Proficient: Students should be able to integrate and interpret texts and apply their understanding of the text to draw conclusions and make evaluations. In reading literary texts, this includes judging elements of the author’s craft and providing support for their judgment; for informational texts, this includes locating relevant information, integrating information across texts, and evaluating the way an author presents information.
Advanced: Students should be able to make complex inferences and construct and support their inferential understanding of the text. Students should also be able to apply their understanding of a text to make and support a judgment. For literary texts, this includes recognizing characters’ perspectives and evaluating character motivation. For informational texts, this includes identifying the most likely cause given an effect, explaining an author’s point of view, and comparing ideas across two texts. 

Urban district results are in!
What states are making gains?

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

How ALEC Serves As A 'Dating Service' For Politicians And Corporations

The American Legislative Exchange Council is a group that brings together state legislators and representatives of corporations. Together, they develop model bills that lawmakers introduce and try to pass in their state legislatures. Through these model bills, ALEC has worked to privatize public education, cut taxes, reduce public employee compensation, oppose Obamacare and resist state regulations to reduce global warming gas emissions.

On ALEC's agenda

[In] any area of really front line, controversial, ideologically conservative legislation that you see spreading in states across America, you're likely to find ALEC somewhere behind it. I'm talking about the fight against Obamacare at state level, the attempt to keep back Medicaid, attempts to reduce the pension entitlements of public employees and to keep low the minimum wage. And in education, the spread of voucher systems which are used to forward home education and private education, and to some degree, undermine public schools.

ALEC Exposed
 the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights.

ALEC is still supported by tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical interests, but has lost around 60 corporate members in the fallout over ALEC's role in promoting Stand Your Ground legislation, voter ID, climate change denial, and an array of other controversial, corporate-friendly bills, the documents show

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

teacher-training-in-new-york-city

In total, New York City's public schools spent about $100 million on training for teachers and principals 2011 year.


2012 PISA test scores of public school and private school students
ReadingMathScience
CountryCategory%MeanMeanMean
United States of Americapublic93.01497482498
United States of Americaprivate6.99519486508
OECD Totalpublic82.37490481492
OECD Totalprivate17.54519514520
OECD Averagepublic80.69491489496
OECD Averageprivate19.2527522528
OECD Total = OECD Total – (OECD as single entity) – each country contributes in proportion to the number of 15-year-olds enrolled in its schools
OECD Average – (country average) – mean data for all OECD countries – each country contributes equally to the average
Data generated from http://pisa2012.acer.edu.au
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics

NCES initiated this special study in an effort to link the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scale so that states could compare the performance of their students with that of students in other countries. The study was conducted in 2011 with eighth-grade students in all 52 states/jurisdictions that participated in the NAEP mathematics and science assessments​. Read more about TIMSS.
Unclear where U.S. students stand in math and science
I don’t know what to make of a long-awaited report issued Oct. 24, 2013 by the National Center of Education Statistics showing that most U.S. eighth grade students are not at the bottom of the global barrel when it comes to math and science. The study extrapolates what students in every state in the Union would have scored on an international test, the TIMSS, had they taken it, based on what they actually scored on the NAEP. 

African-Americans
African American Quotation Posters

What does THOT mean?

The Meaning of THOT


Sexual Hookups Among College Students:Inequality Still Reigns
Like generations before them, many young women like Ms. Gadinsky are finding that casual sex does not bring the physical pleasure that men more often experience. New research suggests why: Women are less likely to have orgasms during uncommitted sexual encounters than in serious relationships.

InternetSlang.com

Sexual Hookups Among College Students: Sex Differences in Emotional Reactions: A Study

Hookups,” or uncommitted sexual encounters, are becoming progressively more engrained in popular
culture, reflecting both evolved sexual predilections and changing social and sexual scripts. Hook-up activities
may include a wide range of sexual behaviors, such as kissing, oral sex, and penetrative intercourse. However,
these encounters often transpire without any promise of, or desire for, a more traditional romantic relationship.

Keywords: casual sex, hookup, hooking up, human sexuality, sexual behavior, mating strategies, sexual
scripts
2003 article in The Washington Post and her 2007 book Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both, - See more at: Hookup Culture--Great Publicity, but Not That Popular
Justin R. Garcia   Research involving 600 college students led by Justin R. Garcia
Dr. Garcia said, “We’ve been sold this bill of goods that we’re in an era where people can be sexually free and participate equally in the hookup culture. The fact is that not everyone’s having a good time.”

International Academy of Sex Research and at the Annual Convention for Psychological Science

Similarly, a study of 24,000 students at 21 colleges over five years found that about 40 percent of women had an orgasm during their last hookup involving intercourse, while 80 percent of men did. The research was led by Paula England, a sociologist at New York University who studies the dynamics of casual sex.

By contrast, roughly three quarters of women in the survey said they had an orgasm the last time they had sex in a committed relationship.  The lack of guidance is common, Dr. England said. “Women are not feeling very free in these casual contexts to say what they want and need,” she said. Part of the problem, she added, is that women still may be stigmatized for having casual sex.
Homograph homophone venn diagram.png
Venn diagram showing the relationships between pronunciation, spelling, and meaning of words, for example, homographs,homonyms, homophones, heteronyms, and heterographs.

www.Homophone.com

Maya Angelou to receive honorary book award

The poet and author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" will be this year's recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community, the National Book Foundation announced Thursday.

Maya Angelou
her latest autobiography
The real highlight of the National Book Awards ceremony Wednesday night in New York was hearing Maya Angelou break into song. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison had just presented the 85-year-old author the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. “It’s amazing,” Angelou said over and over. “It’s just amazing.” Speaking without notes and wearing dark glasses, she referred to the rainbow that God put in the sky in the Book of Genesis.

James McBride, a former Washington Post Style writer, won the fiction prize this year for his brilliant, boisterous book “The Good Lord Bird.”  It’s an unlikely comic novel about a young boy and the abolitionist John Brown. 

The chair of the fiction committee, former New York Times Book Review editor Charles McGrath, said that the judges had received more than 400 submissions. “Not all these books were good,” he quipped. As expected, Thomas Pynchon, a finalist for his novel “Bleeding Edge,” did not attend the ceremony.