Resource list -- current immigration situation/crisis in the U.S.

In response to the lack of solid information (and over-abundance of inflammatory postings) on social media sites, I am in the process of compiling a list of links to reputable sources of information about the immigration crisis and large numbers of child immigrants who are coming to the U.S.  This is not a comprehensive list but should be enough to get a thoughtful person started on a search for the truth behind the stories that are out there...  Please let me know if you have any additions to this list.
[Note: I have, as much as possible, linked not only to the articles themselves, but also to bios of the authors of the articles, so the reader might get some idea of who the author is and why he or she is writing the article.]

No Childhood Here: Why Central American Children are Fleeing Their Homes
A thorough and very recent report by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow who has been doing research in this area for a number of years.

Babies in the River: “Urgent Humanitarian Situation,” Part I, by Dawn McCarty, PhD, LMSW
Dawn McCarty, a social worker and professor in Houston, writes from her own experience at the Houston Catholic Worker House, Casa Juan Diego, and from her search in Mexico of the root cause of the mass migration of children and families from Central America. (Part II has not been posted as of this writing, but presumably it will be posted soon at the Houston Catholic Worker website.)

Mission to Central America: The Flight of Unaccompanied Children to the United States
The result of a USCCB-sponsored fact-finding mission in November 2013 to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to find out what the situation is there and what might be behind the greatly increased numbers of people from those countries seeking to get to the U.S.

Unaccompanied Children: Something Is Not Right in our Hemisphere, by Christopher Kerr  (from Ignatian Solidarity Network)

The Facebook page of Misioneros Padre Tomas, a grassroots organization working with youth at risk of gang participation and helping them to get an education.  Of course the children and families who are leaving would prefer to be able to live in their own countries!  This is a great example of a program that is helping children to remain in place and better their lives.

A short BBC story from May, 2014, about violence against children in Honduras

A story in The Guardian about villagers leaving Honduras for the U.S. A q=uote from the article:

"If youths want to go out to play, they kill them … If they want to study, they face threats. It is overwhelming them," said Ana Zelaya, secretary of a rights group in El Salvador that helps relatives of dead and missing migrants.

[How many of us in the U.S. would not take drastic action if our children were threatened with death for wanting to play outside or to study?  And what if our goverment was turning a blind eye to the situation?  Then what?]

Turning away children at the U.S. border who are fleeing poverty and violence in Central America is cruel, by Albor Ruiz An interesting comparison of the current situation and an incident that took place some years ago...


Three Myths about Central American Migration to the United States
More documentation on the situation from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

More mythbusting

More links to some of the problems behind the situation  -- some of the reasons people are desperately leaving Central America and other countries around the world -- can be found in my previous post of June 14, 2014

Resources on Free Trade and Globalization

In a recent post I made on Facebook, I offered to share some book and web resources with people who might be interested in learning more about the effects of Free Trade Agreements and Globalization on the people of Central and South America, Africa, and other regions around the world.   So, I have to make good on my offer!  This is a work in progress -- I'm still learning, and will be continuing to search for more print and web resources on these issues.  Please send me suggestions!

*******************

Books:

The two books that have particularly helped me to understand the issues are:

Mark and Louise Zwick, Mercy Without Borders: The Catholic Worker and Immigration. Paulist Press, November 2010

      The Zwicks founded the Houston Catholic Worker House, Casa Juan Diego, in 1980.  This is their story of their journey, but more importantly the journey of the people they serve - primarily refugees from Central and South America who have risked their lives to come to the United States.  Mercy Without Borders is easily one of the top ten books I have ever read.  (Also, the Casa Juan Diego website is an excellent resource, with many links to articles and other sources of information on issues related to the topics of this post.)   

Stefano Liberti, Land Grabbing: Journeys In The New Colonialism. Verso, November 2013 

      Mr. Liberti delves into the background of what is going on with large corporations leasing or buying large tracts of land in countries around the world, and the effect on the local economies and the people of those countries.   (At this writing, I am only part way through the book; I understand he addresses issues in Latin America but I am still on the section about Ethiopia and Africa.) 

I will be continuing to search for more print and web resources on these issues.  Please send me suggestions!

*******************

Web Resources:

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns *

Their publication, NewsNotes, has helped me become aware of what is really going on in the countries of the world that are most adversely affected by globalization and free trade agreements.  They also report on conflicts in Syria and other countries, the horrible problems faced by the Palestinians and so forth.

Documents like these, full of information gathered from the people on the ground in these countries, can be found in the resources section:

• http://maryknollogc.org/resources/trade-if-people-and-earth-matter-working-document-alternatives
• http://maryknollogc.org/article/guatemala-search-mining-justice

Global Exchange

• Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the Central American Free Trade Agreement

International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) 

• A paper on Trade Justice: http://www.laborrights.org/strategies/trade-justice-0

Americas Program

• A recent article that helps to make the connection between immigration and free trade/globalization:  Viacrucis: Migrants Step out of Shadows into the Streets

ELDIS - I am not sure of the agenda of this organization, but it does have a wealth of  information, particularly this article:  

• Signing away the future: How trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries undermine development

OXFAM (description, from their website: “Oxfam works with partner organizations and alongside vulnerable women and men to end the injustices that cause poverty.” )

• Excellent analysis of the situation from a few years ago:  Spread of Free Trade Agreements threatens poor countries

NISGUA: The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala

• Trade and Globalization (a section of their website that addresses issues with CAFTA, etc.)

GlobaLex - a resource on the NYU Law School website that has links to the actual text of NAFTA and CAFTA and other legal documents as well as to some analysis of NAFTA and CAFTA.  It appears that most of the latter are from the governmental/corporate perspective, but I haven't made an exhaustive search through the links provided.

* Disclaimer:  I work for Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (in the Western Region Mission House) and have since October 2012.  I credit Maryknoll, and particularly the Office for Global Concerns and Fr. John “Jack” Moynihan, with raising my consciousness about the devastating effects of globalization and free trade agreements in Central and South America. 

Where I was on Friday...

On Friday, March 21, I participated in the Friends of Sabeel-North America, Bay Area conference, an excellent gathering to inform and educate people about the terrible injustice that is and has been the experience of the Palestinian people, and what can be done to end the injustice, brutality, and violence and thereby allow peace to begin. Here are a few of the highlights and my impressions from Friday. (I was not able to be at the opening plenary of the conference nor was I able to attend on Saturday, so my impressions are limited to Friday mid-afternoon and evening.) Please take the time to visit some of the websites I have linked below in order to become informed about the plight of the Palestinians and how you can be in solidarity with them.  

• In one of the break-out sessions, Ziad Abbas, program manager for cross-cultural programs at Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), shared his personal experience and some of what MECA does. He was born in Bethlehem and grew up as a Palestinian refugee, and  One of the things he shared was about why one of the MECA projects is to provide the Palestinian schools in Gaza with water purification and desalination systems.  I hope I never again pour myself a glass of water without remembering what he said. He also spoke at length about the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinian children. 
• Susan Abulhawa, author of the bestselling novel Morning in Jenin gave an excellent talk on Friday afternoon. I can't find anything on the web that has the particular content of her talk, but this article will give you some idea of her strong voice and her position on the issue of right of return, a term I heard often on Friday and which now makes sense to me.  Later she read from her book of poetry, My Voice Sought the Wind.  She preceded her live reading by showing this video of her reading her poem, "Wala"; it will give you a inkling of the stirring poetry we experienced on Friday evening.
• Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler gave a powerful speech making connections between the situation in Palestine and other places and times, such as South Africa's apartheid, the Europeans coming to the Americas and taking land (and taking lives) away from the indigenous people by force and false treaties etc., African peoples being taken from their homeland and sent as slaves to the "New World"...  This link contains an excerpt from another speech Rev Hagler gave that was also a part of his speech Friday night. Also on the web is a blog he wrote for his congregation about his trip to Palestine in January 2014; he also spoke of these experiences during his presentation on Friday evening.

A footnote:  I was looking back at some previous blogposts, and found my own reference to the book Exodus by Leon Uris in my post from last August.   I read and enjoyed it back when I was a teenager... but I don't think I will ever look at the book or Israel the same way again after my experience at the conference Friday.  

An excellent book...

Just finished reading listening to The Latehomecomer, by Kao Kalia Yang, this evening.  It's been keeping me company the past week or so while I've been driving, and then I couldn't put it down (so to speak) and brought it in the house the past couple nights to listen some more.  It is a beautiful, challenging, sad, and love-filled memoir of a young Hmong woman who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and came with her family to the U.S. in 1987 when she was six years old.  I especially loved listening to her tell the story of her family; the relationships, the resourcefulness, the history... all of it came alive with her wonderful writing.  One of the things that struck me the most was that the author read the story herself.  Authors often do read their own work, but I realized about halfway through the book how amazing it was that she did this. She tells how she had great difficulty speaking English for many years after her family came to the U.S.; she would only speak in a whisper, or just nod or gesture, even though she was capable of speaking and she could understand spoken English and read just fine.  So it was a powerful statement of how much she had grown, and somehow healed from the traumatic events of her early years.  She is very honest about her feelings and some of the very difficult times she experienced. I got the impression that she was making a strong effort to find a balance in her storytelling, and it worked very well.  The story carried me away to places and events that were so very outside my own experience, but somehow the author recreated those events in a way that made them very vivid and real.  Her book touched me deeply; I don't know how else to put it.

 
(The only other book I have read about the Hmong people was The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, which was also excellent but a very different kind of book, and from a vastly different perspective.  The Latehomecomer helped me to understand the people and events in this book so much better.)    

My other job... or one of them, anyway...

For the past year or so I have been doing some part-time work for WomenArts, a unique organization dedicated to supporting women artists, writers, filmmakers -- any sort of woman artist.  It has been fascinating work, opening up a whole new world to me, among other things.  For the past few months I have been updating lists on the website, mostly lists of funding sources, but other types of lists as well.  Today I came across some excellent websites from our Women Artist Directories page, and I want to share a few of them to give my readers some idea of what is out there...

Varo Registry of Women Artists

Sisters in Cinema, particularly this section

Women in Photography  Among other things, there are some beautiful photos in the 2013 Juried Exhibition section, and there are links to individual photographers (click on Member Links on the left side of the page)

That's going to have to be it for now -- will try to write more later!!

Food -- I've been cooking again...

...so, just thought I'd post some of the things I've happened upon on food lately.  First, a book: In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan.  Years ago when I was active in La Leche League, our guideline, "Eat a variety of food in as close to its natural state as possible," along with the LLL cookbooks (most notably Whole Foods for the Whole Family) helped me to gradually change and improve my diet and the diet of my family.  I was surprised and delighted to read Michael Pollan's three guidelines:  "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."  As he fleshed out these ideas, it appeared that his guidelines mesh very nicely with the LLL ideas about food.  I highly recommend both books!

One other book that I want to give a plug to is Veggie Revolution, by Sally Kneidel and Sarah Kate Kneidel.  This is a book about (among other things) how to move from the "normal" American diet to a diet that is healthier and more plant-based, and gives both the why and the how-to in excellent prose and photos as well as delicious recipes.  (I actually wrote a review of the book when it first came out; you can read it here.)  Sally and Sarah also write a wonderful blog by the same name.

Another website I came across tonight:  100 Days of Real Food.   Hmmm... I had to move all the way to California to find a website about a family who live in... Charlotte, NC!  Looks like a good one, from what little I've seen.  I'm making quiche tomorrow and they had some ideas I am going to use (though I made the crust from a different recipe.)  Since my cookbooks are almost all in storage, I have been using the web to find recipes, and especially the proportions of what is in things that I already know how to make, like quiche and pie crust.

This is it for now, but I hope to add more, and I welcome comments from my readers (if I still have any!) with suggestions for more books and websites about cooking real food.   I do have the comments moderated, but if you comment I will try to get your comment posted within a day or so. 

Favorite authors...

This article, by Margo Rabb, in the NY Times Book Review from July 28 (which I just got around to reading this morning) was very well-written, and great food for thought...  It brought back memories of my "encounters" with my favorite authors.  Here are some of the ones that have come to mind as I have reflected on Margo Rabb's article.

Many years ago I read The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, for the first time, and loved it.  I read an English translation, I knew very little French -- just what I have picked up in reading and listening over the years -- and still don't.  Anyway, it was my favorite book then and for many years, and some years later when I found that Saint-Exupery had written other books, I read some of them also: Wind, Sand and Stars and Night Flight.  Wind, Sand and Stars especially spoke to me, but I loved both these books for their evocative writing, the glimpse into another time and place, and Saint-Exupery's insights into friendship and the human spirit.  Then, many years later -- just a few years ago -- I read a biography of Saint-Exupery, The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince.  It was a real eye-opener, and got me to thinking about the same issues that come up in this article.  Of course, Saint-Exupery was a product of his times, but it was still appalling the way he treated the women in his life.  It didn't at all reflect my imaginings of him as a sensitive, caring, and honorable individual.  I had dreamed up an idealized Saint-Exupery who was very different from the man who actually wrote these books I love.  At the time, I was crushed, but since then have begun to understand just what the author discusses in this article.

I have also had some connections with authors that were much better than I could have hoped.  One was my encounter with Pat Kenschaft, the author of another of my favorite books, Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math Even If You Don't.  When I first read this book, which I found serendipitously at the library, it resonated with me more than any other book about math or math education ever had.  The author and I shared so many ideas and values.  Several years after I read the book, after it had suddenly gone out of print and I could no longer find copies to share with people, the author and I met purely by chance at a math conference.  We spent a lovely hour chatting about the book and our lives and ideas, and have continued to stay in touch since then.  I was happy to be a small part of helping her to bring the book back into print (the same title, but a revised edition) and even helped to write a little bit of it, in the appendices.  Quite a positive encounter! 


Gerald Jonas wrote a poem that was in a book I owned as a teenager.  The book was The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sixteenth Series, a gift from my parents.  I lost the book many years ago (along with many of my personal belongings which succumbed to a flood in the basement of our house on Haven Ridge Dr.) and I lost the copy of the poem that I carried in my wallet when that wallet was stolen back in the early 70's.  But I always remembered the book and the poem, and wished I could have a copy of the poem again.  So a few years ago, I looked for the book on the internet and found it, and ordered a copy, and rediscovered Mr. Jonas's delightful poem.  And then I found some contact information for Mr. Jonas on the web also, and wrote him to tell him how much I liked his poem, and he wrote back!  He was quite a delightful person, and very grateful that I remembered the poem and took the time to write him.  (I still have the letter he wrote me, and the book, though they are in storage at the moment and I can't get at them...or else I would be putting the name of the poem in here...)


I once heard Leon Uris in an interview with Diane Rehm on her show on NPR.  I had read several of his novels years ago when I was in my late teens and 20's, and enjoyed them all very much, particularly Exodus and Trinity, his book about the history of the 20th century conflict and politics in Northern Ireland.  But in this interview, he was surprisingly quite cantankerous.  He was also rude to one of Diane's callers, so much so that she insisted he apologize to the caller and to her listeners.  That was an eye-opening experience!

Rachel Naomi Remen is an author whom I encountered in person, though I didn't get to have a conversation with her.  A friend and I were fortunate to be able to attend a lecture she gave at Temple Beth El in Charlotte a few years back.  In person, the warmth, humility, kindness, and spirit which shine through her books Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings shone through in her bearing, her face, her speaking.  She was in person just like she was in her books.  Her talk left us with hope and inspiration to carry with us.      

One thing I always do when I begin reading a book is to find out a little about the author from the dust jacket or the short bio in the book, or from the web.  But as the years pass, more and more I try to keep in mind whenever I am reading that, though the author has a talent in writing (and undoubtedly worked hard for many years to develop that talent) and probably also has a passion for writing and for his or her subject, he or she is subject to the same human condition that we all are.  Beyond any credentials, talents, and skills in writing that the author possesses, he or she is a human being like any other, with successes and failures, struggles, achievements, things left undone, messy relationships and (hopefully) some healthy ones -- in short, not a person to be put on a pedestal or in a "box" of my making.     
 

No Fooling -- It's National Poetry Month!

Just a heads-up to all you poetry lovers out there!  You can find more info at this link.
The first poems I remember hearing, beyond nursery rhymes, were those of A. A. Milne, the author of the Winne-the-Pooh books. It is true, at least for me, that our mother's voice always stays with us: I can hear, in my mind, my mother reading this poem to me. It speaks so much to me of the playfulness and wonder of childhood...
(And it is appropriate for today in the Bay Area -- it rained all night!)

Happiness
 
John had
Great Big
Waterproof
Boots on;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Hat;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Mackintosh --
And that
(Said John)
Is
That.

A response to great loss

I have been continuing my part-time work for WomenArts... Currently my work involves systematically researching broken links on the website and fixing them.  Sometimes -- actually very much of the time -- this research exposes me to new ideas and/or women artists that I have not known about, or knew about but hadn't investigated before.  One of these is Isabel Allende.  In my searches today I uncovered this short video and it resonated with me, so I want to share it with my readers.  (It somehow seems appropriate for Easter also -- a day when we celebrate the ultimate act of giving, and its joyful outcome.)

  

Support Women Artists Now!

It's March, which means that SWAN Days are here!  I've been working with WomenArts for the past six months or so, and the SWAN Day project is one of the many things that WomenArts has done/is doing.  Check out the link below for a good example of a SWAN Day event -- this is just one of the 77 SWAN Day events/locations taking place this month!

SWAN Days in Jamestown, NY  

Bookmobile

This morning on the way back from my PT appointment I saw something I haven't seen in awhile:  a Bookmobile!  (I didn't get a photo of it -- I was not quick enough -- but if you click the link in the previous sentence, you will see what it looks like.)  It brought back such memories... when I was a little girl, we would sometimes get books from the bookmobile in Minneapolis.  At least, I remember being in one when I was very little. 

Of course I have loved libraries for as long as I can remember, which is probably why I remember the bookmobile.  I can remember vividly many of the libraries I have visited in my life, which is saying a lot: my memory isn't all that great.  One of the first public libraries I ever went to was the Children's Library, which I think was in Edina, Minnesota, or perhaps in Minneapolis quite near to Edina.  The librarians were all very nice to us kids, and there were little tables and chairs, and we could sit and look at the books for a long time.  I remember this place as a free-standing children's library, but perhaps it was just the children's section of a branch library.  In any case, it was wonderful. 

Later on I went to libraries in other places I lived and many of the places I have visited.  The downtown branch of the Atlanta Public Library, which I visited often as a teenager in the late 60's, was a particularly memorable place.  The librarians there were very strict about silence.  Also, there was a certain place on the mezzanine, a pass-through from one section of the library to another (all lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, of course) where the floor was squishy, as though it were made of that stuff that now often forms the surface under a jungle gym or the swings in a public park.  It looked like solid floor, but was actually probably rotting out underneath.  I always found that place and walked across it when I went to the downtown library.  More often I would visit the Ida Williams branch in Buckhead, which had its own particular charm.  It was our library, the one my family most often went to and where they always knew us.  It is not there anymore -- it's been replaced by a newer building.  But it still brings back fond memories, as I am sure the new building will bring to its visitors many years hence.


  

Morning thoughts...

This morning's observations:

• There is so much that medicine and science still don't know.  I read an article about gluten sensitivity this morning in which one of the researchers stated, w.r.t. the how to reasonably identify it, "We have absolutely no clue at this point." The researchers/doctors/scientists don't really understand why this affects some people and others not at all, but they have recently classified this as an actual medical condition, separate from celiac disease. 
• Vectors are very interesting...  I had the opportunity to work with a student who is taking precalculus yesterday and we worked on vector problems the whole time. I would love to learn more physics.
• I love books, and libraries.  We have one where I work and I get to work with it some.  I would like to read about half the books in it. I sometimes wish I had become a librarian...
• It is important, if you have an earworm, that it be one that you appreciate.  I like mine this morning.  Most of the time I do, actually.
• Math is everywhere.  I already knew this, but was reminded of it again when Frances brought some Broccoli Romanesco (see photo below) home from the market a few weeks ago and then again last weekend.  (It is also delicious!)
• It is hard to think of something to post about every single morning.  But I'm going to keep on for as long as I can! I just need to start a little earlier in the morning... 

Habit-forming

After posting briefly yesterday I thought, Maybe a daily post will be possible...?  Worth a try.

Perhaps posting links to some of the things I am reading or listening to, or sharing a great side trip, or just a photo with or without comment...

I took this photo at Stuff, a store near where I am currently living, that has lots of it.

Good job!

You know how it is...  you're not looking for the next thing to write in your blog, you don't even have time or energy to write blogposts these days...  but then in searching for something very specific on the web, you find something else that you would love to post to your blog.  Well, that just happened to me.  And here is the article that distracted me.  This article addresses something that has been bothering me for awhile, but I never took the time to write about it... and the author of this article does a Good Job, so I'll let the article speak for itself.  

Children, crafts, and beyond...

Tonight I had an email from a good friend who asked for my thoughts on children and crafts: if my children ever sold their creations when they were young, and whether I have any ideas on what to do if a young child wants to sell some of the crafts she has made...  I've written her back with some of my ideas, but I thought maybe I'd put this question out there for my readers (if I still have any!)  I'd love to hear ideas from those of you who have children as well as those who have been children :-)  Also, I'll post some of the websites and books I have found on this topic as I come across them.   

One website that I just found is a blog, Made by Joel, that is all about doing crafts with kids.  It is more down-to-earth than some of the other sites I found on this topic.

I'm also hoping to begin posting here more often, as I have lots to share about my adventures and mis-adventures in San Francisco...   

Surprising things found while looking for work on the internet

I've been using the internet to find job openings the past few weeks.  I've found some good opportunities and a few great ones, but there are also a fair number of scams out there, and some ads that are downright offensive or hysterically funny.  Here's one that amused me just now:

Part-Time group exercise class assistant instructors needed to help out in senior citizens classes!
OPPORTUNITY TO GROW!

Class Times: Morning and Evening Classes Tuesdays through Fridays
...

ABOUT OUR PROGRAM:
Our classes offer internal exercise to senior citizens to help them avoid getting old, [emphasis mine] sickly, and dysfunctional....

I was right with the post until I came to the part in italics.  If they have found an exercise program that can help people avoid getting old, I think it would be better publicized than this!  

Encouragement while moving away

Found while sorting and tossing tonight -- this one's a keeper!

You can kiss family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

                      -- Frederick Buechner  (by way of Aunt Carrie, many months ago.)

I'm holding onto this idea and encouragement of my friends here, because sometimes I think I might lose my nerve and not be able to do this move.  I know I'm going to miss everybody here so much!!

Found gems

I found the following quotations when I was excavating in my bedside table drawer, getting it emptied and ready for packing today.  Sorting and tossing over these many weeks has been both a chore and a blessing...

Desire is the flow of life we yearn to swim in, the urge to be one with Spirit, and the way to stay in touch with this flow is through knowing what we want without insisting that we get it.  It is staying with the feeling of desire, following it with curiosity, that leads us ever closer to what we most want.  --Jennifer Louden

and

The spiritual law at the core of our being requires that we reach out.  We are fulfilled to the extent that we are in relationship.  We cannot disobey or even resist this law without suffering.  So wondrously are we made that we are happiest when we are loving and miserable when we are not loving.  --Elizabeth O'Connor in "The New Community" (quoted in the Charlotte Observer, date unknown.)

Both of these quotes speak so much to where I am right now, that it was eerie to find them.   The first one makes me think about how long I didn't even know what desire was...  this feeling of desire is so important that is we lose it, we are like a ship sailing without a rudder, and there is no telling where we might end up.  The second one affirms the act of loving. Our culture might tell us that the most important thing is to be loved, but actually our own acts of loving and reaching out are crucial to our happiness and well-being.    

For all you "smart" phone users out there

I just had a disturbing thing happen...  I received a text message yesterday that looked like this:

     IQQuizApp Fun Facts billed @ $9.99/mo 3msgs/wk renews on 05-01-2012. Reply HELP for help, 
     Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. 8888906150 for help

So of course I immediately replied "STOP"...but then today I realized there was this mysterious $9.99 charge on my Verizon phone bill, which actually happened from another one of these messages last month!  I thought I had replied STOP to that also and for sure I didn't ever authorize a charge...so I called Verizon just now and got it all straightened out very easily.  The kind lady that helped me immediately removed the charge from my bill, made sure the one from yesterday won't be charged, and blocked "Premium messaging" on my phone (which I figured out I could have done myself -- it's free, either way -- except I didn't know what it was.)  Anyhow, it's disturbing that this kind of thing goes on, and apparently it isn't illegal.  So here's a heads up to all of you with "smart" phones to watch out for this kind of thing, and if you're on Verizon you can circumvent the nastiness by blocking premium messages on your account on the Verizon website or calling them and asking them to do it.

LP nostalgia... input welcome!

Okay, I've been doing some research...  A couple of the records I have are just about irreplaceable (well, of the ones I've chosen to research) and a couple others are hard to find.  But I don't have a turntable and am not likely to get one, ever.  I can do a little more research and see if anyone in this area is making copies of these for $$ or I can send them to one of you.  The records are:
 "17 songs from The Pooh Song Book, starring Jack Gilford"  (Jack Gilford's Wikipedia bio is very interesting...) This music is special to me as it is the first music for children I remember listening to.  (We had an old 78 of the music when I was little; this record is not the one we had, but the music is the same.)
"The BabySitters", is an album of "folk songs for babies, small children, parents and baby sitters" by the group, The BabySitters which was Alan Arkin, Keremy Arkin, Lee Hays, and Doris Kaplan.  The group only made this and two other albums, in the late 60's, and then Vanguard made a compilation CD of these in 1991 which is unavailable.

Other albums which I have but am getting rid of I'm not too worried about, as Peter, Paul and Mary and Simon and Garfunkel are pretty widely available, and the few other albums I have I am not so attached to. 

One other that I have a sentimental attachment to: my Dad's copy of The In Crowd, by The Ramsey Lewis Trio. Unfortunately, the autographed jacket is badly damaged on one edge, though the record itself appears to be unaffected by the damage.  The autograph is intact: "To Frank -- Ramsey Lewis".

Where do I go from here?