Daily Archives: April 27, 2012

An early but undated publicity photo of Bob Dylan in New York City from his autobiography, "Chronicles Volume One." (Simon & Schuster via Associated Press / January 12, 2012)

April 26, 2012, 2:22 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The White House has announced this years recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor. The list of 13 honorees includes musician Bob Dylan, writer Toni Morrison, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Shimon Peres.

"These extraordinary honorees come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but each of them has made a lasting contribution to the life of our nation," President Obama said in a statement. "Theyve challenged us, they've inspired us, and they've made the world a better place. I look forward to recognizing them with this award."

The awards will be presented at White House ceremony later this spring. Here's the full list, with biographies provided by the White House:

kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com

Originally posted here:
Bob Dylan, Pat Summitt among 2012 Medal of Freedom recipients

by DONALD KAUL The Gilmer Mirror

The Freedom to Fear

The only change the Supreme Court's majority believes in is change that takes us back to the 18th century.

ByDonald Kaul

Serious commentators are telling us not to assume that the Supreme Court is going to find "Obamacare" unconstitutional just because the conservative justices gave the government lawyer a hard time when the case came before the Court last month.

Somehow that doesn't make me sleep better at night. This is the same Court that gave us theCitizens Uniteddecision, which opened the sluice gates of special-interest money that flooded a political system that was already awash in it. The ruling was the Court's worst decision since Dred Scott in 1857, which ruled that no Americans of African descent, whether enslaved or free, were U.S. citizens.

You think that the Court is going to find mandatory health insurance constitutional? Nah.

In the first place, you had four votes against the plan right out of the gate. Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito are old-fasioned conservatives. The only change they believe in is change that takes us back to the 18th century.

In the second place, the high court's lone swing judge, Justice Anthony Kennedy, was one of the more hostile questioners. "You are changing the relationship of the individual to the government," he told the government's lawyer.

See more here:
The Freedom to Fear

27 April 2012 Last updated at 03:39 ET

Bob Dylan is to receive America's highest civilian honour, the Medal Of Freedom, it has been announced.

He is being recognised alongside former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, John Glenn, the third American in space, and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.

President Obama will award the medals at the White House in the coming weeks.

In a statement, he said: "They've challenged us, they've inspired us and they've made the world a better place."

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 and began his musical career in 1959, playing in coffee houses in Minnesota.

He took his stage name from the poet Dylan Thomas and, not coincidentally, paid as much attention to his lyrics as his music.

Much of his best-known work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal historian of America's troubles.

Songs like Blowin' In The Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin' became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.

His move away from traditional folk songwriting, paired with a controversial decision to "go electric" proved equally influential - his confessional, introspective lyrics were undoubtedly absorbed by The Beatles in their later work.

Originally posted here:
Bob Dylan to get Medal of Freedom

Before Long Beach public school teacher Erin Gruwell gave a lecture at Utah State University on Wednesday, she middle and high school students in the audience to stand so everyone could pay homage to them.

After hundreds of USU students, faculty and community members gave a standing ovation, Gruwell said she sees a little bit of her own students when she looks at the students from Cache Valleys school districts.

I could probably hold a mirror up, and the issues that face students even right here in Logan are very similar to what the Freedom Writers went through, even though you might not have gang violence and riots, Gruwell said.

The Freedom Writers a play on the civil rights activists the Freedom Riders was the pen name for Gruwells students at Woodrow Wilson High School, located in an area of Southern California riddled with strong gang and violence activity.

By having them write journal entries and share their troubled life experiences, Gruwells teaching style became a national success story. She graduated all of the students in her class and many of them went on to college. Soon, the story caught the attention of nightly newscasts; then it turned into a book, The Freedom Writers Diary, and later, a motion picture adaptation of the book starring actress Hillary Swank.

To capitalize on her successful curriculum, Gruwell founded the Freedom Writers Foundation, which trains and supports teachers of at-risk middle and high school students through a pedagogical framework patterned after her teachings.

At USU on Wednesday, Gruwell announced that a scholarship from the Freedom Writers Foundation had been awarded to Emmie Staker, an English and ESL teacher at Mountain Crest High School.

Staker was one of 5,000 nationwide who applied for the scholarship and now will have a chance to join Gruwell in Long Beach to receive teacher training.

I just started screaming, Staker said in an interview after the lecture, when she learned she had won the scholarship at a USU dinner earlier in the evening with Gruwell. Many of Stakers students also attended Wednesdays lecture.

Gruwells hour-long talk touched on her decision to become a teacher and the evolution of her curriculum. Gruwell peppered her lecture with stories of her students and where they came from.

Original post:
'Freedom Writers' teacher gives motivational lecture at USU

PROVO -- Expansion of a charter school in northwest Provo has pitted the school and its legislative protection against the city and the neighborhood.

Freedom Academy, a K-8 charter school at 1190 W. 900 North, has state approval for a plan to add a high school to its site. Administrators say they are fulfilling parent's wishes to have their children continue at the academy. But residents and city officials are worried the school's growth will destroy the neighborhood that already has given up a lot for the academy.

Safety, parking, traffic and neighborhood preservation are the top concerns, say Brent Hall, the River Grove neighborhood chairman and Mayor John Curtis.

"We're fighting for our neighborhood," Hall said. "Neighborhoods are threatened in Provo. If we let this happen the neighborhood will be gone."

"I feel I need to protect these families that have a hard time articulating their concerns," Curtis said. "I've got to protect these neighbors. This has been pushed to the edge of acceptability. It's a horrendous situation."

Freedom Academy director Lynne Herring said, "Freedom is a member of this neighborhood. We have no desire to foul our own nest."

She added that misinformation and rumor about the school's plans have run rampant.

Ken Parkinson, chairman of the school's governing board, met with Curtis on April 5 to discuss the issues with expansion. At the time they informed the mayor of other possibilities. Since then, the board decided on the expansion provided they are able to negotiate an acceptable contract with their builder, finish the ninth-grade building in time to start school in the fall and create safety and traffic plans to address any issues.

In a letter drafted this week to Curtis, Parkinson said, "We understand that you plan to oppose that, but we would nevertheless like to attempt to explain our position and learn from you and your staff what can be done to mitigate your concerns."

That's about all Curtis can do, because state laws implemented in 2005 gives charter schools the ability to build anywhere they want with few restrictions in either a county or municipality.

See the article here:
Freedom Academy plans meet resistance