Monthly Archives: February 2017

Attending College Doesn’t Close Wage Gap and Other Myths Exposed in New Report – The Root

Posted: February 7, 2017 at 8:09 am

Since the first iteration of slavery transformed into its more contemporary formsJim Crow, mass incarceration, redlining, employment and education discriminationthe toxic myth that black people can bootstrap their way to success and safety in a country that thrives on their subjugation has continued to thrive.

In a new report, Asset Value of Whiteness, Demos andthe Institute on Assets and Social Policy take a deep dive into the intrinsic link between racism and capitalism; specifically, how whiteness infests the so-called American dream and renders it inaccessible to anyone who doesnt meet the pre-selected criteria.

This is a truth that black and brown people in this country have always known, but one that white people invested in the maintenance of white supremacy have willfully chosen to ignore.

While Franklin Roosevelts New Deal and Harry Trumans Fair Deal laid the groundwork for a vibrant middle class, these sweeping legislations helped widen the economic gap along the racial fault line. This also holds true for the Servicemens Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill of Rights) of 1944, the affirmative action program created primarily for the benefit of white, male veterans.

These programs and their ramifications have exposed how a flat economic analysis does not get to the core of the racial discrimination and animus running through this country.

For centuries, white households enjoyed wealth-building opportunities that were systematically denied to people of color. Today our policies continue to impede efforts by African-American and Latino households to obtain equal access to economic security, explains Amy Traub, associate director of policy and research at Demos and co-author of the report.

When research shows that racial privilege now outweighs a fundamental key to economic mobility, like higher education, we must demand our policymakers acknowledge this problem and create policies that address structural inequity, Traub continues.

A few key points from the Asset Value of Whiteness:

The median white adult who attended college has 7.2 times more wealth than the median black adult who attended college and 3.9 times more wealth than the median Latino adult who attended college.

The median white single parent has 2.2 times more wealth than the median black two-parent household and 1.9 times more wealth than the median Latino two-parent household.

The median white household that includes a full-time worker has 7.6 times more wealth than the median black household with a full-time worker. The median white household that includes a full-time worker also has 5.4 times more wealth than the median Latino household with a full-time worker.

The average white household spends 1.3 times more than the average black household of the same income group. According to the report:

On average, white households spent $13,700 per quarter, compared to $8,400 for black households. Even after accounting for factors such as family structure, income, occupation, and geography, as well as wealth and homeownership, white households at all income levels continued to spend more than comparable black households, with low-income white households spending $1,200 more per quarter than low-income black households and high-income white households spending $1,400 more than their black counterparts.

Equal achievements in key economic indicators, such as employment and education, do not lead to equal levels of wealth and financial security for households of color, notes Thomas Shapiro, director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy.

White households have a leg up, while households of color face systematic barriers to growing wealth, reproducing our long-standing racial wealth gap over generations, Shapiro continues. Without policies that combat ingrained wealth inequalities, the racial wealth gap that we see today will continue to persist.

Asset Value of Whiteness is the most recent in a series of studies from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and Demos analyzing policy solutions to close the racial wealth gap and ensure all Americans have an equal opportunity to participate in our economy.

What is clear is that a rising tide does not lift all boats if some of the boats have holes in them. For people of color, a rising tide can sometimes lead to us drowning that much faster.

Click here to read Asset Value of Whiteness.

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Attending College Doesn't Close Wage Gap and Other Myths Exposed in New Report - The Root

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Scheme for fishing crews is ‘legitimising slavery’ – Irish Times

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The Governments system of permits for migrant fishing workers is legitimising slavery, a trade union official told a meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Monday. Up to 70 fishermen, mainly Egyptian, heard International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) co-ordinator Ken Fleming demand immediate action to halt abuse and exploitation within the Irish industry.

Egyptian embassy representative Hatem Elsisi also called on the Government to provide a safe and legal system for Egyptian crew to work on Irish vessels.

These are very skilled men, mainly from the Alexandria area, who want to work here but they need a system that protects them and gives them an opportunity to apply for residence which will give them rights, Mr Elsisi said.

Up to 2,000 Egyptians may be working on vessels based at ports north and south of the Border, Mr Elsisi said.

The embassy has received reports of injury and hardship, and was aware of several cases where men who sustained injury could not return home to their families while legal cases were in train.

Instances where many migrant crew were underpaid and overworked were outlined at the meeting, which is the second hosted by the ITF.

Mohamad Abbasy, who took up a berth on a vessel in Union Hall, Co Cork, 18 months ago, said he lost his job last September and his visa was cancelled after he had secured a permit.

This permit system is for slaves, not humans,when you work 150 hours a week and are paid for just 39 hours, he said.

The permit system for migrant workers was initiated by the then minister for marine Simon Coveney last year in the wake of a year-long investigation by the Guardian newspaper on exploitation within the Irish fishing industry.

Industry organisations said they had lobbied for such a system to meet crew shortages within the industry. However, the system had failed, Mr Fleming said. Boat owners have used the scheme to move from paying crews on a share system to paying the minimum wage, with crew working over 100 hours for 350 a week, Mr Fleming said.

The permit system closed in June 2016, but at least 20 permits had since been issued illegally, facilitated by the Department of Justice, Mr Fleming claimed.

Only one of the fishermen at the meeting said he held a permit issued before June last year, while two said they held permits issued in December 2016.

Mr Fleming said he was aware of the risks many of the men took to attend the meeting, and issued an information leaflet in Arabic relating to steps to take if contacted by the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

The ITF plans to highlight the situation at the European Parliament later this month and is holding a meeting with the Workplace Relations Commission chairman.

Last October, the WRC, Garda, Naval Service and State agencies held joint inspections of 41 fishing vessels in Castletownbere, Co Cork, and Howth, Co Dublin. The Garda said a relatively small number of suspected breaches were found, all relating to the work permit scheme, employment law and immigration and tax offences.

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Scheme for fishing crews is 'legitimising slavery' - Irish Times

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Exploiting black labor after the abolition of slavery – Baraboo News Republic

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Convicts leased to harvest timber in Florida around 1915

The U.S. criminal justice system is riven by racial disparity.

The Obama administration pursued a plan to reform it. An entire news organization, The Marshall Project, was launched in late 2014 to cover it. Organizations like Black Lives Matter and The Sentencing Project are dedicated to unmaking a system that unjustly targets people of color.

But how did we get this system in the first place? Our ongoing historical research project investigates the relationship between the press and convict labor. While that story is still unfolding, we have learned what few Americans, especially white Americans, know: the dark history that produced our current criminal justice system.

If anything is to change if we are ever to end this racial nightmare, and achieve our country, as James Baldwin put it we must confront this system and the blighted history that created it.

During Reconstruction, the 12 years following the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, former slaves made meaningful political, social and economic gains. Black men voted and even held public office across the South. Biracial experiments in governance flowered. Black literacy surged, surpassing those of whites in some cities. Black schools, churches and social institutions thrived.

As the prominent historian Eric Foner writes in his masterwork on Reconstruction, Black participation in Southern public life after 1867 was the most radical development of the Reconstruction years, a massive experiment in interracial democracy without precedent in the history of this or any other country that abolished slavery in the nineteenth century.

But this moment was short-lived.

As W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.

History is made by human actors and the choices they make.

According to Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another Name, the choices made by Southern white supremacists after abolition, and the rest of the countrys accommodation, explain more about the current state of American life, black and white, than the antebellum slavery that preceded.

Designed to reverse black advances, Redemption was an organized effort by white merchants, planters, businessmen and politicians that followed Reconstruction. Redeemers employed vicious racial violence and state legislation as tools to prevent black citizenship and equality promised under the 14th and 15th amendments.

By the early 1900s, nearly every southern state had barred black citizens not only from voting but also from serving in public office, on juries and in the administration of the justice system.

The Souths new racial caste system was not merely political and social. It was thoroughly economic. Slavery had made the Souths agriculture-based economy the most powerful force in the global cotton market, but the Civil War devastated this economy.

How to build a new one?

Ironically, white leaders found a solution in the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery in the United States in 1865. By exploiting the provision allowing slavery and involuntary servitude to continue as a punishment for crime, they took advantage of a penal system predating the Civil War and used even during Reconstruction.

With the help of profiteering industrialists they found yet a new way to build wealth on the bound labor of black Americans: the convict lease system.

Heres how it worked. Black men and sometimes women and children were arrested and convicted for crimes enumerated in the Black Codes, state laws criminalizing petty offenses and aimed at keeping freed people tied to their former owners plantations and farms. The most sinister crime was vagrancy the crime of being unemployed which brought a large fine that few blacks could afford to pay.

Black convicts were leased to private companies, typically industries profiteering from the regions untapped natural resources. As many as 200,000 black Americans were forced into back-breaking labor in coal mines, turpentine factories and lumber camps. They lived in squalid conditions, chained, starved, beaten, flogged and sexually violated. They died by the thousands from injury, disease and torture.

For both the state and private corporations, the opportunities for profit were enormous. For the state, convict lease generated revenue and provided a powerful tool to subjugate African-Americans and intimidate them into behaving in accordance with the new social order. It also greatly reduced state expenses in housing and caring for convicts. For the corporations, convict lease provided droves of cheap, disposable laborers who could be worked to the extremes of human cruelty.

Every southern state leased convicts, and at least nine-tenths of all leased convicts were black. In reports of the period, the terms convicts and negroes are used interchangeably.

Of those black Americans caught in the convict lease system, a few were men like Henry Nisbet, who murdered nine other black men in Georgia. But the vast majority were like Green Cottenham, the central figure in Blackmons book, who was snatched into the system after being charged with vagrancy.

A principal difference between antebellum slavery and convict leasing was that, in the latter, the laborers were only the temporary property of their masters. On one hand, this meant that after their fines had been paid off, they would potentially be let free. On the other, it meant the companies leasing convicts often absolved themselves of concerns about workers longevity. Such convicts were viewed as disposable and frequently worked beyond human endurance.

The living conditions of leased convicts are documented in dozens of detailed, firsthand reports spanning decades and covering many states. In 1883, Blackmon writes, Alabama prison inspector Reginald Dawson described leased convicts in one mine being held on trivial charges, in desperate, miserable conditions, poorly fed, clothed, and unnecessarily chained and shackled. He described the appalling number of deaths and appalling numbers of maimed and disabled men held by various forced-labor entrepreneurs spanning the entire state.

Dawsons reports had no perceptible impact on Alabamas convict leasing system.

The exploitation of black convict labor by the penal system and industrialists was central to southern politics and economics of the era. It was a carefully crafted answer to black progress during Reconstruction highly visible and widely known. The system benefited the national economy, too. The federal government passed up one opportunity after another to intervene.

Convict lease ended at different times across the early 20th century, only to be replaced in many states by another racialized and brutal method of convict labor: the chain gang.

Convict labor, debt peonage, lynching and the white supremacist ideologies of Jim Crow that supported them all produced a bleak social landscape across the South for African-Americans.

Black Americans developed multiple resistance strategies and gained major victories through the civil rights movement, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Jim Crow fell, and America moved closer than ever to fulfilling its democratic promise of equality and opportunity for all.

But in the decades that followed, a tough on crime politics with racist undertones produced, among other things, harsh drug and mandatory minimum sentencing laws that were applied in racially disparate ways. The mass incarceration system exploded, with the rate of imprisonment quadrupling between the 1970s and today.

Michelle Alexander famously calls it The New Jim Crow in her book of the same name.

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, with 2.2 million behind bars, even though crime has decreased significantly since the early 1990s. And while black Americans make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 37 percent of the incarcerated population. Forty percent of police killings of unarmed people are black men, who make up merely 6 percent of the population, according to a 2015 Washington Post report.

It doesnt have to be this way. We can choose otherwise.

Bryan Bowman received funding as a recipient of the Alan L. and Carol S. LeBovidge Undergraduate Research Scholarship in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Kathy Roberts Forde does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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Exploiting black labor after the abolition of slavery - Baraboo News Republic

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Discover meaning at the Festival of Faiths, April 19 24 – Insider Louisville

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What do Muhammad Ali, Trappist monk Thomas Merton and His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lamashare in common? They each have a special connection with Louisville. Serving as the birthplace of Muhammad Ali, the location of Thomas Mertons epiphany, and a destination that is highly regarded by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Louisville is an important place in the world of thought, faith, compassion and opportunity.

The ideas and influences of each of these individuals are brought to lightduring Louisvilles ever-growing annual Festival of Faiths, hosted bythe Center for Interfaith Relations. The festival, which began 22 years ago and is the first of its kind, has grown into a well-known international event, showcasing impressive guest speakers from across the globe and attracting visitorsfrom a number of different countries. Scheduled for April 19 24, the 2017 Festival of Faiths titled Compassion: Shining like the Sun is sure to be the annual events biggest, most exciting yet.

Conversations on meaning

The key focus of the Festival is the question of meaning, making it a unique forum for looking at contemporary issues through a spiritual lens: from politics and the economy, to media, race and pop culture. The Center for Interfaith Relationsbelieves these subjects deserveattention and deepdiscussion.

Attendees at the Festival of Faiths are engaged inConversations on Meaning in a time of multiple crises of meaning involving internationally renowned faith leaders, thinkers and practitioners.Ideas, principles and wisdom from the depths of the worlds great spiritual traditions are explored, along with new research in science and social sciences, all with the goalofoffering deeper insight on lifes most pressing issues. Referred to as the Ted Talks of the Spiritual, the Festivals conversations inspire reflectionand invite celebration.

Whether you have a strong spiritual, faith or secular background, and wherever you are on the political spectrum, you canfind your own personal inspirationby attending the Festival of Faiths. The Festival offers the opportunity to connectwith people from Louisville and all over the world,and learn how other religions and cultures have viewed the world and approached the subject of meaning. This event is much more than a fellowship of the religiousits an opportunity for personal empowerment, enrichment and community engagement.

A showcase ofour citys compassion

Thanks to the vision and leadership ofLouisvilles Mayor Greg Fischer, compassionate cityis more than a soft description. Itis becoming a true aspiration for many engaged local residents. And in an effort to contribute to Louisvilles commitment to compassion, the Festival of Faiths will reflectthis year on what it means to be a compassionate city.

At the Mayors invitation, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to Louisville and be featured at the Festival of Faiths on April 23 and 24 at the KFC Yum! Center. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is returning tothe city due to a deep sense of obligationto see what Louisville has done to cultivate compassion as a universal human responsibility in order to grow into a truly compassionate city.

At the Festival of Faiths, you can learnabout many local innovations, including Louisvilles designation as anInternational Model City of Compassion and what this means to people in our community and around the world. You can also hear results of the 2017 Mayors Give A Day week of service as well as an update on theCompassionate Schools Project, which aims to educate the whole child for self-awareness and self-understanding.The experience should help us gain a greater understanding ofthe meaning of compassion and the factors that must combine to produce an authentically compassionate city.

An opportunity to discover new ideas and traditions

The 2017 Festival will look at how we would cultivate inward and outward compassion in the face of multiple challenges locally and globally: inequality, alienation, disinformation, racism, violence, polarization and fear.

In a time of extremes, of rapid change and a growing sense of disorientation, the Dalai Lama talks of the universal human need for inner mental and emotional strength and balance, regardless of religious affiliation. Moving from the global to the local, what would a compassionate city look like? How would we integrate those universal interior values the Dalai Lama speaks of, those principles for inner self-regulation to rebalance our inward and outward health in the civic space and urban laboratory. How would we reimagine a compassionate city?

For more information on the Festival of Faiths, its schedule of events and its list of speakers, visit the events website or visit the Center for Interfaith Relations at 415 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.

Sign up for the latest announcements on the Festival of Faiths here: http://bit.ly/dalai-lama-lou-emails.

The Center invites readers to join in on discussions of meaning on compassion on social media pages, using the following hashtag: #compassionshining.

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Help yourself, Feb. 8 | Town Crier | trib.com – Casper Star-Tribune Online

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Learn Cortana

The Natrona County Library will offer a Windows 10: Cortana class from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Learn how to use Cortana, the digital voice assistant on Windows 10. Basic Cortana voice and typed commands will be covered including search queries such as checking the weather, a work schedule, or the status of a flight; turning notification on or off; creating location-based and person-based reminders; getting directions; tracking packages; requesting technical support; language translation, and sending text messages. Take your Windows 10 device with you to follow along. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Daytime Women in the Word will begin a new Bible study at 9:15 a.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, in the chapel at Highland Park Community Church, 5725 Highland Drive. The subject is Old Testament minor prophets beginning with the Book of Hosea. Resources and books are available.

The study is non-denominational and open to women of all ages. Childcare is provided for children 0-5 years of age.

Orientation for new women is held every Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. at Highland Park Community church. Register online @ http://www.casperwomenintheword.com or call Angela (267-8061) or Joyce (234-2922) for more information.

The Natrona County Library will offer an Introduction to 3D Modeling class from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 11. Participants will come away from this workshop being able to design three-dimensional objects using a free, web-based Computer Aided Design program called Tinkercad. Tinkercad is an easy, browser-based 3D design and modeling tool. Its also your perfect 3D printing companion, allowing you to imagine anything, and then design it in minutes. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Casper College will be holding a FAFSA Filing Frenzy on Thursday, Feb. 16 from 3 to 6 p.m. in Room 225 of the Walter H. Nolte Gateway Center. The event is held to help students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Experts from financial aid, admissions, and student success will be available to help students fill out their FAFSA, answer questions about getting into college, and succeeding in college. Qualifying CC students who complete their FAFSA at the event will be entered in a chance for a $250 CC scholarship.

The FAFSA Filing Frenzy is free and open to all students. For more information call the Casper College Enrollment Services Office at 268-2323. The Nolte Gateway Center is located on Casper College campus.

St. Marks Episcopal Church, 7th and Wolcott, will have classes on money management, using the Financial Peace plan, starting in February. The classes will run from Feb. 18 to April 25, 2017 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., on Tuesdays at the church. To register, please contact Dorothy Brown at 377-3509 or via e-mail Wyo_nana@yahoo.com.

Family Life Ministry at Highland Park Community Church is offering premarital, marriage enrichment, and parenting workshops, seminars, retreats and conferences, empowering families to thrive through Gods love. Please visit the website for more information or to register, http://hpcc.church/FLM.

The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and The Hill Music Company are joining forces to help young Wyoming musicians further their musical ability with the opportunity to win a new string or wind instrument.

Wyoming music students in grades 9 through 12, who may have outgrown or outplayed a wind or string instrument, are invited to apply for a new instrument.

To apply, download an application form and instruction packet from the WSO website, http://www.wyomingsymphony.org/outreach. Applicants will need to write a short essay about the importance of music and their particular instrument to their lives, and include references from music teachers, family, and friends.

The deadline to apply is Feb. 24, 2017. A certificate will be awarded to the winner at the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra concert on March 18, 2017. The Hill Music Company will provide the winning instrument, and assist the winner in selecting the instrument of his or her choice.

Looking for a one-day workshop that will teach a new, old-time skill? Check out the Pinhole Cameras Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Casper Rec Center. A pinhole camera is the earliest form of capturing images that is called a photograph today. It is a dark chamber with a pinhole and no lens. During the clinic, participants will build their own pinhole camera.

For registration fees and more information, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., visit the website http://www.activecasper.com or call 235-8383.

ART321/Casper Artists Guild holds Saturday Morning Watercolor Sessions under the direction of Ellen Black. Sessions are Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. to noon. $10 per session.

Feb. 11: Tree Studies; Feb. 18: Practice Session; Feb. 25: Mountain Landscapes. Instructed by Jennifer Morss. Please contact Ellen Black at 265-6783 for any questions. Hope to see you all again this season.

Art321/Casper Artists Guild is offering a workshop in February to help creative journeys.

A Beginning Colored Pencil Workshop will be instructed by Lynn Jones from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 18. Open to all levels. Fee is $30 for members. Take colored pencils and learn all the basic techniques of shading, blending colors and burnishing. The great thing about colored pencil is that it is easily portable, allowing artists to work from anywhere.

Register in person at the gallery or call the desk at 265-2655.

Consider becoming a member of Art321 and get discounted fees on all workshops. Annual dues are $65.

Life After Loss is a support group for people who have lost a loved one to suicide. This is a nine-week program designed to help navigate the troubled waters of this time. The class starts at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, at the Highland Park Community Church, 5725 Highland Dr., room 1327. There is a $12 fee for the book and materials, scholarships are available. Please contact Ardith at 267-3532 or The Healing Place at 265-3977.

Registration is underway for Wyomings premiere business conference, GRO-Biz Conference & Idea Expo, Feb. 22 and 23 at the Ramkota Hotel.

Register before Feb. 8, 2017 for the discounted cost of $165 per registrant; beginning February 8, 2017 registration fee is $185. To see agenda and to register, visit http://www.regonline.com/2017grobizidea.

The GRO-Biz Conference & Idea Expo is two events rolled into one. The event provides opportunities to learn from experts presenting innovative workshops that inspire attendees to think about their business in new and exciting ways. In addition, the conference provides Wyomings small businesses the opportunity to better understand state and federal government procurement processes and meet with professionals who can provide valuable information on the bidding process.

Conscious Co-Creation, Part Two: Field Play, Feb. 18, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., offered in person at the Agricultural Learning Resources building on Fairgrounds Rd. and also via live webinar. In the follow-up to Conscious Co-Creation Part One, explore in depth some of the ideas and skills gained in Conscious Co-Creation. Prerequisite: Conscious Co-Creation/Self-Transformation & Healing. For a full class description and registration information, visit: http://www.cathyhazeladams.com/pp/classes-webinars-event/.

Living from the Heart: The Key to Peace, Freedom & Creative Empowerment, Feb. 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offered in person at the Agricultural Learning Resources building on Fairgrounds Rd. and also via live webinar.In the new four-hour class/playshop, learn what the field of the heart really is, practice easy, practical ways to go into heart field, and learn how to live every day from this place of peace, love, well-being and personal empowerment. No prerequisite. For a full class description and registration information, visit: http://www.cathyhazeladams.com/pp/classes-webinars-event/.

The Natrona County VITA Program, a United Way of Natrona County initiative, is open through April 12, for free tax return assistance. This is a first come, first serve program, no appointments will be scheduled. Individuals must bring their Social Security card, photo identification and the appropriate paperwork with them. For a complete listing of required paperwork, please visit the website http://www.wyomingfreetaxservice.org

Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Aspen Creek Building, 800 Werner Ct., Ste. 206. Closed Sunday and Monday.

For more information, call (307) 333-5588 during hours of operation or look on Facebook. The initiative is supported by funding from the Wyoming Free Tax Service and local United Way.

Join the five-week program and learn how to reduce processed and packaged foods from your diet. Learn how to plan meals, shop, and cook using whole, natural ingredients. Also learn how to read labels and decipher ingredient lists. Real Food will meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., starting Feb. 9 and finishing March 9. Classes will be held at the UW Extension office at 2011 Fairgrounds Road. Half of the class time will include hands-on healthy cooking in the foods lab. The cost is $35, which covers all materials, including food. For more information and to register, contact Karla Case, RD at 235-9400 or kcase@natronacounty-wy.gov.

Mercer Family Resource Center offers a class in March designed to help parents become more effective.

Make Parenting a Pleasure is for parents and caregivers with children ages 0 to 8. Class meets March 1, 8, 15, and 22 and April 5, 12, and 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. Onsite childcare available, meets once a week for seven weeks. Cost is $35 individuals and $50 a couple.

For more information or to enroll, call Lisa Brown at 233-4276.

The deadline for the ARTCORE New Music Competition is March 15. Entrants must be Wyoming residents.

The purpose of the competition is to find serious composers in the state; to provide an ongoing program for encouraging new music by these same composers; to give exposure to musical works of merit and to stimulate an interest in contemporary music in Wyoming audiences.

Performance time shall be limited to 20 minutes. Compositions shall not have been performed previously. Compositions shall be limited to no more than eight performers. Compositions may be for any combination of voice and/or instrument. Three copies of the manuscript must be submitted. Manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Submit manuscripts to ARTCORE, P.O. Box 874, Casper, WY 82602. Entry fee is $15. Manuscripts must be postmarked no later than March 15, 2017.

Teen Challenge Wyoming offers classes at local churches, True Care and the Link (Youth for Christ). For more information on these groups or on other Teen Challenge programs, please call 258-5397.

Peacemaking: Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. In this world of division and conflict, it is important for Christians to stay grounded in what the Bible teaches about resolving our differences with orders in a God-honoring way. For more information, call Pat at 258-5397.

Save One: A group for post-abortion healing. For more information, call Judy at 251-5644.

Single & Parenting: Sundays at 6:30 p.m. Covers major challenges single parents face in raising their children, and offers tools to help them meet these challenges. Enter anytime, each lesson stands alone. Call Cathie at 258-6119.

Professionals in Recovery: An ongoing Christian recovery group. For more information, call Gary at 267-7777.

Insight: Discovering the path to Christian character, especially in the midst of stress. Time to be announced. For more information, call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Possible offering: Committed Couples and/or the Smart Stepfamily (groups designed to strengthen marriages for both married couples and those anticipating marriage) may be offered later this year. For more information on these possibilities, please call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Premium quality seedling trees, shrubs and perennials are available for windbreaks and wildlife habitat enhancement from the UW/Natrona County Extension. Order forms are available at the Ag Resource and Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Rd. There are 41 species available. Order now for best selection with May 2017 delivery. For more information, call Rose Jones at 235-9400.

Wyoming Dementia Care offers five Alzheimers Caregiver Support groups each month. Caregivers of those with dementia-related illnesses and the loved ones they care for are welcome at any of the group sessions. Professional staff from Intermountain Home Companions will be on hand to offer separate activities and snacks for those who need care. There is no charge for Wyoming Dementia Cares support groups or for the respite care provided during the approximately one hour long sessions.

The morning support group sessions meet on the first and third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at Central Wyoming Senior Services, 1831 E. 4th St. The afternoon support groups meet at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Life Care Center of Casper, 4041 S. Poplar. The evening groups meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Meadow Wind Assisted Living, 3955 E. 12th St.

Good Grief, Support will continue at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott, by request of attendees. Anyone who is grieving a suicide, death, or considering suicide is encouraged to attend. Attendance at the meeting, as well as the content, will be strictly confidential. The Fresh Start Cafe will be open, and you can eat during the meetings. This meeting place was offered by Dan Cantine of the 12-24 Club. You need not be a member to attend. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

J.R.s Hunt for Life is offering See it Clearly, a free peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. The group is led by like-minded peers wishing to offer support in these struggles. Anonymity and confidentiality is offered to all attending. Meetings are at 6:45 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 500 South Wolcott in the conference room on the second floor, (12-24 Club). Those who have considered or attempted taking their life or are struggling are welcome. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

The family of J.R. Hunter, who committed suicide, now has two additional support groups, these faith-based, in addition to the groups they run on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the 12-24 Club. Those continue. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

J.R.s Hunt; for life presents two faith-based grief and depression peer to peer support groups at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Restoration Church, 411 S. Walsh. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

Grief Support Group, Good Grief: A faith-based grief support group that the family hosts on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Restoration Church. The familys loss has moved them to offer this to anyone grieving. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

Depression Support Group, See It Clearly: A faith-based free peer to peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that may lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. The group is led by like-minded peers wishing to offer support in these struggles. Anonymity and confidentiality is offered to all attending. Meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Restoration Church. Those who have considered or attempted taking their life or are struggling are welcome. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom.

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons exercise program. Join us from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500. These classes are open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons.

Thursdays class is tailored for the individual with more advanced Parkinsons and focuses on improving endurance, safety and managing symptoms. We are open to all ages and can tailor the class to meet varying exercise needs. The cost of the class is $5. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., theres either a lesson from Celebrate Recoverys planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Classes are every third Tuesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. There is no charge. Here and Now is a program made possible through a collaboration between Wyoming Dementia Care and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for people with dementia and Alzheimers and their loved ones.

Latin Study Club language enthusiasts welcome anyone who wishes they had taken Latin in school or paid better attention when they did. The group meets at 7 p.m., on Tuesday nights at Mount Hope Lutheran School, 2300 Hickory. There is no charge. The textbook used is Wheelocks Latin, 7th edition. Noli timere!

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UMass Amherst Celebrates Black Heritage Month – UMass News and Media Relations

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AMHERST, Mass. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is hosting more than a dozen events throughout the month of February in observance of Black Heritage Month.

Be Heard: Black Heritage Month 2017 begins Wednesday, Feb. 1, with a reception for the exhibition Emancipating the Past: Kara Walkers Tales of Slavery and Power from 57 p.m. at the UMass Museum of Contemporary Art, located at the Fine Arts Center. The exhibit by Walker, a contemporary artist whose work is known for its themes of African-American racial identity, features 60 pieces including wall murals, lithographs, sculptures and shadow puppetry.

On Thursday, Feb. 2, the Men and Masculinities Center is sponsoring Protecting Me & We: Ending Gender Discrimination & Sexual Violence, a talk by the NFLs first diversity and inclusion consultant and former pro football player Wade Davis. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

Kelli Morgan, the Winston and Carolyn Lowe Curatorial Fellow at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts and a Ph.D. candidate at UMass Amherst, will speak on the art of Kara Walker on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 4:30 p.m. in the Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall, Room 160. Morgans lecture, So Now Im Looking Dead at You, What Are You Gonna Do? will focus on how Walkers art explores concepts of African-American womens personal empowerment through visual expression.

On Thursday, Feb. 9, a facilitated conversation on racism within LGBTQIA+ communities will be held at the Stonewall Center in Crampton Hall from 78:30 p.m. The discussion is sponsored by the Stonewall Center, Racial Justice Coalition, and the Pride Alliance.

The Malcolm X Cultural Center is sponsoring a Black Heritage Month Community Building Dinner from 6:309 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center.

Marc Lamont-Hill, activist, CNN political commentator and host of HuffPost Live and BET News, will give his talk, The War on Youth, on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Admission is free and two tickets are allotted per student.

On Thursday, Feb. 16, award-winning historian and public intellectual Donna Murch of Rutgers University will present a lecture titled Crack Attack: Los Angeles and the Forgotten History of Americas War on Drugs. The talk is sponsored by the Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series and the location is to be determined.

Professor John Rickford of Stanford University will speak on Justice for Jeantel (and Trayvon): Fighting Dialect Prejudice in Courtrooms and Beyond on Friday, Feb. 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Integrative Learning Center. Rickford is an expert on the structure, history and sociolinguistics of African-American vernacular English and his talk is the 2017 Freeman Lecture in UMass Amhersts department of linguistics.

A portion of Africas Great Civilizations, a new PBS series, will be screened at 4:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The presentation will conclude with a discussion and Q&A.

At 6 p.m. on Feb. 21 in the Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall, the honors college is sponsoring Slave Resistance and the Making of American Abolition, a talk by Afro-American studies professor Manisha Sinha, author of the recent book The Slaves Cause: A History of Abolition.

On Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 4-6 p.m., the 23rd Du Bois Annual Lecture will be presented in the CHC Events Hall, Room 160. This years theme is Viewing the Past through the Eyes of the Present: Exploring Race, Gender and Slavery through Art and will feature a panel facilitated by Whitney Battle-Baptiste, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Center.

Ben Jealous, a former NAACP president, will give a talk, The Forgotten Origins and Consequences of Race in America, at 4:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom on Thursday, Feb. 23. Jealous will discuss what must be done to create a country where children are judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. The lecture is sponsored by the UMass Chancellors Office.

The campus community will celebrate W.E.B. Du Bois birthday on Feb. 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the Du Bois Library lobby, where free cake will be served on first-come, first-served basis.

Finally, on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m., award-winning, multi-voice spoken word and hip-hop duo Climbing PoeTree will have a theater performance at the Holyoke War Memorial Building at 310 Appleton St. in Holyoke. The performance, which will address mass incarceration in America, is sponsored by the Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series and is co-hosted by the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke. The performance is free and open to the public. Alixa and Naima, the members of Climbing PoeTree, have been featured alongside artists such as Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu.

The universitys Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success (CMASS) is encouraging the campus community to participate and follow Black Heritage Month with the hashtag #BHMUMA2017.

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Teachers ruling a stark reminder – Coast Reporter – Coast Reporter

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Editor:

The recent Supreme Court ruling to restore British Columbia teachers contract language (stripped since 2002) is, regretfully, long overdue. The severe financial cutbacks endured by B.C. teachers has inevitably led to larger class sizes, loss of library personnel and program choices and, more importantly, loss of morale among teachers who must meet the needs of students in increasingly complex classrooms on woefully inadequate budgets.

Even though the implementation of this court ruling is far from over, as a society, it is critical to reflect upon the kind of education we desire for our children and be willing to speak out when unreasonable government policies handicap our public institutions for personal and political gain.

Hopefully, this ruling will serve as a stark reminder that the health, educational opportunities, mental well-being and sense of personal empowerment that we expect schools to deliver is dependent on our willingness to engage in informed political, social and community discourse. Moreover, we must be willing to oppose policies that threaten the ability of our educational institutions to provide optimum environments for our future leaders and thinkers.

Braden Blackmon, S.C. Teachers Association, Social Justice Chair

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Freedom Boat Club | Private Membership Boating Club

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Only a slave to God’s love understands true freedom, pope says – Crux: Covering all things Catholic

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ROME The freedom that comes from receiving the gift of a joyful Christian life can only come to those who are held captive by Gods love, Pope Francis said.

People who are afraid of Gods gift of love, however, seek only the rigid adherence to the law and can only pray a closed, sad prayer, the pope said February 6 in his homily during Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives.

When you become a slave to love, you are free! That is a beautiful slavery, the pope said.

The days responsorial psalm (Psalm 104), he noted, is a song of praise to God who loved his creatures even before the creation of the universe.

God also showed his love in the act of re-creation, sending Jesus Christ into the world to turn ugliness into beauty, error into truth and evil into good, the pope said.

This gift of Gods love, he added, was difficult for the scribes and Pharisees to understand as they did not know how to receive the things from God as a gift and were concerned only with seeking refuge in the rigidity of the commandments.

They did not know how to receive the gift; and this gift is only received in freedom. These rigid people were afraid of the freedom given to us by God; they were afraid of love, the pope said.

Christians, he continued, must become like children who find their security in Gods love and tenderness rather than hiding behind the closed rigidity of the commandments.

May the Lord help us understand this great thing and help us understand what (God) did before creating the world: he loved! May the Lord help us understand his love for us and may we say as we said today You are great O Lord! Thank you, Thank you! Pope Francis said.

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Worker Freedom Extends to Missouri – Competitive Enterprise Institute (blog)

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Today, Missouri became the 28th state to enact right-to-work legislation, which prohibits forced payment of union duesas a condition of employment. Right-to-work laws increase worker choice and research finds they have a positive economic impact.

Primarily, these laws are about increasing worker freedom. No individual should be forced to financially support an organization with which they disagree, or be penalized for refusing todoso. Without right-to-work laws on the books, that is exactly what happens.

Economic benefits also accompany the passage of right-to-work laws. For example, research produced here atthe Competitive Enterprise Institute shows:

Given their benefits to workers and the economy, the popularity of right-to-work laws is no surprise. Survey after survey show that a majority of the public supports giving workers the choice whether or not to pay union dues. Most recently, a May 2015 poll conducted by the Missouri Alliance for Freedomfound that 54 percent of Missourians support right to work, with 35 percent opposed and 11 percent undecided.

However, some free-market leaning organizations criticize right-to-work laws because they interfere with freedom of contract. They claim that employers and unions should be able to agree to union security agreements that require every worker pay union fees whether they want union representation or not. In a system based on freedom to contract, employers and unions should be able to force workers to pay dues. However, a vast majority of these criticisms of right-to-work laws fail to mention that true freedom of contract would also allow employers to completely reject unionization at their establishment, even if every single worker voted to form a union.

There is zero chance in the near to long term future that a system as described above will be implemented.

In the meantime, right-to-work laws that increase worker freedom are preferable to forced unionism laws that force workers to pay for union representation they do not want.

As I wrote previously, Missouri workers deserve the freedom to choose how to spend their hard-earned pay. Enacting right to work in Missouri would give workers that ability, and send a signal to citizens and taxpayers that worker freedom takes priority over the special interests of labor unions.

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