Are You Sick of Politics As Usual? Do You Want Fair Elections? Let's Talk #RankChoiceVoting!!

The United States of America is in a major uproar after a t.v. reality star with no background in practicing American law has become Commander in Chief of our country. The private sector has been wrecking the laws of this land for some time now mainly because they don't want to be held accountable for their illegal activities toward the general public but want the public resources. On my facebook page people are upset that those cheating democrats lost. These people are so use to rape culture that they can't see past the b.s. dangling in front of them.

How did we get to this point? You can read "Merchant of Grains" by Dan Morgan to get a better understanding of the behind the scenes on how we have become such a disrespectful country. Or you can do the research to explore people, culture and our government as i have been doing for the past five years!!

How do we get pass this point of finger pointing and not taking responsibility for our actions? People have a right to feel anxious and need to vent those feelings. Social media is a great platform for venting and having conversations around the anger that can help open the possibility of creating a better voting system. Half the country didn't vote in the 2016 election because they don't feel as if their vote matters. The electoral college is now under attack by the voters who did vote only for their vote not to matter. So there is a push to rid us of the electoral college, but wait there is another problem with rigged elections in our country. The two party system don't represent the people, they represent the private sector attacking public resources.

As Americans, we expect our voices to be heard, our views to be respected, and our votes to truly count.
Too often gridlock, low turnout elections, and increased polarization are preventing American democracy from living up to the expectations of its citizens. It’s easy to see that something is broken in American politics. It’s harder to figure out why – or how to move forward. We examine some of the most pressing problems in American democracy and discuss ways to address these issues.
http://www.fairvote.org/

We can bring people back into the voting process with #RankChoiceVoting. Rank Choice Voting aka Instant Runoff voting was introduced to me while covering a Green Party 2016 election rally in Philadelphia. The process of rank choice voting allows voters to choose the candidates that they would like to see hold office versus voters only being able to see the two major corporate parties pretending to work for the people. Our vote would matter and would allow for better representation of the people in the political office. Please sign the petitions for Congress to pass the Voter's Choice Amendment!!

Thursday night’s FiveThirtyEight podcast discussed Question 5 on the ballot in Maine – the option to adopt ranked choice voting (RCV) for elections in the state starting in 2018. As the team pointed out, it is especially relevant to Maine, given no Governor has been elected with a majority of the vote since 1998 – indeed, this has happened in 9 of the last 11 races. 
http://www.fairvote.org/fivethirtyeight_looks_at_ranked_choice_voting_in_maine

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/11/10/maine-became-the-first-state-in-the-country-to-pass-ranked-choice-voting

I'm Not Scared To Vote!!

The 2016 Presidential election is taking a toll on the people of the United States of America. The conversations that are produced because of the candidates that are running is adding sparks to a revolution of the people tired of politics as usual. The voters that i'm describing are not falling for the fear tactics and avoidance of real issues by show stoppers. The curtains are coming down thanks to courageous voters and independent candidates taking the risk of having Donald Trump as president by voting for Jill Stein. Voting for Jill Stein helps get the Green Party on the 2020 Presidential ballot. This accomplishment would move our country to serve the people of our country and world and not the greedy ruthless corporations just looking out for themselves.

The ill pathways that have led to becoming president of our country is coming to light and voters don't want to vote because these voters don't know or understand about the political revolution taking place. i hear democrats on their cell phones concerned about the wikileaks and not wanting to risk their vote on the democratic candidate. The laws of this country have always worked in their favor and these voters may not vote in this election because they have no legislation fears nor do they connect to the political revolution because of social status versus human connections. Many of the voters who are impacted by legislation designed to control them are to busy to get involved with the research of what is going on in our communities, let alone the political arena. In Philadelphia our public transit system is on strike. The police in Kesington reportedly love the strike because crime is down along the El train route. But those who are focused on winning this election is concerned that the working class won't have time to vote because they will be focused on getting to work on time and to exhausted to get to the polls if they are able to get out of traffic in time to vote. The Septa strike and going to work is perfect example of the stresses in life that prevent voters from being involved in daily civic responsibilities.

We as no fear advocates are waking up and not accepting unscrupulous people leading our country into wars, famines, Climate rise and mental health stress. The #NoFearAdvocates of our world are informing the frustrated with politics as usual with what is going on in the #PoliticalRevolution. More and more voters are understanding their power to have a meaningful vote. Please if you are able to make to the polls, please go and vote for a United States of America that works for the people by people. We have nothing but the two evils to lose!!

Emlen Parents and Community Call To Action

Parents and Community partners are needed to help Emlen be the great safe school that we want in our community. We recently received recognition from Councilman Allan Dombs for our great achievements at Emlen yet for some reason the school district of Philadelphia has decided to cut our resources. The cut of these much needed resources hinders our ability to support our students needs and achievements. We need parents and community members to call the school district with our concerns for smaller classroom sizes and support services. Many of our classrooms are at capacity or over capacity with a waiting list to get into our school. We had three kindergarten and first grade classrooms last year but this year with our growing demand for these class levels we only have two classrooms for each level not to mention that one of our special needs educator was taken away from us a couple of weeks ago. Our educators are stressed to the max. i was in the office and was able to see to many of our special needs families in the office due to lack of support in the classrooms.  

The partnership between parents, educators and community members were successful in getting the permanent crossing guard back on the corner of Chew Ave. and Sharpnack Street. But more work needs to be done to ensure our families are able to safely get to and from school. Cars ignore the crossing guard and may be because the light signal cautioning a school crossing is too close to the crossing path and needs to be moved down some to give drivers ample time to change the speed of their driving. 

We are hosting a press conference Wednesday, November 9th at the corner of Chew Ave. and Sharpknack Street, 2:45-3pm, to address our concerns for classroom sizes and support services along with adjustments to the school crossing signal. We are asking parents and community partners to please join us for this press conference and please also speak at the next School Reform Commission meeting Thursday, November 17th 5pm.

Instructions to Register to Speak

To register to speak at a regularly scheduled or special meeting, call the Office of Parent, Community, and Family Engagement at 215-400-4180 no later than 4:30 PM on the business day immediately preceding the meeting at which you wish to address the SRC.

 The procedures for addressing the SRC are as follows:

•  Individuals must register in their own name and cannot register on behalf of someone else;
•  Individuals representing an organization must identify that organization at the time they register, and no more than one representative of an organization can register to speak at a single meeting;
• Individuals must give their name, address, daytime telephone number, and the subject on which they intend to address the SRC;
•  Individuals must bring seven written copies of their comments with them to the meeting;
•  Individuals may speak for no more than three minutes;
• No more than six individuals on the same side of an issue will be permitted to speak, though an unlimited number of individuals may leave written comments for the SRC to review;
•  Individuals will be ruled out of order if they attempt to comment or complain about the conduct or performance of a particular School District employee and will be directed to address their comments to the appropriate School District administrator;
•  Individuals will be ruled out of order if they attempt to make any remarks of a personal nature regarding any other individual, whether or not that person is present; and
• Individuals will be ruled out of order and asked to leave the meeting if they use any vulgar or profane language.

Additionally, you may submit comments to the SRC in writing by mail or deliver them to the SRC office located at 440 North Broad Street, Suite 101, Philadelphia, PA 19130.

We may need to attend the 14th District townhall to further express our concerns for the crossing signals to be moved to a location that gives ample caution to our crossing paths.

Tues Nov 15 @ 6:00 PM (3^rd Tues monthly)

14^th Distr Captain's Townhall  Townwatch Community Meeting

43 W Haines St.

Capt Sekou Kinenebrew

http://www.phillypolice.com

We are also in need of a home and school association. Hopefully we can recruit parents from the FAST program and press conference. If you are interested in forming a home and school please contact Principal Thomas with your information. Community partners are welcomed to join!! 

"The Orchestra Moves" Emlen Elementary November 1, 2016

What an exciting field trip exploring how music moves and moves us when we listen to the music. The Please Touch Museum partnered with The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of the Carnegie Hall The Orchestra Moves educational series. The Orchestra Moves is an interactive partnership promoting all the components of an orchestra and helps educators and students grades 3 - 5, connect to great hands on learning of musical instruments and terminology via classroom introduction to the orchestra, study of music, online resources and field trips.  i had the honor of chaperoning with Emlen music teacher Mr. Leiby, during a visit to the Kimmel Center where we participated in The Orchestra Moves.

The students had the chance to explore the lobby of the Kimmel center as we waited to be seated. We stood next to an art exhibit called Dinning table by Michael Beitz. i explained to our students why the artist created the table and asked the students what did they feel when looking at the table. Some said that the table created anger because they would be mad if they were sitting at a table and couldn't see the person sitting on the opposite end of the table. Pretty cool how art starts the conversation of emotions and how those emotions can be moved. 

One young lady mentioned that she is learning to play the Cello and was looking forward to seeing the concert. She connected when the Cello section was introduced. Our students were engaged before and after the performance with questions enhancing the learning of the orchestra which came across two screens. During the performance we also participated with the songs when prompted. We all were able to experience Tempo and get a better understanding of how music moves during the Philadelphia Orchestra rendition of In The Hall of The Mountain King. We used our hands to act as windshield wipers, we marched in place, did shoulder shrugs and bent our knees at various speeds when prompted. 

Great scaffolding on music use and terminology accomplished with this partnership. You can bring the orchestra to your school or group by creating an account with Carnegie Hall.