Month: March 2023

20% Of Philly Students Can Read???

20% Of Philly Students Can Read??? — The ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary has a plot line in which a big, bad charter school company is trying to take over the show’s eponymous Philadelphia public school.

This caused Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, to tweet:

It’s pathetic when fewer than 20% of Philadelphia students can even read, write or spell at grade level that there’s a show on television that has the nerve to criticize the schools that succeed, and the people that help them. This has TEACHERS UNION written all over it.

Is it true that fewer than 20 precent of Philadelphia students read, write or spell at grade level??

According to the Philadelphia School District’s website 46 percent of children K-2 and 33 percent of children in third grade read at grade level as of 2019, which is before the Covid shutdown.

The stats in 2013, by the way, were 52 percent of K-2 and 45 percent in grade 3.

It appears the more caring parents are getting their kids out of public school and into the big, bad charters which is the only sane and caring thing to do.

20% Of Philly Students Can Read???
Remember, this is fiction
20% Of Philly Students Can’t Read

Modern Classical Music at DCCC

Modern Classical Music at DCCC

By Bob Small

Modern Classical Music, like alternative political parties and alternative religions  can be seen as a subculture followed by those of us who don’t always trust the dominant traditional cultures.

Most people’s perception of classical music has been both Eurocentric and empire-centric, to say nothing of being male-centric. There should be room for music based on alternative visions of gender, race, and culture, and celebrating peace instead of wars and militarism.

For many, the enjoyment of new modern classical music lies in both the discovery phase and re-listening when possible. Hearing repeated live performances of new works is an extremely rare occurrence, whereas we can hear Bach, Mozart, Puccini, Beethoven and Verdi on an endless loop. Depending on how you get your music, there is usually a very limited choice of other composers presented. Though WRTI, our local classical FM station, tries to be diverse, it is rather limited in its diversity. For example, on March 8, which was International Women’s Day, the all-women-composers playlist included some composers only to be heard on that day, and some of their compositions were only partially played.

The new music performance groups I used to follow were Relache, when I lived in Philly, and Orchestra 2001, when it was at Swarthmore College.

Lately, I have discovered the new music program at Delaware County Community College (DCCC).

On the March 2 program of new music at DCCC, the duo Melomanie, consisting of harpsichord and flute, played works by Larry Nelson, Chuck Holdeman, Mark Hagerty and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

The first time I attended one of these programs at DCCC, I was one-third of the audience. Last Thursday night, I was one-tenth of the non-composer section of the audience. I had a challenging and enjoyable evening.

The next concert in the series is 5 p.m., Thursday, March 23,and features the Lang/Rainwater project. General admission is only $10.

Modern Classical Music at DCCC
Modern Classical Music at DCCC

Cannot keep spring from coming William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-21-23

Cannot keep spring from coming William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-21-23

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Cannot keep spring from coming William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-21-23Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming.
Pablo Neruda

Check out the Dom Giordano Show on WPHT 1210 AM

Spring 2023 Starts Now 

Spring 2023 Starts Now –According to our server’s clock it is now  5:24 p.m. EDT, EDT, March 20, which means the vernal equinox is happening and Spring 2023 has begun.

Equinox is Latin for “equal night.” Days and nights are approximately equal everywhere and the Sun rises and sets due east and west, explains The Old Farmers Almanac. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun.

Vernal comes from the Latin vernalis which means spring.

Spring 2023 Starts Now 

IAP Re-Launching In Pennsylvania

IAP Re-Launching In Pennsylvania — The IAP (Independent American Party) is in the process of re-launching in Pennsylvania. They want to be seen as “the solution party”. Their solutions are many and these are some listed in this Utah born Party.

There goals include “To uphold and revere our constitution in the tradition of our Founding Fathers as this land’s only and supreme law” and “To return the control of government back to the people as intended.”

The IAM was founded in 1993, inspired by a speech given by Ezra Taft Benson.

On May 16 1998, a vote was taken for the formation of a national IAP.

Pennsylvanian Will Christensen was one of the original founders of the IAP. See the history section of the IAP website for a bio.

The IAP is anti-one world government and pro life. Their website lists many other positions, including where they stand on the Article 5 Convention, Covid 19 vaccination,  the Federal Reserve, the National Popular Vote Compact, and Red Flag Laws, etc.

Lonny Ray Williams, current National Chair, and descendant of Luzerne County Coal Miners sent a lengthy response to my questions

“The difference between the IAP and the Constitution Party is that we embrace the spiritual component of our nation and insist that it is an integral and important component of restoring and protecting the republic,” he said.

He uses Kathy Barnett as an example of a candidate he would support

“Our Plan is to rebuild America into a community of neighbors that love each other and are willing to help each other out through the difficult times in their lived (my ital) not one that relies on government as the arbitrator of kindness,” he said.

The Regional Coordinator of Pennsylvania is Scott Bartlett at Sbartlett@yahoo.com

Let me end with one of his statements “I would encourage everyone out there to stop voting for the lesser of two evils”.

IAP Re-Launching In Pennsylvania

Gentleness and patience William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-20-23

Gentleness and patience William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-20-23

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gentleness and patienceAnswer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Colossians 3:12

Check out the Dom Giordano Show on WPHT 1210 AM

Bede On The Healing Of The Deaf Mute

Bede On The Healing Of The Deaf Mute — The deaf-mute, of whose marvelous cure by our Lord we have heard, represents those members of the human race who merit being freed by divine grace from the error brought on by the devil’s deceit. Man became deaf, unable to hear the word of life after, puffed up as he was against God, he listened to the serpent’s deadly words; he was made mute and unable to declare the praises of his Maker from the time when he presumed to have a conversation with his seducer.

Rightly did God close man’s ears from hearing the praises of his Creator along with the angels– whose ears which the unsuspected enemy by his speech had opened to hearing denunciation of this same Creator.

Rightly did God close man’s mouth from proclaiming the praises of his Creator along the angels — that mouth which the proud deceiver had filled with his lies about the forbidden food, in order, as the devil said to improve upon the work of the same Creator.

And alas, the unfortunate rebellion of the human race which sprouted in a corrupt manner at the root, began to spread in a much more corrupt way in shoots from the branches, so that when our Lord dame in the flesh, with the exception of a few of the faithful from among the Jews, almost the entire world, now deaf and mute, was wandering away from recognition and confusion of the truth.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. Our Lord came to the Sea of Galilee where He knew that there was a disabled person whom He would heal. He came by his benevolent grace to the proud, disordered and inconstant hearts of the nations, since He knew that among them were some who would be receptive to His grace.

St. Bede The Venerable

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Secure is not safe William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-19-23

Secure is not safe William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-19-23

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Secure is not safeAnswer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: He that’s secure is not safe.
Benjamin Franklin

Living Costs Expected To Grow In Pennsylvania

Living Costs Expected To Grow In Pennsylvania — Carmerla Ciliberti’s latest podcast includes the dire warning that tax hikes are coming to Pennsylvania and life is going to get harder for Pennsylvanians.

Gov. Josh Shapiro promised these policies in last week’s budget address and Carmela doesn’t see the useless drones int the State House and Senate stopping them.

“Politicians from both sides of the aisle are more than happy to confiscate individual and corporate earnings to grow government bureaucracy,” she said.

The constitutionally required but still oft-ignored deadline for passing the budget is June 30.

Listen to it here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2038515/12463721

She includes some excellent sound bits from the late Milton Friedman.

Living Costs Expected To Grow In Pennsylvania
Living Costs Expected To Grow In Pennsylvania