Wednesday, September 13, 2017 – Words, Quotes, Twitter and Education

Eclectic Wednesday. I do not feel inclined to write anything coherent with transitions so I will do what we, the recovering bureaucrats, used to call “the bureaucrat ramble.” Keep reading and hopefully you will find something that moves you.

I was told early on from two fabulous high school English teachers (Wanda Traugh and Marge Burnside) that I could write. Eventually one believes that you can and you overcome the fear of showing your words to the world.

Remember my goal everyday with HWIT is to make at least one person smile and/or think. That does not mean you like what is written or even agree with it. In fact I enjoy those brave enough to say “I don’t like what you wrote today.” This includes family members and friends.

Here are some of my favorite quotes by some of my favorite writers.

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” Maya Angelou

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin

Since it is National Peanut Day let us thank those of peanut fame; George Washington Carver, Former US President Jimmy Carter, and Peter Pan. Although we all know that choosy mothers choose JIF.

Speaking of Jimmy Carter, POTUS # 39, offered these words of advice to POTUS # 45 today –

“Keep the peace, support human rights and tell the truth.”

That seems to be good advice for everybody on a daily basis. And it will fit into a Twitter message.

Paraphrasing Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb, I could say “How I stopped worrying and love Twitter.” Actually I don’t love or even like Twitter, but with one little tweet I went from about 30 followers to 108 in two days with more RT’s, (Retweets) Likes, Hearts and favorable emoji characters than anything I tweeted in over three years.

The tweet? It was a response to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos – aka known as Betsy DeVoucher.

“Usually when one is in charge of the educational institution he or she has an education and understands the issues. You have neither.”

In a previous lifetime I interacted with the office holder of the position of Secretary of Education and his or her staffs on a weekly basis and annually in person. These individuals regardless of political party affiliation had one thing in common – The improvement of public and parochial schools and institutions of higher education. The letters before my name mean I am qualified to make that statement regarding the current Secretary of Education.

May 1985 – Hooding at Texas A&M Graduation = Three stripes on the sleeve, a baby blue color “hood” and flat hat with strings on the side.

“Writers are not here to conform. We are here to challenge. We’re not here to be comfortable-we’re here, really to shake things up. That’s our job.” Jeanette Wilson