Local Voices

Many are asking, what is wrong with teaching, learning, schooling, and education, and what can be done? You will get the answers (panacea) from the letters of a mad public school teacher: intrepid, irascible, cantankerous, provocative, passionate, thought-provoking, iconoclastic, and enhanced with vitriolic demagoguery.

As a grad student / colleague said, Thanks for an enjoyable class on education issues in society. I also enjoyed your letters to the editor. I've been told that I say what other people think. Well, you write and publish what we're all thinking.

The shadow grows; the claws are out. It is the twenty-fourth century, and humanity has successfully breached beyond their limited solar system to colonize much of the known galaxy. Mostly located within the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, humanity has ventured into a prosperous and ever-expanding era of exploration and discovery, with several other new races joining one of powers in humanity's growing sphere of influence, either willingly or by force. However, mankind cannot escape the shadow of conflict that dared to follow them out beyond the stars. In the immediate aftermath of the Earthborn War between two galactic superpowers--the oppressive far-reaching-based Hagorian Alliance and the more egalitarian-minded and Earth-based Praetorian League--one young girl rises from the ashes of chaos to break the yoke of oppression that the tyrannical Alliance has leaned upon to enforce its rule over its section of the cosmos. While other nations exist, they are constantly and often caught in the crossfire between the Alliance and the League. The Alliance, based at the trailing ends of the Orion Arm, valued slavery, fear, and subjugation to control and rule its people. The League, while not ideal, was far more egalitarian if not apathetic. But for citizens of the Alliance, many had had enough.

One girl was chosen by fate to be the leader of these dissidents whom the Alliance would classify as militant rebels outright, viewing them as little more than vermin that need to be extinguished. From being an owned slave to a warrior and rebel leader, to empress and conqueror, this is part of the legacy that Ava'kra hopes to forge, but in the brutal maelstrom of seemingly unending war, can she? When facing betrayal at every turn, fighting outnumbered and outmaneuvered, can a young girl forge a new galactic nation free of oppression and live to tell the tale?

Add a new twist to your love of horses. Fashionably express it by wearing a bracelet you braided from your horse's hair.

This guide will teach you how to:

▪ Legally obtain horsehair.

▪ Prepare it for braiding.

▪ Plait three braids: a 4-string, a 6-string, and an 8-string.

▪ Measure your wrist and determine the length of braid you need for your bracelet.

▪ Attach the end caps, rings, and clasp.

The sooner you begin braiding your keepsake bracelet, the sooner you can wear your love on your sleeve!

Isolde and her family relocated from their native Ireland in hopes of a better life in the small-town of Warwick, Rhode Island. As a social outcast, Isolde is no stranger to being a loner or seeking solace in the woods near her family's home. However, when there is an attack at a casual Friday night football game she is forced out of the shadows and into the limelight setting tongues wagging. With her memory distorted, she must work quickly to recover the missing pieces from that night or risk unrelenting torment. In an attempt to protect her family from scandal, she struggles to conceal evidence from that night straining the family bond she once so carefully protected. Armed with a curious mind and the support of an unlikely ally, she is determined to restore the balance within her family and solve the mystery that now consumes her every thought.