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Monday, January 20, 2014
Grainne Rhuad is still waiting for you to join Twitter...
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Grainne Rhuad sent you an invitation
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Grainne Rhuad sent you an invitation
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Monday, June 11, 2012
My Social Work battle cry for this year.
Every time I hear or play the song "I Hear Them All" by Old Crow Medicine Show it reminds me of the reasons I got involved in social work in the first place. It brings out the social activist in me much like listening to Woody Guthrie or Joe Strummer (of the Clash) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800099/ does.
I reminds me to use my skills to amplify the voice of those who's voices are muffled by bureaucracies, power brokers and others who oppress. Thank you Old Crow Medicine Show.
I reminds me to use my skills to amplify the voice of those who's voices are muffled by bureaucracies, power brokers and others who oppress. Thank you Old Crow Medicine Show.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tending your garden
Like Monet tended his garden so exquisitely so must we tend our garden. Paying attention to details yet not loosing our bigger perspective. Monet used what he had available to him to tend his garden. Learning from his mistakes. Making changes, trying something new that fits better into the overall scheme of his vision. What a wonderful metaphor for us in our efforts to tend our whole self. Dig in the dirt and get your hands dirty. Build your soil to feed your plants. Let them blossom with their beauty and inspiration.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The Closing of Hull House
By Janlee Wong, MSW
Usually March Social Work
Month is a time to laud the
accomplishments of professional
social work and inspire us to rise up to
the many challenges that continue to
exist in an unjust society.
At the beginning of this Social Work
Month, we have sad news to report that
the Hull House programs and services
(not the museum) in Chicago closed
down in the last days of January. We
don’t know the whole story as to why,
but financial difficulties were certainly
one of the problems.
After 120 years of Hull House, life
has indeed come full circle. Hull House
started with no money, a generous donor
who rented the house for $1, and the
incredible dedication of Jane Addams,
Ellen Gates Starr and many others.
The closure of Hull House allows us to
rethink that same origin that our modern
founders started with.
Will we see the demise of publicly
funded services with deficit and budget
hawks unrelenting? Probably not,
because the social welfare system that
has been built over the last 120 years isn’t
going away. All of Hull House’s accomplishments
and its ideas for a just and
humane society have spread throughout
the country to the modern welfare state
that we have today.
What Hull House’s closure does tell
us that while some of us in the nonprofit
and government sectors might feel we’re
starting off where Jane was 120 years
with no money, we still have a large array
of services that she didn’t have. What it
means for social workers is that we have
a chance to rethink and reinvent what we
are doing.
Jane and her contemporaries had to
learn what worked and what didn’t. After
120 years, professional social workers
have the benefit of research, higher education
and experience. Along the way we
have become more sophisticated and scientific
about our approach.
Hull House’s legacy is not programs
and services, it’s us; it’s professional
social work. Thank you Jane and happy
Social Work Month.
Jane Addams c.1934 ((JAMC 58)
Photo Credits: University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library, Department of Special Collections, Jane Addams Memorial Collection
reprinted with permission.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Song Sat.- It's been a long hard week...and...does anyone read blogs anymore?
Or maybe just not mine.
Actually I know you do you just don't comment. Is it because you have nothing to say? Or because you're thinking...hmmm?
Anyway, I noticed when I took my blog from social networking sites interaction on my blog-ishness dropped. I'm a little sad about that, I liked hearing from people and yet, the places I was before like Multiply, just became abandoned...ghost towns, castle gardens with aeolian harps.
"There is this thing that's like Talking except you don't Talk."- The Dresden Dolls
It's been a strange week. Winter finally set in which I love. I truly do it makes me feel warm and cozy. It makes me want to bake and cook and create. It makes me dream. Real dreams that must be saved for stories.
Read the rest and hear the song @ http://grainnerhuad.blogspot.com/
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Song Saturday-100 Years From Now
Just loving the carnival-ish/ flapper flavour of this. Very cool to find something unique this saturday afternoon.
Enjoy.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Song Saturday-Christmas Edition
My all time favorite Christmas song. It really applies to anyone and everyone, whether you celebrate Chrstmas or not. Those times when you sit and remember wistfully or fondly the people in your lives. I hope you all are doing so with fond memories, but we all know there are the hard ones too. Embrace them. Love them too. Winter is a good time to do so. I hope all are well and enjoying their Holy-Day (s) /weekend. Love each other.
Song Saturday- Christmas Edition
Feliz Navidad to Y'all Sharing with you my favorite Christmas of all time. See here's the important thing about this song, it applies to anyone, even those who aren't celebrating the Christ day. It's about life, love, love lost, love missed and celebrating. It's a Faerie Tale. Have a good weekend, wheresoever you are, whatsoever you believe,
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Song Saturday-Indians and Aliens
A pre-Thanksgiving Song sat.
Most all of you know I don't like Thanksgiving, The overindulgence in celebration of genocide, doesn't seem like much of a point. I'd much rather have a dinner party on say...March 17th...a day that means nothing to me other than maybe I want to share good times with people I care about.
But for those of you who do love getting together with family, I wish you well, I hope you cherish one another and please show love, put aside the drama and bad feelings for another day. Ideally we would do this anytime we are together.
Also every year I encourage boycotting Black Friday. It's a bunch of bullshite. The deals you are getting are not deals. In addition to my general disdain for this day, the Occupy folks are also asking you support the 99% by not shopping on Black Friday this year.
Go for a walk instead, cut out snowflakes, kiss your mate, your kids, your dog, feed the hungry, go on a busking tour, hug. Just don't shop.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Song Saturday-That's The Way That It Goes
Song Saturday- Was surprised on the way home today by the sweet and soulful voice of Gillian Welch today. I love it and can't stop singing it, so I'm passing it on to you. Good weekend to you!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Healing Through Art
I love how art is used to transform individuals and communities. Thank you Lily Yeh for all of the healing you have brought about.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Seeking Submissions
Subversify is gearing up for one of our favorite times of year, when the nights draw longer and stories are told by the hearth. We are looking for tales of ghosts, real and imagined, paranormal experiences, UFO's, and things that go bump in the night. Now's the time to submit your travel stories about that one creepy place you stayed in, or the dream you had right before a natural disaster.Have a unique way of celebrating Samhain/ Halloween/ All Hallows? Boycott it? Come and share. Even if you eventually explained the unexplainable, come and share your experience. Info on how to submit can be found at our "submit page" or leave us a note here.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Song Saturday- All about Joe
"If you're out to get the honey, you don't go killin' all the bees!"~ Joe Strummer
This week, while channel surfing I happened on the gem "Joe Strummer-The Future Is Unwritten"
If you love music WATCH THIS MOVIE.
It was absolutely lovely to watch. Chock full of outakes from his life and the world that surrounded him as he grew into himself. Narrated mostly by Himself, it was also full of music that he loved, not just his own.
I was particularly touched by his post-Clash times and struggles. It reminded me of what most artists whether they be musicians, artists, writers or everyday people face.
-Here's something to remember: YOU ARE ALL ARTISTS. As Oscar Wilde wrote: "Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets."
Now, some of us have gloomy sonnets and others of us are mean with our sonnets, while still others are incredibly prolific. It doesn't matter if you have lived, you are art. (As well as the artist)
Joe Strummer found this truth. I was deeply touched by his closing words at the end of this movie. It boosted me. It put things in perspective a bit. I have a tendency to vacillate between hope and angry cynicism. I'm very sure I'm not the only one. However, it feels so very much better to be hopeful. I'm going to practice this more.
So today, you get a double shot. First, "Closing Remarks" and second, one of my favorite songs from late-life Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros; "Johnny Appleseed".
Keep your heads up, dive into the art of life. "Take Humanity Back; Without People you're nothing." ~ Joe Strummer.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Song Saturday- Clampdown
Okay Song Saturday Listeneners, here's your chance to weigh in. The recent London riots? revolution or blatant theivery? And...why are innocent computer users being arrested for the riots? Hmm?
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Song Saturday-Eve of Destruction
Seems pretty apt for today. On my Best of Johnny Thunder's album he asks the crowd, "You want electric or the hippie shit?" I opted for the hippie shit for y'all...Happy Song Saturday.Edit
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