I have never really identified much with my ancestry -- race and nationality are not things that matter much to me.  I am proud of America, or more so its foundation of faith and history of sacrifice for liberty.  (That's different than being proud to be an American, something which I did not choose, but nevertheless choose to remain.)  However, these Ukrainian history markers catch my attention, perhaps because of my Ukrainian ancestry, but more likely because they are fascinating history.  It is a region rich with history, but largely unknown in the west. Posted by Skanderbeg over on RedState: Today In History – 6 December 1240 With all my travel to and around Ukraine, I have indeed made it to Kyiv (that’s the Ukrainian version of “Kiev”). Kyiv is beyond beautiful. Kyiv is majestic. Kyiv began as a Norse outpost. As Viking traders began to make use of a fairly easy route to Constantinople (up the Narva River, a fairly easy portage across modest terrain, and then an easy journey down the Dniepro River to the Black Sea), around 800 they established a fortified post at about the only terrain feature along the Dniepro – some high bluffs along the western bank. Thus was born the city of Kyiv. The local Slavs realized quickly that these Viking traders, whom they called Varangians or Rus, knew what they were doing. Lacking leadership themselves, they came to the traders and made an offer. They offered the lead guy kingship, and the choice of any one of their many excellent-looking princesses to be his queen. With good leadership and a good position along a major trade route, Kyiv grew rapidly in strength, wealth, and importance. In 988, the Kyivan leader Prince Vladimir accepted Christianity from Byzantine missionaries – while one of those missionaries, Cyril, gave the Slavs a written alphabet for their language. Vladimir ordered all his subjects to convert with him; they were all herded along the main boulevard of Kyiv – called to this day “Christening Boulevard” – and into the shallows of the Dniepro for a mass baptism. Kyiv continued to grow and prosper as an eastern outpost of civilization. By the early 13th century, it was the second largest city in Europe – second only to Paris – with a population of 50,000. But all that came to an abrupt end on 6 December 1240. When dawn broke over Kyiv on 6 December 1240, the population was 50,000. By nightfall, the population had been effectively reduced to zero. After a brief siege, the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu, broke into the city. The city was quickly pillaged, burned, and demolished. Gone were the 400 churches. Gone were the monasteries. Gone was the legendary “Zoloti Varota,” the famous “Golden Gate” – known musically as “The Great Gate of Kiev.” And gone, mostly, were the 50,000 inhabitants – slaughtered or, for the few survivors, dragged off into slavery. Think you’re having a bad day? Methinks that 6 December 1240 qualifies as the ultimate “bad day.” "OK, I am considering homeschooling... what does this have to do with homeschooling?" you ask.  Well nothing, except... tell me if you learned any of this in public school?!? Oh, the history of the Mongols and Vikings goes much deeper and has far more impact upon what you might consider "relevant" history.  The shape of Christian Europe, your church, and religious practices might be significantly different without these two powerful forces in history.  It's not just Ukraine; try England, France, Germany, and Italy... getting more "relevant"? Dig a little deeper... no dumbed down, politically correct, and State approved textbook is needed. That's the power of homeschooling.

This morning I was sitting in front of my computer struggling to come up with a catchy title for this. I was thinking - yet again - about stressing the importance of breakfast to you. So as I sat there trying to be clever I mumbled out loud, “Breakfast is boring.” And there you have it. That’s exactly how I came up with this title. But do NOT take this message lightly. You see, I know you’re heard it a million times before. “You have to eat breakfast.” And I know it’s not a super sexy message. But do you have any idea how many people I meet as a fitness professional that DO NOT eat breakfast? A lot. And do you have any idea how many of those people that don’t eat breakfast are overweight? Pretty much all of them. Look, I’m not crazy. I know you don’t have much time in the morning. And I know many of you just aren’t all that hungry right after you wake up. So let’s look at this another way. You get up each morning and go to work every day because you want a roof over your head and food on the table, right? Day after day after day you go to work because you want the RESULT of that effort. Well, IF you want to burn fat, feel better and have more energy you WILL eat breakfast every morning. Period. End of discussion. Some things are boring. Some things just have to be done to get the result you want. For those of you that want to burn fat all day long, breakfast is just one of those things. Prograde Lean http://inspirationfitness.getprograde.com/lean is a DELICIOUS chocolate meal replacement shake that I recommend to all my clients. It’s the perfect solution to breakfast. Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

Guest Post By Liz Donnelly of www.FamilyFitnessGuru.com 1. Put on that fitness-minded personality Wether you desire a flat belly or just the time to workout, you have to start it all with your attitude. If you are determined to improve your fitness “no matter what,” the you will most likely be successful. Usually this takes the manifestation of anger with your appearance or lack of energy or poor health. Once you’ve made up your mind to be fit, then it’s time to don that “fit-minded personality.” This is where you tell yourself multiple times daily that you have a tight mid-section, that you deserve a flat belly, if that’s your goal, for instance. Promise yourself that you’ll do something every day to work to that end. Your subconscious will listen to you. It doesn’t decipher between good and bad affirmations, it will simply apply what you always tell it. Are you saying or letting others say that you’re “fat” or “overweight” or “thick-waisted”? Time to change those words into “slender” or “sleek” or “tight”. This is also part of changing yourself from the top down, so to speak. What you think about yourself has great impact on your esteem, performance and outcomes. For example, becoming more aware of your body will get you to focus on changes to make like sitting or standing tall to prevent your belly from popping outward. You can apply fixing yourself from the top down in all aspects of your life not just fitness. (For example, telling yourself to have patience will help you be more inclined to notice those times when you are losing your temper.) The big lesson here, especially if you’re the kind of mom or dad who puts him or herself last on the priority list, is that you do need your self-improvement time and that you do need the increased energy, self confidence, strength, etc. to help you meet your many demands, especially keeping up with your kids, right? So the next step is just as important: 2. Get educated on fitness So many people lose their desire to workout and eat well because they either tune out the important messages that tell them why they must do so, or they possibly are not aware of the reasons. So the more you educate yourself on exercise and nutrition, the better off you’ll be to be inspired to keep yourself and your family health and active. This website is a good place to start. In particular, you can get FREE downloadable booklets on exercises for children and for yourself by subscribing to FamilyFitnessGuru updates. Look at the upper right side of the page above the side margin. There are also a host of books on the topic of fitness and articles in the paper on almost a daily level. Scour what you can and be informed. After all, you know yourself and your family best and you will remain motivated to stay fit the more you keep in touch with good information. 3. Now, it’s time to make time for fitness Getting a better working body does take time. If your particularly out of shape, then you must realize that it probably took some time for you to degenerate to this level. Even if you relatively fit, you still need to build in time for your workouts. Talk it over with your spouse, partner or own brain (if you’re a single parent like me) and literally write down and schedule your workouts. For me, I have to do some of my workouts during the week before I teach my 5:45 a.m. Fitcamp class. At other times, I have to schedule evenings after the kids go to bed. If you are with a partner, then you can alternate times to best suit your schedules, especially if the kids are awake and need supervision. If you’re a single parent and you are the residential parent, meaning the kids are with you the majority of the time, then you will have to do a little creative planning and think outside the box as to how you’ll get child care and get the freedom to work out. Many gyms have daycare-style facilities at which you can leave your kids for the duration of your exercising. Of course, if you don’t belong to a gym, then your next course of action is enlisting babysitting help with neighbors, friends or relatives. The next step is to join a local civic group that has a lot of parents as members (like a Junior Women’s Club (for moms) or Early Childhood PTA or regular PTA (for moms and dads). Some times making inquiries within groups like these will give you leads of fellow parents who are in a babysitting network. There is typically no charge for something like this. Your only payment is being available to watch someone else’s kids. There are options for just about any situation in terms of finding time (really its making the time) for your workouts. If you really want it, then you will make it work for you. (I hope you really want it!) 4. Do it! Nike has it right, if they still use that old tagline, that is. You really just have to start exercising. Your body was made to move. So, if your parts seem the Tin Man’s after a rain storm, then it’s all the more reason to continue to do your workouts consistently and stay “oiled up.” “What’s ample?” you might ask. Building an hour and a half weekly is a good place for beginners (30 minutes 3x/week). From there, you can add an additional 30 minutes. Ideally, you want to put in 5-6 days of movement. And it doesn’t have to be in the form of a formal workout. Schlepping things around in the garden or shoveling snow are excellent ways (depending on how intense) to move and burn calories. “What exercises do I do?” Well, start by signing up for FamilyFitnessGuru updates (look at the upper right area of the side margin) so you can download the “Top 5 Exercises for Moms & Dads.” You’ll get tons of details on how to perform those basic exercises to help you get on the road to fitness. My hope is that you’ll be consistent with your plan and notice results to help you stay motivated. Good luck and keep forging ahead! Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

Most women believe that in order to lose weight the first thing they need to do is eat less and move more. In a way this is true, but there really is more science behind that. What typically happens is women eat maybe 1 or 2 meals a day, drastically reducing their caloric intake and then adding a walk in for exercise. They may see the scale move but what are they really losing? I bet you’ll be surprised. Read on… Your body’s metabolism is the key to losing unwanted body fat. When working with women, I am not concerned about their weight as much as the level of body fat they are carrying around. A healthy bodyfat level to be at is between 19-25%. Most women who have dieted for years will find themselves at 30% or more. Those are dangerous levels that invite disease into their bodies. Although they may have lost 50 lbs. of body weight, they may still be at 30% body fat and at risk for heart disease, Type II diabetes and other ailments. How can they be at risk when they wear a size 8 dress pant? Because they never lost bodyfat while dieting. They lost body water and precious lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is the main manipulator of your metabolism. The more lean muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at rest. When your metabolism is humming along at a strong rate, it does not need to use bodyfat for energy. It’s alive and functioning at optimum levels. Fat that is stored on your body for energy is not needed and your body lets it go. You continue to build strong, lean muscles and your metabolism gets stronger and faster, you indeed get leaner, stronger, toned and full of energy. This is the picture of health and vitality. Now take the woman who is dieting. She is eating 3 meals a day and not focused on the right type of exercises. She’ll go for a walk around the block. It works for about 1 month. She’s dropped 5 pounds. She’s excited! Month 2 rolls around and the scale has stopped moving, she cuts her 3 meals into smaller portions and adds another block to her walk. The scale finally drops again. She’s excited! Month 3 rolls around and the scale has not moved or has gone up. Yikes! She drops to 2 meals a day, adds another block to her walk and an exercise video. Month 4 comes too quickly. She sees the scale move again so she cuts calories even more and increases her walk for a full 2 hours every day. She’s tired, frustrated and wondering why this is not working? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. The only way for her to keep the scale moving is to continue to decrease calories and increase the amount of time spent on low, steady state exercise. Is she really losing fat? No, she is losing water and precious metabolic boosting muscle that is why she has to continue decreasing calories to see change. If she continues on this path, she will lower her metabolic rate to such a level that her body will go into panic mode and begin conserving every morsel of food that enters as bodyfat so it will have the energy just to function. The result is a cranky, tired, moody, flabby, and frustrated woman. I know, I’ve been there. Ladies, I want you to know the truth. The scale is not your friend. You have been lied to for years. There’s even a tv show dedicated to keeping these lies alive (Biggest Loser Challenge) where your worth is determined by a number on the scale! How have we as a society allowed this to happen? Satan has been at work! God made you in His image. You are a beautiful, strong, and vibrant woman. Don’t allow Satan to get a foothold in your mind. Oh how I wish I could give you all hugs right now! Here is the picture of a woman on the right path: She determines why she wants to accomplish this goal of being healthy and full of energy. She enlists the help of her husband and children. She puts together a plan of action including how to deal with obstacles that will be thrown her way. Her plan does include strength and interval training as the core of the program. She also determines her caloric intake and creates meal plans for the week. She cleans out her cupboard of all manmade, adulterated foods and buys food in their original God created package. She gets connected with other women who are doing the same steps (this site of course!) and stays accountable no matter what happens to try and bump her off course. All her workouts are scheduled in for each week just like math and english class. She sticks to her workouts because she is full of determination. Each week she discovers how much better she feels. Her clothes are getting loser, she is getting more flexible and full of energy. She finds herself hungry more often because her metabolism is on fire. She has more lean mass so she can eat more food, quite the opposite of the dieting woman. She does not suffer from mood swings, turbulent hormone levels or bloating due to eating whole foods. Does she know how much she weighs? Does it really matter if she is feeling this strong and vibrant? This is what I want for you. I will elaborate more on how to stop dieting for life in another post. This one ended up way longer than I intended. Hugs~~ Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

Okay ladies! Here’s a really fun one to burn the fat and build the muscle. I call it “Pharaoh’s Revenge”! Campers LOVE to hate this one. I’m challenging you now. There are 5 rounds of this workout. Do each exercise consecutively without rest until the end of the circuit. Rest 1 minute before starting the next round. Round 1: 30 sec. each exercise Round 2: 45 sec. Round 3: 60 sec Round 4: 45 sec Round 5: 30 sec. The Pyramid Squat and Press Rows Swings Push Ups (no knees allowed) Alternating Reverse Lunges High Pulls Planks Have fun! Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

1 pound of pork fat I read an interesting article today on brown fat versus white fat. I have not read the actual studies so I am using this article as a reference only. Apparently we have brown fat which is “good fat” that burns more calories than white fat which is the “bad fat”. This brown fat sits in the neck and collarbone area, women and lean individuals have more of it. It is metabolically active and is most active in infants or when an individual is sitting in a cold room. I certainly hope the general public does not fall for this next “exercise pill”. Please explain to me how popping a pill an sitting in a cold room is going to aid in the loss of excess bodyfat? Society is already doing too much sitting. Stop putting patients on diets and recommending ineffective exercise programs. Instead, get to the heart of the problem -the emotional issues, teach sound nutrition and get your patients in touch with a fitness professional that understands the roll of metabolically active lean tissue. All research on finding a “weight loss cure” in a pill is a waste of money, time and intelligence. I’m personally fed up with it all. Post from: Homeschool Fitness Coach

The last few days I have been remembering various times God has answered our quick intense cries. One such time in particular continues to play over in my mind. We were living in Mississippi at the time, and the children and I were burning trash in a barrel in the back yard. [...]

This 3 credit, upper level history exam is exactly what it claims to be, upper level and specific to the Civil war and Reconstruction. If your college requires a certain number of upper level exams, you are a student of the Civil War already or if you are an advanced student 17 or older this is an enjoyable study of a difficult period in US History. The materials are plentiful and interesting, the study guide is wonderfully accurate and what you learn will stay with you. Get ready for a powerful topic.Finding materials for this test is not difficult as the library and bookstore shelves are full of biographies and literature from or about this period. Here are the materials we found most helpful or enjoyable: The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Civil War, 2nd Edition (a good read) Sparks Notes Civil War and Sparks Notes Reconstruction (Small, concise, inexpensive and including short tests in the back) InstantCert Wikipedia - The American Civil War (we used Wikipedia more for this exam than any so far) The Dantes Official Fact Sheet (more on this great source later) Civil War Flash Cards Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition) (optional, but so helpful to put the pieces of this battle together) Gods & Generals (optional but wonderful, Lee and Jackson are must knows as are their impacts) Our method for this exam was new. As we had few official practice tests to gauge readiness we created a question sheet from the InstantCert forum feedback and started researching. Daily we searched for answers to questions from causes of the war to reconstruction policies. The students watched the Ken Burns Videos 2-5 times to get the most out of the visuals. Daily they used the InstantCert flashcards and did assignments from me based on the DSST Fact sheet. If a student knows the what, who, where and why of the DSST fact sheet they should be able to do well on this one. I broke the sections into 6 or so assignments with them filling in the outline percentage sections with research and answers. We spent evenings with Gettysburg and Gods and Generals DVDs.What you must know:Andersonville Battles, major and secondary (outcomes, stats, first, last, bloodiest, political and tactical impacts, Generals of each side) Government structure on each side, weakness of each Lifestyles of each side (women, poor, slaves, soldiers, POWs) Foreign affairs Slavery (conditions, abolitionists, emancipation) Literature of the time (Uncle Tom's Cabin and more)Weapons and their impacts Political Parties Reconstruction plans and failures Dred Scott decision, impact and implication A detailed exam description can be found here.My students recommend this test for an older student as it is very deep and detailed. Not many years are covered so each takes on more importance. This one is a challenge but my students were able to concentrate on this one subject (day and night some days) and do quite well. The 4 option multiple choice of a DSST exam is another blessing. If you choose this one we are sure you will discover much about a difficult time in our nation's history.

This contest has ended. This is SOOOOOO cool. I LOVE my Roberta Flack "Killing Me Softly" bowl, made from a recycled record!!Check out The Golly Pop Boutique's items!The hole is still in the center of these records, so you could screw them into the wall, or fill them with items (like below), or even place cheese spreaders and toothpicks in them for a party! They are ABSOLUTELY adorable!!!Mine will be in my basement room, just between my Audrey Hepburn "Breakfast at Tiffany's" picture, and my "Rat Pack" picture! Here is a side view of the record bowl.The Golly Pop Boutique is offering to a lucky winner a $10 gift certificate to the winner (not valid on shipping/handling fees and non-transferable). To enter, please do any or all of the following:1. Comment below, with your email address2. Visit The Golly Pop Boutique by clicking HERE, and leave a comment telling me which product you love the most, and where you will put it if you win!3. Just for fun, comment again, telling me if you are also singing, "Lollypop, lollypop, oh lolly, lolly lolly..." just like I am each time I read this company's name!!For optional additional entries, please…3. Subscribe to this blog (enter your email address in upper right corner), and comment that you do.4. Follow this blog (in right hand column), and comment that you do.5. Become a fan of this blog on Facebook by clicking HERE, and comment that you do.6. Email this contest out to your friends, and copy me on it at vaagen@bellsouth.net7. Follow me on Twitter (vaagen) and ReTweet this contest on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vaagen/statuses/2837552516. Comment below that you did.8. Favorite this blog on Technorati by clicking HEREThe winner will be chosen by random drawing on http://www.random.org/integers/ on Monday, August 3rd at 6pm.Good luck!Thank you for coming to Mingle Over Mocha with Anna!

I had the pleasure of reviewing Skinny Dip Candles recently, and I was really amazed by them! They are truly unlike anything I've seen. You actually burn the candle, let the candle melt slightly, and then POUR the melted oils on your skin!! I know this sounds painful, but it is simply warm, nurturing lotion! My little girls even love it! They constantly ask me to rub it on them! You see, because of the ingredients in Skinny Dip Candles, they have a very low melt point. When fully melted they're just 102 degrees - and that's not even as warm as a hot tub!This is from the Skinny Dip website:Ingredients include: cosmetic-grade soy, avocado oil, coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, sunflower oil, cocoa butter, vitamin E, and scented oils for aroma. The ingredients are not only natural, but they are extremely rich and moisturizing. A little bit will go a very long way, so please use sparingly. When you use the right amount, the melted oils will soak into your skin completely within just a few minutes.How can you use the Skinny Dip Candle?Cuticle treatments - it's like a paraffin dip, only better! You don't have to remove the "wax."Dry elbows - the Skinny Dip Candle can be used melted, or unmelted and massaged directly into the skin.Heels and feet - for dry feet in winter, or bare sandal feet in summer, the Skinny DipCandle will help get your feet softer and smoother in no time!Massage - use a more generous portion for a therapeutic, pampering, or sensual body massage.Anywhere you skin is dry or flakey. That can be arms and legs, especially if you live in dryer climates.Would you LOVE to go Skinny Dipping?? :)The wonderful people at Skinny Dip are offering to one lucky reader of The Vaagen Family Blog a Pamper Pack! Each Pamper Pack comes with a full size Skinny Dip Candle, a single bath sized Dead Sea bath salts in same scent as candle, and a natural lip balm. You can pick your own lip balm flavor and candle scent!To enter:1. Visit the Skinny Dip site by clicking HERE, and leave a comment telling me what you love the most!2. Subscribe to this blog (enter your email address in upper right corner), and comment that you do.3. Follow this blog (in right hand column), and comment that you do.4. Become a fan of this blog on Facebook by clicking HERE, and comment that you do.5. Email this contest out to your friends, and copy me on it at vaagen@bellsouth.net6. Follow me on Twitter (vaagen) and ReTweet this contest on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vaagen/statuses/3176927070. Comment below that you did.7. Favorite this blog on Technorati by clicking HEREThe winner will be chosen by random drawing on http://www.random.org/integers/ on Friday, August 14 at 6pm. Good luck!Thank you for coming to Mingle Over Mocha with Anna!

This contest has ended. Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm in love.Oh, with my husband and children, of course! But there is a new love in my life- by the name of Scentsy.Now, I am a candle kind of girl. I have them in every corner of my house, and I have many of them on display! I love all shapes, colors and scents of candles! But there are some things about Scentsy that are very, very different!First, you don't need to light anything to burn this candle! You are simply burning scented wax over a light bulb! Therefore, there is no smoke, no harmful chemicals, no worries over fires from spills... they are simply low maintenance! They are leadless, wickless, flameless and smokeless!Another thing I really love about Scentsy is the fact that their products quickly fill my entire home with fragrance, yet they are not at all overpowering! They emit a subtle, yet definite scent. The bulb that is included in their warmers can be replaced at an everyday hardware store!Take a look at Kara Egan's (Scentsy Founder and Superstar Director) website! You will fall in love with their burners! The scents are absolutely heavenly. I wish you could smell them through the website!Trust me, readers. You really want to win this giveaway!Kara is offering to one lucky winner an August warmer of the month, entitled "Surfs Up," along with a 3 pack of bars including the new scent of the month, "Tangerine Tango" and two others!To enter this giveaway...To enter, please do any or all of the following (please leave separate comments for each, so you can enter multiple times!):1. Comment below, with your email address, and tell me if you've tried Scentsy before!2. Visit Kara Egan's Scentsy site by clicking HERE, and leave a comment telling me which burner is your fave!3. Subscribe to this blog (enter your email address in upper right corner), and comment that you do.4. Follow this blog (in right hand column), and comment that you do.5. Become a fan of this blog on Facebook by clicking HERE, and comment that you do.6. Email this contest out to your friends, and copy me on it at vaagen@bellsouth.net7. Follow me on Twitter (vaagen) and ReTweet this contest on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vaagen/statuses/2765898678. Comment below that you did.8. Favorite this blog on Technorati by clicking HEREThe winner will be chosen by random drawing on http://www.random.org/integers/ on Saturday, August 1st at 6pm. Good luck! Thank you for coming to Mingle Over Mocha with Anna!

Watch these videos just added to the Library of Congress website.ARC Ensemble: Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music, CanadaThe ARC Ensemble musicians (Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada) are considered among Canada's leading cultural ambassadors. Its 20-year history of excellent concerts and superbly-produced recordings documents the ensemble's focus on the research and rediscovery of music suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century's repressive regimes.Conversation with Simon Wynberg of ARC Ensemble? Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices from The Colburn SchoolThe Colburn School's Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices encourages the performance and awareness of music by composers suppressed during the years of the Nazi regime in Europe. Artistic Director James Conlon conducts the school's orchestra in a significant work by the Austrian composer Franz Schreker, known in the early 20th century primarily for his operas.Conversation with Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices? Homegrown: Herb Ohta, Jr., Hawaiian Ukulele MasterMega songwriter Desmond Child ("Livin' on a Prayer," "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Dude Looks Like a Lady") tells the Library about writing one of his biggest hits, "Livin' La Vida Loca," in the late 1990s, when record executives were afraid Americans wouldn't know what "la vida loca" meant. The song was inducted into the 2022 class of the National Recording Registry.Conversation with Herb Ohta, Jr.? ? Joy Jumps from the PageThis event is part of the 12th annual Jonah S. Eskin Memorial Program, a feature supported by the Jonah S. Eskin Memorial Fund of the Library of Congress. The fund was established to honor the late son of Marcia and Barnet Eskin.? Before the Religious RightJoin the Kluge Center for a discussion with Gene Zubovich who explains the important role of liberal Protestants in the battles over poverty, segregation, and U.S. foreign relations in a global context.? Mary Lou Williams: Jazz, Race, Gender, and IconographyReporter, "Down Beat" columnist, author of "The Golden Age of Jazz" (1979), and photographer William P. Gottlieb (1917-2006) pioneered jazz iconography and shaped the American public's view of jazz. With access to Black jazz musicians in their work environments of nightclubs and concert halls and, in some cases, the private realms of these musicians' homes, Gottlieb documented New York's jazz scene during a ten-year period from 1938 to 1948. His photographs of jazz pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) are exemplars of jazz iconography and serve as a case study of how Gottlieb depicted jazz musicians to the mainstream White public through his camera lens. Analysis of these photographs provide insight into the intersections of race, gender, and the politics of Jim Crow (racial segregation) with jazz.? Damon Galgut, Winner of the 2021 Booker PrizeWatch a conversation with South African novelist and playwright Damon Galgut in celebration of Africa Month. Galgut won the 2021 Booker Prize for his ninth novel "The Promise," a fictional account of a white South African family living on a farm outside Pretoria during the waning days of apartheid. Using humor to broach difficult subjects, the novel was praised by the Booker Prize judges for offering an "unambiguous commentary on the history of South Africa and of humanity itself."?

Let’s talk about physical exercise for our homeschooling kids during winter. Does your family spend most of the winter class time indoors? If so, getting some physical exercise is important to burn off some of that energy! Let’s look at some traditional and not-so-traditional ideas of ways to keep active during the long winter season....