8/04/2021
My Dear Friends & POTUS, JRB,
I am excited to start my class today with 23 eager folks preparing to be elementary school teachers. My job is to help them see that math can be an opportunity to create a beloved community where children thrive because they are sparking new ideas by listening to each other. Doesn’t that sound like a classroom that you’d like your grandkids to experience?
Was that the kind of environment you were able to cultivate among the Latinx leaders you spoke with yesterday? Did Rep Ruiz (CA36) help you to understand that you shouldn’t be discussing Latinos in the singular? They are such a diverse group! It’s unclear what the elder Cuban refugees have in common with DACA kids from Central America. Perhaps that’s why DJT was able to win 38% of the Latinx vote in 2020.
Speaking of elections, I’m sure you are relieved that Shontel Brown (SMB) won the Dem. primary in OH11. Politico says that the election “brings an end to a contentious summer of internecine squabbling for Democrats over the direction of their party.” I wonder what would have happened if AOC & Bernie Sanders had stayed out of it & let Nina Turner battle it out on her own. Folks speculate that this race is an indicator that Dems are tired of the “squad.” I am on the fence about the squad. I think we need some radicals to shake things up & we need some moderates to get things done. SMB says, “I’m not about lip service. I’m about public service.” I hope she is able to get some things done when she gets to DC after the Nov election.
I’m disturbed after reading about the wildcat mining taking place in Northern Myanmar since the coup. A rampage of illegal digging is harming the environment & the itinerant miners are being terrorized. Please continue to monitor that situation.
BYBS,
RCA
PS – Please give a shout out to the engineering students who are competing in their solar powered vehicles in their race from Independence, MO to Santa Fe, NM in the American Solar Power Challenge.
