Thanksgiving Reflections

 I missed mass (Church Service) last night, because God has a mission for this once homeless kid.  I live a most blessed life, thank-you God.  My live could very well have gone another way... a little humanity goes a long-long way. It is indeed, in the giving that we receive.

I was once a homeless child, (age 11 and 12). For decades I did  not tell anyone about that part of my life. It was my shame. Although, I never forgot Mr. Bass the teacher who fed me lunch for a year, or the librarian who filled my life with books, cookies and hot chocolate; Sunday Mass Social donuts, or my friends Mom, Mrs. Talerico, whose table was already full...  yet always made room for me. She never once questioned why I wanted to sleep over.  My Mom worked in the local diner, six days a week, and somehow held nightmares back for her son while sometimes we slept  nights at the train station... They were my angels, they never asked for a  thank you. 

I am a teacher educator. I know, where we stand today, to is not where we stand tomorrow. About 10 years ago, I started opening up about my own memories of being homeless. It was at a  time when my teachers started sharing heart wrenching stories about the children they were teaching. Their students stories that made them feel helpless, and at times hopeless.  I very slowly and cautiously began sharing my story about Mr. Bass who fed me lunch for a year. I relayed to my students what I knew, that humanity and kindness are a teacher’s greatest lesson. The first time I shared my story with my teachers, I cried in the car on my way home from the university. As I began talking a little more about this period of time in my life, it became easier; each time I shared a little more. Every single teacher I have taught knows the story of "Mr. Bass". 

And to get back to why I wasn't at Mass last night, Fr Terry, James, Bill, and I brought hot meals/food to a homeless mens shelter in downtown Hartford CT.   We served 81 men hot meals. Every single man humbly showed gratitude and kindness ~ to us. One commented to me "thanks for the meal, it helps to know we are still human beings, and there are others who still care.

81 grateful souls that we ordinarily might pass by in the streets.  Who are these men? They are sons, husbands, brothers and even fathers. They deserve a little better ~ for they too are my brothers. 

Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center in West Hartford, donates this evening hot meal, monthly; Fr Terry has been doing this for years.  

Kindness, compassion, and humanity ~ make us human. 

Professor Emeritus Dr. Jesse P. Turner 

Saved by the kindness of others.

If you like too listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today..it is "Roof For The Rain" an Irish Ballad by the Freedom Flames 

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpR6zp2U-1I <

Dear Mr. President, about this war on Christianity

 

ICE Brutal Attacks on Christian Clergy 

Dear Mr. President, you don’t need to go to Nigeria to look for some war on Christians.
Just look in the mirror.

You like to talk a war on Christianity. The truth is you sir are the one waging war on Christians.

Pastors shot with pepper bullets, Priests denied entrance to detention facilities to give communion.
Christian children held in detention centers.
Christian families brutally attack in our communities, outside our schools, shopping centers, neighborhoods.
A vast majority of Migrants are Christian.
Millions of Christians afraid to go to church.

You denied Migrants due process. You deport unaccompanied Christian Children to countries they do not know,                                                                                                                                                        Your ICE Agents brutally assault Christian Migrants in LA, Chicago, Charlotte, NYC, and cities all over America,                                                                                                                                                     Your ICE Agents fight your dirty war against Christain Migrants,                                                                                                                                              Yes, look no further than your polices to find who is waging war on Christians,

You are the face of war on the faithful.

Just in case you are unaware Pope Leo and the Catholic Church calls your war out.

We Christians are not helpless, we are gathering in our churches, peacefully resisting you on the streets, outside our schools, hospitals, and shopping centers,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education

Faithful son, brother, husband and father

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror 

"I'm gonna make a change,                                                                                                                                        For once in my life,                                                                                                                                                        It's gonna feel real good,                                                                                                                                    Gonna make a difference, gonna make it right.                                                                                                 As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat."                    

"This wind is blowin' my mind,                                                                                                                                    I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat,                                                                                             Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs?" 

Just 

National Writing Project Radio show with Dr. Bryan Ripley Grandall link and the Walking Man

Imagine writing, really writing as your Mirror, Microscope, and Telescope to the world? Diversity is the pathway to writing to change the world. Today CT Writing Project Dr. Bryan Ripley Crandall to us there on the Readman: Truth to Power Hour 103.5 FM New Haven

Radio Show Links

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio/videos/1555557505472713 

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITojI4TALlY  

PS Give kid choices for reading and writing, and watch their pens fly.

Dear Mr. Baldwin, does writing change the world?

 

Join me this Friday 11/07/25 on 103.5 FM New Haven, Readman: Truth to Power Hour, where my guest shall be none other than Dr. Bryan Riply, English Professor, Director of the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University.  

                                                                          

Two teachers talking writing to change the world

Two teachers talking real writing

Since 2002, to 2025, there has been  trillions of dollars spent on Failed Education Reforms and Mandates; billions that have been spent on “Fail Proof Curriculums”.   During this time ~  while all this money has been spent on our public schools,  hundreds of librarians, literacy specialists, special education teachers,  teachers of art & music, para-professionals, and regular classroom teachers were let go and never replaced; class sizes have increased.  Many of these new curriculums are so heavily scripted that teacher voices are silenced. These scripted programs come from publishing companies who do not trust teachers.  These multi million dollar companies/publishers have sold the same lie for thirty years ~ teachers are the problem…  

We all know it’s not teachers who get to choose their curriculums. Teachers have little or no say in the standards, the assessments, or the programs used in their schools.  

Ed Reforms read like bad tasting, watered down, alphabet soup ~  food that fails to feed learning and teaching.  The Silver Bullets we had pushed down our throats, like NCLB, RTTT, ESSA, RTI, and MTSS, have shut down the voices of teachers.  The data is clear, not one of their mandates or reforms have delivered. In a reasonable world, leadership would reflect and question the failures.  It appears in this High-Stakes Testing world, those in charge do the exact opposite ~ they just double down. 

James Balwin knew, humans write to change their world.  The purpose of writing is not to “score well” on some standardized test.  It’s mind boggling to think of the Language Arts teacher opening their class with these words “remember students, we write to pass that standardized test”.  No teacher has ever been heard saying “Gen Z’s ~ they are dying to write, just to pass their standardized exams”.  To quote James Balwin “You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” 

All over this great country of ours, we have awesome teachers, who know and understand that everyone, especially young people,  need a reason to write!  One place of resistance to this silencing of teacher and student voices is America’s National Writing Projects.  These projects focus less on writing skills, and more on helping students find reasons to write personally, socially, and culturally. Writing Project Directors understand that with authentic purpose come reasons to edit, revise and write more. Writing Project Directors help teachers understand that purpose driven writing improves writing, by asking teachers to write with purpose from the heart for yourself.  

Tomorrow 0n Readman: Truth to Power Hour 103.5 FM New Haven,                                                Be There, or, Be Square                                                                                                                                   Dr. Jesse P. Turner                                                                                                                                    Professor Emeritus Central Connecticut State University,                                                            Literacy, Elementary & Early Childhood Education

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk it's the Dire Striates "Romeo and Juliet" > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxfjSnMN88U&t=3s < 

Simple Truth: Writing Heals, Grows us, Empowers us! 

I will post the actual show link in my next blog