We Fit Together
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. (1 Corinthians 12:18)
Read: Esther 4:1-7:10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-26, Psalm 36:1-12, Proverbs 21:21-22
Relate: I love to read. I love to write. I enjoy preaching and teaching. I get really passionate about issues of social justice. If you want to get me riled up, feel free to start me talking about modern slavery or the need for the West to open up their doors wider for refugees. I am a sports fan. Since coming to Turkey I have narrowed my interests to Syracuse Basketball, the Yankees, NY Red Bull and Real Madrid for football. (Don’t call that American joke of a sport football around me) I wear a lot of Besiktas and will cheer for them but I can’t really call myself a true fan. I love worship music but most people do not love listening to me…
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Great News! The U.S. Department of Justice Will No Longer Use Private Prisons!
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would end the use of privatized prisons, after receiving a report that documented that they are less safe and less able to provide effective services to inmates.
Please read the previous post, which links to the devastating report.
PV Sindhu: India’s badminton star at Rio Olympics loses to Spain’s Marin
Note: I saw Sindhu playing final game of Badminton against Spain’s Marin in which Sindhu lost the final game to Marin. Both were good players, Sindhu was playing against a world champion and now Olympic gold medalist. ZV
India’s history-maker at Rio Olympics 2016: Who is PV Sindhu? By: Aprameya C Updated: Friday, August 19, 2016, 12:55 [IST] 
Bengaluru, Aug 19: It was a historic moment for India on Thursday (August 18) when PV Sindhu entered the final of women’s singles badminton event at Rio Olympics 2016. Olympics special site; Photo gallery The 21-year-old Sindhu defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-10 in the semi-finals to set up a gold medal match with world number one Carolina Marin of Spain.
Sindhu is assured of at least silver. (Sindhu’s final start time in IST, TV info) PV Sindhu – India’s history-maker at Rio Olympics For the followers for badminton, Sindhu’s name…
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Economic Policy Institute: Teacher Pay Gap Grows Larger, Especially for Experienced Teachers
The Economic Policy Institute is one of the few D.C.-based think tanks that is not indebted to billionaires. It is decidedly liberal and supports workers, fairness, equity, and unions.
Its latest study, by Sylvia Allegretto and Lawrence Mishel, shows that teacher pay has fallen behind comparable workers.
Here is the summary:
What this report finds: The teacher pay penalty is bigger than ever. In 2015, public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17.0 percent lower than those of comparable workers—compared with just 1.8 percent lower in 1994. This erosion of relative teacher wages has fallen more heavily on experienced teachers than on entry-level teachers. Importantly, collective bargaining can help to abate this teacher wage penalty. Some of the increase in the teacher wage penalty may be attributed to a trade-off between wages and benefits. Even so, teachers’ compensation (wages plus benefits) was 11.1 percent lower than that of comparable workers…
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The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old
There seems to have been a few books about irascible old men recently, including the wonderful ‘A Man Called Ove’ of course and ‘The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared’. Could Hendrik Groen be another one of these grumpy but lovable characters? Well yes he is: I have grown very fond of him as I read his secret diary. Written by a so-far anonymous author, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Year Old has been a huge hit in its native Netherlands and I can see it repeating that success in the UK too.
At 83 1/4 Hendrik lives in a care home, though it sounds to me more like what we would call sheltered housing in the UK. The residents live fairly independently in their own apartments and are able to go out and about as they wish and as their mobility allows. They…
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Socializing Risk, Privatizing Profit
Our regular reader Chiara, who lives in Ohio and is a public school parent, is disturbed by the diversion of public dollars for private purposes.
She wrote earlier today:
“The US Department of Education is using public funding to support and expand a whole new category of for-profit providers:
“Arne Duncan @arneduncan Aug 18
So important that short-term tech courses, where skill acquisition leads to real jobs, have access to Pell funding.”
“But don’t worry. They say they’ll regulate it this time. Which is exactly what they said about for-profit colleges and for-profit charter school operators.
“I’m not clear on why the public is funding GE employee training. Has GE fallen on hard times or something? Why are we paying to train their employees? Can’t they pay to train their own employees or did all the extra cash go to executive compensation?
“When did it become the responsibility of the…
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[CELEBS]#PHOTOSHOOT: ALICIA KEYS’ NUDES VS ADELE-YAY OR NAY. HOW WOULD BRANDS REACT?
Sorry if you were expecting something else on this page. I mean; like we are absolutely sorry!
But for the Free minded ones, Hollywood seems to have lost its mind ever since Alicia keys shared her Nude facial make-over photoshoot on her Instagram page few days to the release of her single ‘in common’ which has been on heavy rotation on most radio stations across the globe. Few days ago, Adele shared a bare-faced video on Instagram explaining that, due to a cold, her voice was not in working order for the night’s concert. Though, should her health miraculously recover, judging by the wave of Instagram supporters commenting on how beautiful she looked, she could take the stage without so much as curling her lashes and no one would bat an eye.
It’s a tactic that was put into action by singer Andra Day, who just last week, mid-concert, used…
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Review: “Words We Carry” by D.G.Kaye
The Blurb:
“I have been a great critic of myself for most of my life, and I was darned good at it, deflating my own ego without the help of anyone else.”
What do our shopping habits, high-heeled shoes, and big hair have to do with how we perceive ourselves? Do the slights we endured when we were young affect how we choose our relationships now?
D.G. takes us on a journey, unlocking the hurts of the past by identifying situations that hindered her own self-esteem. Her anecdotes and confessions demonstrate how the hurtful events in our lives linger and set the tone for how we value our own self-worth.
Words We Carry is a raw, personal accounting of how the author overcame the demons of low self-esteem with the determination to learn to love herself.
My Review:
I am amazed to find myself having so much in common with…
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World Humanitarian Day 19 August
Every human life is precious and sacred and we cry for every loss. For the Muslim Times’ collection on universal brotherhood, please click here
2016 Theme: One Humanity
Every day, humanitarian aid workers stand on the front lines of war and disaster, braving tremendous dangers and difficulties to deliver assistance to those who need it most. World Humanitarian Day (WHD), which takes place every year on 19 August, recognizes the aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and mobilizes people to advocate for humanitarian action. The day was designated by the General Assembly seven years ago to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.
This World Humanitarian Day, the UN and its partners are calling for global solidarity with the more than 130 million people around the world who need humanitarian assistance to survive. Under the theme of ‘One…
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My Awesome Fearless Blog 