I keep a gratitude journal and update it almost daily. It wouldn’t be hard for me to list out the things I am thankful for. But let’s give it a try, anyways.

I’m thankful for the family I was born into. The closest relatives I have in Houston is my mom’s first cousin, Tita Edith’s, family. Tita Edith’s kids, Anthony, Joanne, and Gino, are the cousins I grew up with and the cousins I will be connected to in the future. They’re pretty awesome human beings. Seeing them this past Thanksgiving was amazing and I’m thankful for them. We don’t see each other a lot, but I’m trying to change that and become more involved.

I’m thankful for the family I chose. I was able to see my great friend Chloe. Her mom and step dad were Mr. and Mrs. Clause for the Uptown Park Lighting Festival. Her husband, Chris, couldn’t go, because he recently had surgery on his collar bone and  going through crowds wouldn’t have been smart. Chloe’s great Uncle George couldn’t go either, because of the crowds, as well. He has a walker and it would have been hard to navigate through the crowd. So Chloe invited me. I hadn’t seen her in awhile, since school has been taking up my life. And it was awesome to see her. She is one of the nursing school friends I am working hard to keep.

At the VIP section in front of Maggianos having appetizers. yum!

The fireworks after the Christmas trees were lit. Absolutely beautiful!!

Afterwards, I spent the night at Jackie’s. Her family was having a late Thanksgiving dinner. Jackie has a sister, Eva, who I love dearly. She is the type of person who has such an open heart. She knows that I am important to Jackie and has welcomed me in their family whole heartedly. Jackie’s mom and dad have made me feel welcome as well. I’m glad I was able to spend time with them, too.

I had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I had more than enough shares of turkey! And got to spend time with loved ones. The only time I spent alone was when I was driving.

I got my replacement phone today. It didn’t come with a SIM card, which defeated the purpose of getting my phone, but I just bought one at the TMobile store. I was able to get ahold of my loved ones through Google Voice. I had this phone number for my side business as a photographer. But it came in handy because I was able to text and make calls through the internet. If anyone needed to get ahold of me, they could text my Google Voice number and all the texts would go straight to my email. Pretty cool!

My great friend Lizzie’s wedding is tomorrow and I cannot wait to celebrate her and Nelson’s union. I asked many people to keep Lizzie and her baby in their prayers. And with the grace of God, she and her baby girl are doing well and are healthy! If that isn’t something to be thankful for, I don’t know what is.

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I saw was this angel’s face.
And having her in my life is absolutely a great blessing that I thank God for everyday. She has changed me in ways I could not fathom. I hope the start of the holiday season has treated you well.

“When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.”

Thanksgiving morning I got up bright and early and went to Gloucester to help my friends at Cape Ann Animal Aid.  On the way home, I decided to try and find the Myopia Thanksgiving Day Hunt.  I knew they met somewhere near Waldingfield Road in Ipswich at 10:00 a.m., but wasn’t sure exactly where.  Parking on the side of the road, I hooked up with a small group of people who were also trying to find the hunt.  Deciding there was strength in numbers, I willingly followed them along wooded paths and picked my way through muddy fields.  The gray and drizzly day made everything around me look ghostly, including a large flock of geese that took flight when we startled them.  Suddenly, on a ridge, we saw a group of riders.  Once we climbed up the hill, we could see the large gathering of horses, riders, and hounds before us in the distance.  It was a sight to make me forget about my soaking wet and muddy feet.  Once the group shouted “hip, hip, hooray!” they were off.  The group of bystanders waited patiently for the riders to reappear.  All of a sudden, the hounds came into view, running excitedly down the field.  Horses and riders followed in hot pursuit.  The black and tan hounds, red, blue and gray blazers of the riders, assorted colors of horses, and the muted scenery made for an extraordinary sight.  When it was over, I wasn’t quite sure how to find my way back to the car; but after asking a few kindly strangers and walking a few miles, I finally found it.  It was a nice way to spend Thanksgiving morning before leaving to be with family and eat myself silly.  I’ll definitely make this a Thanksgiving tradition, but will be sure to wear rubber boots next year!

A #1 single, another one racing up the charts, a new baby on the way…things are looking good for newcomer Justin Moore….I got a chance to talk to Justin as he got ready to take the stage at Showcase Live

Justin Moore sits with Jessica Tyler for Nashville Music Minute (Photo: Jamie Harrington)

in Foxboro, MA.  The last time I saw Justin was in the Bahamas for the Reba Showcase…poor Justin only got to stay for about 12 hours and had to head back out for another show, so no sun, sand, and fun for Mr. Moore on that trip….!  This time around, we sat down and talked about how life has changed in the past year, and what the future has in store for this rising star!  Justin also joined in on my interview with his label mates (they are on sister label Big Machine records)  Steel Magnolia….keep checking back for that interview in our Nashville Music Minute….!

Kita seakan tak percaya ketika mendengar seorang nenek tua yang duduk di depan sang hakim. Kemudian sang hakim menjatuhkan vonis hukuman penjara bagi sang nenek hanya gara-gara si nenek ketahuan mencuri buah kakao. Bandingkan dengan berbagai macam kasus korupsi yang didalangi para koruptor haus uang. Hanya dengan bermodalkan pengacara mahal dan setumpuk uang, para tikus-tikus itu bebas hukuman. Sungguh ironi melihat hukum di negara kita yang semakin lama semakin carut marut.

Tak jauh dari itu, beberapa anggota KPK dan POLRI masih terus bergulat menyelesaikan masalah mereka. Masalah Bibit-Chandra, Anggodo-Anggoro, Bank Century hingga Kasus Antasari yang entah sampai kapan terselesaikan. Belum lagi masalah pertentangan MA dan pemerintah mengenai nasib UN. Akankah UN dihapuskan ato malah dipertahankan?

Mungkin ini memang menjadi PR bagi pemimpin kita. Kita tunggu saja siapa yang akan tertawa paling akhir. Finally gue mo ngucapin Selamat Hari raya idul adha. Mohon maap gue belakangan ini jarang ngeblog soalnye sibuk ngegemukin kambing gue. Ciao

Jamal from the delivery service stopped by earlier with some tasty BC bud and I offered him a leftover drumstick. He started complaining that his 401(k) still hadn’t gotten back to its 2007 level. Jesus Fucking Christ, weed delivery guys have 401(k) plans these days? What a great fucking country this is! Anyway, I said I don’t want to hear any fucking belly-aching from you about the goddamn financial crisis! I lost close to a billion dollars! But that’s not what really stings. What really hurts is the collapse of all the M&A deals I helped put together.

You can earn all the bonus money in the world from the trading desk, but nothing tickled the underside of my nutsack as much as putting together a good takeover. A man can really put his stamp on history by arranging a good deal. Now everyone claims Wall Street often tricks some innocent hayseed CEO into an ill-fated merger just to collect some huge fees. But that’s only part of the reason. Shit, I did it for two more important reasons:

1) shits

2) giggles.

Before the shit hit the fan, we were thisclose to arranging a big merger involving the world’s largest software maker. The pitch was to alleviate the shitty reputation Microsoft had gotten for monopoly powers and buggy products prone to catch viruses. (On a side note, I never did get to watch that video of the two chicks crapping all over each other, so if you have a legitimate link, send it my way. If you have the link that gave me that god-awful virus, send it to Geithner!)

So we got Ballmer real stoned one night and talk him into buying the world’s largest provider of soft-serve ice-cream. That way Windows users could enjoy a nice vanilla-chocolate swirl or a Nutterbutter as they waited for their machines to reboot. Alas, the Mister MicroSoftee Corp. was never to be.

Indeed, some of my best deal ideas came to me when I had the munchies. I also almost got the biggest U.S. telephone company to buy the biggest maker of pierogies. But A.T. & Mrs. T’s Inc. was not to be either.

Now, Berkshire Hathaway has snapped up some companies on the cheap recently. But when the Dow was at a record in ‘07, the Oracle was about ready to cash in, tune out and turn on. He wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a professional ukele player. Shit, who was I to get in his way? But first he needed to buy his favorite band. Fuck it, this one hurts the most because I totally would’ve gone to see Warren Buffett, Jimmy Buffet and the Coral-Berkshire-Refer-Hathaway Band.

The one deal that actually made some sort of business sense was the largest U.S. tiremaker buying Church & Dwight, maker of Trojan condoms. In this case, the company’s name would’ve stayed the same: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Fellow thankful and grateful Americans: Are you currently unable to move from your couch, tryptophan coursing through your veins, pants unbuttoned? Have you spent most of your day watching Home Alone or football, only breaking to re-eat or nap? When you doze off do you have visions of yams and dancing green bean casseroles in your brain?

I have just the thing for you… PIE! So here’s my Ma to talk about one of the pies she made. She’s awesome, but a bit blog-shy. Take it away Ma…

Hi, I’m Carly’s Mother. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. My memories of Thanksgiving are filled with thoughts of my own mother baking many delicious treats. My favorites were always the pies! She made everything from lemon meringue to chocolate cream. With family out of town, this year our Thanksgiving gathering was smaller than usual, but we had a great time. And great food!

Normally, for Thanksgiving we do traditional pumpkin, but this year we added a French Apple Pie. My husband “hinted” that I hadn’t baked an apple pie in a long time, so here goes…

French Apple Pie

Adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

For Pastry:
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon shortening
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 Tablespoons cold water

For Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of salt
6 cups of thinly sliced tart apples (about 6 medium-sized apples)

For Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 425°

Mix flour and salt (for pastry) in a medium-sized bowl. Cut in shortening until well-combined and crumbles are pea-sized. Add water, 1 Tablespoon at a time until mixture is moistened evenly.

Form a ball with your dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out—two inches larger than inverted pie plate. Fit into plate.

Prepare your Filling. Mix dry ingredients together and then stir in apples. Spoon into pie crust. In a new bowl, mix Topping ingredients together until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of your pie. Bake for 45-50 minutes until brown and bubbly.

Easy peasy, right? And delicious. Be sure to serve with ice cream.

Thanks Ma, you’re the best! And happy holidays everyone.

Wakefield, Massachusetts votes itself a new tax

The 2009 Regular Town Meeting proved to be a taxing one – and not just for those who hung in for the entire three and a half hours. Town Meeting backed two new local taxes: one that will bring the tax on a restaurant meal in Wakefield to 7 percent and another that hikes the hotel occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent. So it was a taxing Town Meeting even if you didn’t sit through it.

Over the years, Wakefield voters have shown themselves to be reliably frugal when they go to the polls, handily voting down Prop. 2½ overrides and outsized budgets. Town Meeting, on the other hand, has tended to be looser with the public purse strings.

So this week, Town Meeting approved a .75 percent local option meals tax that will be added to the present 6.25 percent meals tax that was just increased from 5 percent last August 1. At the same time, the state hiked the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

The state also decided to give cities and towns the “option” to levy an additional .75 percent local meals tax, making it 7 percent in communities that approved it. Wakefield is now one of those communities. The state will collect the additional .75 percent along with its own meals tax and then return the local funds to the town on a quarterly basis.

But not everyone at Town Meeting was on board with the new tax.

“The state does not honor its commitments,” Former FinCom Chairman Marc Luca said, pointing to Chapter 70 local aid and the Quinn Bill as examples. He also noted that the state had just hiked alcohol and tobacco taxes. “The taxes just don’t end,” Luca observed, and most would be hard-pressed to prove him wrong.

Luca also pointed to the number of restaurants on Water St. alone that have failed recently, notably Toody’s and Dettorre’s. “I just don’t see the economic environment being able to sustain new businesses at a higher tax rate,” he said.

Several speakers in favor of the local option meals tax suggested that consumers “wouldn’t notice” an additional 37 cents on a $50 restaurant bill or even 75 cents on a $100 tab. But let’s not forget that just last August the state hiked its portion of the meals tax from 5 to 6.25 percent. It’s easy to say that you won’t notice one or the other, but these increases do not exist independent of each other.

Wakefield’s meals tax has now increased 2 percent since last August. That’s $2 on a $100 restaurant bill. Will people notice that? Maybe it won’t matter to the childless yuppie couple with the six-figure income, but what about the blue collar working class (assuming they’re still working in this economy) family of five? Will they miss the $2?

Grafton St. resident Dan Brown noted that the meals tax in Massachusetts had its genesis as a “temporary” tax. He also reviewed the history of other “temporary” taxes and fees in the state. On the question of whether a local option tax could be repealed if the state failed to give all the money back to Wakefield, Brown did not mince words.

“Hell will freeze over before this or any other tax is repealed,” he said.

When the Board of Selectmen held its public hearing on September 14 on the local option meals tax, no residents showed up, despite the fact that the hearing was well-publicized, including a front page story in the Wakefield Daily Item. Then, at Town Meeting, Wakefield citizens made a decision to vote themselves a new tax.

Will the day come when the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts will decide that they are paying enough taxes? Maybe. But as of this week, that day has not yet arrived.

[This column originally appeared in the November 19, 2009 Wakefield Daily Item.]

Tadi pagi saat tiba di sekolah mendapat kabar dari  seorang sahabat sesama  guru bahwa ujian nasional dibatlakan oleh Mahkamah Agung. Mendengar Kabar seperti ini entah mengapa ada perasaan senang dalam hati ini, mengapa tidak ?. Karena Ujian Nasional yang setiap tahun dilaksanakan itu suka menjadi musibah nasional, dan dengan dibatalkannya ujian nasional ini setidaknya tidak akan ada lagi guru-guru yang berbuat criminal karena demi keberhasilan anak didikanya mereka berani melakukan pembocoran rahasia Negara, bahkan di beberapa tempat pembocoran rahasia Negara ini dipimpin langsung oleh Kepala Sekolah. Kepala sekolah yang seharusnya memberikan teladan yang baik bagi para guru dengan nilai kesetian dalam DP3 di atas 91  berbuat tidak jujur dan tidak setia kepada negara, dan disadari atau tidak saat kepala sekolah dan para guru membocorkan rahasia Negara yang katanya “DEMI KEBERHASILAN ANAK DIDIKNYA”, sebenarnya yang sedang mereka lakukan adalah mengajarkan ketik jujuran pada anak didiknya dan dengan demikian berarti “KEJAHATAN BERAWAL DARI BANGKU SEKOLAH”. ….. astaghfirullah.

Sebagaimana di tulis Liputan6.com Mahkamah Agung melarang ujian nasional yang digelar Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. Alasannya, para tergugat, yakni presiden, wakil presiden, menteri pendidikan nasional, dan ketua badan standar nasional pendidikan telah lalai memenuhi kebutuhan hak manusia di bidang pendidikan dan mengabaikan peningkatan kualitas guru.
Dalam situs mahkamahagung.go.id, keputusan menolak kasasi perkara tersebut tertuang dalam Nomor 2596 K/Pdt/2008 yang diputus 14 September 2009. Gugatan ini mencuat lewat gugatan Kristiono, yang meminta pemerintah meninjau ulang sistem ujian nasional.

Berkut ini tulisan lengkap tentang penolakan MA terhadap kasasi perkara ujian nasional yang ditulis dalam situs mahkamahagung.go.id :

MA TOLAK KASASI PERKARA UJIAN NASIONAL

Jakarta-Humas. Mahkamah Agung menolak permohonan pemerintah terkait perkara ujian nasional, dalam perkara Nomor : 2596 K/Pdt/2008 dengan para pihak Negara RI cq Presiden RI, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Negara RI cq Wakil Kepala Negara, Wakil Presiden RI, M. Jusuf Kalla; Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Bambang Sudibyo; Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional cq Ketua Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, Bambang Soehendro melawan Kristiono, dkk (selaku para termohon Kasasi dahulu para Penggugat/para Terbanding).

Dalam amar putusan tersebut dinyatakan : “Menolak permohonan kasasi dari para Pemohon Kasasi : I. Negara RI cq Presiden RI, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; II. Negara RI cq Wakil Kepala Negara, Wakil Presiden RI, M. Jusuf Kalla; III. Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Bambang Sudibyo; dan IV. Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional cq Ketua Badan standar Nasional Pendidikan, Bambang Soehendro, tersebut; Membebankan para Pemohon Kasasi/para Tergugat untuk membayar biaya perkara dalam tingkat kasasi ini sebesar Rp. 500.000,- (lima ratus ribu rupiah)”.

Putusan ini diucapkan dalam rapat permusyawaratan Mahkamah Agung pada hari Senin tanggal 14 September 2009, dengan Majelis Hakim H. Abbas Said, SH selaku Ketua Majelis; H. Mansyur Kartayasa, SH, MH dan R. Imam Harjadi, SH, selaku anggota, serta Tuty Haryati, SH, MH sebagai Panitera Pengganti dalam sidang terbuka untuk umum, pada hari itu juga.(Jup)

Penolakan kasasi perkara ujian yang dilakukan MA ternyata tidak membuat pemerintah berdiam diri, pemerintah dalah hal ini Departemen pendidikan Nasional akan terus menupayakan perlawanan hukum melalui peninjauan kembali atau PK atas putusan Mahkamah Agung yang membatalkan ujian nasional bagi siswa sekolah. “Harapannya sistem pendidikannya mantap, tidak setiap tahun berubah,” kata Menteri Pendidikan Nasional (Mendiknas) Mohammad Nuh kepada wartawan di kantornya, Jakarta, Kamis (26/11) seperti yang dikutip liputan 6.com. Bahkan Nuh pun berkata : “Ujian Nasional masih akan diadakan tahun ini”.

Ternyata pendapat ganti menteri ganti kebijakan tidak sepenuhnya benar, karena tenyata apa yang dilakukan mendiknas saat ini tidaklah berbeda dengan menteri sebelumnya, memaksakan kehendak, melanggar UU Sisdiknas, dan banyak mengorbankan anak didik.

Semoga saja masih ada kesempatan untuk bertaubat, hentikan semua kecurangan, hentikan segala bentuk pemaksaan kehendak, jangan jadikan anak didik kita sebagai korban keegoisan kita.

Wallahu ‘Alam

Van de week ben ik bij Ming Ya, een chinese boekwinkel in amsterdam, langs geweest. Ik was op zoek naar het “Remembering simplified Hanzi” boek, maar helaas hadden ze dit boek niet. Echter ben ik niet met lege handen de winkel uitgelopen.

Ik heb ” Het verhaal achter chinese karakters” gehaald, een klein boekje waarin, in het Nederlands, het verhaal van de meest voorkomende chinese karakters beschreven worden, en waarom ze er uit zien zoals ze dat nu doen.

De verhaaltjes zijn leuk geschreven en de plaatjes maken veel duidelijk. Jammer genoeg worden er maar 260 karakters beschreven, dus dat is lang niet genoeg. Toch maar door zoeken naar Remembering Hanzi.

MA TOLAK KASASI PERKARA UJIAN NASIONAL

Jakarta-Humas. Mahkamah Agung menolak permohonan pemerintah terkait perkara ujian nasional, dalam perkara Nomor : 2596 K/Pdt/2008 dengan para pihak Negara RI cq Presiden RI, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Negara RI cq Wakil Kepala Negara, Wakil Presiden RI, M. Jusuf Kalla; Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Bambang Sudibyo; Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional cq Ketua Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, Bambang Soehendro melawan Kristiono, dkk (selaku para termohon Kasasi dahulu para Penggugat/para Terbanding).

Dalam amar putusan tersebut dinyatakan : “Menolak permohonan kasasi dari para Pemohon Kasasi : I. Negara RI cq Presiden RI, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; II. Negara RI cq Wakil Kepala Negara, Wakil Presiden RI, M. Jusuf Kalla; III. Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Bambang Sudibyo; dan IV. Negara RI cq Presiden RI cq Menteri Pendidikan Nasional cq Ketua Badan standar Nasional Pendidikan, Bambang Soehendro, tersebut; Membebankan para Pemohon Kasasi/para Tergugat untuk membayar biaya perkara dalam tingkat kasasi ini sebesar Rp. 500.000,- (lima ratus ribu rupiah)”.

Putusan ini diucapkan dalam rapat permusyawaratan Mahkamah Agung pada hari Senin tanggal 14 September 2009, dengan Majelis Hakim H. Abbas Said, SH selaku Ketua Majelis; H. Mansyur Kartayasa, SH, MH dan R. Imam Harjadi, SH, selaku anggota, serta Tuty Haryati, SH, MH sebagai Panitera Pengganti dalam sidang terbuka untuk umum, pada hari itu juga.(www.mahkamah agung.go.id)

Dalam menanggapi kasus ini,

Pemerintah akan melakukan upaya perlawanan hukum melalui mekanisme peninjauan kembali (PK) ke Mahkamah Agung (MA) terkait gugatan Ujian Nasional (UN). Menteri Pendidikan Nasional (Mendiknas) Mohammad Nuh mengatakan, pihaknya masih memiliki hak lain setelah kasasi ditolak MA.Nuh mengaku, belum menerima salinan resmi putusan MA.Namun, Nuh optimistis upaya hukum yang akan dilakukan pemerintah selanjutnya dapat diterima hakim agung MA.

 

“Seperti main bal-balan (sepak bola), ada tim yang menang tepat pada injury time,” tandas M Nuh di kantornya. Nuh menyatakan, perseteruan pemerintah dan masyarakat soal UN ini bukan berujung pada siapa yang kalah dan menang. Yang terpenting, pemerintah harus meyakinkan dan memberikan pemahaman yang utuh terkait persoalan UN.

“Kita tidak ingin pemikirannya masuk di kalah-menang. Tetapi, keyakinan dan landasan yang kita miliki harus disampaikan secara tepat dan utuh.Tidak ada ceritanya kalah-menang, yang ada hanya pengujian,” paparnya. Lebih lanjut Mendiknas mengatakan, penyelenggaraan UN memiliki dasar hukum yang kuat, di antaranya Peraturan Menteri (Permen) No 75 Tahun 2009.

Bahkan, Nuh menandaskan, penghapusan UN tidak mungkin dilakukan tahun ini. “Untuk tahun ini tidak mungkin, semuanya sudah terstruktur, termasuk sudah ada anggaran di APBN,” tegasnya. Terlepas dari masalah ini, Mendiknas tetap meminta agar guru dan anak didik tidak cemas. Sebab, yang paling penting adalah menciptakan suasana yang kondusif bagi siswa untuk tetap semangat belajar.

Diketahui, MA memutuskan menolak kasasi gugatan UN yang diajukan pemerintah. Dengan putusan ini, UN dinilai cacat hukum dan pemerintah dilarang menyelenggarakannya. Berdasarkan informasi perkara di situs resmi MA, perkara gugatan warga negara (citizen lawsuit) yang diajukan Kristiono dkk tersebut diputus pada 14 September 2009 lalu oleh majelis hakim yang terdiri diri Mansur Kartayasa, Imam Harjadi, dan Abbas Said.

Putusan perkara dengan Nomor Register 2596 K/PDT/2008 itu sekaligus menguatkan putusan Pengadilan Tinggi DKI Jakarta pada 6 Desember 2007 yang juga menolak permohonan pemerintah. Dalam putusannya, para tergugat yakni presiden,wakil presiden, Menteri Pendidikan Nasional (Mendiknas),dan Ketua Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan (BSNP) dinyatakan lalai memberikan pemenuhan hak asasi manusia (HAM) terhadap warga negara, khususnya hak atas pendidikan dan hak anak yang menjadi korban UN.

Pemerintah juga dinilai lalai meningkatkan kualitas guru, terutama sarana dan prasarana sekolah, akses informasi yang lengkap di seluruh daerah sebelum melaksanakan kebijakan UN. Pemerintah diminta pula untuk segera mengambil langkah-langkah konkret untuk mengatasi gangguan psikologis dan mental peserta didik usia anak akibat penyelenggaraan UN. (Oke-zone)

Long story short – I’m seriously contemplating doing my MA in Social Work (MSW) upon the completion of my Criminology degree. Helping youth at risk (as I once was) would be so very rewarding, I’ve realized after doing some soul-searching. Both my book and my life would be examples that would show kids/teens that they CAN overcome overwhelming obstacles and be successful in life, that they CAN make it.

Here’s a huge opportunity to give something back.

- Jeff Emmerson

Ich arbeite wieder daran. Es ist zwar schwer nach einigen Wochen pausierend wieder voll einzusteigen, aber ich muss da durch.
Dank Esselborn-Krumbiegel, Helga (3. Aufl. 2008): Von der Idee zum Text. Eine Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Schreiben. Padeborn, München, Wien, Zürich: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh versuche ich zu planen und meine Arbeit besser zu organisieren. Leider fällt mir es schwer mehr als 6 Wochen im voraus zu planen. Ich kann mir einfach nicht vorstellen, dass die Zukunft genau so sein wird, wie das auf dem Zettel steht. Oft funktioniert die Planung auch nicht, wie ich es mir vorstelle.
Ich halte euch auf dem Laufenden, welche Tiefen mich noch erwarten werden.
Übrigens, ich arbeite jetzt mit Literaturmanagementprogramm LitLink v3, die mit Hilfe von FileMaker Pro Datenmanagementsystem arbeitet. Es ist kostenlos und nutzerfreundlich. Ist von Historiker für Historiker entwickelt wurden. Da soll mir noch jemand sagen, dass die Geschichtswissenschaftler nicht up to date sind

While I don’t really go into depth about the study of Criminology, which I’m doing my honors BA in, I have to say that it’s been a real eye-opener into what human beings are capable of. My highest marks are in a course entitled Multiple Murder, which is taught by a globally renowned expert on the subject, who I’ve gotten to know quite well.

I’m also involved in research with a professor who has interviewed the notorious Canadian serial killer Paul Bernardo personally. I can only imagine being in such a situation with such a mentally ill person.

While completing my manuscript, I’ve found myself looking into the proverbial “abyss” that a famous quote refers to, and I’m analyzing people more than ever now. This is indeed uncharted territory for me, though I certainly find it fascinating, I do admit.

Tomorrow, I’ll be going over the autopsy reports of a serial killer who killed over 10 children/young people in Canada many years ago, and I’m sure the specifics will scar my psyche to a degree…For this is how it is – no one gets out unscathed from such endeavors. Morbid curiosity can indeed drive one mad if they aren’t careful to put everything into proper perspective. The crime scene photos I’ve witnessed are enough to make you sick to your stomach, and then some. They are enraging to say the least.

I thought I’d add this, since through all the stress and ambitions I’m in the midst of, I’m appreciative of the life I have, and those around me. Many people aren’t here today due to violent acts, and victims rarely ever get the media coverage that the “glorified” killers do, which is ludacris.

- Jeff Emmerson