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Education

Alabama community rallies around author after school district cancels Black History Month event

“How many teachers want those students to be able to have that opportunity to see themselves reflected in the people that we bring in?”

Alabama; Black History Month; Derrick Barnes; banned books; cancelled authors
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Alabama community rallies behind author after school district cancels his Black History Month event.

There's something special about having a book read to you by the actual author. It means a lot to adults, so one can only imagine how children feel when they find out that the person preparing to read them a story is the person who wrote it. It's a small piece of childhood magic that never really goes away.

That's exactly the treat that several classrooms were primed to get when award-winning children's book author Derrick Barnes was scheduled to read to students at three schools in the Hoover City Schools public school district near Birmingham, Alabama. It's an event that was inquired about back in April 2022, nearly a full year in advance to ensure the author would be available for February. But just days before the start of Black History Month, the superintendent of Hoover City Schools abruptly canceled the scheduled readings.

The cancellation came as a surprise to Barnes, his team, as well as the parents and teachers within Hoover City Schools. The superintendent of the school district, Dee Fowler, cited one parent's concerns about the visits and the author's "controversial ideas." Fowler also stated there were contract issues, according to CNN.

No matter the reason, Barnes would not be reading at the schools, which not only affects the children but also leaves the author out thousands of dollars. But the Alabama community decided they were not going to allow this situation to stand and chose to do something about it any way they could. Hundreds of frustrated parents have worked together to raise a portion of the $9,900 Barnes lost by the event being canceled on such short notice, and they didn't stop there.

People in the town are stocking his book in the Free Little Libraries, which are small bookcases placed throughout towns and free for the public to use. Two teachers, Kent Haines and Reed Lochlamy, wrote a letter to the school district and 140 teachers from Hoover City Schools signed on as of February 3. According to WBRC, the teachers are asking for more transparency about the situation and how to avoid it in the future.

The award-winning author writes children's books that feature Black children doing normal daily activities and encourages positive self-image. These are books that Black children can see representation in and other children can see something other than Black people experiencing trauma or some other situation that needs to be overcome. Most of his writings center joy, and it would've been a joy for kids to see that reflected.

“I really try to focus on writing books where Black children are doing ‘slice of life’ things,” Barnes explained to CBS 42 News. “When I first got into the industry, all the books that were written by Black authors that got awards were always about civil rights or slavery. No bedtime stories. No stories about going to school."

“How many teachers want those students to be able to have that opportunity to see themselves reflected in the people that we bring in?” Haines asked WBRC before continuing, “More broadly, I am hoping that this leads our district to more fully enact its stated values regarding the diverse community that we live and teach in.”

The cancellation of authors speaking at elementary schools seems to be the latest trend seemingly stemming from the small faction of outspoken organizations that want to ban books in schools. Reasons for banning particular books span from "inappropriate" to Critical Race Theory, which is a graduate-level course taught to law students.

Throughout the process, it has not been clear what the exact offending material was that was posted to Barnes' social media page that started the cancellation. But the support shown is reason enough for the school district to reconsider hastily deciding things based on one person's dissent.

When asked about the support received by the teachers, Barnes told WBRC, “I look forward to finally coming down there hopefully this upcoming school year and I just want to tell all of them thank you, love them very much and keep up the fight.”

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Science

Astronaut shares the profound 'big lie' he realized after seeing the Earth from space

This change in perspective could change humanity.

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Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

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New study shows spanking hurts kids' mental health and is less effective at teaching lessons

Why is it wrong to hit an adult or an animal but OK to spank a child?

Photo by Kat J on Unsplash

Yet another study shows that spanking isn't good for kids.

Whether to spank your child or not is one of the oldest debates among parents. Many live by the age-old wisdom that to “spare the rod” is to “spoil the child,” while others believe it’s wrong to resort to violence to punish a child when so many alternatives exist.

It also begs the question: If it's wrong to hit your spouse or pet, why is it acceptable to hit a defenseless child?

The 2021 American Family Study found that support for spanking has declined in the U.S. over the past few years. In 2015, 54% either somewhat or strongly agreed with the practice, but that number dropped to 47% in 2021. Thirty-five percent of respondents disagree with the practice and 18% neither agree nor disagree.

A new research study from the Parent and Family Research Alliance in Australia led by Professor Sophie Havighurst and Professor Daryl Higgins from Australian Catholic University makes a strong case that people should stop using corporal punishment to discipline their kids. The study “Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform” analyzed countless studies on the topic and found spanking ineffective and harmful.

The study was published to urge lawmakers to make corporal punishment in Australia illegal. Sixty-five states across the world have made corporal punishment illegal, protecting 14% of the world’s children.

The study defined corporal punishment of children as using physical force to cause pain, but not injury, to correct or control a child’s behavior.

The most startling meta-analysis published in the study found that "only 1 out of 111 statistically significant effect sizes was associated with a link between 'spanking' and a positive child outcome," while 110 were found to be associated with adverse outcomes.

The one positive outcome was in a 1972 study of children of the U.S. military living in West Germany that found those spanked showed less amphetamine and opiate use as adults.

However, the remaining 110 significant results found that spanking had adverse effects, including: “reducing trust and connection with those they are closest to, lower self-esteem, more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems including aggression, mental health difficulties, and increased risk for later substance abuse, antisocial behavior, and violence.”

A meta-analysis found that when children are spanked, they are less likely to internalize the moral implications of the behaviors that led them to be disciplined. It also found that non-physical discipline was more effective at teaching “alternative behaviors,” “developing a child’s conscience,” and advancing their “emotional development.”

Another meta-analysis cited in the story found that corporal punishment in childhood was associated with mental health problems, low self-esteem and antisocial behavior.

In the end, the studies show that corporal punishment is counter-productive when it comes to raising healthy, happy children. But it will take much more than a study to get people to reconsider their views of corporal punishment because they are deeply rooted in many cultural traditions.

Looking for some non-physical alternatives to discipline your child? Here’s a great place to start from WebMD.

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Wife cooks nachos for 'picky' husband who refused to eat her salmon. But she has a point.

Should she be cooking two meals?

via TheMamaBrianna/TikTok

Brianna Greenfield makes nachos for her husband.

A viral video showing a woman preparing nachos for her "picky" spouse after he refused to eat the salmon dinner she cooked has sparked a contentious debate on TikTok. The video was shared on April 26 by Brianna Greenfield (@themamabrianna on TikTok) and has since earned over 2.5 million views.

Brianna is a mother of two who lives in Iowa.

The video starts with Brianna grating a massive hunk of cheese with a caption that reads: “My husband didn’t eat the dinner that I made…So let’s make him some nachos.”

“If I don’t feed him, he literally won’t eat,” she wrote. “This used to irritate me. Now I just blame his mother for never making him try salmon,” Greenfield wrote. The video features Meghan Trainor’s single “Mother” playing in the background.

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Woman’s experience scheduling an EEG highlights the unconscious bias of textured hair

Though her scalp was exposed for the procedure, they still insisted she take her twists out, making it harder to get to her scalp.

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Woman can't schedule EEG due to unconscious textured hair bias.

Getting a medical procedure done can be scary, or at the very least nerve-wracking, no matter how many times you've had it done. It's something that's outside of your normal routine and you're essentially at the mercy of the medical facility and providers. Most of the time, the pre-procedure instructions make sense, and if something catches you by surprise, it's usually easily explained.

Sadé Naima recently had an experience while attempting to get an EEG that wasn't easily explained away. In fact, the entire situation didn't make sense to the TikTok creator who experiences migraines. Naima uploaded a video to the social media platform explaining the sequence of events that happened after her doctor referred her to receive an MRI and EEG.

An MRI uses a magnetic field to generate images and an EEG uses electrodes that stick to your scalp to create images of your brain waves.

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Heroic train conductor spots and saves 3-year-old autistic, nonverbal boy lost on tracks

He was dangerously close to the third rail.

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An MTA employee rescues a 3-year-old child on the tracks.

Five Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees are hailed as heroes for their quick thinking and diligence in the April 6 rescue of a young boy. Locomotive Engineer William Kennedy was operating a southbound Hudson Line train near Tarrytown, a few miles north of New York City, when he noticed an unusual object on the northbound track.

That “object” was a 3-year-old boy.

Kennedy sent an emergency call out to all trains in the area, catching the attention of a northbound conductor, Shawn Loughran, and a trainee. Loughran slowed down his train as he approached the child, who was straddling the electrified third rail.

When the train screeched to a halt, Assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins didn't waste a second. Leaping down the tracks, he sprinted 40 yards ahead of the train, scooping up the young child like a guardian angel.

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Here’s how we can use the power of awe to make our lives more fulfilling

Being amazed by things outside ourselves is tremendous for our mental health.

via Benjamin Davies/Unsplash

A young man looking into the sky

The exhilaration of a rock concert. The feeling of deep serenity you experience during a religious ceremony. That sense of connectedness you get while walking through a dense forest. The lightness that flows through your body while dancing and the dissolution of the ego you experience on psychedelics. These are all experiences that give us the feeling of awe.

Most of us love having at least a few of these experiences and believe they help us grow. But now, a team of psychologists has explained why cultivating a sense of awe can benefit our minds and bodies and how we can create these experiences ourselves.

Maria Monroy and Dacher Keltner posit that a sense of awe can help solve the crises of individualism, excessive self-focus, loneliness and a culture of cynicism, and can even improve our physical health. They explain it in a research article titled “Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health.”

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