I have always appreciated a good play on words, a playful rhyme, and a clever slogan. When I first heard the phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On", it seemed much better than my younger sister's pleas to me to "Chill" or even "Chillax." It doesn't surprise me that hundreds or even thousands of spoofs have been made on this British phrase from the 1940s. Below, you will see simply the first page of Google images from today's search for "Keep calm and". The possibilities are endless, even if the off-rhyme of "calm" and "on" gets lost in the variations. By now, "Keep Calm and" has become a quintessential meme for the 21st century. What is less popular, however, is the history of this phrase. Here is where I grow uncomfortable. In the days leading up to the second World War, the British Ministry of Information created several propaganda posters to help boost morale in the case of a German invasion...
Auschwitz started as a concentration camp and then became a death /extermination camp. Alcatraz started as a citadel and then became a prison. I think a more accurate name would be Alligator Auschwitz. This place was never meant to be a citadel. It is not meant for prisoners. It does not contain a barbershop, a library, a room for visitations. Alligator Auschwitz is just intended to cramp and terrorize. There are those in my field who guard against comparing the modern day with what happened in Nazi Europe. They say we are not at that scale. Do we need to get to millions of murders to call out a genocide? Haven’t the figures of deaths likely caused by the dismantling of programs ended up in the tens of millions? Power like this- unblocked— mixed with hatred and access — can lead anywhere. We have seen the past. We must not let it happen again.
A ticker-tape parade costs about two million dollars. What can you do with that much money? Let's see... This year, I struggled to help a little girl get glasses. Based on her prescription, she needed them. Based on her academic performance, she needed them. Based on her own statements, she needed them. But her family couldn't muster the $100 bucks for glasses. There used to be easy ways for low-income families to get free glasses in NJ, but many of those grants were decreased this year. It took about four months for us to get her glasses. (Hurray to NYC which has a free glasses program!) With two million dollars, we could make sure 20,000 children had glasses. Every week, a group of friends and I make sure that some low income families have fresh, healthy food. I appreciate the foodbanks, but sometimes the nutritional value of canned food is all these families get. My friends and I have coordinated with local grocery stores to help these families. The average US house...
I love today's daffodil! They're such happy flowers, those daffodils are.
ReplyDelete