Dream Scholarships

August 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

In these months of ugliness as native born American adults scream at and pound the sides of buses filed with terrified children, only just feeling a little secure after weeks of running from gang violence and hunger, it is great to read about someone with compassion doing something.

Donald Graham, recently relieved of his duties at the Washington Post after its purchase by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, has created a scholarship fund for DREAMer immigrants.

[entered the United States before age 16; have lived continuously in the country for at least five years; have not been convicted of a felony, a “significant” misdemeanor, or three other misdemeanors; and are currently in school, graduated from high school, earned a GED, or served in the military. Immigrants who meet these criteria are commonly referred to as “DREAMers” because they comprise most (though not all) of the individuals who meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.]

It’s called The Dream . US Scholarship

What a fine thing … these kids, who already live in the US and want to stay, and learn and contribute, will feel that much more bound to the bounty and goodness of those who reach out hands to help instead of balled into fists

Filed under Education, Migration Tagged with , ,

The Age of Ignorance

March 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

Whew! Here’s some plain talk we don’t usually hear from the better behaved side of the aisle…

Charles Simic is a poet of international repute. He teaches at the University of New Hampshire where he is Professor Emeritus.

Widespread ignorance bordering on idiocy is our new national goal. It’s no use pretending otherwise and telling us, as Thomas Friedman did in the Times a few days ago, that educated people are the nation’s most valuable resources. Sure, they are, but do we still want them? It doesn’t look to me as if we do. The ideal citizen of a politically corrupt state, such as the one we now have, is a gullible dolt unable to tell truth from bullshit.

Read all at NYRB

And read a poem, Eyes Fastened With Pins, at Poets.org

 

[cross posted at AllInOneBoat.org]

Filed under Poetry, Politics Tagged with , ,