Today at the Editor’s glance: Schools are closed–for students, anyway: it’s actually a teacher work day–in honor of Genocide Day, the annual celebration of Christopher Columbus’s cruelties, rapes, enslavement of native people and decrees against them that led to the genocide of Native Americans, though he was not necessarily the cruelest nor certainly the most bloodthirsty European conqueror to hit these shores. Just the first in a long line, before EuroAmericans became able enough to export their compulsion to kill and conquer back to all other continents. Here are five myths about Columbus. The Bunnell City Commission meets at 7 p.m. at Bunnell City Hall, 201 West Moody Boulevard. The commission will hear a rezoning proposal covering 7 acres owned by Seth Strickland and 5 by Ashley D. Stover, from county to city agricultural zoning. City Manager Alvin jones’s evaluation will also be discussed. Grace Presbyterian Church is offering Free English Classes (ESL) to the community. Anyone who would like to learn English as a second language is welcome. Students will learn to speak, read and write English in a friendly community. Beginner, intermediate and advanced classes are available. Instruction is free. Students only need to buy their books. 6:30 p.m. at the church, 1225 Royal Palms Pkwy, Palm Coast.
The University of Florida is conducting an on-line survey on behalf of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to learn more about the use of disposable plastic bags, auxiliary materials and wrappings by Florida residents. The study’s principal investigator is Dr. Tim Townsend from UF and the Sustainable Materials Management Research Laboratory. The survey will be administered on-line using Qualtrics from mid-September 2021 until October 31st, 2021. If you are able to participate in this very important, please visit this link below. Survey link: https://faculty.eng.ufl.edu/timothy-townsend/survey/ … This survey is available to all Florida residents and if you have any questions, please contact Ms. Ashley Ricketts via e-mail at [email protected].
Monoclonal Antibody Treatments are now available in Flagler County at Daytona State College’s Palm Coast Campus. Monoclonal Antibody Treatments (MAB) for COVID-19 can prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death among high-risk individuals. Individuals 12 years and older who are high-risk, that have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19, are eligible for this treatment. Treatment is free. Vaccinations continue to be offered at 301 Dr. Carter Blvd on Mondays from 3:30 to 6:00PM. Appointments are preferred; Walk-ins are welcome. The health department is awaiting guidance for the administration of booster doses. CVS, Walgreens, Publix and Walmart are offering boosters to immunocompromised individuals.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
For the full calendar, go here.
“Old age is made for aversions, but it must be tame enough if one is to endure it with complete resignation.” (“La vieillesse est faite pour recevoir des degouts, mais elle doit etre assez sage pour les supporter avec une entiere resignation.”)
-—Voltaire, in an Oct. 8, 1773 letter to the Duc de Richelieu.
Ray W. says
The cartoon portrays one of the more direct forms of cognitive dissonance that anti-maskers will have to face for the first time when they purchase Halloween costumes for their children, some for perhaps as often as the fifteenth year of purchases. Even the act of considering the thought of having a child wear a mask for hours this Halloween will probably cause great discomfort to those parents, again for the first time.
For almost 20 years, three families hosted a Halloween event held in my front yard. We lived in the back of a quiet neighborhood comprising of some 300 homes laid out in about a one-mile loop, perfect for trick-or-treating. We offered hot dogs, chili, popcorn, sodas and, most importantly, one family had a machine to shave ice for snow cones. The event grew so large that people from neighboring cities visited. People drove in to park in the front of the subdivision and their children walked the loop trick-or-treating all the way, getting their hot dogs and drinks at the half-way point. One year, we dispensed over 230 hot dogs, nearly 16 quarts of chili, and almost 400 snow cones, with as many as five different flavors one year. Angela’s Restaurant Supply was a must-stop that time of year. My wife’s cousin, with two young children, shared their wheeled popcorn cart, which was in constant use that evening. I was in Publix one time purchasing buns that were on sale and a couple with whom I had become acquainted from my many years coaching youth baseball and softball saw me. I had not seen them in years, as my children had long outgrown city league sports. They asked why I had so many buns. I told them it was for Halloween. They immediately began excitedly telling me about their grandchildren now being old enough to visit this neighborhood they had heard about that had a big display in the yard and gave out hot dogs and snow cones; they were describing my home. Of those hundreds of children who stopped by my home, statistically, a significant number of them had to have parents who would today forbid their child to wear a mask in school, only they had enthusiastically walked slowly for a mile in my neighborhood as their children wore masks for hours. That was then. This is now. They were caring parents then. Now? Do they still think they are caring parents?
Cognitive dissonance: “[T]he state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.” Dictionary.com
One the subject of parental anger, I borrowed and modified this technique from another youth baseball coach. When I met parents for the first time each season, I lined them up and talked to them about team rules for parents. I told them that there were two types of motorcycle racers in this world: Those who had crashed and those who were going to crash. Then, I told the assembled parents that there were two types of baseball coaches in this world: Those who had a parent thrown out of a game and those who are going to have a parent thrown out of the game. This concept is based on the important truth that when we select to engage in certain activities, it is foolish to believe that certain other possibilities will not occur. I concluded this line of coach’s rules by asking each parent to consider whether they were the type of parent who might be thrown out of a game by city officials. I asked them that if they thought so to please bring binoculars to each game so they could watch the rest of the game from their car. Is it foolish to believe that failing to wear a mask or failing to become vaccinated will never affect other people?
I also provided my cell phone number to each parent and explained to them that while I welcomed constructive criticism at any time during a game, I forbad destructive criticism during games. I told them they could call me at 3:00 am if they had destructive criticism and I would accept their calls at that time, but I welcomed constructive criticism in the dugout; they could walk into the dugout without concern of reaction from me. I then asked each parent whether they accepted that rule and whether they understood the difference between the two types of criticism. Every parent accepted that rule each season.
I really focused on the rule forbidding destructive criticism after a divorced couple began arguing with each other through the chain link dugout fence during a game in front of off the kids over how the father was coaching their son in the 11-12 league. I walked over and told them this was not the place for that. The wife insisted it was and continued the argument for a few seconds, then stalked back to the stands. I called the mom the next day; she insisted she had the right to fight with her ex-husband at any time. I calmly told he that if she thought she had that right, she needed to ‘disabuse herself” of that notion, as I was the coach and I had not given her that right. I then told her that I was formally revoking that right and added that I would have her removed from the game by city officials if she did it again. Her husband voluntarily resigned from his position as an assistant coach and stopped coming to games. His wife stopped yelling out to her son from the stands. The child became a much happier teammate and player after he knew he would no longer have to hear his parents fight during games and his statistics reflected the improvement. I picked the child up from home before each game and drove him back afterwards. Per my practice, whenever we had a rainout called just before or during a 5:30 game, since the kids were all present and in uniform but likely had not yet eaten dinner, the team went out for pizza before going home (another team rule explained to parents before the first practice). While driving the child home one evening, he commented that his best friend wished I had chosen him for the team, explaining that we had had three pizza parties as a team and his friend’s team had not had any. It’s not about the baseball at that age, its about friendship and sharing. I understood that. Somehow, we are losing that facet of our society.