Dan’s Top 10 Things He Learned This Semester at EmpowerU
EmpowerU is all about teaching people new things so that we can become more Empowered in their lives. We hope you will join us for another exciting semester (our eighth semester) that will start on September 18, 2014. Watch for news about next semester at www.empoweruohio.org . In the meantime here are the Top 10 things I learned at EmpowerU this Year!
#10. Ohio Innocence Project: Of all the inmates protesting their innocence most will not get a good chance at a relook unless there is DNA evidence supporting their case. Without DNA, the chance of reopening almost any case is zero.
#9. With EmpowerU classes I have grown to appreciate History more and more. The class on the Holocaust brought History very close to me when I visited the Holocaust Museum, which I was unaware of. Visit the Center for Holocaust and Humanity, 8401 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236).
#8. Human Trafficking. I learned it’s real. It’s easy for me to sit out in the suburbs and think this problem doesn’t exist. But it does and at a shockingly high level. We all need to keep our eyes open.
#7. Blended Learning—A new kind of education is evolving in different parts of the County that combines learning which gives each student the opportunity to learn at their own level at ½ the cost. I want to know when will a mainstream school board will try a test example of this “outside the box education” to bring change to a model that in most cases doesn’t seem to be working?
#6. Cincinnati has a great history and offers some incredibly compelling Cold Cases. I learned that the West Side of Cincinnati (where many of this cases happened) is absolutely compelled by the Bricca case and others. (It will be the subject of a full 1.5 hour class to be offered at Price Hill Chili on 10/29/14—for Halloween!). Similarly, the Jim LaBarbara’s, Music Professor Class was incredible and reminded me of what a magical place Cincinnati was in the 70’s—Virbrant…Exciting….
#5. Maurice Thompson’s class on the Ohio Constitution reminded me that it is illegal for a Ohio Government to pay a private corporation money (He is taking the Columbus Zoo to court over this in a possible similar situation to our Zoo here). Maurice warned us that the single biggest issue threatening Ohio Citizens is Ohio Judges who will not recognize “standing” of ordinary citizens (like us!) who want or need to take the Government to court to right wrongs.
#4. The legalization of Marijuana in Ohio is going to happen. It appears to be a Fait Accompli. Over 58% of the people support legalization. The Ohio lawmakers may skirt the issue for a year or two or three but it is coming. This is great news to the many people suffering from debilitating pain. However, there will be many problems that come with one more intoxicating substance being available.
#3. It is shocking to me to see Ohio Republicans preside over the dismantling of the Ohio Open Records and Meetings Act. Moving forward to coming elections we simply must make our politicians open up and let the “Sunshine In”!
#2. If I ever find myself under attack or in danger from a bad guy I want to be with someone who has been trained by Debbie Gardner in her magnificent Self-Defense classes.
#1. Doc Thompson hit me square in the face with this fact about the NSA. If the Government had come into our houses 30 years ago and told us they were going to inspect, read and catalog all of our mail would we have stood for it? Why in the world are we accepting NSA invasion into our personal lives now?
PS—I couldn’t count this in the top 10 butI learned how to cut a CIGAR without damaging it. Seems kind of random and unimportant—but to me it is something I’ve always wanted to know!
