Learning Empathy by Looking Beyond Disabilities

Excellent article in the NY Times for high school teachers:

The unusual lessons are part of a new effort, called the Pearls Project, to promote tolerance and empathy in a school culture where being different can mean social exile. Ridgewood teachers developed it this year in partnership with Positive Exposure, a nonprofit group in New York City founded by Rick Guidotti, a fashion photographer.

Mr. Guidotti, who has photographed supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer, began snapping pictures of children with genetic disorders in 1997. A year later, Life magazine published his photo essay on albinism, titled “Redefining Beauty.” His work with these subjects has also been displayed in galleries, medical schools and children’s hospitals, as well as at Harvard University and at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

For the Pearls Project, Mr. Guidotti photographed 11 young people, each with a different disability. He also arranged for them to blog about their experiences and answer questions from the Ridgewood students. The subjects are identified only by their first names — Byron, Ashley, Rebecca, et al. — and come from various states.

Continue reading Learning Empathy by Looking Beyond Disabilities

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/nyregion/at-nj-school-learning-not-to-look-away-from-the-disabled.html?_r=1&ref=education

The Importance of Education, from Walt Frazier

Former NY Knicks basketball legend Walt Frazier discusses the importance of education:

"I grew up in very humble beginnings in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm the oldest of nine kids -- seven sisters and one brother, so I often tell people when you grow up in a scenario like that, you either like kids or you hate them. I've had an affinity for kids for a long time. When I came to the Knicks, they were my most ardent supporters. They bought my books, they bought my Clyde sneakers, they attended my camp. So today I feel compelled to give back.

"One of the things I do under my Walt Frazier Youth Foundation is I go into the schools and talk about the importance of education and the abstinence of drugs and alcohol. I go to inner-city schools and I also go to the elite schools. I usually ask the kids, 'How can you improve your relationship with your parents?' Whether it be the inner-city school or the elite school, they say 'communication.' They say, 'My parents don't communicate.' I think you can't motivate people unless you communicate, so you gotta talk to those kids, look in those eyes when they come in, know what they're doing, know their friends, and that's going to be essential for their success.

Continue reading Walt Frazier recognized as a "Fab Father"
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/5404/walt-frazier-recognized-as-a-fab-father

Speaking for GAP during Paralegal Week: June 13th CLE Luncheon on Professionalism

I hope everyone in Metro Atlanta joins me for a FUN (I promise) CLE Luncheon for The Georgia Association of Paralegals (GAP):

Instilling Professionalism and Humor in an Adversarial System
Perry Binder, J.D.
DATE: Monday, June 13, 2011
TIME: 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm (Lunch, then speaker will begin at 1:00 pm)
LOCATION: Nelson Mullins
Atlantic Station Atlantic Station
201 17th Street NW, Suite 1700
Atlanta, GA 30363

COST: Free
SPONSOR: ParaNet
DEADLINE: June 10, 2011
REGISTRATION: Registration online. Open to the first 40 registrants.
http://www.gaparalegal.org/June13_rsvp.shtml

Former civil litigator turned professor, Perry Binder, offers paralegals a mirror to reflect on unacceptable behavior witnessed in the practice of law. Participants get to “learn by example,” with Perry’s original and hilarious lessons. The ultimate goal of the session is for paralegals to envision living a rewarding professional life, through civility, humor, humility, and stress reduction. Perry uses examples dealing with law or other professions to draw behavioral parallels evidenced by legal professionals.
http://perrybinder.com/ParalegalTopics.htm

Bad Luck and Hard Times on the Menu at a Bus Terminal in West Virginia

This article in The New York Times resonated with me, as someone who writes about West Virginia and who was a Greyhound ticket agent/baggage handler in New York state's so-called rust belt

Bad Luck and Hard Times on the Menu at a Bus Terminal in West Virginia

by Sabrina Tavernise

WEIRTON, W.Va. — The bus terminal in this old mill town used to be for people who were going places. Greyhound would take them to nearby Pittsburgh and Cleveland and other cities where the steel industry was booming. These days it is a diner where no one goes anywhere and regulars sit for hours smoking cigarettes, playing slot machines and talking about sports. it still has the same name, Bus Terminal, and a painted map with a clock for each time zone. But the promise of travel has long faded and the faces here remain the same, a cast of characters who fill the hours with verbal boxing.

CONTINUE READING:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/us/11weirton.html