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I know zen posts are a bit delayed because I was trying to catch up from when I took my much needed day off. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, here is your moment of zen before a week of craziness takes off!
A Pennsylvania man by the name of Shaurn Thomas (43) was convicted of murder and sentenced to a life in prison for the 1990 murder of Domingo Martinez, who was trying to cash a $25,000 check. Thomas spent 24 years in the State Correctional Institution in Frackville, Pennsylvania for the murder and last Tuesday he was finally released from prison and declared innocent by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office. Since Thomas was accused of the murder, he maintained that he was @ correctional facility for youth offenders dealing with another case on the day of the murder, but nobody on the jury believed him and conveniently the sign in logs from the facility mysteriously disappeared by the time of the trial. James Figorski however, did believe him. He represented Thomas pro bono (for free) and worked for years to prove Thomas' innocence. Figorski, a former Philadelphia police officer, took on Thomas' case back in 2011 while volunteering with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. The Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization that works to either free or win new trials for cases they take on. This chapter of the Innocence Program has accomplished their goals for @ least 9 people since it was created in 2009. In an interview that Thomas did after being released he had this to say, "I feel wonderful, a free man. I can't feel no better. Hey man, just got to believe in God, and had the right legal team, and keep fighting. I don't got no animosity towards nobody. What for? Life's too short for that. I just move on forward. It's a tragedy that happened to me, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one." Brief thoughts: These are words that we all should live by. Life is entirely too short and uncertain to be walking around with hate in your heart, holding grudges against other people, and no matter what you may be going through, keep fighting for what you want and believe in. Welcome home Shaurn Thomas!
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Hey yall!
So, I just wanted to take a moment and tell each and every person that stops by my blog and takes the time to read my thoughts and opinions on all the craziness that's happening, THANK YOU! The success of this blog has exceeded my wildest dreams,the amount of people that come and actually read has exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations. I can remember when I started just a couple months ago, I would've been content and happy if 20 people read my blog a week and now I'm up to near 4,500 views a week, which is pretty damn good for a blog that's only been around for 4 months! I'm still learning, still trying to perfect everything on here because I want it to be the best that it can be, I'm still trying to find the balance between making sure I bring yall the truth and the facts while still trying to maintain my life outside of here. I'm also trying to find the balance of not becoming overwhelmed and burnt out because it's just me running this thing, doing the research, typing the posts, etc, (I NEED AN ASSISTANT!) sooooo.... For today (Saturday) @ the urging of some people that love and care deeply about me, I'm going to be taking a break. Apparently I took a break yesterday too, but I was working all day, so that doesn't really count. Today since I'm off from work I'm going to be taking another break to spend some time with myself, with my fur child (my dog Denali), and with my friends to regroup and take a breather. I will be back tomorrow and I have already have a host of things to discuss with yall! In the meantime, I didn't wanna leave yall hanging with nothing, so I typed up a few posts in advance and they have been scheduled to be released @ various times during the day...just trying to keep yall on your toes! Again, love and thank you to each and every person that takes time out of their day to come here! --R #resist #wakeup #staywoke I'm including another Zen Space post because these past couple of weeks have been crazy and I thought yall, along with myself could use another dose of calm before the crazy starts up again.
Last Wednesday, Tennessee lawmakers approved a piece of legislation that will make tuition and fees free for adults who don't already have an associates or bachelors degrees starting with the 2018 fall semester. This legislation will be an expansion of the state's Tennessee Promise program which makes tuition and fees free for recent high school graduates enrolled in community colleges and technical schools. In a statement regarding the legislation, Governor Bill Haslam, had the following to say, "If we want to have jobs ready for Tennesseans we have to make sure that Tennesseans are ready for jobs, and there is no smarter investment than increasing access to high quality education." Governor Haslam has made it his mission to increase the number of Tennesseans with a college education to 55%. Currently less than 39% of residents have gone to college. Plans to expand the Tennessee Promise program will cost around $10 million once fully up and running and it will be funded by the state's lottery account. **I don't believe in the lottery, I don't play the lottery, but in a case like this, I would buy a scratch off or 2 in order to support the cause.** In order to be eligible, those wanting to attend a community college under this program must have been a state resident for @ least a year before applying, maintain a 2.0 GPA in enough classes to be a part time student, and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Important note: if a student is already receiving a Pell Grant from the federal government, this program will cover any additional costs. Fun facts: San Francisco will be making community college free for all residents starting this fall and Oregon has made community college free for recent high school grads and GED recipients. Hopefully, we'll continue to see more of this around the country, and eventually we're get to a place where community college is free to each and every person in this country! Ready for your weekly decompress? I know I am, here's your zen space story of the week.
82 Nigerian schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram back in 2014, were reunited with their families on Saturday. The 82 girls who were released this month follow a group of 21 girls who were released in October. The Nigerian government, with assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Swiss Government negotiated the release of the girls with Boko Haram. Five commanders from Haram's extremist group were exchanged for their release. The Nigerian government has said it will continue negotiations to ensure the remaining 113 girls are freed. Both sets of freed girls have been under the care of the government taking part in a 9 month reintegration program that President Muhammadu Buhari is personally overseeing. Welcome home girls! #BringBackOurGirls Ready for your weekly debrief? I know I am! Here's your weekly Zen Space post!
Last Wednesday, Amazon announced they'll be donating more than 47,000 square feet of space in their new Seattle headquarters to go towards being a permanent location to house homeless people. Amazon is partnering once again with local nonprofit Mary's Place to create 65 rooms in the building which will house more than 200 homeless people every night. The space is expected to open in early 2020. In 2016, Amazon worked with Mary's Place to temporarily provide housing for 200 homeless people in 1 of its empty buildings. During its announcement on Wednesday, Amazon also said they'll be working with Mary's Place to move these families out of this building and place them in a former hotel across the street because they'll be using the space these families were in for offices. Also, something you may not have been paying attention to as you're order things on Amazon. Since March of 2016, customers have been able to order items from the Mary's Place's wishlist on the site and have them sent to a family who's experiencing homelessness. Kudos to Amazon for doing good things for the community! And I bet you'll be on the lookout for the Mary's Place Wishlist the next time you're filling up your csrt on Amazon! I promised I would start doing this @ the end of every week, so we can all decompress, so without further ado, here's your feel good story of the week!
I found this feel good story courtesy of Buzzfeed. Teachers @ an elementary school in Columbus, Georgia threw kindergarten students a "millionaire bash" to celebrate these students collectively reading 1 million words during the school year! The bash was complete with a red carpet, a ride in a limo, the kids got to dress up in their finest clothes, and they even got to sign autographs! Teachers have estimated that 1 million words are equal to 250 books. Teachers and students kept track of their goal by utilizing reading logs. Well done! These girls and boys should be very proud of what they've accomplished this school year! I know there's been a lot going on this week leading up to Trump's 100 days and just a lot going on in the world in general, so I wanted to end this week of blogging on a positive and lighter note!
Ed Murray, Seattle's mayor announced last Wednesday (4/26) that Seattle would be partnering with Paul G. Allen who's co-founder of Microsoft and Chairman of the Seattle Seahawks, to build a facility that'll house homeless families with children. The Paul G. Allen foundation will provide $30 million to go to the development of this facility and the city has pledged $5 million to go towards the operation and the maintenance of the facility. Kudos to this foundation and kudos to the city of Seattle for being committed to finding solutions to the homeless epidemic in this country. Hopefully, other cities and states will follow suit and we can get everybody off the street. See, something positive to end the week with! I think this is actually how I'm going to start ending my blogging weeks. A nice positive blog to decompress with. |
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