Yuma Michaels's Blog
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Nov.09.2011
It was 1972, only the second time I'd voted in a presidential election. I was working full time and had two small children. My sister agreed to watch the little ones while I went to our nearby fire station voting location, and I, in turn, would watch my niece and nephew while she and her...
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Jul.06.2011
Being proud of one's country is like being proud of one's race. No part of being born into a certain country is in our hands just as race is not one of our own accomplishments. Why be proud of something we had no part in creating? If I've done something that helps my country be a better place, I...
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May.05.2011
This year’s American high school graduates were, on average, seven years old on September 11, 2001. They were in second grade. Osama bin Laden was their real live boogie man. The dogs of war had never been on the leash, so to speak, during their elementary, middle and high school years. They...
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Jan.18.2011
I’m not a sentimental person. Sentimental, according to my beloved Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, means “marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism” whereas elemental means (second definition) “of, relating to, or resembling a great force of...
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Apr.08.2010
If Virginia will celebrate "Confederate History Month," then it's ok for New York to celebrate" Al Qaeda Terrorists Month." After all, both the Confederacy and Al Qaeda attacked the United States of America. Both groups hoped to stand up for their radical beliefs, the...
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Mar.20.2010
Texas’ messing with history is nothing new. The Texas State Board of Education has been trying to re-fight the Civil War and Reconstruction, Indian wars, and the Spanish-American War using textbooks for a long time.
I attended Texas public schools from the 50s through 60s. Though I got a good...
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Mar.10.2010
In my dream last night, I was back in the classroom (I’m a retired high school and middle school teacher) having difficulty with a couple of naughty children. Every time I would open my mouth to speak, one or the other would make a whistling sound, thus taking the class’ attention away from...
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Feb.27.2010
Why are a handful of Republican lawmakers more powerful than a huge Democratic majority in Congress, a Democratic President in the White House, and a stable and reliable Obama grassroots movement? Take a look at the media. They are responsible. They are the ones who can make black, white and...
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Jan.28.2010
During the years of my marriage to a volatile man in a starkly real culture, every day of my life felt like a sweeping novel or an intense play. I stopped reading altogether. Catharsis was unnecessary—something, it seemed at the time, for people who lived life vicariously instead of just lived. ...
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Nov.18.2009
The word peace sounds so gentle, yet peace itself--its true meaning--is powerful. History so often is taught in terms of war. When was the 100 Years War? Who were allies in World War II? In fact, history could be taught as war itself, as I'm sure someone was fighting someone else somewhere at...
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Sep.01.2009
There is a pervasive grayish-orange aura today. The sun’s way of trying to shine through, I suppose. Hurrying to my upstairs window, camera in hand, I try to capture one of the tired, red helicopters, this one’s retardant apparatus dangling valiantly, though almost impotently against the vastness...
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Aug.20.2009
My career as a teacher has not been so much about being another brick in the wall as it has been about running into brick walls. After completing a bachelor's degree, a master's degree (with distinction, I might add), and more than 25 years with good to excellent evaluations, I'm still running...
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Aug.12.2009
Above my monitor is the August of my calendar, my hero looking cool in designer shades to protect his eyes from the glare of television cameras as he spreads blue paint on a clapboard building in some neighborhood of Washington, DC. Taken the day before his inauguration, this picture speaks to me...
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"What is within us comes to the shores of ourselves in many ways."”
—Linda Hogan in The Woman Who Watches Over the World
About Yuma
Yuma Michaels is a poet and writer who lives in Sedona, Arizona. She writes political blogs and is editor of the Huffington Post blog by Kathleen Wells. Her latest novel is a mystery called Gaining Purchase.
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Causes Yuma Michaels Supports
NDRC, Southern Poverty Law Center, Greenpeace
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