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A thousand Welcomes to The Village Oak Tree for April 3rd, 2024
I am back to your village again this week with another interview.
This week, I interviewed Mr. Eugene Williams Jr. from Virginia, USA, a noted author and, now retired, educator, who agreed to talk to me about some of the fuss over DEI, or the lack of it, in schools now. I wanted to know if states withholding funding for DEI or other related equality issues were having any impact on minority or economically challenged students.
I know someone in another state that is close to me and had been in charge of the DEI program at the institution she works at until they eliminated it. She told me that they had to keep something in place to keep receiving their federal funding for these initiatives. She says, “They just got creative and called them by a different name for the feds.”
It didn’t effect their enrollments or staff retention that much, which is what my guest told me as well where he used to work in Virginia. As an African American educator, who had multiple rolls in his career. Teacher, vice principle, principle, etc., he said that in the minority communities, they were used to programs like these coming and going through the years so they learned to adapt and carry on.
I asked him several questions on the subject, which I won’t detail here in this newsletter. You will need to watch or listen to the podcast to hear more.
Hit play above to watch the podcast or listen in your favorite podcast mobile app.
I saved the veterans public service announcement for the end of the interview this time as I didn’t want to distract from the interview itself. I am planning an new advert for next week to keep things fresh.
Stay tuned for for more controversial interviews in the near future about the nefarious doings of MAGA and the GOP base. I am in the process of setting up something with someone I think everyone will be interested in listening to for sometime later in April.
I am also planning another podcast for next week around the mess in the middle east, especially in Gaza. I have some reference articles saved so I will be creating something on that. I kind of want to see what Iran is going to do, or not, about the latest bombing in Damascus, Syria of the Iranian embassy before I set this up. I am not planning on any guests for this one. Just me going off on western governments, Israel and the media again.
As for other newsworthy events, I have been guesting on a couple of podcasts myself. I did an interview with a woman from Illinois, who wanted to know about my colorful military service. I didn’t see the final product but I figure it went well.
Then I was interviewed by a Medium writer from western Canada about a book I published ( now revised) and what it is like writing for online publications. His podcast and website is called Brewing Fiction Podcast. Check it out. His partner in crime is H.R. Parker of The Kraken Lore fame in Medium.com.
In case anyone is interested, the name of my book is Fugitives in a New United States and is a dystopian future about what America might look like should a theocratic government take over in the next ten years. The story centers around a central character and his attempts to find a safe sanctuary in New England.
It is available in Amazon, and Barnes and Noble Booksellers. For those who may be interested in bulk sales for a library or a school, it is also available through Ingram Spark. I also have a book store page on my website, www.crann-na-beatha.com, where someone can purchase a book directly from me and I would ship it out to you. This way, if you want an author signed book, I can oblige. This only applies to physical books, not digital. Kind of hard to sign an eBook, don’t you think?
I want to thank everyone who has read this far. It shows me that there is some interest in what I am doing. Even if I only reach a handful of people, that is still better than none at all.
As always, share this podcast with your friends and relations. The more you share, the more we can convince enough people to make the world a better place to live in.
As a Seanchaí, I hope you will continue to let me travel to your village to bring you some news from the world outside that might make you think a little after we part for the day.
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.” Slán go fóill — which means goodbye for now in Irish.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
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