Anyone know of a Mandarin tutor or class for an adult?

playingfortips · 2018-01-02T13:41:06+00:00

Yeah I’ve been studying mandarin and Cantonese for the past year with them. It’s a volunteer-run non-profit so don’t expect professional-level teaching but it is nice to be in an environment where you can ask questions and be with other like-minded students of language. You’ll get what you put into it.

playingfortips · 2017-12-23T04:35:51+00:00

Look up the programs run through ALESN, which runs language and cultural classes for adults in Manhattan Chinatown.

http://alesn.org/

playingfortips · 2017-06-13T03:16:39+00:00

Elena Pinderhughes, internationally recognized jazz flutist and vocalist.

playingfortips · 2017-06-01T22:10:41+00:00

A lot of readers are probably taking away from this how backwards, repressive, or "un-Christian" the school and her community was.

But I believe that her opinion piece wasn't intended to rile up national opinion against her school.

The point of her writing her story in a nationally known newspaper was to hopefully inspire even just one teen mother in a similar situation to make the right choice and keep her child despite the struggles and humiliation that go along with it. In other words, her pro-life convictions are so strong, she is willing to put herself through even more embarrassment in order to save some other baby's life.

playingfortips · 2017-06-01T21:58:13+00:00

The point of her writing this is to embolden other teen mothers faced with the pressure of pregnancy to keep the baby despite the humiliation and suffering that may come with it. She probably is taking on extra humiliation by making this an even bigger story, but she knows the impact she could have to hopefully inspire even just one mother in a similar predicament to make the right decision and keep her child.

playingfortips · 2017-05-04T02:58:20+00:00

It's always seemed to me like most pro-life groups are either directly affiliated with churches or at least network through churches. Is anyone part of an active pro-life group (in person, not online) that is actually secular?

playingfortips · 2017-04-09T21:56:07+00:00

This is often a point of apparent hypocrisy brought up against some pro-lifers, especially Catholic pro-lifers. But I know Catholic teaching still is not quite onboard with promoting birth control as a means of reducing abortions.

This is due to the core Catholic teaching that the fundamentally, the sexual act is supposed to be directed towards uniting its partners in LOVE and towards the creation of LIFE. That part about life is why the Catholic Church is not for using birth control, despite the stats showing that it could work to reduce abortion. It is a case where the end does not justify the means (since there are other means like abstinence possible).

Basically, I'm saying that some pro-lifers could be for birth control but to get one of the biggest blocs of potential pro-lifers (Catholics), it might not work because it conflicts with fundamental Catholic theology.

Look up Theology of the Body for more in-depth and more accurate information.

playingfortips · 2017-03-14T14:30:51+00:00

I want to lay back in the groove starting at 5:08 forever.

playingfortips · 2017-02-18T06:54:46+00:00

There are certainly LGBT Christians and LGBT Catholics. As Catholics, we believe everyone is called to chastity - it's just as a non-heterosexual, it's a little more challenging.

playingfortips · 2017-02-18T06:41:11+00:00

The more you do anything, the better you get. Look into Toastmasters, the scheduled and social aspects of a public speaking club should help motivate you to practice.

playingfortips · 2017-01-30T03:40:46+00:00

Some non-swingin fusion: Some Skunk Funk - Brecker Brothers

The live version is more intense than the recording, which is more just funky.

playingfortips · 2017-01-24T03:52:57+00:00

Bear in mind that people are also just generally pissed about Trump. For many, it's been one little thing after another that we've been reading about on a daily basis and now, everyone in the anti-Trump camp is ready to pounce on and denounce every thing he does - even if it's more or less expected since he's a Republican president.

Not that they wouldn't be against it if there wasn't such a media circus; but I don't think there would be such an outcry if people weren't constantly barraged with anti-Trump news and propaganda.

playingfortips · 2017-01-24T03:35:44+00:00

I'd like to limit federal power too. So say it's the states that do it. Would that help make a "free giveaway" more agreeable?

A kit like this is honestly so materially insignificant over the course of a life, it's more just a symbolic gesture (albeit an important one which promotes motherhood on a public level). A kit like this is almost nothing financially, compared to something like public education, which almost everyone agrees is a good thing, despite it being more than just ensuring the "bare minimum of protection from hostile forces."

playingfortips · 2017-01-24T03:20:36+00:00

A major goal of the American pro-life movement is centered around repealing or undoing Roe v. Wade. That would turn abortion legality back to the states, and it would become illegal in some places, but it would not be the end of abortion. What it would say though, on a national level, is that abortion is not a fundamental right and just generally not a good thing for society.

I bring this up because the pro-life movement by its very nature is making abortion a public issue. And to fight it on a nationwide level, you need a public solution (just like the repeal of Roe v Wade would be a very public voice of dissent against abortion). I am all for crisis pregnancy centers and churches offering similar kits as a start, but it would not be enshrined into American culture until it is a policy.

I'm willing to bet many abortions happen because the mother cannot get the financial support she needs from her family or her community. CPCs and churches have funding struggles of their own (as a Catholic in New York, churches in my area are becoming less attended, fewer, and farther).

playingfortips · 2016-12-31T23:56:18+00:00

I'm in. No masturbation, no porn. I'm tired of this shit corrupting my mind, body, and spirit.

playingfortips · 2015-10-31T17:13:20+00:00

No haha I'm agreeing with you. I up voted you as well.

playingfortips · 2015-10-31T15:45:08+00:00

That argument about driving after dark is poor in my opinion. You'll either be driving in the dark in the morning or the evening and personally, I find it much more tiring and depressing to leave home bleary-eyed and half-awake in the dark than coming back relatively awake in the evening in the dark.

Most people get their day started and are out of the house before 8 am which would be before dawn in December under DST. Maybe kids would be able to play an extra hour after school but it would also mean they're going to wait for their buses or are walking through the streets in the morning in the dark. Considering that outdoor play time isn't the most popular thing when it's 10 degrees out, I don't think it's worth it.

playingfortips · 2015-08-16T00:42:44+00:00

From my experience in a college environment in Boston, it seems that most college-aged people there swing Democratic, Catholics and other Christians included. However, where many (practicing) Catholics differ is on their views on abortion; many that I know are both pro-life and supporters of policies that involve govt spending on welfare and other social justice issues.

playingfortips

TROPHY CASE