Kingdom of Knowledge

Library at Cal. State University Long Beach Will use New Methods of Delivering Knowledge to Students

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat


Students at California State University Long Beach should be please to know that access to the stored books and journals in the University Library will be available as soon as the Online Remote Collections Access or ORCA room is completed.

The completion of this facility will help to solve problems like availability, accessibility, technological currency, accuracy and obstacles of searching that the over 42,000 students that use the library in a week (some repeats) face on the way to receiving information.

"ORCA is a machine," said Henry Dubois, the administrative services librarian. "It’s a physical delivery machine, and what it delivers is knowledge contained in objects like books, microfilm, and some of our archival collections."

The system itself works by students first going to a browsing computer where they will have a list of all the hard copy materials in ORCA. They will put in a request for an item and the ORCA will activate.

The ORCA will remove a container from the stacks and deliver it to a station where a librarian will hand deliver the book to the student. From the request to the hand off the whole process is estimated to take five minutes.

"There are two benefits to this that we see," said Dubois. "It increases browseablilty of our existing and remaining stacks because not all books are going into ORCA."

The other benefit is by not having the shelves filled with journals used every six or eight years it increases the browseablilty and speeds up the process of finding what a student might need, Dubois said.

With the loss of tangible materials, students so far have been coping with the loss by using the Internet via the computers provided at the Spidell Technology Center to gather information.

"I’ve only used (the library) once," said Journalism major Eddie Bermudez, 30, "for the computers."

More students come forward with similar views.

"I use it for the Internet," says 22-year-old Jennifer Vandekieft.

With many people using the Internet as a source of information gathering will the ORCA even matter to students?

"I don’t think students will know or care," said Dubois. "I think they’ll become aware of it when they come and try to find something and it’s retrieved that way."

But what do students rely on until then?

"The library, since I’ve been here about nine years," said Lesley Farmer, Librarian Program Coordinator, "has a steadily improving website that provides students with research guides, with web tutorials and contact information so that will help them."

A big concern, aside from the materials being available and accessible, is that they have to actually be in the library and not slipped out in a back pack.

"The fact that these materials will be really secure (means) there’s going to be less theft so you’re more likely to get the materials you want," Farmer said.

Despite the wonders of the Internet age there still is a need for hard copy information in today’s world.

"If you’re researching the Kennedy assassination for example are you’re looking for books that where written at the time you’re going to need to use books," said Dubois. "And those kinds of books could be housed in ORCA."

"It’s very frustrating," agrees Farmer. "Not having the print journals, sometimes the faculty asks students to photocopy the cover of a journal and we only have the electronic form. Usually the databases don’t include a print cover. So that’s frustrating and the most immediate need."

For more information contact:

Henry Dubois at 562-982-8880 or hdubois@csulb.edu.

Lesley Farmer at 562-985-4517 or lfarmer@csulb.edu.

Contact David Cowan at dbcowan1985@yahoo.com or through his blog at theshadowsknowledge-david.blogspot.com

Know the Lies

The First Round of Presidential Political Mudslinging Begins

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

COSTA MESA, Calif. (May 11, 2008)--John McCain is a clone of President Bush. Junior Illinois Senator Barack Obama is a risk to National Security. And those are the nice one's.

An article by Jitendra Joshi is showing how both the Democratic and Republican parties are going on the attack before a democratic candidate has officially been chosen.

Despite the lead of Sen. Obama, Sen. Hilliary Clinton vows to stay in the race and more than likely further divide the Democratic Party.

The Shadow Knows

Why, why, why? Like watching a train wreck in slow motion these campaigns go forward. I look not to the future but to the past for a good candidate. The November election will be the most important event of the year. I don't care about the Led Zeppelin reunion concert this is more important.

I look at politics from the perspective of the 50's, 60's and 70's where candidates ran on their merits not on their opponents weaknesses. I wonder what would happen today if politics had remained relatively clean.

The closest we came was when Sen. Obama addresses the country after the statements made by his former pastor Rev. Wright. It was not a denouncement at that point but free press to talk about the lack of importance that race carried in the election. Made me tingly.

Now the senator has distanced himself for his former pastor and in my mind shown his sense of loyalty. Is this the kind of candidate we want? Because at this point it's the best the democratic party has.

You're in the Money

Stimulus Checks and Tax Rebates are Coming Out and Burning Money in the Pockets of Americans

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

COSTA MESA, Calif. (May 11, 2008)-- The Bush administrations attempt to improve the US economy has taken it's first tentative steps toward economic growth. While there has not yet been immediate change speculation in the stock market and throughout the Internet has been booming.

In an article by Malden Read, Wall Street has been taking polls and measuring what Americans will be spending their extra money on.

The general TV interview shows a person saying that they will simply be paying the bills and then putting the rest in the bank. They say this as they stand in a Best Buy.

The Shadow Knows

While extra money is always a cool thing to have, this is the time to use any excess money responsibly. Economist Suze Orman says that the best way to increase your monthly income is to pay off your debt.

To the college student money think this can really take the edge off college fees and provide extra funds for materials. And beer.

Can'tdidate

Hillary Clinton The Little Candidate Who Couldn't

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

A Shadow Knows Exclusive

Why won't she stop running. I like Sen. Hillary Clinton, I really do. I like her family, I believe she is a qualified candidate. America seems to think differently though.

According to last nights polls Sen. Clinton is so far behind that even if she wins the remaining states she won't have enough to over take Sen. Barack Obama.

Now according to the Wall Street Journal only 27% of Americans favor the Republican party at this point and time. This lead me to believe that come November, a majority of Americans will do to the polls and put their mark next to the big D despite what the name next to it say.

I feel it is crucial at this point that if the Democratic party wants to maintain their lead, they must begin to unite now.

A friend of mine asked a scary question yesterday, he said, "What id Hillary loses, will she run as an Independent?" This sent a chill down my spine.

The party is already divided over the candidates in their own party, a split would completely decimate the hope of a substantial victory that the party needs to curry favor with the nation and the world.

Hot Knowledge

Students on California State University Long Beach Campus Erect Wall to Raise Awareness.

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

LONG BEACH, Calif(May 5, 2008)--Students have erected a wall to raise awareness about Palestine. The wall that measures roughly 30 feet long by 10 feet high proclaims a Palestinian Holocaust.

On Jewish student took offense to the wall kicking the wall, denouncing the statistics that cover in and trying to tear down the Israeli flag that had been symbolically covered in red paint made to look like blood. He was stopped before he could complete his task and gave no comments other than to say that he was Jewish and found the wall highly offensive. He left soon afterward.

The wall is currently in the free speech area across from the bookstore on the CSULB campus.

Flash From the Past Part II

Today Marks a New Height in the Death Toll in Iraq.

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

LONG BEACH, CALIF. (April 30, 2008)-- The death toll in Iraq for the month of April has been the highest in the past seven months. Over 47 servicemen have died in April as a result of militia activity.

According to a spokesman for the Iraqi civilian security operations, at over 900 people have died in Sadr city as a result of heavy fight, although these numbers have yet to be confirmed.

As of today the US death toll is about 4, 059.

For more information on the Iraq War click here.

The Shadow Knows

While the number of US servicemen killed so far is reaching a high I can't help but think of the number of people who died in the Vietnam war under similar circumstances.

In the bloodiest year of the fighting in Vietnam, 1968, 14, 589 soldiers lost their lives. This is the equivalent to about 40 a day. More over to the nay sayers who are talking about the horrendous loss of life so far, I need only to think back to 1966, where in the first year of hard combat over 5,000 soldiers were killed.

In over five years of fighting in Iraq the US has lost over 4,000 troops. This equates to about two soldiers a day.

While the losses are no less tragic I feel that by comparison we are doing better. I do not believe in this war, I do not believe the people who are in charge, but I do believe that the people on the ground are real and the people who sent them there are.

So do your part, help end the war and save their lives, like they're trying to save ours.

For statistics on the Vietnam War click here.

Flash From the Past

Today's commentary will be in the edited form of a speech made by John F. Kennedy when he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in 1960. My personal comments will follow.



Delivered on 15 July 1960.


It was my great honor to place his name in nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, and I am delighted to have his support and his counsel and his advice in the coming months ahead.

With a deep sense of duty and high resolve, I accept your nomination.
I accept it with a full and grateful heart – without reservation – and with only one obligation – the obligation to devote every effort of body, mind and spirit to lead our Party back to victory and our Nation back to greatness.

I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk – new, at least since 1928. But I look at it this way: the Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgement – to uphold the Constitution and my oath of office – and to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest. My record of fourteen years supporting public education – supporting complete separation of church and state – and resisting pressure from any source on any issue should be clear by now to everyone,
I hope that no American, considering the really critical issues facing this country, will waste his franchise by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. I want to stress, what some other political or religious leader may have said on this subject. It is not relevant what abuses may have existed in other countries or in other times. It is not relevant what pressures, if any, might conceivably be brought to bear on me. I am telling you now what you are entitled to know: that my decisions on any public policy will be my own – as an American, a Democrat and a free man.

Under any circumstances, however, the victory that we seek in November will not be easy. We all know that in our hearts. We recognize the power of the forces that will be aligned against us. We know they will invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of their candidate – despite the fact that the political career of their candidate has often served to show charity toward none and malice toward for all.

Perhaps he could carry on the party policies – the policies of Nixon, Benson, Dirksen and Goldwater. But this Nation cannot afford such a luxury. Perhaps we could better afford a Coolidge following Harding. And perhaps we could afford a Pierce following Fillmore.

And after eight years of drugged and fitful sleep, this nation needs strong, creative Democratic leadership in the White House.

But we are not merely running against Mr. Nixon. Our task is not merely one of itemizing Republican failures. Nor is that wholly necessary. For the families forced from the farm will know how to vote without our telling them. The unemployed miners and textile workers will know how to vote. The old people without medical care – the families without a decent home – the parents of children without adequate food or schools – they all know that it’s time for a change.

But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high – to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future.

Today our concern must be with the future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.

Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons – new and uncertain nations – new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free – but one-third is the victim of cruel repression – and the other one-third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations then by the fission of the atom itself.

Meanwhile, Communist influence has penetrated further into Asia, stood astride in the Middle East and now festers some ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality – and neutrals into hostility. As our keynoter reminded us, the President who began his career by going to Korea ends it by staying away from Japan.

The world has been close to war before – but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over.

Here, at home, the changing face of the future is equally revolutionary. The New Deal and the Fair Deal were bold measures for their generations – but this is a new generation.

A technological revolution on the farm has led us to an output explosion – but we have not yet learned how to harness that explosion usefully, while protecting our farmers’ right to full parity income.

An urban population explosion has crowded our schools, cluttered up our suburbs, and increased the squalor of our slums.

A peaceful revolution for human rights – demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life has strained at the leashes imposed by timid executive leadership.

A medical revolution has extended the life of our elder citizens without providing the dignity and security those later years deserve. And a revolution of automation finds machines replacing men in the mines and mills of America, without replacing their incomes or their training or their needs to pay the family doctor, grocer and landlord.

There has also been a change – a slippage – in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drought and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies – and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America – in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will, and their sense of historic purpose.

It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership – new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.

All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power – men who are not bound by the traditions of the past – men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries – young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.

The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is also a young man. But his approach is as old as McKinley. His party is the party of the past. His speeches are generalities from Poor Richard’s Almanac. Their platform, made up of left-over Democratic planks, has the courage of our old convictions. Their pledge is a pledge to the status quo – and today there can be no status quo.

For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of old gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their own lives to build a new world here in the West. They were not the captives of their own doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their motto was not “every man for himself” but “all for the common cause.” They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened from without and within.

Today some would say that those struggles are all over – that all the horizons have been explored – that all the battles have ben won – that there is no longer an American frontier.
But I trust that no one in this vast assemblage will agree with those sentiments. For the problems are not all solved and the battlers are not all won – and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier – the frontier of the 1960's – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.

Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises, it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook – it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.

But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric – and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me regardless of party.

But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age – to all who respond to the Scriptural call: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”

For courage – not complacency – is our need today – leadership, not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously. A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is a Tory nation, and the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory.

There may be those who wish to hear more – more promises to this group or that – more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin – more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high. But my promises are in the platform you have adopted. Our ends will not be won by rhetoric and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves.

For the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand on this frontier at a turning-point in history. We must prove all over again whether this nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure; whether our society, with its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives, can compete with the single-minded advance of the Communist system.

Can a nation organized and governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction, but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men’s minds?

Are we up to the task – are we equal to the challenge? Are we willing to match the Russian sacrifice of the present for the future, or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present?

That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make – a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort – between national greatness and national decline – between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” – between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.

All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.

It has been a long road from that first snowy day in New Hampshire to this crowded convention city. Now begins another long journey, taking me into your cities and homes all over America. Give me your help, your hand, your voice, your vote. Recall with me the words of Isaiah: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary.”

As we face the coming challenge, we too shall wait upon the Lord, and ask that he renew our strength, Then shall we be equal to the test. Then shall we not be weary. And then we shall prevail.

Thank you.

The Shadow Knows

Why can't we have that? We need leaders that will stand up not to the people but for the people. We too lie on the horizon of a new frontier. Think of our leaders as people we can trust to actually lead you like Kennedy lead America, to try. They might not always succeed but only in not trying do we really fail.

Know Your Candidate

Tomorrow's Primary May Decide Tomorrows President.
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat


Tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary for the Democratic nominee is a point of major concern for both candidates. If Hillary Clinton fails to capture the state she may well have to drop out of the race, though she has repeatedly said she has no plans of doing so. Barack Obama will have to overcome statements he had made at the beginning of the month about the people of Pennsylvania.

During the week the candidates have been upping the attack ads and the news it seems has done little more than report the days mudslinging. I believe that it is time to quit focusing on the obvious flaws of these candidates, for we are not electing them on that, and again focus on what they plan to do.

We are looking to the future not the past. For the democrats to have any hope of beating John McCain in the race for the presidency, then they must put the daggers away. If I were a republican consultant, and who says I'm not at this point in the story, I would be paying close attention to what the democrats are saying about each other now. Because it will be great fodder once a candidate is elected.

A Reflection on Virginia Tech

What Has Been Learned?

By David Cowan

Knowledge Beat

A year ago 33 students were killed by a lone gunman, not from a tower, a book depository (if you believe that), or any other great distance. This person proceeded on foot and with two hand guns was able to create a massacre bigger than the incident at Columbine or the shootings at Cal State Fullerton in the 1970s.

I remember sitting in my newsroom at Orange Coast College glued to my computer hastily trying to gather information for the publication of the weekly paper. I felt sick to my stomach the whole time.

I wasn't thinking about my deadline. I wasn't thinking about the dead or the living at the school in Virginia. I wasn't event thinking about the fall out and paranoia that would be coming in the following weeks. I was thinking quietly to my self, "today someone has set a new standard."

A new standard for horror. A new standard for the breaking point and the reaction. A new standard for things I never want to know.

The response was typical. Fear, paranoia, sadness, regret and over-reaction to a problem that was too late to be solved.

A year later I'm sitting at a computer, writing about the same subject.

We still don't know the exact reason for why these horrors have happened and why they keep happening. We still don't know why these people, these killers, do what they do. Maybe that's the biggest flaw in our assumption. Maybe they don't know either.

Read this article and ask yourself: how far have we come?

Yet More things Keeping Students From Knowledge

Rising Tuition Costs are Keeping Students out and Making College a Privilege

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat


Knowledge is free. You can go and learn from books and become an expert on any subject you desire. However, so that people don't laugh in your face, you have to go to college and college is not free.

Currently we are at the cusp of a financial crisis in America, so we're told. Money is not worth it's weight, so many people are using that money to go back to school. If any of you out there are thinking about a master's, this is the time.

However, and isn't there always one, some people have gotten wise to this fact and are raising the costs of college tuition. To gain some more knowledge click here.

New Tools

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

LONG BEACH, Calif--I discovered a new tool in my quest for knowledge. If you go the yahoo.com website and look at the options bar on the left side of the screen you will see at the very top the word answers.

By clicking on that bar you go to a search engine where you can type in questions and have the public respond to the questions. The ask-er can review them and then pick the one they like best out of the answers they received. Now I have my doubts when it comes to accuracy but as a public forum of information I find this highly interesting.

I would recommend you try this if only to see how people respond.

Prices of Gas

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

(Needles, Calif/Flagstaff, Ariz)--Over the break I took a chance to travel to another state to observe both nature and culture. What I found to be the most shocking thing about the culture was the dramatic prices in gasoline between states separated but only a few miles.

At Needles in California gas had reached $4 at the border, but a mere 90 miles later the price had fallen to about $3.29. 70 cents is quite the difference when it comes to a log road trip for those of us who have trouble flying.

While travel companion observed the natural beauty of the state I was still quite bothered by the low price. California easily has twice the roads and doubles the population many times over and yet no leniency is shown.

In a time when we are facing recession and stimulus at the same time, wouldn't it be easier to lower the prices of existing necessary items rather than throw give out money that will barely cover the cost in the first place?

Special Treatment for Special People

So I'm watching as the candidates are furious that their passports have been reviewed. They feel that their privacy has been invaded and their trust betrayed.

Have you not been paying attention the last eight years?

How is this different from anyone else who falls into the void of the Patriot Act? Thousands of innocent Americans have been under watch their lives invaded, most of the time without them even knowing. Besides that fact, do these people believe that just because they're candidates for president that they can receive special treatment? If anything they should be under special scrutiny, something that might have benefited us years ago.

If we knew what was going to happen to our rights and freedoms because of the paranoia of the few, some people might have voted differently. Maybe this time we will.

Everyone's Looking

The State Department Fires Employees For Snooping Through Candidates Passports.

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

COAST MESA, CALIF (March 21, 2008)--What began with the investigation of two unnamed state department employees reportedly snooping through presidential hopeful Barack Obama's passport has revealed that the passports of candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain have also been reviewed.

Whether the purpose of this was political or other is not yet known at this time according to an Associated Press story this morning.

With the candidates every move being watched closely as we draw toward the November election, new pieces of information will be coming out against all the candidates. The knowledge of where they have been should not be as important as where they plan to go, both in the world and with the country.

Whether the information of where the candidates have been spending their time will be influential to the election is yet to be seen. However this does beg the question, what would a candidate be trying to hide from us about where they have been?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080321/ap_on_el_pr/obama_passport

Future Knowledge

The Future of Knowledge in America

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat


COSTA MESA, Calif. (March, 8, 2008)-The United States is in trouble when it comes to students at all levels getting the knowledge and resources they need to be of value in the new world.

With the elections raging we look to our candidates to shape a way for which the students of the future can receive quality and easily accessed knowledge.

An article several months ago in the Los Angeles Times responded well to Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to make advanced classes more common and available. This has the benefit of giving more students the opportunity to participate in more challenging classes.

This is a good idea because students would now have a chance to improve their standing in life through greater access to knowledge. That’s what this country use to pride itself on. Now, as William Kirwan puts it, education has moved into a state of "private benefit."

Knowledge should never be denied, lease of all to students. The students in school today are training to fill the roles of people tomorrow. And if they can’t get the knowledge they need, tomorrow doesn’t too to bright.



Editorial. (2007, Dec. 28) American Values and the Next President: ‘The general welfare.’ The Los Angeles Times. Part A. Pg. 30. Retrieved from LexisNexis on March 5, 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com.mcc1.library.csulb.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3231407443&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3231407446&cisb=22_T3231407445&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=306910&docNo=2

Kirwan, William E. (Mar/Apr 2007) How the University System of Maryland Responded. Change magazine. Vol. 39 Iss. 2 Pg. 21-25. Retrieved from Proquest March 5, 2008.

http://proquest.umi.com.mcc1.library.csulb.edu/pqdweb?did=1241830501&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=14436&RQT=309&VName=PQD



David Cowan
dcagent1@yahoo.com

A Bit of Knowldge About Another Person

By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Feb. 27, 2008)-The man sitting across from me is tall and obviously an athlete. He seems to smile not with his mouth so much as with his eyes that shine out against his dark skin.

"I’m trying to get a music deal with a major record company, and deciding if I want to go back to playing basketball," said Kael Ramsey-Ackerson a 22-year-old Journalism major from Sacramento. "Maybe go over seas and (I’m) deciding if I want to pursue this career in journalism."

Ramsey-Ackerson, a server at Olive Garden and dedicated fraternity brother has a lot to talk about when it comes to getting where he is now including a great deal of loss.

"My grandmother passed away almost two years ago...she was the one who taught me to be who I am," said Ramsey-Ackerson. "I’ve been on my own ever since, struggling to get ahead, struggled in school, and [struggling] in life."

As hard as life has been, he lost his father at age 12, Ramsey-Ackerson retains a positive outlook on life and tries to think about others more than himself, he said.
His body is prominently adorned with different types of tattoos, each with a special memory and meaning.

"The first (tattoo) I got because of my dad," said Ramsey-Ackerson. "I wanted something to remember him, so I got this tattoo on my arm."

Various other design cover his body. A set of aces cards, reminiscent of his days as a semi-professional poker player. The last names of his mother and father and two friend s who died in car crashes within weeks of each other.

"(There’s) one on my chest, it’s prayer hands letting go of a dove which in the Christian religion signifies the holy spirit," said Ramsey-Ackerson. "It’s for two of my best friend that passed away in car accidents a month after each other, and I have their names."
In the end Ramsey-Ackerson sums up his life simply.

"I think through life you find, through dark you find light and I found a lot of light in my life."






Interviewer:
David Cowan
dcagent1@yahoo.com


Interviewee:
Kael Ramsey-Ackerson
playboypinky@tmail.com

Love of Knowledge

Having knowledge is a lot like being in love, you feel safe with it, you are happier with it, you miss it when it's not there and you are sad when you loose it.

Everyday we are losing knowledge. We're not asking the right questions or worse we're not asking any questions. Most people I would imagine don't even have any questions to ask. Life simply rolls along, they go to work, they pay their taxes and they assume that someone smarter than them is taking care of things. Have you ever asked where your taxes go? Is the first time you even look at a bond measure or tax is in the voting booth?

These are the problems we face, a majority of the people who are not quite sure what's going on. The ability to get the knowledge that would allow them to make informed decisions is out there among the mud and double-speak. It takes time and effort to get to and that's where I think many people fall short.

Motivation.

What drives you to get out in the world and figure things out? I have a natural sense of curiosity. I like to know why, and if I don't find the answer acceptable or worse I find it incomplete I dig deeper. Maybe you should too.

The Simple and Concise Way to Make The World Better

Imagine with me for a moment what the educational system would be like if it worked like this: students do all the question asking.

In class now a student is given material to read and then the teacher asks questions to verify the actual reading has taken place. What if the teacher was not allowed to ask questions of their students but only give answers? I believe that the focus of this would help the students more because it is helps more to ask a question than give an answer.

I don't presume to say that the teachers would be allowed and even required to test the students, but what if the focus was more on the answer side. Working for knowledge is an important aspect of life, reading and asking questions cannot steer you wrong, however the ability to get a clear and precise answer can sometimes elude a student. I know it has me.

So ask yourself have you in your body of experience at schools left with more questions when you left than when you arrived. If so there should be something done about that. The same holds true of government, a straight and concise answer should be given. What do they not want us to know? And why? All we want is the truth, the same truth we give when the government asks about us. Simple and concise.

Knowledge Restricted

So I was gone last week. Would you like to know where? Too bad, it's restricted. I'd like to tell you, it was important and you would benefit from knowing but you can't. Isn't this annoying? You have questions, I have answers but a restriction like the Patriot Act (they know where I was) is keeping you from knowing something. Oh but what if there is a guy who knows why, and you talk to him and get an account of where I've been. Do you believe him? Is the source reliable; it's not me and I'm the only one who really knows what happened. What do you think?

Not being able to get a straight answer to a question is something I think we all find disturbing or at least mildly annoying. People need to know what's going on around them in a timely manner, but what causes people to hide or conceal knowledge. The natural answer might be that they have something to hide. But why are they trying to hide something from the public. Military activities and CIA special operations aren't really our business, but if those same people are watching us and we're that special operation, don't we have a right to know?

Yes. We do.

Where Do You Get Your Knowledge?

Where are we getting our information? Television, Internet, newspaper or radio? Or secret answer No. 5, listening in on some else's conversation. I believe that we are all guilty of that last one. The problem is that the gossip is becoming as credible as all other sources of news.

I wonder how much of the story is being edited out before it reaches our ears and eyes? Is what we're seeing even news anymore? How are a people supposed to believe what they have been lied to so many times before? Now this isn't to cast blame on any current publication or government, the second the first one of you withheld information, or changed a story, you became suspect. You lost your credibility and out respect.

This is purely a lack of trust. I've been lied to ergo I don't trust you or anything you tell me from here on out. And it's not your fault, not directly. Someone did this before you and someone did this before them. And God help us, someone will be there to lie after you are gone.

Hard Copy, Hard Time

How is it that I was able to submit a payment of over $1,300 for classes at Califrornia State University Long Beach over the internet without even thinking, and yet when it comes to a $25 payment for a required writing test I am ready to cut my own throat?

The test itself is described as simple, requiring a mere five paragraphs to prove competency, requires paperwork and a form of payment that is either check or Money Order to sign up. Who uses these anymore?

Personal checks are becoming outdated as the debit card takes over. A check is something sent to a distant cousin on a birthday or at the holidays, not for a college campus that should look to pride itself on being up to date with technology.

The test I see as an insult. If by this level a student is not able to construct a well organized essay, then they need to be back in high school not wasting time and money in college.