Quote to ponder under the apple tree

Educate a boy and you educate an individual.
Educate a girl and you educate a community.
~ African saying

Resources to bite into

1. The amazing Greg Mortenson

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly celebrates the work of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greg Mortenson who has long been building schools for girls and boys in the remotest areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where educating girls is still a radical idea. He wrote about these adventures in Three Cups of Tea several years ago, and the continuation of his story has just been published as Stones into Schools. He began the quest as a result of the kindness of the villagers of Korphe who nursed him back to health after a mountaineering accident following his attempt to climb K2, the world’s second highest mountain. Finding the children had no school and were hungry to learn, he promised to build them one, and one school just led to another. Here is holiday inspiration that will warm your heart. Read more at http://www.ikat.org/ or http://www.stonesintoschools.com/.
• To order Three Cups of Tea, click here.
• To order Three Cups of Tea (Young Reader’s edition), click here.
• To order Stones into Schools, click here.

2. Holiday Nuts

The current discussion pages of Brain Aerobics Weekly features a trivia quiz on nuts – the kind that come in a tin, not the kind that you may be related to and obligated to invite to a holiday dinner. It was inspired by an article in one of my favorite magazines, Mental_Floss, (November/December 2009 issue) but much of the information for the quiz came from “nutty facts” at www.fishernuts.com. For example, did you know that walnuts are the oldest known tree food eaten by man, originating in ancient Persia about 7000 B.C.? Or that Brazil nuts come in pods that can weigh up to 5 pounds and are found in trees that grow to 200 feet? (Look out below!)

3. December 15 is the 70th anniversary of the premiere of “Gone with the Wind”

You are undoubtedly familiar with the movie’s most famous line that begins, “Frankly, my dear . . .” but frankly, my dears, I prefer this line of Rhett Butler’s: “You should be kissed and often and by somebody who knows how.” Learn more at http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Atlanta_Premiere_of_Gone_With_The_Wind.

Tips/ideas/insights to savor

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly also uses the imagination section to suggest topics for holiday reminiscences. If you ask someone to describe the holiday generally, many of us will answer in generalities. Asking specific questions is more likely to result in memories that were long buried. For example, the trivia quiz on holiday nuts brought to mind both my grandmother’s filbert nuts – served only in December, and my beloved nutty Aunt Ruth. Here are examples of what you might ask about a Christmas tree:
• What was it made of? (If real, did you cut your own, or shop together for one? Who went along? Who had the final say?)
• Where was it placed?
• How was it decorated? Did you make some or all of your own decorations? (Children in elementary school frequently do, and some are saved for decades.)
• What kind of lights did it have? Who put the lights up? Was this a frustrating experience in your household?
• Did any ornaments have special significance?
• What went on the top of the tree?
• Was decorating done by parents as a surprise to children or done by the whole family?

To get the advantage of seeing all these ideas in an expanded version, subscribe to Brain Aerobics Weekly today.


To order Brain Aerobics Weekly,
go to http://www.wisernow.com/ now.
It’s a great holiday gift for anyone who needs a legal form of positive mind stimulation!

Let the ever-ripening Wiser Now website
become the apple of your eye.