Ana's Matrix

We’re much more likely to say, “I’m broke, send me some wine,” than we are to say, “I did a great job parenting today and I feel good about my kids.” This is not good for parents who are already on the verge of burnout. On the other hand, mainstream parents may be more comfortable with the idea of free parenting, that is, giving up the pressure of intense parenting and opting for a more relaxed, less helicopter style. Wealth, in particular, has a strong influence on what choices parents have for their children and how much time they can devote to parenting. Parents, especially mothers, are expected to invest heavily in their children and devote almost unlimited amounts of time, emotional energy and money to them. Intensive parenting means that parents are responsible for managing all aspects of their children’s lives, avoiding potential harm and ensuring the best possible outcome for their children. On the one hand, isolation and lack of social support are major risk factors for burnout, and parents who go above and beyond the norm can feel alone. Last year the New York Times published an article titled “The Anxiety of Modern Parenting.” The word struck me then and hasn’t let go since. It’s hard to say how many parents experience burnout under the academic standards described above. Having to explain and defend your choices over and over again to family members, pediatricians, teachers, and other parents can be exhausting, especially when they doubt you and your parents. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room: Parenting during a pandemic takes the concept of parental burnout to a whole new level. If you’re not doing it because you’re overwhelmed or need help developing effective parenting techniques, don’t wait until you’re completely overwhelmed. Don’t waste your time and energy maintaining your parenting facade on social media. Both mothers and fathers spend much more time with their children than they did 50 years ago. 3 We are overwhelmed with work and commitments, which means we are overworked. 4 The financial costs of raising a child continue to rise. According to this definition, burnout is not just stress, anxiety, or fatigue that all parents experience at one time or another. Intuitively, however, there is a sense that today’s parents are more susceptible to burnout than previous generations. Burnout is not an inevitable consequence of modern parenting.

Classical Western literature, from Homer to Shakespeare and from Mark Twain to Harper Lee, is being destroyed today, just as the Islamic State and the early Christians destroyed ancient images that offended them. And they will not develop the logical and critical thinking skills necessary to understand and grapple with the great controversial ideas of classical Western literature. Its history has shaped Western literature–like Star Trek–for some 3,000 years. And so today, as is often the case, the amazing complexity of great literature and great writers is reduced to excessive bigotry and political correctness. Author Padma Venkatraman wrote an essay entitled “Weeding the Invisible Roots of Racism: Rethinking Children’s Classics” in the School Library Journal. Just a few days ago, bigots in San Francisco began removing offensive titles from public schools. But now these narrow-minded minds, who determine what books children can read, are the dictators of a new tolerant culture. When children associate literature with political indoctrination, whether right-wing or left-wing, the smart guys build a wall and shut it down. They put reprehensible literature on the back shelf, inaccessible to young people, where it gets lost and collects dust in the shadows. The political left and the growing movement for destruction–fueled by critical racial theory–in America’s public schools want to get rid of it. Challenging old classics is the literary equivalent of replacing statues of racist characters, “she” writes. But the purge of great literature often takes place in silence, among observant teachers and librarians. Odysseus the Wanderer, written for children by classicist Aubrey de Selincourt. If the new test for all literature, movies, statues–everything of historical value–is one hundred percent purity, they will all fail. This is Homer’s version of The Odyssey, the greatest adventure story ever told. Those who deny classical literature make themselves look like barbarians.

Adwa’s screenplay, “The Fog Project,” was a semifinalist for the 2020 Nicholl Academy Fellowship, winner of the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s Flickers program, a finalist for the ScreenCraft Playwrights Competition and the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival. The feature film, funded and distributed by WB Studios, premiered at the Heartland Film Festival in 2019, Adwa said. The feature film, funded and distributed by WB Studios, premiered at the 2019 Heartland Film Festival. The film, made in Israel, tells the story of a pregnant Palestinian woman who plans to avenge “her” husband’s death in Israel with the help of Hamas. According to Adwa, the film has already been screened at several festivals around the world. AR: For the film “For What Worth Living,” I was looking for producers who believed in the film, who were willing to take on the challenge, who had the qualifications and experience to make the film. The film was shot in Arabic, and I didn’t know the language, so I memorized the text and always had an interpreter with me to make sure everything was pronounced correctly. In 2018, I wrote and directed a short film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called Something to Live For. After graduating with a degree in communications, I worked in the Israeli media, covering not only everyday stories but also war and terror, and collaborated with Keshet Production to produce documentaries about major terrorist attacks and kidnappings in Israel in the 1970s and 1980s. AR: I co-wrote the feature film Samir, a recent adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, about a Middle Eastern man accused of terrorism and sent to Guantanamo Bay prison. AR: My hope is that after watching my film, viewers will reflect on the complex reality we live in, ask questions and participate. I am currently in pre-production on my first feature film, Maya.

Experts cited many other reasons for the increase, including people having to live together longer, police departments having difficulty quarantining their officers, increased homelessness and reduced access to some mental health services. Although data for 2021 have not yet been released, homicides in 87 cities this year are up about 10 percent from last year, Jeff Asher, a crime analyst in New Orleans, told the Times. The reasons for the rise in crime are not entirely clear, but may lie in the surge in gun purchases and the impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health and the economy, the Times said. There were fewer homicides in large cities than in the worst years, but in mid-sized cities such as Albuquerque, Milwaukee, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Des Moines, Iowa. Some also speculate that the protests following the killing of George Floyd caused the cops under scrutiny to abandon certain aspects of crime-fighting or reduce public confidence, which then forced them to take the law into their own hands. This is a country where everyone is suffering from post-CVID trauma syndrome and doesn’t know what’s next, Peter Winograd, a University of New Mexico professor who works as a consultant for the Albuquerque Police Department, told the Times. A breakdown of the numbers shows that of the 2,020 dead, 9,913 are black, 7,029 are white, 497 are of other races, 315 are of unknown race, 14,146 are male and 3,573 are female. A smaller percentage of deaths are on the parallel coasts of the major cities of New York and Los Angeles, which accounted for nearly 14 percent of U.S. homicides in 1990 and only 3.8 percent in 2020. While the numbers for 2021 are still high, according to the New York Times, they seem to be declining as the year progresses. She cited the pandemic, the impact of social justice protests and bail reform, which has resulted in the release of more convicted felons in some cities. It’s a perfect storm, Harold Medina, police chief of Albuquerque, N.M., told the Times. About 21,500 people were killed last year, according to 16,000 police departments nationwide. Overall, felonies, including rape, armed robbery, burglary and car theft, fell about 5 percent in 2020, according to the statistics. Despite the sharp increase, the numbers are still well below the violence of the 1990s, the Times reported. There were 4,901 more murders in 2020 than in 2019, according to the data.