Letters: Souls Shot Portrait Project seeks participants; Public schools under attack

Souls Shot Portrait Project seeks participants

Souls Shot Portrait Project would like to invite area artists and persons affected by gun violence to apply to participate in our upcoming exhibition. We are an activist art project that pairs fine artists with families or friends of victims of gun violence. The artists meet with the families to get to know who their loved one was in life. They then create portraits using source material provided by the families such as photos, videos, mementos and the all important stories and anecdotes. The portraits, created in diverse approaches, styles and mediums, are formed into traveling exhibitions that memorialize and celebrate the lives lived. We bring viewers to a place of empathy and provide resources for them to take action in the quest to end the violence. We have shown three times at the State Capitol. The project began six years ago in Philadelphia and is expanding to the entire state of Pennsylvania. Participation is free. More information can be found on our website, soulsshotportraitproject.org, or emailing us at soulsshotportraitproject@gmail.com, or calling 215-740-8678.

Public schools under attack

Attacks on public education are nothing new, but they’ve recently taken on a more vicious and dishonest turn.

Opponents of public education malign teachers as agents of leftist indoctrination who inculcate children with a broad “woke” agenda that includes critical race theory, gender theory and socialism. Since our public schools are community schools, simple communication with our children’s teachers might shed light on what’s really happening in the classroom.

What we’ll typically find is an honest examination of our history and its legacy, of the challenges of perfecting our union, and of the stories of those Americans whose struggles have improved all of our lives. A teacher’s job is to teach the truth — as difficult and discomforting as that can sometimes be. Teaching truth is not indoctrination. It is vital; it is profoundly American.

Public schools aren’t perfect, and honest conversations about improvement are merited. However, we should be wary of those who speak of reform, but whose objectives are the weakening and dismantling of public school systems and the siphoning of public funds into private, often sectarian institutions.

Our public schools are community schools. Our teachers are neighbors. Yet opponents of public education seek to sow distrust in our communities and to make enemies of our local educators.

Beyond the din of partisan interests is the reality of hardworking and caring teachers and staff — our neighbors — who are the heart of our community schools. Accountability results from honest and open relationships, not from fabrications and blanket attacks.

Accepting a recession

These pages have seen a spate of Democratic well-wishers defending the economics of Mr. Biden during the past few months. Everything is fine; there is no recession; what’s a few bucks more at the grocery store; and none of it is the president’s fault. Tellingly, there is now considerable effort to redefine “recession” and how one understands economics. These endeavors serve as wonderful examples of gobbledygook in Biden’s Brave New World.

Today it is official — two quarters of GDP decline, the classic definition of a recession. Maybe it has peculiar features, but without doubt, output has declined. Just examine recent corporate reports for further evidence.

And don’t get comfortable thinking inflation is coming down. The Inflation Reduction Act — its very title is diabolical— if it passes, inflation next year will pass 10 percent. You cannot keep printing money and expect the dollar to hold its value.