International Literacy Day

No re-blog today…

Folks in places like Australia have already begun celebrating International Literacy Day…

I’m publishing this at the very beginning of September 8th in the USA…

UNESCO { United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization },whose motto is “Building peace in the minds of men and women”, has a special celebratory place for its Theme for International Literacy Day—“integrated approaches that simultaneously can support the development of literacy and skills, to ultimately improve people’s life and work and contribute to equitable and sustainable societies.”

Do check out “Literacy and Skills Development“………
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Red Alert

I’m foregoing my regular Re-Blog today for a message of great importance… 

I’ve written here many times about Unity; especially, in a number of the Tales in the Friday Story Bazaar…

This past New Year’s Eve, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, issued a “Red Alert” for World Unity…

From The Washington Post:

“Guterres said he took office a year ago with an appeal that 2017 would be a year of peace:

“’Unfortunately — in fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse’, he said. ‘On New Year’s Day 2018, I am not issuing an appeal. I am issuing an alert — a red alert for our world.’”

Here is a short video with Mr. Guterres:

As is well-known, our world has needed Unity for a very long time; and, back in 1985, a remarkable document was released that holds what I believe to be the keys to our desperately needed Unity:

The Promise of World Peace

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International Literacy Day & a MOOC about How to Write Fiction

Yes, the 8th of September is United Nations Literacy Day with the theme this year being “Literacy and Sustainable Societies”.

Image Courtesy of Ove Topfer ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/topfer-56920

From the UN site:

“Literacy skills are the prerequisite for the learning of a broader set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, required for creating sustainable societies. At the same time, progress in areas of sustainable development, such as health and agriculture, serves as an enabling factor in the promotion of literacy and literate environments. “

And, since some of you will be into the 8th in just a few hours, and, since literacy and fiction are very closely related, it seems like fate’s kissing me because I can also give you a 2-week heads-up on a MOOC—massive open online course—called How Writers Write Fiction.

This MOOC is Free and is being offered by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

From the IWW site:

“For more than 75 years emerging writers have come to Iowa City to work on their manuscripts and to exchange ideas about writing and reading with each other and with the faculty”

Obviously, since it’s an online course, you don’t have to trek to Iowa City :-)

It starts on the 24th of September and runs till the 24th of November.

The course will be taught by Christopher Merrill, IWP Director and University of Iowa Professor of English and Angela Flournoy, author of the critically-acclaimed novel The Turner House.

The video class components of the course will include Paul Harding, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Naomi Jackson, Edward Carey, Margot Livesy, and many others.

Again, from the site:

“Each week, the video class will be followed by a set of fiction-writing assignments based on the topics these authors presented in their lectures. These assignments will invite you to write fiction, post your work to the MOOC website, and engage in community feedback with your fellow writers. Supplementary readings will also be posted for your exploration.”

Workload:

Approximately 2-5 hours/week for 8 weeks.

Technical Requirements:

No previous writing experience is necessary.

And, for me, one of the more amazing aspects of the course is:

“If you would like to take this course but do not have sufficient internet access, please contact us at distancelearning.iwp@gmail.com. We will endeavor to facilitate the creation of a local MOOC access group for your use.”

Check out their video:

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BONUS VIDEO :-)

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