REFORMATTING YOUNG MINDS 

Dr Jernail Singh Anand

    Men and mischief go together- Anand

Since times immemorial, education has been looked upon as a parallel training for a growing up human mind, and it is about how to live in the world, and how to connect back to the source of life. It is unfortunate that men, when die, leave all their wisdom or follies behind, and they take nothing with them, except their plain spirit, which is then subjected to close scrutiny and awarded or punished as per divine parameters. This world would have been far better if men who are born to this earth also carried their former wisdom and did not have to start afresh. 

In fact, it appears humanity is not a straight upward progression. Gods are trying on human versions. How different men tackle the same problems, obviously, differently, and this helps gods to understand the variety of problems in human life, and make a repository of human wisdom which shows how situations can be handled in different ways. Humanity can be seen as soft versions of truth and untruth which keep intersecting  in complex combinations. 

As such, progression of human civilization is only a hit and trial for gods, who deny them acquired wisdom, and resend them on the earth, with only original wisdom, and then see if men have made any tangible progress in being human. But, it appears, they are disappointed and disillusioned too in the capability of mankind to emerge from their inherent weaknesses and accomplish something of value. 

What we consider of great value, the hi tech trains, aeroplanes, and AI etc, are no match for the ingenuity of gods, because all these things put together, have further diminished the size of man in the eyes of the angels.  Angels judge men, not by their intelligence, but by their wisdom in making this world a better place. Intelligence is mostly directed towards one’s own wellbeing. Men never look beyond their nose. Whatever they are doing is amiss in the eyes of gods. Is it that all the educational edifice, the complex web of universities, colleges, gurus and ‘ghantals’, [high flown teachers] have failed to rise  to the expectations of gods?

If gods are not happy with men, if they are irritated with nonstop debates and seminars, it is because people have lost their control over natural language of the body, and they have to use language which they have mastered how to miscarry. They have tried to make fool of the gods who have realized at the end that men and mischief go together. All the knowledge is born out of mischief. People who study theology and mysticism, are like teachers who have taught Poetry for forty years, without writing a poem themselves. 

The Blues

Where has education lagged? First of all, the declared aims of the people at the helm were suspect. If it was Macaulay, by now we people know it well, he wanted only ‘babus’ to take dictation from English masters. And second purpose was to paste English culture over the minds of young Indians. Even today, we name our schools after ‘Convent’ etc. English and Italian names of colonies, and companies, point to only one thing. We have no pride in our own culture. We feel inferior and that is why when we have to teach Poetry, we quote Keats. We have no Indian authors at hand to quote, as if there are no poets of substance in our own country. 

While Macaulay’s model was defective, still it gave us great scholars who spearheaded the struggle for freedom. But, as times are moving ahead, we find the intellectual quotient  of the people is giving way and the idea of acceptance, discussion has taken the back seat. Indian scholarship today believes in dictums, and ideological struggles and independence of thought and speech is under grave erosion. 

Education should have created a corps of people who believe in goodness, fairness, justice and honesty. It is nowhere near this ideal. On the other hand, we have taught success, and push-ahead syndrome to our students. Finally, the kind of society that we come across, is one in which only money matters, power matters, wealth matters, and all types of crimes flourish. 

If a man is properly educated, how can he become a criminal? How can Universities sell degrees, and how can doctors sell kidneys? How can professionals sell secrets, and corporates reduce the people to paupers and make high business profits?  If a student gets the degree of an IT professional, he migrates to USA, and there, his only passion is to attain great success. These accomplishments are good, but do they have any relevance to the country they belong to? How they connect themselves to the nation of their origin? Going beyond nationalities, I wish to underscore the idea that every professional is not an individual skyscraper. He belongs to a society, a family, and milieu, which he must serve. Accomplishments without this service dimension are acts of absolute selfishness, and isolate the man from the cosmic responsibility.

Cosmic Responsibility

As a cosmic citizen, everyone must feel connected to his society, to his family and, of course, to gods if he is not an atheist. Our education teaches us in a thousand ways what we should do to succeed in life, and universities give us degrees on the basis of which, we can get jobs. Now that you are equipped with the art of earning money, so that you could remain alive,  the society wants your body and your mind for its incomplete jobs. Where are you ? It waits but there is no response from our top rankers. 

What Not to Do

When I was learning car driving, my driver was an old military man. Ordinarily, the trainers tell you to save the car from a brick lying on the road. But he would ask me to let the tyre hit the brick.  He said, if you know how to hit it, you will also know how to save your car from it. 

From this story, I come to the conclusion that teachers and educators should teach their students what not to do in their lives. This is very important. In the past, when we went to a doctor, he would give us medicine, but at the same time, he would tell us what not to eat, because indiscriminate eating  could aggravate the malaise and render the effect of his medicine useless. But now, doctors take care to prescribe medicine, [in order to inflate bills] and, if you do not force, the doctor won’t tell what not to eat. Naturally, it ensures your visits to the doctor. 

Same thing happens to our educators. They don’t tell the students what they should not do. For the benefit of the readers, let me state a few don’ts. Others you can think of yourself.

Don’t cross your limits. Don’t cheat anybody. Don’t make false claims. Don’t do anything for which your conscience stops you. Don’t think of success as your ultimate career. Never use ulterior means for success. Never tell lies, even to yourself. Never think of breaking the law. Never go into marriage till you understand the idea of marriage. Never go for matrimonial ads. Never look for a partner who is rich. And so on.

If we want a better world, we need to work on these ideas. Education of young minds means we have to make them into decent human beings with minds which do not think amiss. We have to impart them love for mankind, love for nature, love for the creator, love for parents, and love humanity at large. Every student, when emerges from the University education, should swear by honesty, fairness, and goodness. It should be inscribed on the degrees as a solemn  pledge.  If we are not doing so, we are responsible for criminalizing this society. 

Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, with an opus of nearly 200  books, is Laureate of the Seneca, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky awards.  President of the International Academy of Ethics, his name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. Anand’s work embodies a rare fusion of creativity, intellect, and moral vision. He is a global voice, challenging readers to confront the complexities of existence while offering hope through art and ethics.  

Biography:

https://sites.google.com/view/bibliography-dr-jernal-singh/home

In this short and fleeting world,
There lived a noble soul,
Who chose to say, “My people first,”
And stayed forever true and whole.

His name itself spoke of peace,
Of loyalty and faithful ways,
To live in calm, to stand sincere,
The meaning carried through his days.

He walks beside us even now,
We feel his presence near,
Though unseen by our mortal eyes,
Our hearts know he is here.

Like Amir Temur, strong and just,
He served his people till the end,
Leaving longing in every heart,
His name on every tongue, my friend.

Jahongirova Gulhayo Jahongirovna
Navoi State University
Student of the Department of Philology and Language Teaching, English Language Major, Group 101

this fragile nightmare

fifty years into this

fragile nightmare

an old bottle of whiskey

hidden under some

dirty clothes

another lost girlfriend

texting madly on the

phone

not accepting that

everything comes

to an end

and here i thought

eventually, shit gets

better

maturity comes about

they don’t explain to you

when you’re younger that

money plays a much larger

role

i suppose they don’t want

you dying until you make

someone else a rich fuck

$11 at the grocery store

supposed to snow like

the end is near this

weekend

i’ll make a sandwich and

watch the snow as i slowly

drink the hours away with

some gin

———————————————————————-

your turn to talk

the muse called from germany

at three in the morning my

time and needed to talk

this is what happens when

you learn to listen and not

just wait for your turn to

talk

she told me she loved me

at the end of the call

i told her i love her as well

we both know it doesn’t

mean what it could have

twenty years ago

but time has brought

a different place at

least

put on an old morphine

record and think about

when you were cool

nothing but laughter

i often wonder when it

all turned to shit

was it when the cocaine

went bad or the music

stopped selling or when

the women stopped liking

the dirty jokes

loneliness does have some

perks

dinner doesn’t cost as much

———————————————————–

happy birthday

i put it out into the

universe that i didn’t

want to be alone on

my 50th birthday

the universe responded

and told me to go fuck

myself

there has to be some

point where i no longer

have to chase shadows

where the mountains

will relent and allow

me to breathe

i am also sadly aware

that the opposite is also

happening at the same

time

if life is a series of choices

how many fucking times

can you lose before the

walls break and all hell

is about

apparently, i’m stuck

fucking testing the limits

and here my grandmother

thought i was going to be

president one day

———————————————————-

everything is the next one

winter storm coming

the sad neon blinking

across the valley

between the ice and snow,

the stores were running

out of everything

this is what we do

since the pandemic

everything is the next

one

sadly, they are hardly

ever right

the worrying fuckers

and the ones on tv

doing the weather

having remembered

what it was like before

everything got fucked

we’ll get some snow,

the plows will get out,

life moves on

there was a big ass

blizzard when i was

an infant

i have no memories

of it

but i do remember

a cold stretch when

i had just started

working at the

airport

nothing like driving

equipment at -40

degrees

————————————————————–

find god

the simpler times cling

to me like a ragged old

shirt

chasing pussy was fucking

easier when it didn’t hurt

to walk a few miles

time doesn’t heal shit

liquor doesn’t either

i have a collection of bent

spoons that would like to

have the floor to talk about

a few things

and there is always some

young beauty that will tell

me to find god

i kindly ask when was the

last time you were told to

go fuck yourself

when she gets offended

i know i just gave her

the first lesson of life

but this generation doesn’t

know shit about minding

your own business

so alas, it is fucking useless

i’m sure the next one will

be laced

hopefully

J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the last 30 years, most recently at The Rye Whiskey Review, Night Owl Narrative, Disturb the Universe Magazine, Crossroads Magazine and The Beatnik Cowboy. J.J. is a 3 time Best of The Net nominee and a two time Pushcart Prize nominee. You can find more info on his latest book, to live your dreams, by going here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245883678-to-live-your-dreams

(Young Central Asian woman with long dark hair and a black coat over a white collared top)

Missing the spring

The dark days of winter come one by one,
Today I long for light, as small as a coin.
From its pitch-black face, the rain spares no tears,
Will the moonlit night ever understand me?

Not the dim drops poured down by dark clouds,
My heart today longs for the blossoms of spring.
I wish not for sorrow clouding my soul today,
Where have those happy eyes disappeared?

My spring, do not make your poet wait in such longing,
My heart yearns to speak verses only for you.
My awakening spring, even sleepless nights must end,
Burnt hearts, too, are destined to bloom again.

If you come, I have a single request for you:
Come, and live forever within my soul.
For I have waited for you with endless yearning—
Say again and again, “I missed you too, my spring.”

Student of Uzbek Language and Literature
Kattakurgan State Pedagogical Institute

THE MYTHIC TRANSREALISM MANIFESTO

Founded by Alex S. Johnson

1. We reject the false divide between the real and the unreal

Reality is not a fixed surface. It is porous, symbolic, wounded, ecstatic. Myth is not ancient — it is happening now, in the body, in the psyche, in the street, in the underworld of memory. Mythic Transrealism treats the surreal as truth and the truth as a doorway.

2. We honor the wounded, the misread, and the erased

Our stories rise from the margins — not as victims, but as architects. We write from pain without fetishizing it, from survival without sanitizing it. We build sanctuary for those denied one.

3. We fuse mythic structure with lived experience

Archetypes are not abstractions. They are the shapes our lives take when we are pushed to the edge. Descent, transformation, return — these are not literary devices. They are the map of the human underworld.

4. We embrace surrealism as emotional truth

The grotesque, the dreamlike, the ecstatic, the impossible — these are not decorations. They are the language of the psyche speaking in its native tongue. We do not explain the surreal. We inhabit it.

5. We reject institutional gatekeeping

No academy, award committee, or self‑appointed authority defines our worth. Our lineage comes from punk clubs, metal bars, spoken‑word stages, underground presses, and the people who survived what should have broken them. We answer to craft, community, and truth — not to institutions.

6. We write with punk ethos and mythic intent

Punk gives us the refusal. Myth gives us the structure. Transrealism gives us the lens. We combine them to create a literature that is raw, visionary, and ungovernable.

7. We treat editing as ritual and publishing as sanctuary

To edit is to witness. To publish is to protect. To curate is to build lineage. A press is not a business — it is an altar.

8. We honor our lineage openly and fiercely

Our movement stands in conversation with punk priestesses, dark fantasists, weird‑fiction innovators, metal icons, surrealist painters, spoken‑word prophets, and the wounded visionaries who came before us. We name our ancestors. We extend their work.

9. We refuse the binary of high and low art

We claim the sacred in the profane, the poetic in the grotesque, the mythic in the mundane. We write for the page, the stage, the alley, the dream, the wound, the ritual. We do not apologize for where we come from.

10. We create worlds that are emotionally real, spiritually charged, and formally free

Mythic Transrealism is not a style. It is a way of seeing. A way of surviving. A way of transforming the unbearable into the mythic.

11. We build community through reciprocity, not hierarchy

We lift each other. We protect each other. We recognize each other. Our movement grows through kinship, not competition.

12. We write to transform — not to escape

Our work is a descent into the underworld and a return with something true. We do not flee reality. We reforge it.

 THE CLOSING VOW

Mythic Transrealism is a literature of survival, vision, and sovereignty. It is a movement born from pain, shaped by punk, sharpened by surrealism, and consecrated by myth. We write because the world is not enough — and because the world is too much. We write to build the sanctuary we were denied. We write to give others a map out of the dark.

This is our lineage. This is our movement. This is Mythic Transrealism.

Why We Still Need Black History Month

The notion that Black History Month is futile refuted with substantial historical legacies & diversified narratives.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In an article by Mema Ayi and Demetrius Patterson from the Chicago Defender, they wrote that “actor Morgan Freeman created a small firestorm…when he told Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes that he finds Black History Month (BHM) ridiculous.” Freeman goes on to say that “Americans perpetuate racism by relegating Black history to just one month when Black history is American history.” I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that as Americans we are tied together “…in an inescapable network of mutuality…Whatever affects one [of us] …affects [all of us] as Americans in this country.

As you can clearly see, a month dedicated to Black history continues to stir controversy. The point of the matter is we can’t continue to ignore the fact that—although we have made progress towards racial unity—we still have ways to go towards racial, harmony, understanding and tolerance if not acceptance.

Scholars and historians such as Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front repulsed the commercialization of the celebration, stated Ayi and Patterson. However, they go on to say that “but [Worrill] agrees that Black Americans still need February and every day to reflect on the accomplishments of Black Americans who contributed countless inventions and innovations into society.”

It was in 1926 when Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. Now all these years later has evolved into Black History Month. But why do we still need—even in the twenty-first century—a month set aside to recognize Black history in this country? Perhaps you can look within your hearts for that answer. Negro History Week morphed into Black History Month in 1976, when African Americans developed a renewed interest in their ancestral history primarily as a result of Alex Haley’s revolutionary miniseries “Roots.”

Radio personality Cliff Kelley offers an explanation as to why we need Black History Month. Loosely translated, he said that we need it because capricious historians conveniently leave out certain parts of history that do not corroborate their version of history, which I think consist mostly of dead White men. Blacks are virtually removed from it to substantiate the White historical agenda. Plenty of Black youths do not know their history. Most of them think that their history begins and ends with slavery, wrote Patterson and Ayi.

State Representative David Miller (D- Calumet City) asserted that Freeman was right in saying that Black history should be a year-round thing. “We’ve shaped America,” he said. And that Black History Month should serve as a reminder of our legacy. The recently deceased Howard Zinn wrote in his book A People’s History of the United States, “There is not a country in world history in which racism has been more important than the United States.” He poses the question “Is it possible for Blacks and Whites to live together without hatred?” And when it comes to the evolution of racism, he had this to say, “…slavery developed into a regular institution of the normal labor relations of Blacks and Whites in the New World. With it developed that special racial feeling—whether hatred or contempt or pity or patronization—that accompanied the inferior position of Blacks in America… that combination of inferior status and derogatory thought we call racism.” He goes on to say that “The point is the elements of this web are historical, not ‘natural.’ This does not mean that they are easily disentangled or dismantled. It only means that there is a possibility for something else, under historical conditions not yet realized.”

In an article in The Phoenix titled “Is There Hope in Hollywood? Three controversial films tackle race in The Age of Obama,” Peter Keough extrapolates the medium of films are making an effort to bridge the race gap by portraying Blacks as heads of state—in movies like Transformers 2, 2012 and Invictus—although the contexts in which a Black man becomes President is often marred by catastrophe in which case the White leader is killed. Or Blacks are still being portrayed in glaring stereotypical roles as in Precious, with racist clichés like when Precious steals and eats an entire box of fried chicken. The undercurrent of racism is evident even from well-meaning Whites like Joe Biden, when he opposed Obama for President. Biden declared that “[Obama] is the first mainstream African-American who is articulate, and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” Similarly, another fellow democrat and senate majority leader Harry Reid in his book Game Change, said of Obama that America is ready for a Black President, particularly because he is “light skinned and speak with no Negro dialect.” This leads me to extrapolate that despite all that Blacks have contributed to the making of America, our contributions seemingly become extraneous compared to our prima facie colorful appearance. And I am compelled to recall what Dr. King Jr. so eloquently stated that Black people should be judged “by the contents of their character” and not their skin color.

Many modern conveniences are directly related to or derivative of the inventions of Black inventors: blood banks facilitating life-saving transfusions, the bicycle, the electric trolley, the dustpan, comb, brush, clothes dryer, walkers, lawn mower, IBM computers, gas masks, traffic signals, the pen, peanut butter…the list goes on and on…Dr. Patricia Bath, in 1985, invented specialized tools and systematic procedures for the treatment and removal of cataracts. And, on a less serious note, George Crum who invented the potato chip, and Kenneth Dunkley who invented 3-D viewing glasses and holographs, Lisa Gelobter who invented web animation-online videos, and thanks to the Academy Award nominated film, Hidden Figures, we’re now all conversant with the amazing contributions of mathematical geniuses Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson whose work helped make Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon! All of these achievements have become part of our daily lives here in America and elsewhere as a result of African-American contributions to the economic and scientific stronghold known as America and sadly, we still need Black History Month to remind us!

I sought out some thoughts and comments from local community leaders and young activists on the issue of why we still need Black History Month. I was inundated with a wealth of responses!

Dr. Carolyn L. Turk, an African-American woman and Deputy Superintendent of Cambridge Public Schools stated that “We have moved from celebrating Negro History Week to celebrating Black History Month…these celebrations are…needed and should continue, but I am also a strong advocate for the contributions of African Americans to be recognized…throughout the year, across content areas and to be inclusive of local community history. Knowledge of our past helps connect us to our present and provides hope …for the future…if we are to continue to build on the [legacies of those who came before us].

Bob Doolittle, a white youth pastor living in Cambridge said: “Black History Month can and should take Martin Luther King Day and make it thirty days of celebrating how the right kind of force leaves a legacy of increasing enjoyment of one another by those who are different.”

Shani Fletcher, a bi-racial woman (African- American and Caucasian) of Teen Voices Magazine offered her thoughts… “Black History Month is an opportunity for everyone to celebrate the African-American experience and the role of Black people in the history of the United States… Quite literally, Black people built this country, and our communities’ contributions are a major part of its culture.”

Marla Marcum, a white doctoral candidate at the Boston University School of Theology had this to say: “I can give you a concrete example of why Black History Month is vitally important: … This extremely bright young woman—a freshman at MIT—who graduated from one of the best high schools in Massachusetts upon finding out about Coretta Scott King’s death asked, ‘Was she Martin Luther King’s sister?’ Are we content that this young woman (and so many others) has been taught something about Dr. King, yet she understands so little of his context that she learned nothing at all of his life? Of course, our education system should be integrating Black history into the broader curricula, but when it has not happened even in the best public-school systems, I think we need to recognize the critical importance of continued attention to Black History Month.”

The fundamental nature of Black History Month based on these spectrum perspectives is to celebrate variety and inclusiveness of all people, build on the prophetic and heroic legacies of our ancestors who fought for our freedoms today, recognize that Black History Month is essentially American history despite racial diversity, acknowledge an honor the contributions of African-Americans to this country, advocate for change in our public school systems to include more Black history in their curricula. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” and that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Black history is not separate from American history. As Americans, we are all one blended entity. We need to bridge the interpersonal and inter-racial gap in a highly mechanized society so… “TAKE OFF YOUR HEAD PHONES AND CARE!!!”

The memory of history is often picky. BHM serves as a reminder of its often-colorless state of existence. So, do we still need Black History Month? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” As long as Blacks are portrayed as stereotypes in the movies, as long as Black contributions to the bastion that is America are marginalized or altogether ignored, as long as Black leaders like former President Barrack Obama are seen as “acceptable” by Whites simply because he is light-skinned and speak without Negro dialect, Black History Month will continue to be necessary and indispensable.

Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian American Poet, Educator, Author of four books and literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest publication “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of Wyoming, Askews and Holts Library Services in the United Kingdom, The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Amazon etc… He has been published in prestigious publications such as Spirit of Change Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Litterateur Redefining World anthologies out of India, Poets Reading the News, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at:  http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.–

Fraught

‎

‎If this heart expands into another heart

‎A poem will be born

‎A unique mystery will arise in line by line

‎Every word will be multidimensional

‎A bud will grow in a disoriented, directionless vocabulary

‎Dumb, black, senseless feelings will find the color of a butterfly

‎

‎Poetry will entwine its throat with intoxicating melodies

‎Light will be woven into the map of darkness

‎Time will reach its final conclusion

‎The poet’s tongue will be a rose in the gap of his fingers.

‎Everything that needs to be known will be known.

‎The landscape will change without hesitation.

‎Some artist will paint the estuary of love.

‎The horizon will expand.

‎The spring dreams will freeze in the raindrops.

‎Love letters will be written in all the orbits of the solar system

‎Excellent figure or indomitable form

‎Swimming in the lotus pond

‎Distorted imaginary reflections will converge at one point

‎