Beginnings

libel- noun
"defamation of persons by means
of written statements,
                                 pictures,
or other visible signs"

Defaming private people was bad enough,
                                                              but
"reflecting on those who are entrusted
with the administration of public affairs"
was even worse,
                          because it
"has a direct tendency
to breed in the people
a dislike in their governors
and incline them to faction and sedition"

This was the climate I worked in,
                                                  and
it didn't seem likely to change much, if any
My name is John Peter Zenger,
                                                though
I preferred to be called Peter
I made my living as a printer;
                                            unlike today,
                                                                owning a part
of what in America would come to be called the media
wasn't a pathway to great wealth,
                                                  so
when Lewis Morris and James Alexander
approached me about starting a paper
to be called the New York Weekly Journal,
for which they would provide the content,
I was receptive to the idea

The words were never mine,
but,
       as the printer of them
and with my name the only one on the paper,
I would be held responsible
                                           And
since I agreed to keep their names secret
(a secret kept until this moment),
                                                 solely responsible
(in exchange for keeping their identities hidden,
they agreed to support my family
and provide for my defense
should I be arrested for printing their words
Promises kept on both sides)

The grand jury three times
refused to indict me for libel,
                                          but
the determined royal governor
got around that quite easily,
and I was arrested November 17, 1734,
destined to spend the next nine months in jail

The words at the trial weren't mine either,
though I am proud to be associated
with those spoken by our side

The prosecution reminded everyone
"It is not material
whether the libel be true or false"
                                                 but
we trusted the jury to determine
if our words rose to the level of criminality
                                                              (whether
"the just complaints of a number of men
who suffer under a bad administration
is libeling that administration")
                                              and
the jury judged me not to have
committed criminal libel

I don't know if mine was the landmark case
that some have made it out to be
(I'll leave that debate for historians),
but it was a first step,
                                 a beginning:
though not citing my case directly,
afterward juries were reluctant to convict
anyone charged with seditious libel,
and that's enough for me



The Great Dissenter

SPOILER ALERT:
it's not Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
(he's The King of the Weak Analogy,
                                                      and
later dissenting from your own weak analogy
falls far short of greatness)
                                          No,
it's a man by the name
of Robert Carter III

I wasn't born in September,
didn't die in September,
                                    but
in my seventy-seven years  here on Earth
two of the most important events in my life
took place in September, early September
to be precise:

                        September 6, 1777
At fifty,
I was baptized on this day,
                                        and
that went against the grain:
                                           Virginia
had an established church, the Anglican,
                                                            and
though soldiers were busy fighting the British,
some of them weren't too busy
to be among the mobs
that attacked and destroyed our churches
I eventually left the Baptists
because of doctrinal differences
Such dissent among the gentry
was usually labeled eccentric,
as it was in my case

                   September 5, 1791

"I have for some time past been convinced
that to retain them in Slavery in contrary
to the true Principles of Religion and Justice,
                                                                   and
that therefor it was my Duty to manumit them"
                                                                     and
on this date I submitted to the Court
what was called the Deed of Gift,
a schedule to emancipate my slaves gradually,
a schedule that would continue even after
my death a little over a dozen years later

I don't think anyone knows exactly
how many slaves were freed by this
(a few different numbers have been offered),
                                                                  and
it entirely possible that some
who thus obtained the necessary certificates
attesting to their freedom
weren't even my slaves,
                                    which 
I count as a good thing
                                     Though
I showed that gradual emancipation,
without eventual resettlement elsewhere,
was not only possible but practical,
few of my fellow Virginians
followed my example;
                                  in fact,
laws were soon passed to make it
more difficult for anyone to even try to do so

I always wanted to be
"laid under a shady Tree
where he might be undisturbed
& sleep in peace & obscurity"
                                             and
for the most part I have been such,
                                                    because
"My plans and advice
have never been pleasing to the world"
and because they didn't fit the narrative
that has come to be constructed
regarding my more famous contemporaries


Michael Ceraolo is a 66-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had two full-length books (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press; 500 Cleveland Haiku, from Writing Knights Press) published, and has two more, Euclid Creek Book Two and Lawyers, Guns, and Money, in the publication pipeline.

Deprivation-

The touch was clear. It asked for something else. Something more pure and crystal.  Transparent as my sister's fingernail. 
I create muses in the air and talk to imaginary situations. Pets, people- furniture and sky. I bang utensils on the table and chew table cloth.  
With shapeless nights and foamy mouth, I  say my prayers and chant all the Buddhist sayings. Deprivation—-- a long pause.
 From the sky like a circular topology. From inch to inch, moving gently to nowhere.
Now, I see television and dance to sepia voices, lost sounds or perhaps to kettle whistle. 
I do not remain a body. Shifting towards a sanguine night sitting on a Jasmine.
I discard everything. 
All and everything. 

Devika Mathur resides in India and is a published poet, writer, and editor. Her works have been published in The Alipore Post, Madras Courier, Quail Bell, Modern Literature, Two Drops Of Ink, Dying Dahlia Review, Pif Magazine, Spillwords, Duane's Poetree, Piker Press, Mojave Heart Review, Whisper and the Roar amongst others. She is the founder of the surreal poetry website "Olive skins" and writes for https://myvaliantsoulsblog.wordpress.com/ She recently published her book "Crimson Skins" and her five poems were also published in the Sunday Mornings River anthology and has her works upcoming in two more fierce anthologies.

Five Haiku 


this is not a drill
evacuate building 3
immediately!


—


appointment canceled
I wake up to a white sky
& hidden foothills


—


showertime prayers
thanksgiving for my rescue
from the hot water


—


spring’s first honeybee
in the blossoming fruit trees
my old neighborhood


—


above the foothills
a white duck without a bill
sits in the blue sky


—


bio/graf

J. D. Nelson’s poems have appeared in many publications, worldwide, since 2002. He is the author of eleven print chapbooks and e-books of poetry, including *purgatorio* (wlovolw, 2024). Nelson’s first full-length collection is *in ghostly onehead* (Post-Asemic Press, 2022). Visit his website, MadVerse.com, for more information and links to his published work. His haiku blog is at JDNelson.net. Nelson lives in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

We encourage everyone in the California area to attend the third annual Hayward Lit Hop on Saturday, April 27th. This is a public festival with different readings from different groups throughout downtown Hayward coinciding with Hayward’s choosing a new adult poet laureate, culminating in an afterparty at Hayward’s Odd Fellows Lounge. Several Synchronized Chaos contributors will read from their work at the 2024 Lit Hop.

This month’s issue deals with natural and cultural cycles, things coming and going, changing with time’s rhythm.

Sayani Mukherjee recollects the rise and fall of a sculpted fountain of water. Maja Milojkovic exudes the simple joy and beauty of living in a small house by the ocean.

In Brian Barbeito’s prose poetry, his speaker’s grief for his departed loved one is like memories of summer sun during a cold winter. Philip Butera’s take on grief resembles Barbeito’s, with poetry about “cottony clouds” stretched across the sky in winter. In contrast, Don Bormon presents a tortuous summer heat wave, where even the song of the birds is stilled by the weather. Mesfakus Salahin laments the twin tragedies of polluted nature and selfish, troubled humanity and pleads for mercy.

Mahbub Alam connects harm done to the planet’s ecology with illness in human bodies and souls. Sardor Yaxshilikov considers threats to the natural world, the environmental challenges posed by Uzbekistan’s industrialization and possible solutions for them. Daniyor Gulomjanov offers an analysis of the cost and efficiency of renewable energy in Eurasia, while Rahmatullayev Ahror discusses a new microcloning technique for seedling growth in laboratories.

Aqib Khurshid highlights how nature renews itself and grows again in verdant spring, as Mehvish Chouhan reflects on our personal renewal with each sunrise. Elmaya Jabbarova beckons her lover to join her in renewing their love with the new season. Kutlug Nigor’s poem concerns spring, regrowth, and the coming of the new year, as Shaxlo Safarova’s poem focuses on the promise of children.

Young Uzbek poet Kasimova Parizoda relates her determination to go forth and live her career dreams as a journalist. Graciela Noemi Villaverde relates her strident journey to retain her personal dignity and integrity.

Spanish photographer Kylian Cubilla Gomez sends up images of creative work: spiderwebs, paintings, and the buildings of a natural area. Isabel Gomez de Diego’s collection is a vibrant celebration of life: holidays, parks, children, sewing and haberdashery.

Dr. Lawrence Winkler, in his colorful and detailed Peruvian travelogue, explores a land where the present exists alongside the past. Jerry Durick’s poetry explores what we take and leave behind when we travel, as Stephen Jarrell Williams takes a less literal approach to life’s journeys, narrating a tale of lovers who withdraw from a broken world to find comfort in each other, then in their faith.

Patrick Sweeney’s fragmented one-liners show characters observing and chronicling the world, finding comfort where they can. Mykyta Ryzhykh speaks to navigating an indifferent universe, seemingly powerless against personal and geopolitical loss. Faleeha Hassan laments the pride and selfishness and privilege that leaders come from when they lead ordinary people into wars. Wazed Abdullah mourns the cost of the war in Gaza to children and civilians of all sorts.

Bill Tope addresses men’s vulnerability to society’s toxic and reductive ideas of masculinity and how those pressures victimize and demean both men and women. Rasheed Olayemi reminds us of the social and psychological toll of unemployment, as people need jobs for dignity as well as income. Sinanbinumer laments ethnic and religious intolerance’s role in worsening conflicts between Hindu and Muslim people in the Indian subcontinent and the role of sensationalized media in stoking tensions.

Pascal Lockwood-Villa’s poem narrator is a personified and dissatisfied mermaid statue, with strong opinions but little agency in her world.

Linda Springhorn Gunther’s memoir excerpt from A Bronx Girl illustrates her life as a vulnerable small child with an imaginative, loving, but delusional mother. She writes as an adult to make sense of her past, layering adult understanding onto her youthful narrative.

Dennis Vannatta’s story shows a man visiting his old haunts and discovering that the places have all changed without him. Taylor Dibbert’s poetic speaker reflects on a past relationship, at a safe enough distance now to wax philosophical.

J.J. Campbell evokes fleeting pipe dreams dashed by reality, while Daniel De Culla gives us an earthy and human look at the imperfect Gandhi.

Lola Hotamova writes of love and heartbreak, of the paradox of wanting an ex-lover to return but not wanting one’s heart broken again. Duane Vorhees’ speaker references past romantic crushes in his works on the slipperiness of memory and alienation from the world.

Zofia Mosur depicts a tender, desperate, almost incestuous, intimate relationship between a young girl and the female figures she draws.

In a more humorous vein, Stephen House looks at the human experience of procrastination, not acting on the many “shoulds” of life.

Alma Ryan challenges us to find moments of joy even if life is sad or off-kilter, while Shahnoza Ochildiyeva reflects on where and how to find personal happiness. Mirta Liliana Ramirez tastes each life experience in full like a seasonal fruit, gaining experience that helps her as she ages. Saodat Kurbanova explores how and why Uzbekistan is rated one of the world’s happiest nations.

Z.I. Mahmud probes the dawn of subjective individual consciousness in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.

Some other works delve so far into subjectivity that they remove the narrator altogether.

Janna Aza Karpinska constructs concrete visual poetry by pasting prepositions onto canvas and finishing the phrases in various ways. Texas Fontanella’s music involves rhyming couplets from fellow Synch Chaos concrete poet Mark Young. Marieta Maglas’ poems involve multiple senses, seeming at once tactile, auditory, and visual. Mark Young takes a similar approach to his ‘geography’ paintings, creating visual landscapes of imaginary places that highlight form, color, and text. J.D. Nelson peers at everyday foods through an off-kilter lens in short pieces that inspire second and third looks.

Quademay Usanova looks at language in an academic manner, comparing word formation in the Uzbek, Russian and Karakalpak languages. Halimova Nilufar Hakimovna explores various approaches to teaching linguistics, while Norbekova Rano probes the language of mathematics, discussing the history of the concept of the integral in calculus. Muntasir Mamun Kiron extols the elegance of science and electricity and power generation technology.

Madina Fayzullaeva outlines ways to improve and enhance digital education tools while Aziza Amonova explicates the results of a new Uzbek assessment of reading levels. Feruza Axmadjonova suggests methods for teaching English to very young children while Shoshura Khusenova offers up practical suggestions on how to teach language learning to a class of mixed abilities and experience.

Saodat Kurbanova evokes the experience of writing a poem, getting outside of herself and stepping into a sense of broader consciousness.

Dilfuza Dilmurodova’s strident poem combines personal and national pride. Rahmiddinova Mushtariy offers up a poem of thanks to her mother, her kind teacher.

Zilola Khamrokulova reviews Ahmed Lufti Kazanchi’s book Stepmother, which extols the values of compassion and kindness for those in need, even those beyond your own family. Nosirova Gavhar’s short story advocates compassion for orphans and the poor. Nigar Nurulla Khalilova invites the forge of life to fashion her as an instrument for goodness and humanity.

Michael Robinson relates the powerful tale of how faith and family saved his life from drug abuse and loneliness. Kristy Raines highlights the beauty of a deep and caring marriage. Annie Johnson reflects on the steady joys of a long and committed relationship and family in her elegant poetry.

Ari Nystrom-Rice speaks to the moment where a couple’s individual life journeys merge into one, while Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa envisions a world without race, class, or gender prejudice where all people are free to live their dreams. Jacques Fleury suggests how to navigate complex dialogue on sensitive issues without losing sight of others’ humanity.

We hope that this issue provides a jumping-off point and ideas for you to engage in conversation with people around you.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION PROSPECTS OF USE

Nowadays, digital technologies are actively used in all spheres of life, in particular, they serve the rapid development of the economy, banking, service sector, as well as the educational process. All citizens living in the country, including young children and pensioners, are forming the opinion that all problems in society can be solved through digital technologies. In addition, the robotization of production and management processes, for example in the banking sector, raises the issue of competition between robots and workers. With the undoubted benefit of digital technologies, issues related to ethical, personal data protection, legal aspects of competition between robots and employees of organizations are increasingly being considered.

In this regard, as the President of our country, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, stated, “To achieve development, it is necessary and necessary to acquire digital knowledge and modern information technologies. This gives us the opportunity to take the shortest path to ascension. After all, information technologies are deeply penetrating all areas of the world today. Of course, we know very well that the formation of the digital economy requires the necessary infrastructure, a lot of money and labor resources. However, no matter how difficult it is, if we don’t start today, when will we?! Tomorrow will be too late.”

It is possible to widely introduce digital technologies in state and community management, social sphere, increase efficiency, in a word, dramatically improve people’s lives. The digital economy is not only a type of activity, but also business, industrial facilities, quality education and services. The term “digital” refers to the active use of information technologies in all areas. If in the ordinary economy material goods are considered the main resource, in the digital economy it will be information and data that can be processed and transmitted. After their analysis, a solution for proper management is developed.

It is not surprising that the educational system today is absorbed by digital technologies, because it serves as a basis for serious analysis and pedagogical justification of many things that are offered in the information space today. It is also important that in recent years, no research has been conducted on the basis of any state project or survey on the problems of “digitalization” of education and its impact on its formation. At the same time, we can see the importance of the influence of the environment on the Internet system on the minds of young people in the reports of the government, modern mass media, pedagogical public discussions, researches of graduate students and researchers, as well as deputies. It should be noted that before we were limited to the implementation of digital technologies in all spheres, that is, industry, economy, banking and other spheres. Today, taking into account that the digital economy is rapidly developing, deputy heads of all areas of digital development are included in the position.

Activation in the direction of digitization is being carried out in all business structures. Today, digital technologies are “aggressive” in all areas, especially where economic benefits are found, and are being supported at all levels. The dynamics of the processes taking place in the economy require an active position of the educational community in the analysis and development of proposals for the development of higher education in the digital transformation of the economy.

What needs to be done to effectively use digital technologies in education while maintaining the quality of teaching?

– we should improve the Internet infrastructure in our country, increase the quality of services provided by mobile operators, and most importantly, create conditions and privileges for the population, especially students and young people, to master the latest achievements of modern information and communication technologies;

– expanding the scope of using digital technologies in the organization of the educational process and developing information resources, teaching tools and distance learning technologies, to involve creative students in digitization projects of the university and make suggestions to the competent authorities on making changes to the normative legal documents regulating the activities of higher education institutions, organization of centers, including structures equipped with high-performance digital devices, classrooms, laboratories, media studios, etc., and application of the experience gained there in all higher education institutions of Uzbekistan;

– ensuring the solid integration of modern information and communication technologies and educational technologies, creating additional conditions for the continuous development of the professional skills of pedagogues in this regard;

– organizing and conducting courses for improving the qualifications of teachers on topics such as the use of interactive presentation systems, the development of interactive and multimedia presentations in connection with the Internet for lectures and seminars;

– implementation of distance learning process at any time using real-time interactive presentation systems, video conference communication systems, virtual halls, electronic resources;

– the use of cloud technologies, virtual reality, augmented reality and the use of a 3D printer in the development of didactic materials and experimental designs, as well as, it is necessary to develop scientific websites for the application of digital didactics and digital education models, for teachers and students to discuss projects, theses, scientific research, etc. Only then will we be able to use digital technologies to provide students and young people with knowledge at the level of today’s demand without lowering the quality of education.

It should be noted separately that today our life is connected with techniques and technologies in every way, that is, the time from early in the morning until the end of planning and studying. We wanted to create an opportunity for beneficial use of technologies to improve and develop the quality of education. When the tablet becomes an element of education, children are more interested in the learning process. It is equivalent to combining classical education with play. As a result, the school will improve, assimilation, level of education and efficiency of personnel training will increase. An educated generation, professional personnel are the guarantee of the development of the society on a large scale.

In conclusion, today’s classrooms are very different from ten years ago, and classrooms are equipped with computers, iPads, tablets, smart boards, and other types of educational technology. As in other parts of the world, a seven-screen generation of the digital generation – television, computer, tablet, tablet, phablet, smartphone and smartwatch – is emerging in Uzbekistan. As a result of having such a dense digital environment and constant interaction with it, the thinking and information processing processes of today’s students are fundamentally different from the previous thinking and information processes. The digital generation cannot and should not be taught the way our parents learned. It is not possible to use blackboard and white chalk in teaching this generation. Changing the blackboard to white and the chalk to a marker doesn’t change anything, it’s not the way to motivate today’s students to learn and develop the skills to succeed in the job market. It is necessary to adapt the educational system to the digital generation through mass and effective use of innovative educational technologies and didactic models based on modern information and communication technologies. At the same time, it is necessary to actively use the approach based on research in the educational process, and with this, it is possible to develop the skills of students in scientific research and to form their creative abilities and creative thinking based on IT competence.

Information and communication technologies are not a solution to all problems in the education system, but a tool for making lectures and seminars informative and interactive for the digital generation. It should also be noted that teachers retain the main role in the interactive learning process focused on the needs of students.

Author: Madina Fayzullaeva

Master’s student in the field of “Management of educational institutions” in the faculty of Pedagogy of Chirchik State Pedagogical University in Uzbekistan

Desire

 Don't come near me, out of my mind
 I will not reveal my heart to you.
 You see, you come to my heart,
 I still can't go to you.

 A bird fell from the sky on my shoulder,
 You are the dark nights that haunt me.
 Just a dream in your mind,
 One day you will hurt your heart.

 The winds slap my face,
 If you miss me, don't come near me.
 Heartbreak is something that
 I still remember the feelings!

Nasimova Rukhshona is from the Samarkand region, Urgut district, Kenagas neighborhood. She is a 1st year student of Tashkent International University of Financial Management and Technologies
Faculty of Uzbek language and literature

Sweeping the snow from the face of the earth,
 Spring leading the flowers.
 Driving the cold chain,
 Spring leading the sun.

 welcome spring
 Congratulations step girl.
 welcome new day
 Welcome Navruz.

 To all hearts not yet awakened,
 The spring that seals love,
 Bringing smiles to bright faces,
 The spring that chases away sorrows.

 welcome spring
 Loving girl.
 welcome new day
 Welcome Navruz.

 To the blue buried in black darkness,
 Spring with seven different glosses.
 To every creature locked in a room,
 The spring that opens the doors of the world.

 welcome spring
 A good girl.
 welcome new day
 Welcome Navruz.

 Tumors and dark eyebrows,
 The swallow has landed its wings.
 Fill the pot with pilaf, soups,
 Tabarruk collected sumak.

 Welcome my spring
 Blessed girl.
 welcome new day
 Welcome Nowruz!

 This time you came more beautiful than ever,
 Welcome, happy Ramadan.
 You showered blessings on the ground,
 Thank you, we are already.

 welcome spring
 A Muslim girl.
 welcome new day
 Welcome Nowruz!

Kutlug Nigor was born on January 22, 1999 in the Qamashi district of Kashkadarya region.