Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Porch Story :: January 2019

porch stories icon 2019

January 2019 desert spirit's fire

• Though I'm still in Southern California, I designed a cold winter header for my January summary blog because most of the USA and Canada are experiencing record cold temps and corresponding unheard of wind chill factors.

• Porch stories host Kristin also writes About January.

• On the actual day of the Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrated the installation of our settled pastor who's served as interim for the past almost three years.

Epiphany 2019

• Epiphany Sunday afternoon, J and I enjoyed a spontaneous excursion to Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden.

Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden

• This year's MLK Day celebration was in the nearby city of Hawthorne—all of everywhere around here literally is Los Angeles.

Trinity Church Hawthorne Sign MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019 Trinity Church Hawthorne Tree MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019
Program Cover MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019 Litany of Libations MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019

• Three of the Stained Glass Windows from the our MLK Day host, Trinity Church, Hawthorne.

Trinity Church Hawthorne Stained Glass Window MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019 Trinity Church Hawthorne Stained Glass Window MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019 Trinity Church Hawthorne Stained Glass Window MLK Day Celebration Commemoration 2019

porch stories button

Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Public Policy :: A Concise Introduction

public policy 2019 Edition cover

Public Policy: A Concise Introduction, 1st Edition, by Sara R Rinfret, Denise Scheberle, and Michelle C Pautz on Amazon

With my formal classroom learning about public policy having been back in the twentieth century, I decided to get up to date with this college textbook overview of the near-countless topics, agencies, elected/appointed officials and other actors involved in governing, administrating, changing, and influencing humanity and the environment—primarily in the USA. Just as with any textbook for an introductory course, it covers areas a student probably knows something about and ones they may never have heard of.

Emphases on the environment and on immigration are the major differences in this book from when I was in school. The trio of university-level instructor contributors do well explaining interaction among various public entities coupled with the frequent role of corporations and not-for-profits. Chapters ail include objectives, case studies, charts and other graphics, glossary/vocabulary terms, discussion questions, and resource suggestions, all of which can be helpful to a student, instructor, or an independent reader like myself. End of book features a glossary with brief definitions of terms used in the book, chapter-by-chapter print and digital resources, and an index.

Public Policy: A Concise Introduction will stay on my bookshelf because in many cases looking it up in a book is easier than scrolling through the internet, and because nothing feels better than an open book in my hands. My only concern is the comprehensive breadth and density along with new vocabulary words to learn, new concepts to unpack, might overwhelm a student who was new to the study of public policy.

• My Amazon Review: comprehensive overview