by Jose on July 30, 2007 · 6 comments
in Uncategorized
Every morning for a good 3 weeks or so, I’d been reading Teaching With Fire: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Teach, a poetry compilation compiled and edited by Sam Intrator and Megan Schribner. Even though I haven’t finished it just yet, it’s already one of my favorite books of the year, and will probably stay somewhere near me at all times. It’s inspired me to continue reflecting on my profession with my most cherished hobby, (poetry for those of you who just know me as a teacher).
I’ll keep it short this time around. Check the latest poem. It’s my gift to some new teachers.
“Courage to Teach” by Jose Vilson 2007 ©
Read all the jargon you can get your hands on.
Rely heavily on Dewey, Delpit, and Piaget
Ask your initialism-titled mentors, heads, bosses, and busy-bodies
About their experiences in the classroom
Their classroom management
Their subject matter, reader levels, best advice, and worst
Dream optimistically about the ideal classroom
And wax poetic about the wonderful changes you’ll make in
these children’s lives
Take notes in those fancy workshops and network with older heads
Using them as resources in case any issues of race, religion, and sex come up
Take advantage of the crazy sales at Staples, the TC Bookstore, and Bank Street
Shop till your newly inherited teacher look drops
I can just as readily write this advice on sand as on paper
For
Nothing
Can prepare you for when you step into that classroom
Not even Montessori will rise from the dead to rescue you from your almost secured failure
Forget everything I’ve said and do remember the three things you absolutely
Definitely
Inevitably need to pass the 180 days successfully:
Focus to discipline
Love to inspire
And courage to teach
To NOT change them, but help them grow in who they are
To have a vision and adapt it constantly to the ever-changing environment around you
To cherish the sweet and spare moments when the successes of your mentees lifts you above the masses
To pace around the classroom knowing your heels might fall from right under you
Your face will peel off and slide onto the floor
Your knees will lock in tightly
You will be stripped naked
To the point where you will need to grow you a new skin
Start from birth
It’s only in the moment when you discover how you learn that you can teach
Fear is your only anchor
You have been set out to sail with your soul as captain
Let courage crack a bottle on your ass
And it will do so when you’re not afraid to fail …
jose
I just got back from a really good rendering of the TV-to-silver screen movie The Simpsons Movie, and it was awesome. It fulfilled its enormous expectations, and I’m really happy. This could have been an absolute bomb like so many TV-to-movie movies are, but no. I’d rather not give any spoilers here, though I’m sure they aren’t hard to find at all.
Once I logged in, I checked my Slimstats and noticed I’m the #1 search for “Alex Rodriguez steroids.” Apparently, Jose Canseco made some interesting allegations against Alex, stating that he had something “in store” for everyone in his next book. In response to the linked blog, I responded
“Great. Now Boston fans’ll start wearing T-shirts that say ‘Jeter Injects A-Rod.’ Because that’s exactly what we need right now. Wasn’t it enough for Jose to ride the bench for the 2000 Yankee championship or to be part of one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all time?”
In short, I believe:
ALEX RODRIGUEZ DID NOT DO STEROIDS!
Really, as right as Canseco’s been about everyone, the list of guys he named before were people the common sports fan could point out. But A-Rod? Really? I call BS on it for three very simple facts:
1) When’s the last time A-Rod’s missed an exorbitant amount of time for injuries?
2) A-Rod’s head’s actually grown smaller since the Texas days, which says a lot. (If you’re under the NY media scrutiny, that’s easy.)
3) Alex is practically the same size he was since he started in Seattle.
Maybe it’s also because I consider myself a big fan of his and really rooted for his reemergence since last year’s abysmal playoffs. Maybe it’s because I’m also biased towards the Yankees, my favorite (winning) team in the world. I can’t see the shock of this wearing off anytime in the near future. Baseball also might be in shock because he’s the clearest hope for a steroid-free player to clear out Barry Bonds’ soon-to-be home run record.
However, that’s mainly because I wholeheartedly believe he didn’t do steroids. He got a little bigger only during last season, and that slowed him some, but he still put up some awesome numbers nonetheless. This year, he’s having a phenomenal year, and for Canseco to bring out this information now is consistent with wanting to make sure his book does well. If he really did do anything out of the ordinary, we would have seen Alex amongst the 20 or so players subpoenaed by the government, or at least in the Game of Shadows book when so much of the steroids research was done or even his first book, Juiced.
More importantly, though, I want to see this ugliness over. Most baseball fans can agree with that. Once the last of the prominent steroid figures leaves, the rest of us can get back to actually enjoying baseball as the sports it is and not in this Cansecoism (think McCarthyism) we’re constantly under.
G_d, Canseco, you’re ruining my first name. Be gone, please.
jose
by Jose on July 28, 2007 · 0 comments
in Uncategorized
by Jose on July 26, 2007 · 3 comments
in Uncategorized
Yesterday, ESPN’s Sportscenter had an exclusive “town hall” meeting in San Francisco, CA, to discuss Barry Bonds and his pursuit of the homerun record. It’s amazing how many fans really cheered him on, and still do. What’s worse is that, I’m cheering him on, too.
I’d love to tell you how morally upstanding Barry is and what a wonderful human being he is, but by too many accounts, he’s not. I’d also love to tell you that I’m enamored with the idea of him breaking that record over someone who actually earned that record through blood, sweat, skin color, and tears (Hank Aaron). I’d love to stand alongside many of my colored brethren in support of Barry, because he’s public enemy #1 and we as a people understand the implications of being guilty until proven innocent but I’m not.
Dude did it. That’s something we need to stop playing ourselves with. OJ was an awesome football player at the college and professional level, but he most likely murdered Nicole. Michael Jackson was the king of the 80s and even the early 90s, in music and pop culture, but he definitely bleached his skin, uprooted his naps, and touched kids inappropriately in those camps. Unfortunately, the evidence against Barry is overwhelming, and everyday something new is coming out about Barry. Barry’s gotten a free ride as far as I’m concerned, and has the money to show for it.
Yet, I’m happy Barry has the potential to break that record; after all, baseball as a community allowed for this to happen. With all the Mark McGwires, Jason Giambis, Jose Cansecos, and Gary Sheffields, we just allowed these juiced players to break records all while Bud Selig rolled in the dough these men were making for him. Sports fans, managers, owners, and the mass media all had a role in allowing steroid users to do as they pleased. It’s like we asked them to do that for us in our orgasmic need for the long ball.
Will he make it into the Hall of Fame? Most likely, and that has everything to do with the moral burdens placed upon the voters (sports writers from all across the country). Why are we holding these guys accountable for what MLB should have fixed in its own sphere? It’s akin to having a kid who’s been behaving badly for the last 7-8 years and then sending him over to his grandfather’s house to get punished; it makes one wonder how great a parent this kid had to begin with. And unlike the aforementioned kid, I wonder whether these baseball players can come back reformed.
He’ll still make it in; Barry Bonds was once a fantastic baseball player everyone could at least trust. He had a stank attitude, but we knew the guy could rank up there with the great baseball players of all time if he continued on that path before 1998-9. He was a 40-40 threat every season, and played defense like his life depended on it. An MVP candidate even before this madness. He had 3 of them before the steroids. Yet, something about him said, “If Mark and Sammy can get all this love for breaking Roger Maris’ single-season record, imagine what I can do if I took the stuff.” What made OK players into awesome players turned awesome players into icons for an entire era.
Maybe this will all go away if / when Alex Rodriguez surpasses Barry’s record (estimate: 768), but if it doesn’t, we’ll still have to smell the residue of a sullied record and the final stain left by the Steroid Era of MLB.
peace,
jose
p.s. – The New York Yankees are hot, and A-Rod is doing as well as I hoped he would. I’ll not jinx them anymore.
Today, after class, I saw one of my girls from my school. She’s the one that gave me the “Man of the Year” award, which I more than appreciated. We had a nice long conversation about everything from why the hell I would even put that out on the Web to the boy she’s dating (a kid who I consider a son, so it’s fine). When I saw her coming up, I tried to maintain my teacher face, but inside I was gushing. I was really happy to see her, and that’s something that’s missing these days. I remember …
… when it was OK to hug your teacher and tell them that they were the greatest without some sort of sexual allegation pressed against them. I mean, seriously. I understand that there are necessary precautions a school has to take against sexual predators who’ve infiltrated the co-ed fraternity that is teaching. However, these people tend to be the very small exception than the rule. Many of the teachers who I consider colleagues and friends and who’ve had distinctive success in the classroom make themselves accessible not just academically, but socially and emotionally. It’s a way of investment that takes a fair level of understanding. It’s something I was brought up with and something that’s missing because of our lawsuit culture.
For that matter,
… when teachers would retire when they wanted to, but when they were scared their contract would screw over their pension, seniority rights, and tenure. (NYCEducator does a good job of highlighting many of these issues). I fear that, if I stay in this profession for decades on end, I’ll have to stay in the profession even longer than my predecessors do because our contract was divested of all these privileges. In the direction that NYC is going, it’s either that NYC teachers won’t even be in the classroom for longer than 5-6 years or they’ll have to work the hallways until they’re 70. Let’s hope neither of these happen.
… when it was important to have teachers who knew what they were doing, instead of this youth culture that values freshness rather than experience. There’s a sense in many of the observations I’ve made that leadership is getting younger, and less experienced. They’re trying to demonstrate to teachers who are usually more experienced than them how to teach. That’s their “job,” yet because of that lack of experience, the more experienced teachers become frustrated with that leadership.
… when people didn’t have to blog anonymously to get their points across.
… how proud I felt about the schools I attended. I went through a good series of public and private schools that, despite the negative aspects, really prepared me for the world I face now.
… when losing my pencil or pen was the worst thing that could happen for that entire week. The loss of a pencil to someone who thinks a quarter’s a big deal; now I lose one and it’s just another reminder to drop by Staples.
… when kids had a break in the middle of class just to chill out, write rhymes, talk about the latest trends, run out into the playground and play, read The Source, and talk about girls we thought we “type cute.” What many people don’t understand is that kids don’t think about school as a business. It’s their socialization vehicle, and because of our business model for school nowadays, we’re missing great opportunities to engage them in becoming better citizens. It’s no wonder why so many of our schools have classroom management problems; if I had to sit on my ass for hours on end and listen to someone talk at me for 6 hours and 20 minutes, I’d be too mad.
Now, off to sleep before I start liking that new McDonald’s commercial. Ketchup and mayo, ketchup and mayo …
jose
p.s. – I’m moving to a different school! :-p
Back when I started blogging my life away back in 2003, I never thought I’d actually continue it with the intention of addressing issues of interest to me. I felt it was more a personal thought journal, something I’d use to emulate the last sequences in Doogie Howser M.D. since I didn’t have his word processing program on my computer. Now, 4 years, a few pseudonyms, and millions of blogs later, I’m doing it under my name, and that’s immensely important. I now claim my own piece of the Internet under the name that I use in the real world, and that’s something people have slowly started to see as important.
When I started out on Xanga, I never had the intention of using it for anything other than personal. It was limited in scope to a few of my good friends and anyone who ended up running into “Latino,” “Black,” and “Syracuse University” in a search. For any writer, that environment becomes addictive because I wrote, and a bunch of people respond in the way they see fit, a perfect way to test one’s skills.
Soon, though, it became a vehicle all its own. I wrote, and massive amounts of people responded. I got subscribers from all over the world, and more anonymous hits than I thought were possible. I would write about any and everything that came to mind, and people would respond overwhelmingly.
But then something weird happened. I began to meet the personalities behind the pseudonyms. I met scholars, models, students, poets, people with dreams and ambitions, huge Yankee fans, aspiring entrepreneurs, and people who just needed a direction. I’ve been all over the country, and met hospitable people along the way, most of whom I’m definitely seeing again. I’ve even had people stop me on the street and ask me if I was that “blogger.” They all had a common thread: they were honest people who found a freedom within the Internet that they were not afforded as they grew up.
By this time, I found myself responsible to my subscribers, breaking down current events and esoteric themes into words that the “people” could understand, and that drove me to become a better writer, polemicist, and person. Amongst many people, I found a position as a vocal piece … but under an identity that was me, but not under my name.
Then it occurred to me how we all used these cover names to deflect that attention from their real world persona. I find it almost ironic that people have become increasingly scared of employers and the government finding out about their Internet matters when the Internet for so many of us is a primary source of liberation for not only bloggers but anyone with a keyboard, mouse, and a hook-up.
After more than half of my subscribers in that last site met me on a personal level, I began to write for what interested me, and not for the vast comments I might get. And with the inception of this new blog, it was important for me to show people the “real” me, whatever that means. It means now when I write, it’s attributed to my real life persona, just as the world intended. It involves a huge risk; what would happen if I said the wrong thing or two, and Bloomberg and Co. decided my checks should stop coming in from the DOE? Or if my former stalkers connect the dots between my blogs and send me crazy shit over my blog? Hmm …
Fuck it. I’ll deal with it when the time comes. In the meantime, thanks for reading. I got an education post coming up this week. I’ve been trying to not talking too much about my actual school, but I realize that for teachers, that’s an impossibility. Peace …
Many of you are familiar with Talib Kweli the artist. Since the days of Black Star, he’s blossomed into a premier face for hip-hop music. Unfortunately, because of the topics he discusses (politics, hip-hop, and urban community issues are among his favorites), he’s often type casted for a niche audience. What that usually means is that artists him, Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Common, and Pharoahe Monch get put in a little slot, even when their music has the ability to reach more audiences. In this day and age where hits are no longer made, but manufactured, it’s hard for artists like him to get their shine.
What it does mean for people who like their artistry is that we have to invest in their product and be active participants in their growth. Acts like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani, and Fergie, regardless of whether they actually craft their own music or rely on formulas for their success, already have machines behind them that will force listeners to hear their product. We don’t have to like their songs for them to be played a million times on the radio; they’re still going to get played. This is also not to say that they don’t work hard, but in Talib Kweli’s case, he doesn’t give the radio a diet Talib, if you know what I mean.
With the recent payola scandals (which were fairly obvious for decades now) and the mainstreaming of illegal downloading, it becomes ever more pressing for us as consumers of music to cast in our monies to artists we actually want to see succeed. I personally buy CDs from artists who have either come out with a very good project as of late (Linkin Park) or who have been consistent enough over their career that it inspires confidence in the product I’m buying (Janet Jackson). What this also means is that I’m also doing my “research” on the albums before I get them, something the music industry heads can’t understand. Many of us don’t download because we’re pirates; it’s because we’re tired of getting screwed over by a 15-song album whose quality is worth just 2.
You see, if they’re going to keep allowing cookie cutter crap to invade our ears and minds, then people will continue to download on a regular basis. As recently as 2004, I felt the music industry would remember how cutting edge music transformed the landscape for so many of these artists, when they gave breathing room to underground artists to get some shine on the major music stations. Now, because of the lack of variance amongst these radio and TV stations, it seems that we’ll never get the opportunity for these new energies to hit our eardrums.
This is all to say that, if you enjoy an artist, please support them, not just through CDs, which has gone the way of presidential voting, but also through concerts and word-of-mouth. BET’s 106 and Park was NEVER about the viewers’ choice, and radio’s still mired in money politics. I know I’ll be buying Eardrum (8/21/07), because more or less, if I want to see Talib succeed, I need to let the majors know he’s still relevant to people like me and you. More or less, if we want to see more of these artists, we need to support, or we stand to lose them all.
jose, who’s having the best summer in quite a while
by Jose on July 17, 2007 · 6 comments
in Uncategorized
Just a little commentary if I may:
The original purpose for the website “Hot Ghetto Mess” was to highlight the missteps of the Black community through pictures and other media. She felt that by making said website, she would show more conclusively how much of a “mess” so many of our Black brethren are. It was a call to those who were in the pictures and those who were on parallel paths to improve themselves and stop their persistent foolishness in light of the constant struggles our underrepresented communities face.
With all that said, the petition going around to stop “Hot Ghetto Mess” bothers me for two specific reasons.
1) Why are we wasting our time with a petition to shut off a TV show like “Hot Ghetto Mess” when we didn’t stop more than 1/2 the programming shown on BET, most of which has been degrading and unintelligible? I can’t even watch BET anymore and haven’t watched more than 5 minutes of BET in years.
2) Furthermore and concurrently, isn’t it interesting how a show that’s supposed to highlight the missteps of the Black community is being praised by those who it’s supposed to “awake”? With its premiere on BET, that irony is only lending itself to more appraisal by said population.
Of course, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but on the real, we have “gots to do better.” HA!
Ms. Whatsit tagged me 4 this one.
Four jobs I’ve had
Teacher
Movie Concessionist
Data Entry Clerk
Student Dorm Security
Four movies I can watch over and over
X
X-Men 2
Shrek 2
Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Four places I’ve lived
New York, NY
Syracuse, NY
(in my imagination) All over the world
In my mom’s womb
Four TV shows I love
Futurama
Pardon the Interruption
New York Yankees vs. ______
The Daily Show with John Stewart
Four places I’ve vacationed
Washington, DC
Sacramento and San Francisco, CA
Santo Domingo, DR
Chicago, IL
Four of my favorite dishes
Arroz blanco con habichuelas y carne (That’s rice, beans, and meat for my non-Spanish speakers)
fresh guacamole (amen)
shrimp pad thai
house special fried rice
Four sites I visit daily
Deadspin
MySpace (inquire within for my URL)
Facebook (same)
NYCEducator
Four places I would rather be right now
(frankly, nowhere but NYC, but …)
San Francisco, CA
Chicago, IL
Yankee Stadium, NYC, NY
Washington, DC
Four People I am tagging
Luz
Tricia
Harmony
Talda
It’s the first time in a while I’ve done one of these things. Thanks Ms. Whatsit. Peace …
by Jose on July 15, 2007 · 8 comments
in Uncategorized
This is what I was feeling last week. Before you judge, ask from whence it came. Hope y’all like …
“N-Word Reverie” by Jose Vilson © 2007
They buried the n-word yesterday
The National Association for the Advancement of People Who Are Often Defined As and Often Call Themselves The N-Word
gave the last rites and buried the n-word
With n-words praising the move and others dismaying it
IT made me wonder if the n-word that came up with the idea
Sent out a memo to its constituents
Held a forum on it
Had a jury of the n-word’s own peers to decide
Whether to execute or execute it
If not, then, what is the procedure for impeachment and disarmament
of those who’ve lost such a touch with their people
It does whatever it wants like
Wage wars,
Distribute tax monies improperly
Represent the interests of the rich, white, Protestant minority
Who really has the authority?
And how do we expect to descent upon the power of this small collective’s oppression
When we mirror the oppressors?
And what will NYC do to me for using the n-word that Bloomiani hasn’t tried already?
Use it against me?
Libel me?
Lower my wages as a city employee?
Ticket me?
Support assassins who shoot me up after I dropped my wallet?
Push me into a black van with the rest of the disobedient?
Maybe I can release my Cheneys,
And get a Libby
By Scooting and commuting to the nearest
Deposit box and writing a BIG ASS CHECK
For the entire teacher salary I make to educate kids to empower themselves as more than second-class citizens
Dust off doors for them that they hadn’t seen
Hadn’t dreamed
That a racial epithet would define who they will be
Is beyond me
The root is not the rappers, R&B artists, and comedians constantly using it in their shuffle-feet records
It’s not even Imus and Michael Richards using it in public view than blaming it on aforementioned musicians
Not Paris Hilton using it in her greenlit videos published all over YouTube
And it’s not even the common underrepresented youth
The poor Latinos, Asians, or Black kids
Or that one poor White kid who listens to Wu-Tang and hangs out with the rest of us
It’s the conditions that still exist that gave birth to the word
It’s not I don’t think it’s a powerful word
It’s that the web of power and deceit continues to exist
Whether we use the word or not
So let the n-word die off
Not from martyrdom but from sheer powerlessness
True advancement instead of this foolishness
Let this Bush burn and call it a liar
Dancing to its cackles,
Come around the bonfire
Celebrate the incineration of an idea much more powerful
Culminating in a word I’d be more prepared to fight for
And die for
Freedom …
peace
p.s. – Bam’s got a good perspective on this as well. These minds definitely think alike.
A common misconception amongst those that have had a math teacher is that they have no lives or aspirations outside of the classroom. Their second bias is that we know nothing about any other subject area except for math, to which I often need to sound a big buzzer. Math teachers, unfortunately, are often the most pegged into their subjects, and it’s a shame because they’ve often shown me to be the most talented.
Some of them, like my former high school math teacher, actually played chess in his spare time. Unfortunately, that fell in line with what we thought about him. However, I also had another high school math teacher after him who sang, acted, and directed, and played a mean set of keys (piano) in his spare time.
So of course, where does that leave me? Let’s just say I’m not big on chess. For those unaware of what math teachers do in their spare time, here’s a little rundown of my latest activities:
1) I’m taking one more class to get done with my masters’ education. It’s not just important for my salary, but my standing amongst my academic peers. Kinda boring, though.
2) I make speeches. I’m still proud of that moment when I got to stand in front of future fellow Fellows and let them know the possibilities we have to turn so many students’ futures around. And of course, it was in Lincoln Center. It’s getting exciting.
3) I party. And a lot. It’s one of those underground secrets amongst people in urban academia. We party like nobody’s business as a means of purging our souls from the exhausting weeks we have in school. I’ve been out of school for 2 weeks, and yet it was only last week I remembered my first name. And this was my second year …
4) I travel. Last year alone, I hit Chicago, Sacramento, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. This year, it’s been Miami and Detroit, and I have yet to take my summer trip. Next year, I’m leaving the country, and hopefully more than once.
5) I write. And lots. If it wasn’t evident already from this blog, I believe there’s more evidence here and here.
6) I network. That’s such an important part of life; meeting others and getting as many opinions as possible gives one a world-view that’s necessary. Because of my Aquarian nature, I meet people on the street and ask them their opinions on certain topics. It’s NYC.
7) Other things include: going to games (let’s go Yanks), going to parks, playing basketball, working out, eating different cuisine, catching up with old friends …
In other words, teachers have lives! Our society has become so concerned with work that now we’re living to work instead of working to live …
jose, who’s going to actually do some of these things on his list
p.s. I’m part of the Carnival of Education. Check it out.
I’m now a writer for 
