Posts from — November 2007

Today, I had an emotional and heart-wrenching day at the school. I’m still unclogging myself from the excess amounts of frozen margaritas, quesadillas, and shrimp I had at Mama Mexico last night, and a weird morning in which I waited until the very last minute to leave my house and take my hour-long ride on the silver limos, one labeled “F” and the next labeled “A”. I had no reason to go into school other than pride, because I had a good lesson plan ready for my kids, and I’d prefer to teach my children rather than some random (and often confused) substitute.

In general, it started off auspiciously enough. My homeroom children (Team Orange as I shall refer to them as from now on) did their work, and the progress in their mathematical reasoning and explanation. Even with the little discussions going on, I still found the whole 2 periods successful on a few levels.

Fast forward to the fire drill. Unfortunately, Team Orange decided to lose their damn minds. Not only did they decide to make tons of noise while we went downstairs, one of the children (who I later found out felt distress over his mom’s hospital admission) completely showed me disrespect when he went BACK into the class after I called his name 3 times before I said, “We need to go!” My AP followed the class and yelled at them for them to keep quiet.

Of course, when we got out of the building, I had all types of things to say to the child, most of which includes a free call to his father and detention with me. I further thought of the ramifications if one or more of my children stayed behind, considering our homeroom’s on the top floor. We were the last class out of the building, and I felt a little shame, too, not because I hadn’t explained the fire drill rules carefully, but because the principal told us how well we did for that drill. I begged to differ.

So I let them have it for a while on the bottom floor after everyone went back to class. The aforementioned AP also had the same conversation, but those little eyes definitely welled up twice after what I had to tell them: about how if anything happened to them, I’d have to jump back in and rescue someone. If I lost them, I’d lose my mind. They’re not just a liability, but my children, and I’m responsible for their well-being.

I do concede that I have a bit of a “hero” syndrome when it comes to my homeroom children, but I also know that one can’t help but treat those children like your own when you see them more than you even see your own family five out of seven days. As much as fire drills make me ill, I instantly acknowledge how I’m an emergency respondent if I’m missing one of my students.

In the middle of her tirade, my AP said, “Mr. V, what would you do if this student was missing?”

I said, “I think I’d go back for them,” in an understated tone, because I felt my throat clamp up.

People don’t take into account how good teachers can’t and won’t sit idly while their students rot. We’ll push them when they prefer mediocrity. We’re magnanimous and scrupulous all at once about children’s shortcomings. We’re reflecting on how to make ourselves more accommodating to their needs, academically and usually personally, too. In other words, it’s a matter of life and death.

jose, for whom life is not promised …

Every morning, I’m usually in the class, setting my board up for my homeroom class, who also happens to be my first period class on Thursdays and Fridays, so it’s almost like having an extended homeroom. The whole school routinely says the US’ Pledge of Allegiance, and the responsibility to recite it over the loudspeaker lands on a lady I’ll call Lady Pledge for purposes of anonymity. She usually starts the pledge at exactly 0805 hrs., so within 5 minutes of the kids making it up the stairs, we start it.

On this particular morning (November 16th, on a Friday no less), she decided to say the allegiance lackadaisically. After her rendition of the pledge that day, I didn’t feel the need to admonish the class for not pledging. To the contrary, I actually just waited it out and gave my announcements like nothing happened. (Secretly, I don’t recite it outside of school in protest of the Iraq War, but that’s besides the point.)

When I decided not to pledge and show the kids we had no reason to pledge that day, it made me wonder in general if we’re training our kids to become drones and servants to a country that’s time and again proven it cares less about urban city children than it does anyone else. It’s general school policy to pledge every morning, and I usually adhere to said policy. After the unenthusiastic rendition, though, it only led me to anarchist thoughts.

Let’s take the pledge of allegiance, for example. It exalts the US as “one nation under God” and promises to stand for “liberty and justice for all.” Now, when I learned social studies, at the very least, I learned how to dissect statements like those, and I had a good understanding of the founders’ point of view. I also had a historical context so I could formulate my opinions. Even if I couldn’t describe my own experience in this country, I at least understood where that came from.

Nowadays, not even that part of American history gets explained clearly enough. Unfortunately, current urban education relegates social studies to the corner with a dunce cap. The school boards don’t care enough about social studies to make our students better informed citizens to this country. I’m not blaming this on history / social studies teachers (some of whom I wish taught me) as I blame the system we’re under. There’s more emphasis on getting kids to pass the ELA and Math tests, and not even well enough so they can read classic literature, dissect opinionated text, understand theorems or write proofs, but just enough to read a menu or punch in a receipt. We’re not even teaching enough to let the children come to their own, fact-based conclusions about the world they live in.

But someone might will argue:

“Mr. V, don’t you have oppressive laws in your class like no chewing gum, no standing up from your seats, no talking, or no talking out of turn? Isn’t that against everything you just said?”

Not unless you forget to explain your reasoning for the rules. The reason why we don’t let kids out of their seats is because it usually means they want to distract someone else like their friends. The reason why they can’t chew gum is because they often leave it in the textbooks or in the desks. That’s not oppression; that’s teaching discipline. But if we don’t make it clear to the kids that we’re showing them discipline, most of them will relegate us to “just another person that really wants nothing to do with us” status. Plus, discipline is the backbone of any movement.

And the suppressive mentality remains rampant amongst too many of us educators. We’re good for extolling the virtues of free thinking, success, and uplifting our children’s intelligence (or so the test scores say). People constantly laud teachers for their valiant efforts, and justifiably so. Yet, we often don’t think of the social ramifications of the messages we send to our children. We also don’t help impart that idealism we entered in with onto our children, and we imply this through our actions and curriculum. Some of us ask them to conform to a certain ideal of success but stripping them of their individual needs, wants, and cultures without even knowing it.

I’m not sure, but I find it somewhat hypocritical of one of the most progressive collectives in the world (teachers) would allow for this kind of indoctrination to happen. Yet, I also see a group of us that can definitely make true change happen. I’m not so much interested in whether my students become conservative or liberal (or insurrectionists for that matter), but they should have choices based on their past experience as well as learning how the systems work.

Then again, I guess liberty and justice aren’t really for all, right? Right.

jose, who wonders whether lady pledge really thinks about the founding forefathers when she recites it …

You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all want to change the world …

I just read a third installment of the 40th Anniversary edition of Rolling Stone (yes, I’m a subscriber), and read an awesome quote from Al Gore (who I honestly believed in since 1999). In response to the question of how to engineer sweeping social and political and industrial change in a short period of time (i.e. before the ice caps melt):

Einstein once said, “The problems that face us cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them. What we need is a shift in consciousness.”

When asked to clarify, he says:

“Forty-five years ago, Thomas Kuhn wrote a book called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Twenty years before that, Joseph Schumpeter wrote about the way changes in consciousness take place in business. Both Kuhn and Schumpeter described a process whereby our current way of thinking about the world - who we are, how we live, is challenged by new facts that don’t seem to fit the old explanations. When enough unexplainable new phenomena pile up, there is sometimes a shift in consciousness that moves us quickly and suddenly to recognize a new pattern that quickly and suddenly to recognize a new pattern that explains all of these things that have been mysterious in context of the old way of thinking. That’s what we’re on the cusp of right now.”

So does this mean we’re on the verge of truly profound changes in the way people think? It makes me wonder, since not many people have the insight to actually research their beliefs and simply follow a modality for allegiance. Also, humans like normalcy and following trends, because that’s comfortable. Unless we can break free of those habits, how can we stand to truly buck trends?

For instance, it’s been shown that when the US president tells something to the American people (at least historically) the general public overwhelmingly believes it. In 1964, when the “uneducated” Muhammad Ali protested the Vietnam War, becoming a conscientious objector when drafted, the rest of the country (76% to be exact) still believed we should still deploy more soldiers. No offense to those who have served in Iraq or Vietnam, but America’s going to war for corporate self-interest alone, which is why Bush constantly lowers expectations on television. While the American people’s consciousness is slowly discerning the ramifications of a hastily planned and corrupt war, it’s still not ready to march up to the doorsteps of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, and pull people out.

Yet, this is also a critical time in which that most certainly can happen. More than ever, we have the opportunity to gain more important and relevant information, quicker, with better analysis, and with no regard to partisan politics. We also have quicker methods of contact, organization, and mobilization than ever before because of the new technologies. We have vast opportunities to surpass our predecessors as far as being well-informed citizens and thus can truly prepare ourselves for a true revolution on many levels.

Even as we speak, scientistsphysicists work hard to disprove Einstein’s theory of relativity while simultaneously finding new proofs for what we deem as absolute truths. It’s analogous to what educators experience in their jobs today: we have these new technologies to help our children close the digital divide and have better information to supplement our teaching, yet time and again, the essentials of good teaching have to stay. We still have to write proper lesson plans, have good classroom management, lay a good foundation of subject fundamentals, and have a good sense of self and our environment.

In the same way, our world won’t be able to function if we don’t care more about the environment, teach our children properly about history, show them self-respect and respect for others, inspire them to reach beyond their means, and instill the values of hard work and dedication. Or else, all the new crap we’re developing is truly for naught.

jose

This week in my blog, I’m engaging in lots of civil disobedience. You’ve been warned.

As usual, on a Sunday, some short notes:

- I totally forgot to do this, mainly because I’ve been overwhelmed by the kudos I’ve gotten for my work here, but Joel at SoYouWantToTeach made me the first teacher for his Reader Appreciation Month, so a quick shout-out to you, good sir.

- My new linking policy seems to be working: you link me, I link you, unless I’m not feeling what you’re writing. Then again, I’ve come across some pretty intelligent bloggers / writers around the Internet, so I don’t really reject many links.

- Beowulf isn’t just a great CGI movie. It’s a great movie. Go watch … if you’re into blood, guts, mysticism, and nudity. Otherwise, take your time walking there. I love the recreation of the epic poem, and it scared me just how realistic everything appeared. I’m still disappointed they used the same ads from Tomb Raider in this one, but overall, I did like the recreation.

- I still support net neutrality. With the ever increasing popularity of Facebook (thanks for adding me if you already have) and other social networks dominating the Internet scene, it becomes increasingly important that not only do we have an unbiased playing field, but we also have the ability to access any information we want without being redirected to the Internet providers’ options first.

- Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Sean Bell, a young and unarmed man who was shot and killed brutally by the NYPD after his bachelor party. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a criminal case in court, and really, there’s no justice served here yet. I’m still waiting for justice for Amadou Diallo (the benchmark for all brutality cases unfortunately), Jayson Tirado, Timothy Stansbury, and even Malcolm Ferguson. When the government of any area creates a hostile environment, they can’t expect the people to just sit there idly. Therefore, people should must will protest.

jose, who constantly experiences mental paradigm shifts …

In 2000, when I finally had the language to express my frustrations and quandaries about the state and history of America, I started to refer to Thanksgiving as “Happy Indigenous Slaughter Day” to commemorate the millions of indigenous people slaughtered by the incumbent European oppressors who pillaged, raped, and committed ruthless genocide amongst the many across this hemisphere (and in other continents). The history of these states demand that we appropriate the more tender (and proportionally few) moments of those events: people of different origins celebrating together after months of long and arduous travels where we can commune in peace with our families. Unfortunately, just like the day itself, that’s too far from the truth. It’s an ideal that we can strive for, and sometimes substantiate enough to mimic such joyous feelings, but the word Thanksgiving irks me some.

And I hate to be labeled as the Angry Black Latino Man (which I am, and I acknowledge in parts), but this should be a time to reflect upon why it is that we’re truly thankful and why we choose this day to do so. Are we thankful for the families that we have and if so, what role do we play in making those families a beacon of our inspiration? Are we thankful for the freedoms we supposedly have and the virtues of peace and love we hold so dear to us while men and women throw weapons of mass destruction at one another for the very same cause? Are we thankful for having something to eat and sleep at night while our comforts allow for this hapless yet conniving administration to sedate us while they continue to proliferate an underbelly of their imperialist regime?

Or is it simpler than that?

How many of us come from families that don’t have any dirty secrets about each other? How many of us don’t celebrate Thanksgiving because they’re tired of pretending to like the person sitting across from them? How many of us wish we could have people sit around a table and just eat? How many of us hate our jobs and wish this day off would never end? How many of us feel unappreciated and lonely on this day of thanks? How many of us want something to truly be thankful for?

As much as I hate to say it, just being right here right now makes me an accomplice to what we do this every arena … unless of course I raise my hand. Unless of course, I seek to change the course in my family, my friends, and the country I live in. Bring back the soldiers and let’s help the ones who aren’t as fortunate as we are right here. There’s no reason to believe we don’t all hold a stake in making Thanksgiving a holy day, and a time to truly revolutionize what’s happening in our lives.

In many ways, this musing really serves as an all-reaching prayer, hoping we all find something to be thankful for in these troubling times.

Cheers …

jose, who’s grown up a bit since Y2K …

I hate to brag, but:

“Mazel Tov! It’s a celebration, chickens!
L’Chayim! I wish for you a hundred years of success, but it’s my time!”

courtesy of Jay-Z from “Roc Boys”

With little paper promotion (mostly word-of-mouth) and without a foundation for a Penny Harvest Committee until about 2 weeks in, my school collected approximately over 2,000 dollars. By my estimations, that might be a record for my school, so I’m incredibly excited. We had classes that unfortunately registered at nil, but the rest of the school definitely compensated for the lack of participation.

And I hate to say this because I understand who reads this, but this was also a covert and independent mission on my end. I abided by the regulations laid out for the school as well as the Penny Harvest organization, but I knew that in order for this fundraising to surpass all expectations, I needed to slide under the (rather superfluous) red tape.

For instance, I didn’t necessarily agree that I had to check with my “chief of staff” for every little thing I needed, nor did I think I needed my advertisements revised and reassessed constantly. At some point, when we’re supposedly beholden to someone else’s whims, we need to seriously consider if the person’s asking legitimate questions or if they’re just making questions up, knowing you’ve covered all the bases.

Let us concentrate on the positive. I’m thankful for a few things:

1) We ended Penny Harvest in an astonishingly orderly fashion. Everything just fell into place, and some of the policies I instilled earlier in the year really paid off at the end.

2) We have a strong core of people from all floors that will represent our school well for the rest of the year.

3) I can continue to instill ideas of community service for the rest of the year without the worries of money and with the trust of teachers and administration.

4) We’ve gotten the school excited about donating to organizations that help with causes like the Dominican Republic relief fund (a popular one at my school), diabetes, breast cancer, or the homeless, depending what direction the winning classes want to take.

5) I also look forward to having my preps and profs back. It’s a huge sacrifice to be the Penny Harvest coach. It was my first year, and my system, while more efficient and more homeroom-centered, took some readjusting for the school to get used to.

I don’t get paid by any of the Penny Harvest people to do this, so know that I think Penny Harvest is an awesome event that people can honestly contribute to. When we can get to the point of developing curriculum across the subjects (and not just in math) for this event, we’ll be on a whole ‘nother plane. Kids really do get excited because no matter how minuscule the donation, we can all in some way commit to some donations to people less fortunate than we are. Even when administrations change, the Penny Harvest has a reputation around the school. Every class really rallied around to support.

But of course, this is only phase numero uno. I look forward to the rest.

For more about Penny Harvest and the Common Cents organization, go to commoncents.org.

For more about my Penny Harvest experience, read:

So Close I Can Taste It, Penny Harvest Math, and Penny Harvest Mania.

Shout-outs to NYC Educator and Ms. Whatsit for mentioning me in their Education Carnival and Teacher Potluck, respectively.

Sweet …

jose, who will definitely blog on Thanksgiving …

I was eating dinner at a fine Irish establishment at Washington Heights in the middle of the parent-teacher conferences at my school when someone mentioned the eclectic mix of music above us. Somewhere between Tom Jones’ “Pussycat” and my Irish nachos, I thought: “Well, as long as they don’t play ‘Age of Aquarius,’ there might be a sense of normalcy in this predominantly Dominican neighborhood.”

“This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the age of Aquarius, Aquarius! Aquarius!”

And that’s pretty much how my day went. I expected to have the most parents percentage-wise (I usually do, hence why it’s my time to shine), and I had a set script for every kid, bringing out my Excel grading book to show that 1) I’m ready and willing to show both parent and child that there’s no way around me and 2) that in case they wanted to play the politics game I was ready for them. However, I wasn’t hostile, and most of the parents were awesome.

Here’s my script, mostly unscripted, but the skeleton usually looks like this:

1. Introduce them and give them “warm” feedback i.e. give them a sense that there’s work being done and that the child’s not hopeless.
2. Give them “cold” feedback i.e. what they can improve on in the future, further addressing how honest and forthcoming I’ve been to them and their parent about their progress.
3. Always end with a positive outlook, and a definite goal numerically and specifically targeting one of the 6 sections of the grade.

Of course, I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, so even in 2 languages, it still got old really early. However, I did have a few exceptions.

I had the parent who honestly looks like she’s heard it all about her child, and it hurts to see. I didn’t know where to start because we already had the conversation about her child last week, that after me and my ELA co-teacher had a meeting with the child about how best to address his needs. We asked him to re-evaluate what he thinks about himself, and how we as teachers could help him get to where he needs to. That’s still pending.

I had the parent who had “no idea” how their child failed, especially after the conversation we had a month ago. If you asked me a month ago whether the child would turn in their journal, I would have said yes. A week after that conversation, she didn’t, so she barely passes. It’s unfortunate because she’s a sweet kid, but sweet won’t cut it into high school, college, etc …

I had the parent who needed reaffirmation for her child, so I gave her the whole “She can’t just be the cute little model. She needs to continue until she gets to high school, college, etc. until she becomes a strong and independent woman where she doesn’t need a man, and that’s where I want to see her go.”

I had the parent who has a reputation with one of the teachers already, for disciplining his child … hard. I was scared because really I think the child’s awesome, and she’s one of a kind, but that’s not enough. Lately, she’s been stuck in the wrong crowd, and because of that mix-up, she’s become more defiant, even when we’re looking out for her best interest. The tears flowed down the child’s face while the father implicitly told me about how angry he gets. She got a pretty good grade in my class, but I know that won’t be good enough for her father.

I had the parent who let her child tell her that she didn’t need to see any more parents, so they ran away from me. Little did they know my Rockports have good traction, and I spoke to the parent about her.

I had the parent who made me realize why her boy’s so whiny. The apple does not fall far from the tree.

I had the parents who I had to use both English (to the father) and Spanish (to the mother) simultaneously, teling her how their child needs to do much better than they’re doing and has the unlimited potential for that. What was more amazing is that one of my graduates from last year, who also failed her first marking period, is getting 90s in math in high school. I was able to tell all of them how even with the lack of success she had in my class, the skills she gets from her 8th grade teachers prepare them for high school, and every graduate from my class that came back to visit can attest to that, and the graduate definitely agreed.

I had the parent of a child who didn’t do very well. She actually sat me down and forgot that I’m a professional. To wit, she actually told me to sit down and gave me directives as to how best to teach her child. Of course, I CYA’d, and said, “OK, let’s do whatever it is we need to do.” She told me to sit her child in the front, told me not to let her go to the bathroom, told me to pick on her more often, told me to let her take her journal, and told me to call her. Will do tomorrow, already doing, have been since Mr. V knows when, already doing, and have done a couple of times with logs on all of this.

I had 55 parents in total, and it was non-stop discussion. I do my best to rotate them in and out, and it relieves the heck out of me when I don’t have to make that many phone calls to parents for at least another 2-3 weeks. Aquarius, signing off …

“Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golding living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revalation
And the mind’s true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!”

jose, who sees the dawning of the age of aquarius …

Yes, I caught that Kanye West video of him crying in front of everyone at the Paris, France show. It was honestly one of the oddest things I’d ever seen in my life. According to sources, he only did the show because he wanted to fulfill contractual obligations, so he showed up. They played “Hey Mama,” in tribute to his recently deceased mother, Dr. Donda West, whose surgery is still under review, and he couldn’t even begin the song. He cried on stage for a full 10 minutes before he left.

While I disagree with his decision to endorse EdIn08, Kanye’s one of the few artists who reveals every part of his personality, and whether we think it’s TMI or not, everyone from the older generation to younger generation listen to Kanye for that brutal honesty about his Black-middle-class-preppie to hip-hop-superstar stories. Not only a brilliant producer, but a very good rapper nowadays, Kanye’s made everyone behind the boards and in the booth step their game up and give a little more than the money, hoes, and clothes lines.

The difficulty in revealing too much about yourself is that, while you become more accessible and your fans remain almost criminally loyal to you, your most tragic and tender moments become susceptible to lovers and haters of your art form alike. The same people who raised him this far inevitably can spin this as a raw and honest moment on his part (positive) or point to how anti-gangster he is, an attribute he’s played off in the past, but has also played with after College Dropout.

Yet, more critically, his appearance on YouTube with that mellifluous instrumental to “Hey Mama” playing in the background, people clapping, screaming, and rooting for him made me think of the Truman Show again. I wonder what the thought process was for those cheering him on: did they cheer for him because he was crying for his moms or because they wanted to make him happy enough so they could get their money’s worth? Do they support him as a person or as the fresh-and-cuddly rapper whose CD they keep on rotation?

In a time when media is instant and opinions come only a second after that transmission, this latest transmission of a pop star in obvious pain really hurt my heart. Because this is exactly the kind of artist that he is, and it’s also the type of people we are …

jose

Sunday’s a great day to write these random thoughts:

- Soul II Soul’s “Back To Life” is a really great song. I didn’t realize how dope it was until I went out last night and actually took a listen to it. I downloaded it off iTunes, and have it on my iPod nano a.k.a. “Knight Rider.” Yes, I called my iPod Knight Rider. I would have called it KITT, but that’s wack. When I get to customize the colors on an iPod, I’ll call that one Voltron. Hate me now.

- My cell phone went off in class on Friday, and naturally, I was pretty embarrassed. Of course, one of my kids tried to test me.

Student 1: “Mr. V, I’m going to have to confiscate your cell phone now.”
Me: “Oh yeah, until tomorrow right?”
Student 2: “No, until June 28th and your mom’s going to have to pick it up.”
Me: “So you’re coming in to register for summer school the next day? Cool.”

Needless to say, I kept my cell phone. They really don’t know who they’re messing with.

- Yesterday, I had the privilege of watching Three Mo Tenors at at the Little Shubert Theatre here in NYC, and I was very impressed. Their renditions of classics like “Superstar” by Luther Vandross, “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, and “Midnight Train to Georgia” by the Pips (no Gladys) really impressed me, even more than their renditions of the opera songs they did. Their renditions of “Yeah” by Usher, and “We Will Rock You” by Queen confused me to no end, but everything else was top notch. If they come around your town, go see it.

- Gary Payton’s the latest great player out of my favorite generation of basketball gods to “retire.” I know he’s not officially retired, but he looks comfortable where he’s at right now. Smart basketball player. Exciting defender and scorer. Shit talker. Part of one of the best tag teams on Earth (with the once-exciting-now-befuddling Shawn Kemp). Angry. Street. Charismatic. Just an overall awesome player.

I’m still enamored with basketball from 1989 - 1999, not only because Patrick Ewing and the Knicks gave New York fans a team to believe in, but also because of the amazing games week after week we got to see. The rivalries were intense, and even though the players had big-money contracts, they always played with a lot of heart and vigor. Even when your team was mediocre at best, you still knew you were going to get the best show possible from at least one side of the court. Rarely a dull moment in the NBA.

Michael Jordan. Reggie Miller. Charles Barkley. Clyde Drexler. Hakeem Olajuwon. John Stockton. Karl Malone. Scottie Pippen. Dominique Wilkins. Tim Hardaway. David Robinson. Chris Mullin. Even guys like Jeff Hornacek, Dan Majerle, Mitch Richmond, Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant, Glen Rice, Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway … damn, I miss that NBA.

Really, I do. Even if I hated a good third of the guys on this list, it doesn’t mean I didn’t respect them heavily. To the contrary, I loved to hate them, and that’s what’s missing in the NBA right now. The NBA still has an abundance of stars (LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzi come to mind immediately), but they’re missing that flavor. David Stern and Co. cleaned out the cool from the league.

jose, who’s a semi-dormant Knick fan waiting for the Dolans and Isiah to get the hell out of here …

SMACK!

HA HA HA!

Dave Chappelle, I miss you, man.

In any case, I was tagged by J. Dakar, so now I have to come up with 5 things I’d like to tell my kids. If you’re an avid reader of this blog, though, you can probably tell what the first three are:

1. Walk on water.

Don’t be afraid to take risks, because once you become afraid, then you’ve lost the opportunity  to know if the impossible was possible.

2. Freedom is not free.

It’s a play on this commonly known phrase, but I tell my kids that if they want freedom, they have to earn it and fight for it. Never let it go: the fight or the freedom.

3.  Be the change you want to see in the world. 

Word to Mohandas Gandhi. If they want to see something change in their communities, in their living situations, and how people approach them, they have to act like that change. Simple, but not easy.

4. Know who your friends and enemies are.

Unfortunately, kids don’t often have the ability to discern between what’s harmful and helpful to them. Often, their own friends who distract them from their work eventually hurt them while the teachers who they’re used to holding them back actually help them progress in their own lives. I understand the dynamics, but really, the truth must be told.

5. Push hard, and just when you think you’re done, push harder.

Because you never know how far you can go until you’ve pushed your hardest …

jose, who’s happy he didn’t sell his limited edition Yankee jerseys (Jeter and A-Rod plates on the left sleeve)

p.s. -

Currently on rotation:

Jay-Z - “Roc Boys,” “American Dreaming”
Across the Universe cast - “Let It Be,” “I Am The Walrus,” “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (featuring Salma  “Damn Señora” Hayek),  “Across the Universe”
Babyface - “Shower the People”