August 2008

It bothers me that the children of immigrants can so blatantly show disrespect to present day immigrants.

Let me give a little backdrop. I was in a car once with a group of young women, and one of them said, “I have very strong views on immigration.” I said, “I do, too.” (wink) She went on to talk about immigrants as if they’re that much different from us. Another young lady went on to talk about how they should be made to speak English if they’re going to be part of this country. Naturally, I’m looking at them, and the other young lady present, wondering how anyone could agree to these sentiments knowing the history of this country, and their own families.

For one, this country, the country that people love / fear and want to hold up right next to G_d, is in fact, a country of immigrants. Unfortunately, the indigenous people of this country were ripped and raped off / of their homelands, and had to settle in lands that these new immigrants made for them when they developed a system of colonization from sea to shining sea. And the definition of who was considered “immigrant” and “foreign” changed depending on who these higher-ups wanted coming in the country and who they sought to benefit from.

Nowadays, the descendants of these immigrants, the presidents, land owners, business executives, and billionaires publicly set an agenda of anti-immigration to instill a sense of nationalism in the rest of us. And what’s worse, we’re eating it up, even when many of us are treated like second-class citizens. What’s the difference between the trailer park and the barrio? The hood and the run-down suburb? Believe it or not, not much, but we continue to segregate ourselves because we have a misconstrued view of the class system here.

So, knowing all that, we now see that people who do come to this country, whether by visa or by more clandestine methods, come because they want a better life. When people see the word “immigrant,” they’ve been taught to think “uncouth,” “Mexican,” “tons of kids,” and “Spanish-speaking” by the images on television, newspapers, and their own government. Yet, there’s a group of “illegal” Irish immigrants working off Long Island right now, wishing they were home but thankful for making a little more money than they were back at home. There are Haitians in Miami who are locked into closets and kitchens for days on end like they’re attached to their brooms and pans just because they “have no rights” here in this country.

There are Dominican immigrants, Chinese immigrants, Indian immigrants, and all sorts of people just trying to stay alive in these hard times, but we want to chastise them because they’re trying to make money just like we are. We want them to speak English, when some of us have a hard time with the English language ourselves. We want them to follow the laws of this country when their only “crime” is standing on the so-called hallowed ground you do with a different colored card than we do. We want them to follow our customs, but if we have the nerve to criticize others for the lack of diversity in different arenas. We want them to stop taking our jobs, but too many well-to-do families pick them up from the corner and make them do menial jobs for slave wages. We want them to get the hell out of this country, but when these same well-to-do families have no need for them, they suddenly find la migra busting through their doors and they never find a means of naturalization.

And this is a bigger issue than I can tackle on my own here (though I could keep going, honest), but I think back to my own parents, both immigrants from their respective countries, and how they worked their way to where they’re at now. And more recently, I think of my older brother on my father’s side, who was considered for all intents and purposes a Haitian immigrant. He fought for 10 years to obtain citizenship, which we take for granted, but for him is the difference between a certain and an uncertain future, for the difference between being deported and just getting a ticket or two paid off if anything ever happened to him. When he became a citizen, he was practically in tears, because it was a culmination of all the struggles he’d gone through in this country.

Yet, even people related to him support anti-immigration policies. Thank goodness those opinions can’t be transfused in my blood …

jose, who doesn’t hate people, but has an aversion to half-baked ideas …

p.s. - There’s nothing illegal about any human. Let’s fix that.

Tagged as: family, immigration

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I caught V for Vendetta last night. Wow. Made me want to tear things down. Imagine this: Mr. V for Vendetta (hahah). Because I need a more evil reputation. Bwahaha …

Got a few interesting posts this weekend, including about immigration and the role of the father. Should be good, honest, especially in light of the late Bernie Mac and, maybe less so, Isaac Hayes.

You really think I went to the Dominican Republic Parade? Really? REALLY?! You know better than that..

I love when people cast doubt on any projects I undertake. When I bought my own .com a few years ago, everyone was getting on Blogspot and other free web spaces. Now, after the Internet trolling and the flagging of certain activists’ websites, people are seeing the importance of having a .com. I was on Facebook back in ‘04 when MySpace was just starting up. Again, people laughed because they thought it was too plain looking. Now, everyone’s up on it trying to look like they’ve been on it forever. They doubted my blogging a few years ago, too, calling it “diary” keeping, and not lacking substance, and now everyone’s gotta have one.

Not that I’m boasting, but I like to be either right ahead of a trend or so far behind that it’s like new when it gets to me. With that said, I need your help. No really, I do. If you have any suggestions for the jlv, leave them in the comment box. Wait, as a matter of fact, please click here:

thejosevilson.com

I’m upgrading, updating, and cleaning up. Click around, look around, and observe. Smell it, taste it, and feel it out. If you have any suggestions, ideas, anything you like, dislike, etc., leave it in the comment box. Because this next upgrade, I assure you should be the dopest. But I encourage all your feedback. Thanks.

jose, who is always searching for new avenues for improvement …

Tagged as: feedback, short notes

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Make no bones about it; I got love for Alex Rodriguez, the 3rd baseman for the New York Yankees.

His swift and graceful swing, his trot, and that swagger he shows when he comes up to bat. The ease in which he picks up balls coming down the left field line and gets them to whoever’s platooning at 1st base. Even the way he wears the uniform makes you want to don the uniform too. Not to mention how well he’s made so many young Latinos proud to be Dominican, even when he’s had conflicts with that identity, his unwavering work ethic, and the astronomical numbers he puts up every season.

And it’s with these reasons that I, like many Yankee fans, have this internal struggle as to whether we should believe the man’s hype. He’s not only got the talent and the numbers to prove it, but he’s got the makings of someone with the perfect life: blonde streaks, good build, beautiful (ex?)-wife, and enough millions to buy out his own baseball team. He also has a hint of arrogance that’s subtle enough for the general populace not to notice, but enough to annoy others. Until the last couple of years, he still showed signs of vulnerability. Now, he’s reached a level of stardom that’s hard to come down from, embroiled in messy affairs and also coming across as a bit dispassionate.

Oh yeah, and he’s not that good when batters are in scoring position (.245 this year), and it’s even worse since we expect him to have a good 1.000 when there’s that situation. He’s a monster of a player, but a monster to himself. After watching Rodriguez’ Yankeeography on the YES Network, you get a sense that as truly phenomenal a player as he is, the pressure of his contract, the media, the fans, the owners and general managers, and his own teammates gets to him, even if it’s just a little bit. In particular, if anyone’s watched him in the last few games, he gets up there, same swag, same gallop, same batting stance, but if there are runners in scoring position, he anxiously and genuinely wants to hit a homerun that’ll further cement his place amongst the pantheon of great Yankees before him, like DiMaggio, Ruth, Mantle, and Jackson.

Unfortunately, it’s that desire to be the greatest that prevents him from doing so. Everyone’s entitled to their own definition of greatness, and it’s with that definition of greatness that A-Rod willingly and unapologetically lives with, even with the justified scrutiny he lives with. It’s amazing how through the 1996-2000 years of Yankee legacy, only the Yankees themselves went into the season with really high expectations, and everyone else just hoped and imagined. Now, due to these star players and steep contracts (along with the steep prices to go to these games), we’ve expected a championship, and that’s where we might have fallen wayside with A-Rod particularly.

Is the onus on us Yankee fans, whose hubris is internationally-renown and well-documented? Is the onus on the players and agents who help to drive up expectations by setting a dollar figure on the expectations we have for our roster of 10 on the field? Or is it really on the owners for charging us so much and pointing the blame directly at the people who they pay extraordinary money for? Can we who actually have an affinity for all things Yankee-related believe in such things as rookie development and rebuilding years, something we haven’t seen in New York City since the early 90s?

A-Rod has become symbolic of all that’s right and wrong with the league. The steriod allegations (none of which have been proven), the peculiar sense of family values, the conflict of identity for Latino players representing both homeland and citizenship to the United States, the vice grip of agents, publicists, and handlers, and the dogged scrutiny of the media for the next big story made from nothing more than a footnote, and of course, he’s in the most prestigious offensive position on the most successful team in US sports history.

But for anyone watching the way I watch second-most favorite player (interestingly, Derek Jeter’s my first), it’s also a testament to the struggles of human fallacy. There aren’t enough extrinsic influences in the world that can bring this man peace so long as he doesn’t win a championship. He’s the emblem for those who’ve always had unfathomably high expectations set for them and could never quite reach them. Every strikeout, missed play, and every year we spend waiting for #27 only serves to further scathe A-Rod’s legacy.

Alex Rodriguez is currently hitting .295 in the last 30 days, but he’s hitting .143 in the last 7 days, which means he’s spent more time getting pelted by the ball than pelting the ball itself recently. These slumps constantly remind him of how much harder he has to work, on the field, in the clubhouse, in his home, and in his mind. If they can somehow dodge the unlucky fate of these numerous and untimely injuries, he’ll also have to search for the A-Rod that beat up on the Minnesota Twins in ‘04, or the regular season A-Rod of ‘03, ‘05, and ‘07.

Will you go the way of Patrick Ewing, Jim Kelly, and Don Mattingly or Joe Namath, Wade Boggs, and yes, Willis Reed? Your story’s far from over, but rarely has the fate of a 25-man baseball team rested on the performance of one man the way it does with you. Rarely does a whole team’s legion of fans both loathe and heavily anticipate one man’s at-bat with men on base in a pressure situation. And rarely does that man have as much potential and talent as you do, A-Rod.

The question remains: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, where is your soul?

“90 feet from home …”

jose, who’s a Yankee fan through and through …

Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, baseball, sports, yankees

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Guy Kawasaki recently put me onto this website called Alltop.com, a magazine type of site, that aggregates some of the great websites / blogs out there … and now I’m included in that list. Pretty cool all things considered. The concept for the site itself is pretty cool as well. For a demo on what I mean, check this out. At first, I thought I’d just find obscure edublogs that I never read, but to the contrary, 1/2 my education blogroll’s on there. When you get a chance, drop by the site. No, I’m not getting paid to say any of it, just needed to share things I run into on the ‘net, along with:

The Unapologetic Mexican, who highlights how even Paris Hilton makes John McCain look like he’s got a couple of screws loose;

Carmen D., who highlights how big corporations just swindled 5100 digital channels for free;

Clay Burell, who gives the other side of the soldier student argument;

Liza Sabater, who highlights people’s misgivings about real grassroots movements;

Tracy Rosen, who understands how kids learn through technologies and not just buzz words;

Brooks of Sheffield, who calls out the morons who cut lines, throw cigarettes on the ground, and don’t get up for senior citizens and pregnant women;

Amiri Baraka for writing a retort to those who see Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader as viable candidates instead of Barack Obama (courtesy of Christina Springer);

And Frumteacher, who clocked in as my top commenter (as far as number of comments) …

jose, who edited a few things here and there on his blog page …

p.s. - Carnival of Education hosted by Pass the Torch, right here!

Tagged as: alltop, links

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My first pearl of wisdom to you: be a student first, teacher second.

You’ve just gotten in, or you’ve been finishing up your summer training for the Fellows, and you’re wondering where to start. You probably Googled for NYCTF and ran into my site (hopefully) or any assortment of ed bloggers that either give constructive criticism of the program or completely bash it as a waste of time (the latter is definitely not my approach). Rather, I’d like to help you get accustomed to the NYC school culture as it were and how your position as an NYC Teaching Fellow gives you a unique position to help improve the schools but also grow as a person.

For your own sake and the rest of us who’ve been working diligently with our kids, please don’t come in with a mentality of privilege. Oftentimes, the stereotypes of Fellows being prissy, disengaged, hippie-yuppie, separatist, and holier-than-thou-art come from actual behaviors that fellow Fellows take on themselves and forget that they’re part of a system that’s primary purpose is to educate children, not some sort of prestigious undertaking. Yet, for the majority of fellows who want to actually become part of the community, these stereotypes prevent you from actually becoming involved in the school community.

But there’s hope! If you just follow my 5 simple tips for starting out your year as a Fellow, you’ll have no problem getting acclimated to the rather rigorous first month of the school year:

1. Stay Humble: People from NYC or other urban settings usually don’t have a problem with this (in the classroom anyways), but if you’re not humble, then be cautious: telling people outright your background, your alma mater(s), and that you got into the Fellows is probably not the way to go because, again, it indicates a vanity about yourself that’s unbecoming of a new teacher. Stick with humility and introducing yourself as Mr. / Ms. / Mrs. _____. Trust me on this one. And that goes with your style of clothes too. Professional, but no Dolce & Gabbana or Versace or even Yves Saint Laurent. You’re begging to be isolated.

2. Personality Check: Reflect. And don’t just do it as a list of activities. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Sharpen your strengths; manage your weaknesses. Then when you’ve got alladat together, you can better relate to others in your classroom. Honest.

3. The Student Mentality: Learn and digest everything that you see around you. Be a constant observer. Ask a good collective of teachers (preferably with different styles) if you can drop by their classroom. Most teachers that I know will welcome you with open arms into their classroom, even on their break, so long as you follow #1. Take copious notes when they speak and ask away until they’re annoyed with you or vice versa.

4. The Poker Face: Look at this face:

Notice that Tim Duncan’s face is expressionless. Emotionless. You can’t tell whether the man wants to hurt you, help you, or wants a slice of pizza. That’s how you need to roll. First few months, this sort of posturing is important because it gives the sense that you’re only there on one mission: teach the children. I know it’s hard because sometimes you want to crack up or make an angry face, but it’s better if you keep that to a minimum, not just with the students but the teachers and staff too.

5. Don’t Believe The Hype: “So let me ask you, what do you think about this teacher?” Your answer should always be: “I’m not sure. I know she works here, but that’s about it.” Keep conversations about other teachers and staff at a minimum. Students are usually fair territory (as long as it’s constructive), but by no means should you get caught up in the gossip and heresay of the school cafeteria. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t break bread with other teachers, but there are always one or two that want you to stoke their fire a little bit, and then implicate you for things that you may not have said. Please.

If you follow my advice and just take things one day at a time (while planning a week or two at a time), you’ll make it through. By now, you’ve surely got tons of material on classroom management, curriculum, lesson planning, etc., but I hope this is a nice supplement for you as you venture into the next school year. Please don’t take any of this personally; we all had to go through this self-examination.

Remember: you’re a student first, teacher second.

jose, who learned the hard way that he can’t take his position for granted …

p.s. - Please read about the case of LaVena Johnson, whose death was ruled a suicide a few years ago but had suspicious marks on her body that may have happened from some sort of physical struggle. Some are speculating that it was more than just a fight. To read more, click here while you’re at it.

Tagged as: education, lavena johnson, nyctf

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Someone recently thought aloud, “Why am I on Twitter?!” (actually a little more … terse)

So without further adieu, my top 5 reasons:

1. The 140 Character Challenge: In Twitter, you’re only allowed to use 140 characters to express your thoughts, announcements, desires, and visions. As a writer, I first thought it’d hurt my creative process since I can’t use big adjectives and nouns to pontificate and ruminate. Then I thought about how awesome an exercise it would be to focus on delivering a message as concisely as possible, as we writers tend to be a little long-winded. Twitter is perfect for conciseness.

2. Talk To Your Favorite Bloggers Like Never Before: Before Twitter, I didn’t really have the chance to communicate with bloggers like UMX, Slant Truth, or Liza, but through Twitter, I’m given a platform where not only do I follow them, but I can respond to their thoughts quicker than, say, a comment on their respective blogs. And they all respond back!

3. Interactive Blog Publicity: Yes, everyone can use an RSS feed to instantly get what I just wrote on my blog, but on Twitter, people can get a quick snapshot of your blog and click right on the link without feeling obligated to log into their Netvibes, G-Reader, or FeedBlitz. The post is linked right in the middle of their other conversations on Twitter.

4. One-Liner Insanity: If you get a nice cabal of regular Twitterzens on your Twitter, you end up in some madness. For example, last night, my Twitter friends and I had a rousing rendition of jazz ciphering … followed by a game of “Who’s More Old School?” People broke out Slick Rick, Earth Wind and Fire, Prince, The Cure, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and a random assortment of peopleI haven’t heard from musically in ages. Ended at around 3am, and everyone else jamming to our link war. Fun was had by all.

5. (and my real answer) Everybody’s On It!: And I do mean everyone. Check the people who I follow.

You know what? Rather than mention anyone, just log in. Go on. Join the conversation. Follow me. And just to be like the rest of us cool kids, add a profile picture too. Anyone you see me having conversation with on my profile page is cool peoples. Add them, too ;-).

jose, who wonders, if we are on Twitter, does that make us Twits? hahah …

p.s. - I’m not a fan of people trying to teach me about something I’ve been using before them.

Tagged as: technology, twitter

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Get your New York Yankees wallpaper here and here courtesy of yours truly. You’re welcome.

I’m not losing any fat, but I’m definitely gaining muscle. Thus, my weight is still the same, but I feel different.

It’s worth noting that the one group my blog is popular with is … teachers. And teachers of all colors. With people who I’m typically associated with at first sight, not so much. And that goes for the web and in real life.

With that said, if you’d like to nominate me for the Black Weblog Awards, feel free. Yes, it’s open to anyone.

I think it’s about time someone actually wrote something about forcing the change of the guard as far as community leadership is concerned. For example, Jesse, Bill, and Al have been the stalwarts of the old guard for decades now for decades. We need a change, and people don’t feel like they’re doing us right. And sometimes, I think the same thing about the blogosphere too.

The #1 quality I bring to the classroom is passion. Whether I’m animated or settled, it’s my drive and passion that keep me getting up every day and into that classroom to teach math. True indeed. Thanks for asking, Tracy. I’ll write more about this soon, but that’s my immediate answer.

I miss her. I really do. Hope she’s doing well.

Met up with 2 friends this week. Definitely exciting stuff to come from them.

One of my big non-negotiables is insulting women for being women. Basically, we can’t talk about educating or re-educating anyone if you speak of women in sexist terms. For example, in the Black in America special by CNN, the big trend that came up was the trend of successful Black men dating White women. I personally have no issue with interracial relationships; date who you please or who pleases you. Yet, some Black women who simply state that they want a Black man often get admonished (!) for it, as if 1) they’re undeserving of a successful Black man and 2) they complain so much that it’s no wonder why those men would never go out with them. “Well maybe you should stop complaining, and maybe you should be more like ____ or ____.” It’s bull, people. It’s implicitly bitter and misogynist, and anyone making those arguments ought to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror. (That was just an example, because it’s happening a lot in other arenas, too.)

Women have a right to preference just like men do. It’s not the difference between beggars and choosers. It’s about love. There’s a difference between limiting one’s options and having a preference for someone. Love. Love. Love.

jose, who believes in holding up a mirror to yourself, and not just for admiration …

p.s. - If you’re referring to a group of people that identify themselves as Latino, the plural form is Latinos not Latino’s. Once you use the latter, you instantly lose 1/2 of your credibility. The other 1/2 is just in case you make an honest effort to correct that. I know some of these people only care about Latinos as a voting bloc and not as a people, but please …

Tagged as: leadership, love, short notes, yankees

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