Category — life

I walked into my classroom with a pinstriped white shirt, and a brand new Yankees tie I got shipped to me a few weeks before, with navy blue pants, and black shoes. I knew I’d get criticism for it, mainly from a group of students who preferred the now-two time championship Boston Red Sox, my favorite team’s most storied rivals, and a team that espoused some of the greatest Dominican baseball players of all time. Ortiz, Ramirez, and Martinez. These same students were born in 1996, the very first championship I got to celebrate. It bothered me a little to see so many adamant native New Yorkers choose the Red Sox, knowing that at the least they could have at least chosen the Mets, who most Yankees fans don’t really mind, but would never trade for their favorite team. Then again, this anti-NY sentiment comes with the territory: all empires must come to an end, at least to give way for a rebirth.

I first became a Yankees fan around 14 years ago, when my cousin Richard introduced me to some Yankee baseball card he got signed. I believe Don Mattingly came to the now-defunct Milliken Boys Club and signed his card. I heard all these names: Velarde, Williams, and Mattingly, and while the New York Knicks dominated sports, I also found myself attaching myself to the Yankees during baseball season. 1995, Mattingly’s last season, and many people around my neighborhood said, “Man, it’d be messed up if we won a championship without him.”

1996, 1998, 1999, 2000. My principal in high school got tired of giving us days off to let us celebrate downtown at the parade. For my generation of Yankee fans, we almost felt entitled to one because we were so priviledged to have that many consecutive championships with al those charismatic players like Jeter, O’Neill, Cone, Wells, Pettite, and Rivera, and jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring moments like Boone’s homerun, Doc Gooden’s no-hitter, the Davids’ perfect games, Scott Brosius’ MVP performance in the World Series, and cool Joe Torre, personally and professionally. That core of Yankees from ‘96-’00 gift-wrapped all of the great history that this colossal franchise developed for those of us who hadn’t seen a Yankee championship since 1978 or hadn’t been born in time to see that history.

Now, looking back at the 2001 World Series, how the stadium erupted during games 4 and 5, with the 9/11 atmosphere surrounding the stadium, I realized right then and there it was time to rebuild. Despite all the evidence, like the World Series loss to the Florida Marlins in ‘03, the American League Championship Series loss to the Red Sox in ‘04 (in game 3, the score was 19-8; last time the Red Sox made it to the World Series before then, 1918, more eeriness), and the three first-round exits in the playoffs from ‘05 - ‘07, the Yankees management chose to buy up instead of invest. Some purchases made sense at the time, like Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, and Carl Pavano. But whether it was curious injuries, playoff calamity, lack of strong pitching, or maybe Yankee Stadium telling the team that it couldn’t give anymore, the Yankees could never replicate those previous fortunes.

This must be what the death of an empire must feel like. Today, I walk around with disheveled Yankees fans, multi-color NY caps floating around, long jerseys with numbers like 2, 3, 13, 20, and 55 , and even longer faces, knowing what we’ve become accustomed to is no longer ours: October baseball. Yankee fans have officially become humbled, witnessing the collapse of the greatest baseball stadium of all time while the team collapses as well.

Here’s one Yankee fan who hopes that maybe the new Yankee Stadium can bring some new magic in …

jose, wondering how it’s gonna be next year …

I’m sitting there with 2 of my favorite educators, exchanging laughs, gossip, and semi-Mexican food. I got a cold Corona in my hand, and the ladies have mojitos in their hands. We’re all sitting there, having discussions about politics and existentialism, when all of a sudden, a debate breaks out.

What is a house negro?

Excellent question in light of the recent debates about this really popular Presidential candidate whose been called everything from “galvanizing” and “inspirational” to “elitist” and “out-of-touch,” and one of the problems with this range of answers comes from the history of Black men and women who achieve a high level of success in a world that hasn’t always been accomodating to them. Upon reaching a certain level, the Black person is either percieved as extremely successful and a “credit to their race” or, and often by his or her own people, a house negro.

For purposes of this conversation, we only focused on the United States, so the time periods get fuzzy as we get more international. Now, the debate rages on about the role and perception of the house negroes, but during the period we describe as slavery time in this country (and in many others across the world), the house negro was usually a Black servant who never had to work in the fields with other Blacks, given better clothing, and sometimes given a chance to learn a little more than the field negro. Often, this created tensions between the field and house negros, as (some) field negros percieved house negroes as haughty and pretentious while (some) house negroes looked down on field work and found field negroes disengaging.

Fast-forward to today, and because hindsight is 20/20, historians often disagree about the role of the house negro. Some look at this servant as just trying to survive. If the house negro didn’t do what she or he did to stay in the house, they’d have a higher risk for mortality, and they often served as the conduits for change amongst White plantation owners to developing better relationships across the races. Others take the view that house negroes are nothing but Uncle Toms, negroes who would rather grovel at the knees for a White man’s mercy and gratitude, even at the cost of his own people. Both of these portrayals serve as the basis for how Blacks (and to a large extent, Latinos) are viewed by their peers.

For example, some might call me a house negro because I went to private Catholic school for middle and high school, as well as a highly-recognized university (Syracuse, if you must ask), and even got my masters’, something not afforded to most people of my background. They may also refer to me as such because I can code-switch and have used “the White man’s tools” to excel in life, everything from learning how to put on a suit to speaking English well. On the other hand, some might call me a field negro because I came from the hood and still live in the hood. I came back to work in another hood as a public school educator, and while I didn’t necessarily partake in the negative aspects of the Lower East Side circa 1980-1999, I still have my roots firmly planted in the traditions and cultures of my neighborhood.

Am I a house negro? Even those who consider themselves field negroes find themselves participating in mostly White events and have traditionally White ideas and standards of living. And we further blur the lines if we don’t differentiate between a “house negro” and an “Uncle Tom.” People like Ward Connerly and Clarence Thomas for example, match well with most people’s ideas of this Uncle Tom figure, yet I suppose if someone asked them, they’d totally disavow themselves from those titles. People like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey on the other hand often play jump rope between those definitions for some.

Personally, the debate alone made me rethink those ideas of house negro vs. field negro. Any thoughts? Yes, I’m inviting ALL of you to speak on it. It’s at least a forum for you to learn and share based on your experience.

jose, who isn’t filtering …

The Urban Scientist recently posted a meme in honor of Latino Heritage Month (Sept. 16th - Oct. 16th). Here’s an excerpt:

“Can you name 5 Latin/Hispanic Scientists?

Rules:

1. Be sure to name their discipline or field.
2. You can’t choose people from your own institution or company. (I may go soft on this one, this time)
3. You can’t Google or use the internet to aid in your search. (But if you know someone is a scientist, but not sure what disciple, you can look that up).
4. You can consult textbooks, journals, and class notes.
5. You can ask others to help you brainstorm, but they can’t use the internet just to get 5 names fast (see #2).
6. Living and deceased scientists are acceptable.
7. Links to or references about the named scientists are greatly appreciated. Let’s share the knowledge, and tell as many as you can, even if it isn’t five.”

::gulp::

Ladies, and gentlemen, I only knew one of the top of my head. Only one. Jamie Escalante, and he’s not known so much for his mathematical achievements as he is for his classroom achievements. In other words, I, along with thousands (if not millions) of Latinos out there as well as millions of Americans have been deprived of the contributions of these scientists, engineers, astronauts, mathematicians, and leaders in their respective technical fields. Granted, there’s a dearth of said individuals in the field (which is why organizations such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) was created), but Black innovators in the technical fields are a little easier to come by (George Washington Carver, Benjamin Banneker, and Madame C.J. Walker come to mind almost instantly).

Thus it behooves us to encourage students, especially those proficient in math and science to continue pursuing those careers. Many fellow teachers don’t encourage those occupations because, frankly, they don’t know enough about engineers and what they do in our society besides the stereotypical assemblance of machinery and messing with multi-colored potions. It also seems that, in Black and Latino communities, the lack of people actually working in the technical fields perpetuates this cycle of technical condemnation.

Of course, I’m coming off a meeting where we’re discussing education and how lack of funds and social inequalities promote the digital divide across demographics, wondering if, after some of my fellow technical people graduate, they go back to the hoods where they came from and inspire others to become more than just computer-literate. It’s one thing to know what a computer does and how to get on your cool social network and quite another to understand the computer’s inner workings.

This will take a concerted effort from those of us who have scientific backgrounds to concentrate our efforts into letting children know that there’s this whole industry that we’ve had such a pivotal role in, but have very few trailblazers in. I know I’m doing my part, but I’m sure I can do more.

And maybe the next time someone asks me how many I can name, I’ll have a scroll in my back pocket, waiting to be read aloud …

jose, who thanks Urban Scientist for reviving my computer science background …

p.s. - If you think starting off Latino Heritage Month by honoring J. Lo is the way to go, you’re out of your mind. As an astute administrator said in reply, “OK, so should we start Black History Month off with Diddy?” Well said, sir. Well said. J. Lo, like Diddy, are cool with me, but … really?

Every so often, I get into this fit where I totally disavow myself from government structures and find myself requestioning some of the major events in my life, from Reaganomics to the disastrous events of 9/11, and realize just how complex it all is, and how little of the truth we actually know, but is spelled out to us through people’s actions and misinformation. For example, John McCain recently spoke about how great our economy is, yet it hurt to see so many Lehman Brothers’ ex-employees walking around with suits and sneakers, a clear sign that they were moving out. That’s also because his buddies collect houses like Monopoly and have enough F*ck You money to weather the barrage of hate afforded them.

As someone who interned in “Wall Street,” I can tell you that not everyone’s a Gordon Gekko, a malicious two-face willing to gouge people’s eyes out for a few extra grand. Rather, these ladies and gentlemen are just trying to make money with the best of their abilities (most of them anways). Yet, when it’s all said and done, despite this financial clusterf*ck, the top 1% of the company walk away spotless and still ready to play golf next week while everyone under him will have to reconsider their financial choice, if I can be a little understated.

This weekend, we also got a glimpse of Barack Obama’s tax plan, a plan that benefits 60-80% of the American people. If you’re making less than 200K, then you’re in serious business. That’s the grand majority of us reading here, and knowing that we can save anywhere from the amount of weekly groceries to a whole month’s paycheck should make people think twice as to whether they want to put votes into McCain’s pockets. Yet, I’m always intrigued as to what Obama plans to do with my money. Is he going to seek out the Phantom Menace known as Usama bin Laden (who the recently deceased Benazir Bhutto claimed is already dead), or will he give my money to interests contradictory to his message of “change?”

I’m not always a firm believer in government, but I do get the sense that Barack’s a good man and good decision-maker, whether it’s because of his excellent marketing, his resume, or his interactions with his wife and daughters. I just hope that however this turns out, we see some of the many needed changes all over. I’m not just talking about teaching either, because too many teachers around me only focus on that without explaining their world view. Rather, it’s imperative that we understand how our environments are affected by this massive big bank consolidation, continued cuts in public funds, and prevalent job loss and lay-off.

All these national incidents disrupt what’s happening in our daily lives. I’m all for local politics and understanding what the proletariat needs, but without an accurate worldview, it becomes hard to understand the needs of the people I serve in both the community I live in and the community I work in need, and how they go about their daily business. Days like these give me serious pause, enough to banish government all together, and tell them all to go to hell, for not representing the American people, most of whom have a hopeful but disillusioned (and mainly misinformed) version of what government officials are supposed to do.

Then, I just look at the watch, and understand that, with time, all shall be revealed. When the time comes, true change will come.

jose, who pays no mind to Sarah Palin, and neither should you …

Question: What’s the difference between a blogger and a writer?

Yesterday, a friend of mine decided she’d abandoned blogging for a myriad of reasons, all of them viable and understandable in the eyes of the reader and the writer alike. It hurt me to read because I honestly believe in her ability to convey her deepest emotions and ideas. Even when she extended the post, she never bored people with the writing, eliciting expanded responses from her more devoted fans. Yet, because it was so personal, she didn’t write consistently. When she did, the “numbers” went up, but when she didn’t, well, only her most loyal fans stuck around.

Of course, this can only go two ways: either people love her writing and she’s lauded as a contemporary of her time, offering her book deals and money to do her thing on paperback, or she quits blogging as a whole, leaving her talent abandoned and unexposed to a greater community that may eventually appreciate it. Unfortunately for this heroine, the latter happened. And again, her reasons for leaving get to the heart of the ugly side of blogging. She may be a great writer, but she’s not a great blogger, and despite everyone’s arguments to the contrary, there’s evidence that there’s a difference after all.

I’m not going to name names, but oftentimes, I’ll read a blog and think how, while their point of view may be interesting and sometimes entertaining, it’s not good writing. In some of these blogs (irrespective of background), I’ll find misspellings, confusing conjugations and conjunctions, and just a lack of English (or any language) mastery. These bloggers will put up a controversial picture or speak on nonsense, yet the comments, links, and page views keep coming in the hundreds and sometimes thousands. It’s an interesting cross between crass production, formulaic name-branding, and salacious marketing. I admittedly read some of these blogs, but no matter how drawn I am to the content, the less I’m drawn to the overall writing. Many writers looking to get their writing careers off, thus, have a hard time fitting in because this new medium doesn’t always fit into the mold of the blogger, and gets disheartened in the process.

Granted, many of my favorite bloggers meet at the crossroads of popularity and solid writing. People like The Unapologetic Mexican, NYC Educator, and despite our disagreements about whether or not teachers should write poems, dy/dan, and hold the vanguard down in their respective fields. They, along with a lot of the bloggers in my sidebar, attest to how one can be a good blogger AND a good writer, so it’s not contradictory. Yet, relatively speaking, these type of blogs are becoming few and far between. So either people write well and don’t have much of a following, or they write so-so but have huge followings. I don’t like making gross generalizations like that, but the examples of both cases are overwhelming.

With that said, if you’re a writer who wants to blog, go right ahead. Yet, don’t let page views, subscribers, Technorati ratings, incoming links, and every other Internet gizmo determine your worth. Some people are just better at marketing and writing good blogs, and some aren’t. You can’t correlate how good your writing is with how popular it’s going to be.

However, if you reallllllly want to write, the only person that matters is YOU. You can only write as well as you believe you can. Once that happens, then you’ve gotta decide what kind of writer you’ll become.

What’s your take on this? Maybe it might help new writers and bloggers alike.

jose, who just wanted to write this in the aftermath of my friend’s resignation …

Before I begin, I’d just like to thank E really quickly for hooking me up with a new favicon. Granted, it’s just a new version of my old baby, but it reflects the direction I’ve taken this blog. Plus, every newbie needs encouragement in their skills, so props to you, miss.

Second, today, I realized the value of learning how to be a teacher of teachers. I think with a little more time, I’d be able to develop some professional development sessions that are useful for all teachers, and not just a few of my believers. Granted, in my evaluation sheets, I got mostly positive feedback, but I also have to remember that much of that probably comes from my own personality rather than my presentation. As cogent and concise as my presentations were, I know with more planning time and experience, I can get people to believe in the new systems we’re trying to create in the school.

Then again, I’m also of the mindset that our schools need the rev. Big time.

Other than that, I’m really at a loss for words. It’s easy for a New Yorker to reflect on the events of September 11th, and how devastating they were to New York in particular. That’s not my angle though. While people were suffering here, I was in Syracuse University, shocked as hell as my roomate woke me up and gave me the news. I literally popped the crust out of my eye because I was in such disbelief over the two burning and eventually collapsing buildings about a mile or so away from my neighborhood. I looked into the flames and saw the culmination of thousands of people’s suffering and strife, and how for so many of us, it made us empathize with people who have bombs dropped in their homes daily when they have no fault in those matters whatsoever.

In general, with or without 9/11, there’s still this ominous aura, and I can’t quite figure it out. When I do, I’ll write about it right here. In the meantime, peace and love, my people.

jose, who was so proud of his young men and how well they represented themselves at the school assembly …

Carl: yo some of the watchmen themeness going on in your new layout just hit me. i like it even more now
Me: hahaha
Carl: shh, it’s ben a long day lol
Carl: don’t hate
Me: i almost did
Me: haha

My latest site redress had three inspirations: The Watchmen, Salvador Dali, and Andy Park. Let me explain.

The Watchmen

I’ve been reading The Watchmen graphic novel since the trailer came out (yes, I’m a noob), and that book has held my attention like no other (even more than, say, some of the work I had to do for my kids. I caught up eventually). As soon as I hit the Photoshop, I wanted to stick religiously to the layout of the book, blending in the infamous chapter face layout, just changing up some of the elements so I don’t get hit up for copyright infringement or whatever have you. If I remember correctly, the font for the Watchmen’s titles is Tempo Std. (Tw Cent MT Bold is an appropriate substitute, too). I laid out most of the poetry pages in that light, too, using Tw Cent MT throughout, and having that black backdrop against the white text really harkens back to the book. I decided against yellow because, well, I’m not a HUGE fan of yellow all over my stuff, but I liked it enough to use it on page 6. Just a splash is enough.

Salvador Dali

I was really excited to get into making my site, and remodeling everything, when, as I described here, I went to the Salvador Dali exhibit at the MoMA. Frankly, I was embarrassed to call myself an artist of any field, seeing how artists like Monet, Picasso, Cezanne, and him pushed their art forms to new levels. They couldn’t give a crap if people thought it was strange, because they knew they were making something that would arouse emotions out of people, make people ask critical questions about the painting and possibly their own lives, and convey a message about themselves without actually saying it for them. That’s the human component of art.

When I looked back at the site, I realized it just wasn’t inviting enough. I went back and redid the menus, got advice from Jon who I actually met with to do this lovely portrait of me:

And pushed the usability of the site a little further than I might have. I spent practically a fourth of Saturday, and all of my Sunday getting it done, and putting up my best unpublished work in the poetry section, which took a huge amount of time on its own.

Oh, and one more thing I wanted to add: the artists I mentioned did their stuff with no flash, just depth and accessibility. So that was my vow too: no Flash, just accessibility.

Andy Park

Not that the man needs any introduction. He’s done most of the stylish pics you see in anything I do. From the side profile of me looking over the Lincoln Memorial / Washington Monument to the sexy and ever-present toothpick picture people seem to enjoy so much, he’s taken them all. (Special shout-out to Groana, who took the pictures in the classroom, mea culpa for not acknowledging you on the links page). Andy’s eye for drawing out the insightful and personal is keen. Take just a sample from his site and you’ll see an artist at work. And it’s no wonder I re-use his pictures, even if I’ve used them before. The thing about his pictures is: they never get boring. Maybe it’s just me, but his camera doesn’t just magnify the person, but the persona behind them.

I needed a layout that does justice to whatever he puts in his photos. Even his lukewarm efforts (according to him) made it onto the page. Says somethin’ about him.

The Feedback

So the effort is to make the effort look effortless. It’s one of Robert Greene’s Laws of Power, so why not? All of it has been extremely positive. Some people thought I needed to edit a few things here and there, but out of a possible 10, I’d say the feedback was anywhere between an 8 and a 10. People who never knew I wrote now know, and people who knew I wrote still loved browsing through the poetry but also knowing I blog and anything else (who was it that said teachers don’t write poems?). I also took the advice of SEO experts and put in more searchable text into the page.

Now, onto more pressing issues … like a nice cool shower and sleep. Peace, my people, and if you have suggestions for future implementations of the JLV, let a brotha know.

jose, whose been giving tips out for web design all month …

You all know how much I hate talking about other teachers, especially since I’d hate to bring such karma on myself. Nonetheless, I’m conflicted by the growing discrepancy between my students’ applied knowledge and their NYS Math Test scores. I’m not gassed in the least about the New York State Math Test and its ability to measure whether or not my students are prepared for the next year’s challenges. I understand that, as far as standardized tests go, the state math test is … simple. I also understand that it’s a snapshot of what my students can do, a snapshot largely limited in scope, unequal for all schools in the state, and easily swayed by a myriad of factors including whether or not the student ate breakfast that morning or if they remember how to multiply integers. Fair enough.

On the same token, I can’t help but gnaw my teeth when I see the scores and how people have lauded the students who came into my school. Most of the incoming students have 3s and 4s in their state math and ELA (English / Language Arts) test, and statistically, that’s pushed our scores a good 10 percentage points higher than when we left for summer break in June. Again, it all sounds like good news. Over the summer, I even took the time to analyze their scores more thoroughly and I tried to (and couldn’t) keep a tempered reaction to the potential excellence I beheld. Needless to say, I spoke too soon.

For the last couple of days, we’ve been working on understanding the groupings for real numbers (i.e. whole, natural, rational, etc.) For my high-school level readers out there, I even introduced them to set notation for these groups so they become familiar with it for now and advanced math. I personally thought I prepared an informative first-week lesson. For the two classes that have had me before, it was successful, and just from taking some informal assessments and looking at their classwork, I have a good sense that even the more deficient students have a grasp of what the difference between rational and irrational numbers are. Again, fair enough.

But the class whose students I’m mostly unfamiliar with has had a hard time grasping the material. I tried to rationalize their lack of participation. Are they nervous about having to come to a new and unfamiliar school with a little more structure than their previous schools? Are they still adjusting to my teaching style and on-and-off ebullience about my subject matter? Did they really just forget anywhere between 50-60% of their math knowledge over the summer (as I noticed in my diagnostic analyses)?

I’m not sure, but here’s this: when students in the class can’t give me a number that’s between 2 and 3 in the 7th grade, that’s a big hurdle since, by NYS standards, they should have learned this in 5th grade (correct me if I’m wrong). When students can’t take the square root of a number even when I give them the definition is trouble. When students can’t tell me if 17 is closer to 16 or 25, and the differences between the distances there, that’s an issue. Especially since the basic elements of these questions have come up in the previous 2 tests.

This logically leads me to think that, aside from the questions I’ve asked myself,:

a. there’s a bit of a language deficiency that I haven’t researched
b. I’ve taught the students who had me last year for more applied math while these students haven’t been taught that
c. they got a little too much help on the math test from the person who administered the test.

I know. Bold statement.

What do you think? Am I a bit cynical or am I onto something? Obviously, I’ll still work with the students, and I have every intention of making those test scores into a more accurate reflection of whether they’ve mastered the material or not. I just have to ask if they were really taught or just taught to the test.

jose, who STILL has an aversion to bulletin boards when there’s so much important work to do …

This morning, on my doorknob, I got a flyer from some group detailing the negative aspects of Daniel Squadron, a young man who’s running for New York State Senate, representing Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. The whole Lower East Side has been abuzz with community activism and political stationing, not so much about the presidential candidate (almost all of the hood reps for Barack), but this rather intriguing and upcoming election for State Senate. As far as community organization, the LES is loyal (sometimes to a fault) to certain candidates who use proletariat politics to get us in the voting booths on behalf of them.

Now, without getting into too much of those politics, because frankly, I’m not as informed as I should be, I find it interesting that the battle of whose serving for whom is heavily dependent on people’s utter prejudices rather than looking at the issues and actually going with what their actions. For example, Nydia Velasquez, the US Congresswoman who represents Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, is probably one of my favorite politicians because her record speaks for itself. She’s been doing it for what feels like forever (15 years to be exact), and has done it well. You never hear about any scandals from her, and she’s the head official of the US House Committee on Small Business, so her interest obviously lie in her community even if she’s in Washington. She usually makes her presence felt in our hoods and while other people’s name may flounder in popularity, hers stay steady.

And that’s really all I need from a politician. I’m not asking them to change the world, but I do ask them to keep their community’s interest at heart. It’s easy to walk into those Romanesque edifices and kowtow to the special interests and political games in those hollow chambers, but it really takes someone who understands what a “public servant” does and do that to the best of their abilities. I’m not saying Ms. Velasquez is Queen of perfection, but her recent vote as the most progressive politician in New York, a progressive bastion, should let you know why our hood likes her so much.

Now, when I look at Squadron, I see the face of the new Lower East Side / Brooklyn: young, bearded, White, and unfamiliar. He looks like the guys who peruse the night scene on 1st Street or Ludlow, and that makes me itch. From what I understand, he barely lived and worked here in NYC, mainly as an aide for Senator Chuck Schumer. While the photo ops are nice, I’m not sure he’s actually in tune with the community as he should be. Then, I look at Martin Connor, and I see … an older White gentleman. He’s been around a while, but I ask myself if he helped or hurt our neighborhood, so different from he first took office. Furthermore, I feel like I only hear of Marty Connor’s name during elections.

And it’s with that thinking that the role of community organizer becomes ever more important. Activist groups such as PHROLES address issues pertaining to public house in my hood. Social workers, parents, and teachers in this city are going to the important meetings and rallies to keep our interests (which is specifically our children’s interests) in the ears of politicians who only want to read off a sheet rather than come from the gut. Even subgroups such as 100 Black Men in Law Enforcement often takes stances that contradict their employer’s positions for their community’s benefit. That’s powerful.

With the understanding of the complex politics of New York City with its varying degrees of liberal and progressive ideas, it’s hard to jump into community organization when there are so many options. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just hope that whatever path I choose will

a) be in line with most of my ideals
b) will serve the people and not the “masters”
c) keep the people who I represent informed and active

Because if I can’t meet either of those requirements, I can’t honestly say I serve those people. Maybe that’s something our public servants should take heed of.

jose, who has 2 dangerous posts coming up this week …

p.s. - Please support the blogs around the web contributing to the Blogging Day of Justice today, starting with Electronic Village.

Alright, for those interested and those who inquired, yes, The Jose Vilson is live!