black

If I Was Thugnificent

by Jose 05.03.2010

Last night, while I got adjusted to my work-sleep schedule, I decided I’d catch the season premiere of Boondocks, a cartoon known as much for its concentration on the African-American experience as its satire and perverseness. In other words, it kicks ass. Last night’s episode focused on the campaign and election of Barack Obama and [...]

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Short Notes: Whereupon We Speak Our Truths and the Issue of Torii Hunter

by Jose 03.14.2010

A few notes: A great example of what happens when we try to control every little part of a staff’s speech in order to make them sound like they’re “normal.” [Vocalo] Google buys into Pi Day. [Mashable] An ed-techy’s case for pedagogy … in tech. [Box of Tricks] You ever wonder what Twitter would be [...]

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Dear John: Where I Disagree With Legend

by Jose 03.03.2010

Dear John Legend, Last night at the Avery Hall in Lincoln Center (NYC), you and Common headlined an awesome town hall between some of the brightest and influential Black / Latino men in education. The line-up read like a starting roster for a hypothetical NYC Black educator panel: David Banks of the Eagle Academy as [...]

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Black History Month: The Importance of Arturo Schomburg and Why I’m So Steadfast on Quisqueya

by Jose 02.26.2010

A few weeks ago, a few people asked me why I helped create the now annual event Quisqueya, a celebration of Afro-Latino history throughout the Americas at Syracuse University. Honestly, it had a tinge of selfishness: by then, I helped run a series of workshops dedicated to understanding the relationships between Blacks and Latinos at [...]

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On Why It’s Lonely Out Here for a Black / Latino Teacher Blogger. Really.

by Jose 12.15.2009

A week or so ago, I ended a blog entry about my appearance at GothamSchools.org’s fundraiser likeso: While at times in that gathering, while chewing on some wonderful chocolate chip cookies, I mulled over whether a Black / Latino man severely outnumbered ethnically and culturally in the many educational arenas I’m involved in even really [...]

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Notes from The Black and Latino Males in High School Forum

by Jose 12.03.2009

On November 24th, 2009 at around 9am, I had the distinct pleasure of going to the NYU Metropolitan Center Policy for Urban Education Educational Forum. The topic was “How are Black and Latino males faring in our high schools?” hosted and moderated by Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development [...]

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Short Notes: Day and Age (and My Radio Show Appearance)

by Jose 11.15.2009

A few links: Long overdue shout-out to the latest edition of Education Carnival courtesy of I’m A Dreamer. [ImADreamer] Mom101′s response to the LA Times’ article about mommy bloggers is the best I’ve ever read regarding blogger relationships with marketers. [Mom101] Want a really cool poster to use in class detailing the difference between Left [...]

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The Tourist (or Not That Black in America)

by Jose 07.27.2009

Sure enough, I didn’t catch most of CNN’s Black in America 2 special. I’ll most likely catch that sometime in the future; reruns prevail over original programming even on a 24-hour news channel. I caught bits of it and found inspiration in the story of Steve Perry, a Black high school principal whose high expectations [...]

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Letters: Why I Don’t Just Color In One Crayon

by Jose 07.10.2009

Dear Random Commenters and Viewers of My Blog, In my last post, I contended, from personal experience and other sources, that Black and Latino males were definitely needed as participants in schools across the nation, especially in the role of teacher, head figure of most people’s experience with school and the man or woman in [...]

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On The Reason Why You May Only Get One Black Male Teacher Ever In Your Life (If At All)

by Jose 07.07.2009

Here’s a real and researched statistic for you. Before college, I only had 1 Black male teacher. I also believe I had 1-2 male Latino (sorry for redundancy, it’s necessary) teachers in my lifetime before college as well. His name was Mr. Wingate and he taught me Computer Applications. In 12th grade. Nothing profound, but [...]

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