A scene after the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th, 2010
For many of us in the United States, independence means a ton. Even for the most marginalized of groups, we scream and kick for it because of the hypocritical nature of this hollow pursuit of happiness. For most of us in this country, we enjoy freedoms that we often take for granted. From the computers we communicate with to having three meals of some variety, we all have a much better outlook on life expectancy than millions of other peoples, many of whom surround the very borders of this country.
That includes Haiti, a country that found independence from their true oppressors only 28 years after the United States did. 205 years and 12 days after that day, Haiti still can’t escape the treachery and tragedy of having the least amount of resources of any country in the Western Hemisphere to cope with an earthquake that registered at 7.0 on the Richter Scale (that’s devastating, folks). While I’m happy to see the outpouring of people reaching out to partial motherland, I’m saddened that it always takes these sorts of events to draw our attention to Haiti.
Whatever you do, and in whichever direction you choose to donate your efforts to help Haiti, make sure it’s genuine, long-lasting, and consistent. After Katrina, many of us who left it up to the government to “take care of it” have yet to truly speak up.
Now is that time.
Jose, who would build an arc in place of a house …
Dennis Kucinich, Man of the Hour
After reading this beautiful piece of work by Dennis Kucinich on why he voted ‘no’ to the House Bill on Health Care Reform, I went to his website and caught this little statement on his website as well:
Following a statement on the Floor of the House of Representative, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:
“Why is it we have finite resources for health care but unlimited money for war? The inequities in our economy are piling up: trillions for war, trillions for Wall Street and tens of billions for the insurance companies. Banks and other corporations are sitting on piles of cash of taxpayer’s money while firing workers, cutting pay and denying small businesses money to survive. People are losing their homes, their jobs, their health, their investments, their retirement security; yet there is unlimited money for war, Wall Street and insurance companies, but very little money for jobs on Main Street.
“Unlimited money to blow up things in Iraq and Afghanistan, and relatively little money to build things in the US. The Administration may soon bring to Congress a request for an additional $50 billion for war. I can tell you that a Democratic version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is no more acceptable than a Republican version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trillions for war and Wall Street, billions for insurance companies… When we were promised change, we weren’t thinking that we give a dollar and get back two cents.”
No word on whether anyone objected to Kucinich’s assertions. They’re certainly in line with my own.
Jose, who would have voted for Dennis Kucinich if not for Barack Obama …
Michael Bloomberg
I’m living in a weird spot right now. I’m a die-hard Yankees fan who has a hard time supporting the construction of a stadium that, from within and without, stratified the rich and the poor and is supported by the one man who embraces that stratification like the millions of dollars he’s gained indirectly through the veins of this metropolis. I work for a school system that I can’t possibly supporting working from inside and outside it and simultaneously pay taxes to that very school system. I ride on a mass transit system that continually dupes its customers into thinking we’re getting more service for more money when we’re constantly seeing “construction” times with no workers and reroutes at random times with no specific beginnings or ends. I live in a city where people practically give an arm, a leg, and their first born children to live all the while spending just about that to remain in a city where a mayor spends $100 million dollars just to be re-elected. I breathe the air that blows in from a memorable disaster 8 years removed, thinking about another repressive regime led by another Yankee fan who supports a former president who made Yankee Stadium tell men and women not to bring any bags whatsoever for security reasons all the while not leaving us any more secure at all … unless you sit in the front row of the stadium, unless you don’t have to ride the subway (at least not for real), unless you don’t have to take your kid to public school, unless the buildings built and / or razed benefit you, unless you just gave more money to one of the few millionaires who’s actually gained money in a ridiculous recession. Not even those of you who voted for the glossy covers, the mailbox and voicemail stuffing, the pocket-lining, the condo-picking, the pretty commercials, the inaccurate slogans, and the belief in this faux safety won’t be protected.
And that’s OK. Because Bloomberg won his third term, against the peoples’ will. The “people” still voted for him. And today, I can continue calling him King …
Jose, who’s obviously confused …
PS – John C. Liu is the truth …
A Rainbow Coalition? Not Quite.
This is one of 2009’s most censored stories. I know race is such a touchy subject for some of the readers of my blog, but … just read:
According to a new Civil Rights report published at the University of California, Los Angeles, schools in the US are 44 percent non-white, and minorities are rapidly emerging as the majority of public school students in the US. Latinos and blacks, the two largest minority groups, attend schools more segregated today than during the civil rights movement forty years ago. In Latino and African American populations, two of every five students attend intensely segregated schools. For Latinos this increase in segregation reflects growing residential segregation. For blacks a significant part of the reversal reflects the ending of desegregation plans in public schools throughout the nation. In the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the US Supreme Court concluded that the Southern standard of “separate but equal” was “inherently unequal,” and did “irreversible” harm to black students. It later extended that ruling to Latinos.
Add that to the million other reasons I blog.
Thoughts? Comments? For more, please read.
Jose, who’s reporting live …
p.s. – The previous cartoon isn’t an endorsement of any party really, but it fit rather well with the topic at hand.
President Obama Checking My E-mails
Dear President Obama,
First, I’d like to thank you for your speech on education last weekend in Arlington, VA to high schoolers. I actually found it rather informative and refreshing to hear a current President talk about topics such as responsibility and effort in school. Your life stories as they pertain to school give a good back drop for people whose only picture you as elitist, conformist, and condescending. The confident but humble man I voted for back in November showed up again in that video clip.
I was so inspired by the clip (and the revolting dissension to the showing of this speech), I simply had to take 20 minutes from the last period on Friday to set a precedent of inspiration and hope in my students. I wrote it into my lesson plan and timed it so well, the final bell actually rang a second after you said, “Thank you.” Most of my students also saw what I saw in the video: a president finally talking to them about the things they needed and wanted to hear, and talking and addressing them and their needs.
I also have to share this because it might also give context to my own preoccupations about speeches from government officials. My students’ main complaint was “Why didn’t he come speak at our school?” Superficially, I would gather that they’re just selfish, immature brats who always need to be coddled and don’t appreciate when the President comes speak to them. Then, I thought, “Outside of this school, who does?” Who comes to speak to my students about the importance of education besides teachers? They appreciate (in general) my position as a male math teacher of color, but your presence at another school didn’t help the image they have of their underprivileged situation(s).
I thought to myself and wondered just how disaffected so many of our young people feel by people who never actually come talk to them. For that matter, they probably also feel some type of way for not having a grand, open auditorium, overcrowded classes, uninspiring teachers, outdated materials, dingy apartments, rotten fruits and vegetables, and the occasional cop harassing them because they have on a Yankee fitted cap and baggy clothes, just to let them know whose boss.
They may or may not understand that Arlington, VA’s school may also have its set of problems. But for one day, my school’s kids were reminded that the gap between the have-the-Presidents and the have-the-President-nots broadens clandestinely. Until that gap wanes, I won’t let up and I can’t let up. I’ll always be critical of your administration, even though as a man, you have this inspiring history. I wish you the best and thanks for the reminder of the battles we all have to make sure our students get the best education possible.
Mr. Vilson, who wants better for every student …
Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy
A few notes:
And finally, a word on Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy:
I confess: I’m too young to have remembered the assassinations of JFK and RFK. I’m also too young to remember Mary Jo Kopechne and the Chappaquiddick incident, and the early 90s when people profiled him as a drunken playboy. I also can’t remember anything about his or any of his family members’ personal tragedies. I learned most of what I know from my own informal research. I didn’t realize anything about the 300 or so he and his team helped enact during his tenure as senator and didn’t understand where this “Lion of the Senate” stuff came from.
But on Saturday morning, there I was, watching with most of America, the mass for Edward Kennedy. I usually don’t watch these memorials since I’m not inclined to do what everyone else does, but something told me I should. So much of the Kennedy legacy lays in this weird synchronism between majesty and mystery, of calamity and triumph, and moving time along as well as changing the times, too. Edward himself represented that wholly for 1/2 a century, and for that alone we need to thank him. (Just think: he went for Obama at a time when no one thought he had a chance in hell.)
He lived this duality that became a barometer for how the country’s ideals lie. He was privilege and humility, politics and servitude, tribulations and effectiveness. While it’s hard to forgive him for his role in the death of Mary Jo, how can I ignore his positions on health care and immigration? I’m always drawn to figures that induce argument and division, if only because all of us are far from perfect, but in our imperfections, we can find a means to do some sort of good. And unlike the rest of his departed siblings, he’s the only brother in the Kennedy generation to die of natural causes. Befitting for a life like his. May he rest in peace.
Jose, who’s beginning the journey all over again tomorrow …
Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor and President Obama
A few minutes ago, Al Franken, who himself went through a few months of struggle attaining his position as senator of Minnesota, confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice, 68-31. We all know the biography: products of hard-working Puerto-Rican parents, Bronx-native, came through Catholic education and through the Ivy Leagues, rose up the ranks of the US justice system, lauded by prominent liberals and conservatives alike, and an excellent example of someone whose hard work, intelligence, demeanor, and persistence benefited her. As the first Latina and the third female Supreme Court justice ever, she’s the pride of the many people invested in each of these groups.
People all over Twitter, interestingly, were concerned that she’d never get in, with good reason. The backlash against every decision President Obama’s made or planned probably puts at least a little angst if not outright fear into every other American who’s not a right-wing extremist (and that crowd’s getting smaller as it gets louder). Even non-racial topics like health care have been racialized simply by Obama’s imprint being there. While I’m quick to verbalize my disagreements against Obama and anyone else who sides against the 98% of us who aren’t rich, I also don’t get disagreeable and personal, and that’s where some of these orchestrated zombie mobs get it wrong. Questions about whether Obama was born here or in Africa or whether he’s really on the side of Islamic terrorists simply because his first and middle name “sound Arabic” are ridiculous.
With all that said, it’s important to look at the nomination of Sotomayor as true progress. This generation has grown tired of hearing about the “firsts” and we’re hungry for more. I would now ask us to keep looking forward and measuring progress as more than milestones but in cultural movements where underrepresented people can truly be represented (I don’t subscribe to the word minority as there’s nothing minor about me). As the backlash of progress starts to increase from those who want to preserve the status quo and even regress, it’s incumbent on people of all colors concerned with the advancement of this country as a whole to do their part in making these growing issues a part of their work.
Siempre pa’lante, pa’lante …
Jose, who’s really proud of her …
Rodney Dangerfield by Harville
Dear Political Volunteer:
I’m going to say it: there’s no situation under which, when you have a serious proposition for me, you can nudge me with your hips while I’m trying to drink a rum and coke. None. I know who’s reading, and I can’t say I care much who it offends, or even if they’d like to get offended for none of their doing.
It’s after work, slight chance of showers, but a humid day nonetheless. My throat’s a little parched, but moreso, my mind is fried from another long work week. One of the school aides comes to me and says, “Mr. Vilson, are you going to the happy hour?” Feigning that I had any idea what she was talking about, I said, “Sure I am.” Then, “Wait, a minute: what happy hour?” She tells me that it’s at a nearby restaurant, a usual spot for the school aides’ crew. I told her I’d be there, in my mind thinking that maybe I shouldn’t. I was a bit ambivalent, but I sought this as a great opportunity to become more familiar with the school staff and show them I could drink with them as well.
Here comes the fun part.
As I’m sitting there, I look around the bar area and see a certain person’s face plastered all over the wall. He happened to teach at my school and he’s running for some office. Props to him for chasing his dream. He wasn’t there until later, but sure enough, his people were shoring up volunteers. One of them kept yelling, “I wish I was a teacher” and “one day, I’ll become a teacher,” to some peoples’ screaming and applauding and others (i.e. me) rolling their eyes secretly. I wasn’t in rebel-rousing mode and my rum and coke kept hitting the spot time and again. Cheers.
Then, the other assistant came through. At first, she completely ignored those who she didn’t deem “Dominican enough” (I’ve grown accustomed to the look). Again, I have no issue with that. Sometimes you have to go with what’s comfortable. Then, I see her heading my way. I’m at the corner of the table, sipping on my drink, and all of a sudden, I feel this nudge. I look to my left and she purposely nudged me. She doesn’t even say a word to me, but keeps nudging me with her right hip and putting her volunteer sheet in front of me. I gave her a look that said, “not really,” but I was thinking, “Hell no.”
Naturally, I’ve told this to a couple of people and that got mixed reviews. The one negative aspect I got that struck me was, “Well, you don’t want to upset the volunteer of someone who’s so well connected, and you don’t know the politics of what you’ve just done.”
In a way, the person’s right. The things I’m about to get into may have political implications for the school (as everything education has become political), and I wouldn’t want my career to suffer because of that nonsense.
Forget that.
I want my respect. If someone wants to ask me to volunteer for their organization, they’re coming up to me and saying, “Hello, my name is … Would you consider joining our campaign for …?” My manhood and respect aren’t optional traits. Do and say whatever you like behind the scenes, but if you’re going to talk to everyone else and nudge me, then I cannot accept that. If they’re not happy that I shook my head at them and want to tell their well-connected friend about me, I’m resigned to that. I have no beef with people, but communicate with me.
Lady, your hips are not enough.
Signed,
Jose, who can’t believe I have to wash watch my ass rear like this all the time …
Just Read!
How many times have you heard the following sentence?
“That’s not what I said. Listen / read clearly.”
This statement usually comes about when, either out of sheer emotional attachment to the subject or their own obstinance, they ignore what someone’s saying and it becomes a discussion about something that’s closer to their hearts rather than to their very eyes. Just recently, for instance, Mike Klonsky of Small Talk posted about charter schools and how misleading the comparisons can be between charter schools and “the rest of the” public schools (because, for some reason, when we’re talking about charter schools, we are and we’re not talking about public schools). Now, I’m all for a little rebel rousing:
And this is where I have a problem with so many advocates of charter schools:
They really think that having a new building, new facilities, pretty fancy things, and the like really make them that much better than public schools. Or for that matter, that it’s their schools that deserve those ornaments and not our students, who as NYCEd can tell you, still find their next period class in the next trailer over.
Performance pay is really just another form of elitist separatist policy, and the last thing we need is another institution, especially one so necessary for this country, to go private and susceptible to the whims of money-hungry demagogue CEOs.
I said it. After charter-proponent Obama’s last salvo about the good qualifications of charter schools, and after union-hating Bloomberg’s backslap against teachers on Snow Day, and after JD’s consistent news about some public school being turned into a charter school and another overcrowded public school, I have to draw another line in the sand somewhere.
Notice, though, that I never indicted the charter schools themselves. Even though I’ve witnessed some of the ugliness that goes on in charter schools, I made sure to criticize the advocates of charter schools, not the staff or teachers themselves, because it was relevant to the post. Um, duh. Plus, I try to follow the definition of literacy: “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.”
Now, you can read the words there and think I’m getting personal somehow and getting vindictive. But if we’re having an intelligent conversation, I’m expecting you to read every word and not act like I’m offending you personally by bringing up the advocates of charter schools … unless you, too, are an advocate. In which case, read up some more.
Because I’m not saying that public schools in general don’t suck. What I am saying is that many charter schools have people who believe many of our students aren’t worth the trouble. That many of our teachers aren’t worth having job security. That if you have a charter school in the same building as a public school, that the charter school takes precedence (think about those implications!) Think about the biggest individuals leading the charge for this “reform” movement: the very people who have corporate interest in their back pocket.
But please, I’m only a math teacher that’s asking you to read. Literacy isn’t read all over.
Jose, who’s started to read The Count of Monte Cristo …
