year in review

Ohhh, Sometimes, I Get A Good Feeling. [Get A Feeling That I Never Ever Ever Had Before, No]

by Jose Vilson on December 31, 2012

IMAG0295

On the first day of 2012, I waited for the birth of my son, Alejandro. We tried everything to hasten the process: long walks, hot spicy foods, and … well, I’d rather not say here. Just know that he knew his parents loved each other very much. I had already prepared my vocals for the long nights singing him to sleep, and my body for a serious lack of sleep. Yet, nothing would prepare me for Three Kings Day, the actual last day of Christmas. No frankincense, no gold, no myrrh. Just an Epiphany that I had to live for a whole ‘nother person. So I had to become a better me.

In the earlier winter, the funniest commercial (and possibly creepiest) of the year played while I changed my son’s poopy diaper (Eww. Seriously? So gross.) The New York Giants won the championship in front of his eyes, the second time I started the year off with such such a chip, but the Victory came with my son, salsa dancing when he touched down in my arms. Soul Train‘s Don Cornelius passed and Trayvon Martin found his way on the wrong end of a gun, but the worst was yet to come at the end of the year. The Knicks’ Jeremy Lin lit up the Garden, which serves as one of the first times in a while New York City had reason to watch every single game for just one pseudo-rookie’s career. In February, I got nervous about the math state test because I missed two whole weeks of school with my kids, and my teacher evaluation report was made public, which put me in a bigger bind than necessary. How do you achieve success at success at success when reputable papers like the New York Times keep coming at your job?

Spring called. So did CNN. And the New York State Math Tests, against my wishes. And my first TED talk / public rap / homage to Rakim / science lesson (shout-outs to the good folk at TEDxNYED!) By May, I had celebrated four months of fatherhood. His face started forming, nervously wondering if he would look like me. Watching early Yankee games with my son after school, feeding him while watching Pardon the Interruption, and hearing him yell the words “Da da” made every afternoon special. I caught a stalker sometime in May, but people like Matt Metzger left a lasting impression of why we loved his writing voice so much in our blogs (rest in power, amigo).

IMAG1030By the time my students were ready to graduate, I was too, from a teacher leader to a teacher advocate. Netroots Nation 2012 gave me a chance to prompt Van Jones to write an essay on education, to thank Ben Jealous of the NAACP for his work around charter co-locations and NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy,  to convene with friends like Sabrina Stevens (thank you!), Martha Infante, and Karran Harper Royal to discuss the right wing’s plot against education. Sitting with stars, we all shine so brightly. Nativity Mission School, my middle school / alma mater, had a celebration for the closing of its doors, sadly. More importantly, my son gave me my first Daddy’s Day gift. Thank you.

In the summer, I hit Seattle, WA for the first time ever, NASA for the first time ever, and Orlando for the fourth time … ever. All the time on the road made me weary and out-of-touch. I started finishing up Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (my favorite book of the year) while Frank Ocean explained to the world what his sexuality meant. Andrew Hacker caused a stir about math, which prompted me to get my math geek on, but also made me wonder if I ought to write a math book, too. In the meantime, Gabrielle Douglas kicked the Olympics in the rear, McKayla Maroney wasn’t impressed about her own performance, and Michael Phelps smoked the competition for the most gold medals ever. George Lucas put Edutopia editor Betty Ray on a three-way conference and begged her to get me on her blogging roster (or at least that’s how I tell the story), and soon, my name also became synonymous with math. I also had time to go head-to-head with Won’t Back Down actress Viola Davis and wrote an anti-rape post, my most popular to date. (Thanks, Being Liberal!)

IMAG0917Before we went back to school, my colleague and friend Ms. Waldman passed away. Shalom. Shalom.

Alejandro loved the Octonauts and The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and wouldn’t settle for anything less in the fall. I was invited to partake in a protest reading (an epic incantation from Luis Rodriguez’ banned book Running) at La Casa Azul Bookstore in El Barrio / Harlem and the American Federation of Teachers put a brotha in the front row for Education Nation, a rowdy crowd intolerant of pseudo-righteous nonsense. My colleagues at the Chicago Teachers Union, including leader Karen Lewis, drank Jonah Edelman’s milkshake and protested for the right to better working conditions … and better student learning conditions.

My interview with the Examiner was a hit, and so was Junot Diaz’ This Is How You Lose Her (my second-favorite book of the year). IMAG1175I made it to the Greatest’s Museum in Louisville while learning science from the NSTA, too. While Mitt Romney tries to flip the Big Bird to 47% of the American public, the eugenicists lauded Stuyvesant High School for excluding a people more inclined to sports and crime. I fantasized about a time when educators would get signed to multi-million dollar contracts, but I couldn’t have imagined the effects Superstorm Sandy had on our shores, our cities, our lives, our hearts.

We prayed for those devastated. Schools provided a safe house, but even that was a tenuous relationship this year.

President Barack Obama won re-election, much to the chagrin of a good five people on my Facebook friends list (and thousands of people affected by US drones onto their countries), and Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, M.A.A.D city had everyone in a mood (so don’t kill it!). By now, my son found out how his legs worked, and held tightly to the walls, the sofa, and my fingers as he cruised through the house, driving me and Luz crazy in the process. As we approached winter, the late night diaper changes and Saturday morning Handy Manny viewings only made me love him more. He was still an infant, even if his size suggested otherwise. I imagined what it would be like picking him up from school every afternoon.

Until one afternoon, about two dozen little ones and a few adults couldn’t save themselves from a seriously ill young man, another reminder that children suffer the burden of the things we don’t do for them.

mckaylamaroneyandbarackobamaWhen student activist and future educator Stephanie Rivera provided this quote on her Facebook:

One year ago I was sent to the Bishop House to meet with a dean because my self-harm and alcohol abuse made me a red-flag to the Rutgers community, I left assigned to mandated counseling. Today I was asked to meet a director at the Bishop House. I left being told I was a strong candidate for 3 fellowships due to the “committed passion I have for the public good,” and they want to see me make the mark in the world I want to. Never, in a million years, did I ever think I’d be at this point today. At the point where all my day’s energy isn’t geared towards criticizing and trying to fix everything that I found wrong with myself, but instead geared towards fixing things much, much greater than myself. It still shocks me how I can look in the mirror today and not want to smash it, or have the ability to go out with my friends and eat in public without having an anxiety attack. Never. Thank you for all of those who were there from the very beginning, and those who have come into my life and continue to make the course of recovery not only one of the most meaningful journey’s of my life, but who make it even possible to carry on.

Endless love to those who continue fighting the same fight, both for a better world and the fight inside themselves.

“We all know pain, and I think that is why we strive to make this world better. I strongly believe that what has almost killed us all is a fire that burns to keep us doing what we do. “

… it just made me wonder why I stressed out so much.

When Ms. Rivera posted her quote, I almost told myself, “What the flip is wrong with me?” This year, a girl got shot by the Taliban for trying to get an education. (Fortunately, she lives.) Chicago had 500+ murders this year alone, many of them young men of color with their own secret passions for change. Thousands of people have lost their jobs this year. Hundreds have stopped looking. The homeless blend among the hipsters in NYC, so the problem stays faceless.

All I have to do is teach, get kids and teachers to believe in themselves, and … advocate for this profession. Sounds lots easier than fighting for one’s life.

Fatherhood made me realize how amazing life was in the service of others. The world kept throwing me opportunities, and I took the best of them. Sure, other areas of my life didn’t feel as successful. Before I turned 30 this year, I would have referred to them as haters. Now in my 30s, I have to thank them, for they keep testing my mettle even as they don’t know where their journeys lead them.

The only difference between them and me is that, while neither of us know where our roads lead, mine feels good. I just got this good feeling. Yeah. I just got this feeling that I never ever ever had before, no no. This unpaved road feels like mine.

Jose, who would like to thank each and every one of you for your readership. See you soon.

nuggetonmyshoulder

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I’m Beamin’ [I Get My Energy From My Inner G]

by Jose Vilson on December 30, 2011

Jose Vilson 2011

The past year has been amazing. I started off the year with the intention of becoming a more transparent and open person, leaving much of my youthful ways behind. I’m ending the year with the stark reality of fatherhood, and a sense of even higher purpose. In between, I started gathering the pieces for that to happen, and the inner resolve to continue solving the puzzle.

A Recap of Some of the Events of My 2011:

In the winter, I started off the year with a big secret that only a handful of people knew, one that I couldn’t share with my closest friend, and one that would take my three months to spit out. In the interim, I bumped Justice and Kanye West (all damn year), started wearing red in solidarity with unions, and officially had my name on a book just so I could tell my now-silent haters that I’m published. [#winning] Soon after celebrating my birthday, I went to Philadelphia, PA for one of the most prominent education “un-conferences” in the nation, EduCon. I not only met teachers who I’ve known online for years, I also got a taste for facilitating an unconference meeting, getting a proper dose of inspiration for that elusive manuscript to my first book in the process. In February, while Aaron Rodgers asked Brett Favre how his new ring tastes, Tafari Stevenson-Howard and I found a DJ who played Toto’s “Africa” as our intro music to a mainly White bar in my hood. Friend and Syracuse mentor Max Patino signed me up as a feature in his speakers bureau, and Carmelo Anthony comes back to the Garden as a Knick instead of an Orangeman. All orange everything.

In the spring, I asked people to give me a break while I got engaged in various activities. While inspired by Felipe Luciano in Brooklyn, NY (thanks, Capicu Poetry), I let the thoughts of love and building with someone else immerse me. Thus, the secret I had held since post-Christmas became known to the person for whom it was intended on March 12. She accepted on top of Rockefeller Center, the largest precipice of our relationship at that point. The Celebration of Teaching and Learning featured me and my fellow Teaching 2030 folk in the largest education conference I’d ever attend. El Diario NY (the Latino newspaper du jour) featured my writing, and I read Linda Darling-Hammond’s The Flat World and Education in time to actually meet her in person. Almost as epic, my younger brother Ralf Balbi Jr. graduated from Syracuse University. Still nothing rhymes with orange.

In the summer, I saw another set of students graduate and grow up right in front of me. Macho Man, Gil-Scott Heron, and Osama bin Laden found their places in the afterlife by then, but I prepared for a new stage in life, too, touching down in Atlanta, Saratoga Springs, Orlando, and finally Washington DC, for an activist congregation unlike any I’ve ever seen. I dug in the crates for old school Michael Jackson and LL Cool J, finally finished Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities, and saw John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown on Broadway. The summer went by so quickly, wondering whether I’d have time to have my fiancee move into my place (we did). I not only prepared myself to become a better teacher, I prepared other teachers at the Nativity Network to teach kids like me. Hurricane Carter stood tall on my television screen as we let Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene pass by. Plus, my grandfather passed in Miami. Blurriness and uncertainty ensues. On my first day back from vacation, I sported an orange and blue rugby. Because it felt right.

In the fall, school started, and, against the grain, I went back to the basics, lesson planning for every single day and every single minute. Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch The Throne still ring in my ears, and Sir Ken Robinson inspired me via his book The Element. My new, simplified regimen and engagement in a new life has paid serious dividends in another tumultuous year for this jack of many trades. I took a break for Syracuse University’s Coming Back Together 10, one of the largest reunions for alumni of color of its kind, but came back re-energized for months that seemed to fly by us. Speaking at the Afro-Latino Forum’s Conference here in NYC, I tapped into the spirit of Arturo Schomburg, proud of my identity and my vocation alike. While some of us occupied Wall St. and the classroom, I thought about the little man who was about to occupy my apartment. During the well-attended invite-only baby shower, we revealed the name Alejandro. Favorite colors for gifts thus far? Blue and orange.

There were three major themes in my life this year, in song:

Confidence [Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Who Gon' Stop Me?"]

When I set down to write my piece for the Save Our Schools Conference and March, I knew I had to say something people could take home. One night, I went to a poetry event in Brooklyn when I told a good friend of mine and fellow educator about the march. Then I told him what my role was and who they had me “headlining” with, and he laughed so hard, and belted, “Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol, and you? That’s like, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and some kid from the Pee Wee League!” Ouch. I retorted, “At least give me Robinson Cano, goddamn!” I laughed, and I get the perspective, but it made me think about how far teachers themselves need to go before we get the same respect that college-level professors get, whether they advocate for us or not. Thus, wherever I walked, I had to assure that my voice was heard where it usually wouldn’t. I spoke loudly at times others didn’t. I’m nowhere near the tastemaker others make me to be (if I was, I’d have a huge list of names for people to talk to), but I built my own lane by making wedges where others wouldn’t.

Participation ["Civilization" by Justice]

Enhancing my professional side started in the classroom. I had to improve as a teacher, reach deep inside myself to get better for the kids in front of me. I finally learned how to adjust to the hybrid role of teacher and data / tech person at the school. Most of it came from developing connections outside of the classroom, going to meaningful professional development sessions, and using the resources I had right in front of me to have good dialogue. Being inducted into the Board of Directors for the Center for Teaching Quality helped put my foot in doors. So did raising my hand and speaking up when I didn’t think I was learning much. It also meant developing bringing different conversations to spaces where they deem their own limited discussions safe. Being a “part” matters.

Positivity ["I'm Beamin'" by Lupe Fiasco]

Throughout all of this, I maintained a positive attitude about the direction I was heading. Shivering due to the cold of the March breeze tens of stories above the NYC cement, I didn’t know whether I would pop “the question” on one side of the building or another. When I finally did, I probably never stuttered so hard in my life. However, when she said “Yes” (a second felt like a second too long), I felt like the positivity transferred to everything I did for the rest of the year. Most of it was inconsequential, though some of it hurt. I owned up to the relationships I disintegrated, and let go of the people who wouldn’t leave. Despite all the hate and disappointment I had to withstand through the entire year, that moment taught me that if I could deflect the bad weather, I’d get the chance to hold onto the luz.

Now, with a burgeoning life under my care, I have a chance to share that light with someone born out of my love. Unconditionally.

I get my energy from my inner G
I be in outer space but I got inner peace
So tell my enemies that they can’t injure me
I know that irritate, you have my sympathies
Well you should protest, yeah you should picket me
I’m on a losing strike, I’m on a winning streak
I’m out at left field, I’m speaking mentally
But that’s a better place than where the benches be
I’m feeling really good, me and my different beat
Me and my different drummer; he play the timpanis
See that’s what got me here, you hearing me
Me on my “black man in the future” shit, call me Billy Dee
See I’m just forward looking, that’s how I really see
See while you Valentines, I’m thinking Christmas trees
And that’s how this would be even at Micky D’s
Semi-colon, closed parentheses …

They said my future was dark, see me now
Just look around, I’m beaming
They used to talk, when I wasn’t around
You see me now, I’m beaming …

Jose, who’s done this for five years straight …

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Year In Review 2010: This Is It

by Jose Vilson on December 31, 2010

Michael Jackson, This Is It, Rehearsal

In the last couple of years, these blogs have been exercises in thorough research and reflectiveness. Isn’t that what the end of the year should mark, anyways? A sense that we’re going to take a few hours and commemorate the last 365 days by remembering what the hell just happened and wash it away with a little alcohol and the energy of any group willing to share in this purging activity. Unfortunately, we never get the opportunity to carry that ebullience into the new year. Like our new year’s resolutions, we get on the treadmill for the first couple of weeks only to realize that running in place doesn’t help us with actually running away from the lessons we should have learned the previous years.

For instance, when 2009 ended, we entered 2010 hoping we’d be able to convert our bad fortunes into good stock the very next week. It started working until the tragedy in Haiti erupted. My ancestors yelled out to the world and the average person responded through donations to non-governmental organizations and pleas to our governments to help out the people in front of that camera. A few months later, we find that not only did our monies not arrive to the people most affected by this disaster, the Haitian people are struggling like never before with afflictions we only thought we’d find in fiction books and quaint articles in the New York Times.

One thing that 2010 thought me, in spite of my own Nietzschian tendencies, is that there are enough of us that care about the collective but even when our egos aren’t cooperating with our ideals. Major news stations ran their stories 24 / 7, but people tapped into the word of mouth and vigilante research of the collective through social media venues. Activists found validity in the written word in their asynchronous conversations all over the world and built bridges of information via old guard of books, magazines, and newspapers, venues presumed dead by the avant-garde. Many of us are marching towards appreciating independence of control while strengthening the infrastructure of government, a formula that seems to work in countries that work.

While traveling to places in Washington DC, San Diego, Orlando, Atlanta, Santo Domingo, and Miami, I found myself reflecting more on groups than individuals. The death of Jaime Escalante revealed how even one man couldn’t get a whole system to change a school system, even as he influenced many Latino and non-Latinos to pursue a career in education. Songs like Kanye West’s “Power,” Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” and 30 Seconds to Mars’ “Kings and Queens” were built with an audience in mind, not simply the kind that plays the song on their devices, but the kind that want to see the artist perform it in front of thousands of people simultaneously. Writers and artists freely gave glimpses into their craft and drafts on a regular basis, a nod to their fan bases. We concurrently expressed frustration and exaltation at our republic, one that would have Barack Obama the people’s champion turn into Barack Obama the over-negotiator, but one that would allow Sen. Bernie Sanders the Vermont socialist speak for close to 9 hours on the afflictions of the average American.

Despite the polygamous and corrupt tendencies of some of our most high profile citizens, I witnessed the rebuilding of this idea of commitment. Personally, none of the goals I accomplished happen without the support of my friends and family. I saw many of my friends get engaged, married, and have children, debunking even their own premonitions about starting families. I got to meet some of the great individuals who had always been part of my network and introduced many more into my intelligence web, and within those individuals, I’ve found a sense of resolve and passion that I appreciate, two qualities any group can never get enough of. Whether it was at TEDxNYED or the New York City Marathon, each of us may have been there for a few individuals, but as cheerleaders of ideas and purveyors of triumph, we got plenty of examples on pushing oneself to the limit.

My most critical moment this year wasn’t even anything of my doing. It was the last day of school last academic year, when I got to read a poem to my class. In retrospect, it’s never going to get better than that, and I know it. That day was just the way I would have wanted to end the year, in buckets and rivers of tears of my face and each of them joyful and thankful.

I went through serious growing pains, too. Missed celebrations, deaths and near-deaths within the family, stress accumulated from becoming a full-grown adult, and the travails of the classroom politic. However, in all those experiences, I was granted the opportunity to turn regret into evolution. Fucking up is one thing; seeking redemption in the face of it makes fucking up almost worth it.

This is it. 2010, thank you. 2011, what will you bring?

Jose, who’s counting down with all of you …

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Year-In-Review 2009: Boy, You’re Gonna Carry That Weight For a Long Time!

by Jose Vilson on December 31, 2009

Young James Kirk looks at the USS Starship Enterprise, Star Trek

2009 may never leave me alone. We go through these crazy up-and-downs, hoping not to leave too much on the cutting room of this movie we call our lives. None of the lessons get left on the floor, though. They stick around, secretly making their way into our laments and celebrations. It’s with this that I reflect upon the last year. (Yes, this is a sitting affair.)

By the Seasons:

President Barack Hussein Obama

In the earlier winter, I celebrated another birthday with my first visit to a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, where not only did the Knicks win, but I showed up on the screen for some apparent reason (maybe it was the big hat and big foam finger). Nice highlight, but not even 1/2 as cool as seeing President Barack Hussein Obama get inaugurated in front of millions while Dick Cheney hurt his back on his exit out, even when I secretly questioned how his opponents would seek his death. While In The Heights the Musical showed a positive and vivacious side of the neighborhood where I work, I saw my former student Ruben Redman buried and many other faces file in for his funeral only a month later in shock. Katt Williams taught us to work on the star (fuckin’) player the night I met a good 10 of my current Twitter friends while the New York Post was shooting down monkeys in caricatures, Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna, California teachers lost their jobs left and right, and my age would find the cube of 3. I found classics like Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt and books like Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa rather intriguing and vital to my sanity.

In the spring, American Latino TV premiered my interview with them (and replayed it often enough that even people who didn’t even hear about it caught it), I re-met Felipe Luciano, and The Watchmen finally went on the big screen a few months before I finished reading the graphic novel. I made a few personal mistakes that had huge ramifications later, but life still felt good. The huge labor protests that I attended near City Hall barely made a dent on City Hall’s autocracy while we waved to Maino’s remix of “Hi Haters.” We didn’t have time, too busy we were flying, watching Staceyann Chin introduce her book The Other Side of Paradise, watching the mercurial The Soloist with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx and the refreshing Star Trek with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, watching Mos Def and Talib Kweli unite as Blackstar to sold-out audiences at the Nokia Theatre, going to wedding after wedding, wondering how my students would do on the New York State Math Test. Like Downey’s character, I too found my writing catharsis, but this time through Aracelis Girmay at my first Acentos Poetry Workshop. All the while, I started to hear the buzz of the winds of change …

Michael and Janet Jackson, "Scream"

In the summer (as the year wound down), the once and future king returned to my place of occupation, and I was alerted of a math coach position that no one wanted until I took it, putting on Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” while people got used to the idea of me in this new (and not necessarily higher) position. My Macbook Pro came through the door on the same day Apple Co. announced to the world they’d lowered the price of that exact laptop about 400$ (geez), Sonia Sotomayor was nominated and confirmed for the Supreme Court and I went on a 7-day whirlwind tour including Orlando, FL and Hillsborough, NC where I met (and remet) some of the brilliant minds associated with the Center for Teaching Quality and simultaneously giving a workshop on blogging (too easy). The Los Angeles Lakers won the championship, but Shaq never kissed MVP Kobe Bryant’s rear in the process, Julian Bond and Cornel West conversed at Barnes n’ Noble for the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, and The Young Lords celebrated their 40th anniversary. Even Q-Tip rocked out for us (with a secret Diddy appearance) for free in Central Park. Vibe might have covered that better if not for their (temporary) shutdown. New York City’s skies turned red-orange on a weird June 26th, 2009. Was it a forecasting of impending doom or a dedication to souls already past? After all, Ed McMahon, Frank McCourt, Ted Kennedy, and Michael Jackson had all died, the last of whom I spilled my drink for at an end-of-the-year party. Bob Marley had to pass me his herbal remedies in his house sometime in August, and Coldplay with Jay-Z had me “Lost” in the calm before the storm …

Beatles, Rock Band, "Here Comes The Sun"

In the fall, Hall of Fame inductee Michael Jordan blazed another trail into the national zeitgeist by simultaneously crying and shouting out his biggest detractors, even his best friends. Kanye West and Goldman Sachs both shrugged their way through 2009, but only one of them was properly admonished for his act (then again, only one of these entities was completely honest about their intentions). And whereas Obama shouldn’t have commented on one, he definitely should have had more of a hand in the other. Plaxico Burress was jailed for 2 years (and thus ending any chance of the The New York Giants having a championship the previous or this year), Tara Betts showed us The Arc and Hue, and I went Ghost from some social networks in hopes of starting the new school year right and helping my friends mourn the loss of Patrick Swayze (not in tribute to Sammy Sosa’s new looks). In October, I had every reason to scream and shout after the New York Yankees won their 27th championship (my age), Soledad O’Brien gave me (and a few other hundred people) a sneak preview of Latino in America in El Museo del Barrio, Lemon Anderson wowed us with his performance in the one-man show County of Kings, and I became more focused on the education of my students than ever before.

In the winter, my dentist, general doctor, and cardiologist, all new to me, told me I was in very fine shape (though a smidget overweight), and even with these copies of Abbey Road by The Beatles, Day and Age by The Killers, Eduardo Galeono’s Open Veins of Latin America, and One Love by David Guetta sitting on my desk, the greatest gift I got this entire holiday was a peace of mind. And that’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Alex Rodriguez and Jay-Z at the Yankees Victory Parade, 2009

Alex Rodriguez and Jay-Z at the Yankees Victory Parade, 2009

The five major themes of 2009 for me:

5. Independence on the Internet Rules.

Nowadays, the idea of having one’s own web site is normal. People use their own names as their domain names on the web, and having their whole identities on the web is normal. Two years ago, I dedicated myself to developing my Internet identity, and this year, it’s paid dividends. Separate from all these “host” sites, we should have less dependence on other things and people to develop our identities. While some people still find this idea weird, I see how much it’s become a part of me.

4. The Writer’s Inspired.

Everytime I write now, whether in poetry form or scripts like these, the words simply flow from me without little hesitation. It’s liberating in a way, but it also says that I’ve finally found a space in my life where I’m not handcuffed by what I say or do. At least not when I’m writing. Spaces like the Chicago Sun-Times, LiveStrong.com, and GothamSchools found a space for my writing, even if they were just clips.

3. Success Found Me At An Opportune Time.

Mercedes Sanchez and Jose Vilson, LATISM Awards

Every 2-3 months felt like more opportunities blossomed for me. Yes, the American Latino TV interview was rather nice (and a big shout-out to longtime friend Mercedes Sanchez for that), and so was meeting Toure, Soledad O’Brien, Cornel West, Carl Cohn, and Pedro Noguera (among others). Yet, the ones that mattered most to me were the meet-ups I had and even the ones where I haven’t met the person yet. From the people I did get to meet like Tara L. Conley, the social media activist and head of Media Make Change, and Mike Brown, the jovial networker whose meetups and get-togethers got me in touch with lots of others, to the people I didn’t get t meet in real life like Raquel Cepeda, my friendly neighborhood Carmen Sandiego who quoted me in her CNN.com article regarding Latino in America, and Chad Ratliff who’s constantly pushing my ed-thinking, I can honestly say none of my successes haven’t been due to someone else looking out for me.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention people like Louis Pagan, George “Urban Jibaro” Torres, and Ana Roca Costra, founders of LATinos in Social Media, Lance Rios of Being Latino, longtime friends and current collaborators in MiBodegaOnline.com Danny Susana and Argenis Fernandez, Center for Teaching Quality collaborators Barnett Barry, John Norton, and John Holland, the hostess and activista (respectively) of WBAI’s Rise-Up Radio Keisha Dutes and Janna Zinzi, and Aurelia Flores of PowerfulLatinas.com for her consultations. Even a grand (GothamSchools) fundraiser where I was considered cool enough to be in a room with my favorite ed-blogger NYC Educator, Diane Ravitch, and Joel Klein let me know I was on the right track. Like Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Derek Jeter and the playoff MVP (in my opinion) Alex Rodriguez in 2009, I did more when I focused on myself less.

2. I’m Starting With the Man in the Mirror.

Glass of Blue Moon

In 2009, I started to see some of the stronger parts of my life fall apart. I had a jagged wisdom tooth pulled out and some of my stress pains just wouldn’t go away.  Parts of my relationship started falling apart in front of me and I only had one person to blame: myself. I became a bit of a recluse and delved myself into meeting after meeting, whether it was Elon James and Bassey Ikpi’s Bar 13 joint with Rich Villar and Melissa Harris-Lacewell amongst others or finding the bottom of too many cold glasses of Blue Moons and Coronas, I did everything in my power to take my mind off the plethora of distractions and detractions. People revealed themselves in covert and overt ways, and the only shelter I found was in my recently acquired iPod Touch and the mounds of student work that left my desk as soon as it touched my hands. Oh right, and a little jam I used to snap my fingers to whenever things got tough: “It’s gonna feel real good, it’s gonna make a difference, gonna make it right …” While things all over my life have definitely improved, the lessons still hold true for me.

1. On To The Next One.

With all that’s going on in my life, one might think I was leaving education. A Tweeter commented that my blogs waver from frustrated to hopeful, but always good reads. To that end, I have to agree. Sometimes I blurt out that I want my PhD only to hear about it back at work (I see you, spies). Sometimes I would get frustrated and say I want to be the principal of my own school (I don’t anymore, really I don’t, stop badgering me about it, mmmkay hahah). Usually, I’m happy to be an educator, especially one with a resounding voice. Even with my trials and tribulations, this education stuff has been worth most of the drama I’ve sustained. It’s been hard to read through books like The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit, but it’s a pain recognizing how much I need to be unschooled rather than not having known any better.

It’s not just about pedagogy for me; there’s plenty of that out there. It’s not just about politics; others can handle it better than I. It’s more about those gaps people never pay attention to or ones people refuse to pay attention to because it’s “too easy.” I don’t know whether I’ll still teach in the next 5 years, but I do know education is truly my calling, and every encouraging e-mail, phone call, tweet, or conversation I receive about the job I’m doing with my students keeps pushing me in that direction.

Even with the (handful of) people who keep saying “I’ve changed,” I still consider myself the same Jose Vilson, just a little more driven, a little more focused, a little more motivated to get on that space ship.

In 2010, I’ll have a million ways to get it. Choose one.

Jose, who wonders what’s “A Day In The Life” for you …

Me at the Old Yankee Stadium

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Year-In-Review 2009: Top Nine Things I Learned In 2009 [Almost Uncensored]

December 28, 2009 Jose

2009: the year I finally got more than I asked for. Ironically, I didn’t really get the plethora of gifts, trinkets, and well-wishes I used to get during these holidays, but that may have been to offset the tidal wave of lessons and presents I received from 2009 as a whole. I promise not to [...]

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The Cutting Room: 2008

January 2, 2009 Jose

Thanks for the plentiful comments, everyone. I definitely replied to each one. After writing an admittedly great personal year-in-review last year, I actually thought I’d have a harder time writing this second one. Nonetheless, they were both fun. As usual, there are a few things I leave off the post, mostly because some of it [...]

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The Life and Times of Jose Vilson, Vol. 2

December 30, 2008 Jose

I started off this year the same way I started off last year: reflective, and humbled. My first entry for 2008 was an errors and omissions post, just to let people know that, yes, even I make mistakes (::flicks imaginary hair from his face like a pseudostar::). More importantly, though, my recap stands as a [...]

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Not About My Salary, But More About My Reality

February 2, 2008 Jose

Am I sure I want to make this kind of leap? Why leave the confined of a blog where I amassed what feels like thousands of comments (100+ comments in my “Fuck Bush” post alone)? 300+ subscribers? almost 5 years of blogging? Tons of forwards, friends, and acquaintances And I was able to start some [...]

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About My Blog: Just Omissions

January 1, 2008

I had over 200 views on my latest end-of-the-year blog, which is awesome, and duly appreciated. I put out a lot of my personal life into the blogosphere and have gotten nothing but praises and well wishes. It takes a lot for me to put myself out there like that about certain things, but with [...]

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L’Chayim: I Wish For You 100 Years of Success, But It’s My Time

December 30, 2007 Jose

Ah yes, a year in review, and how better to end the year than the same way I started it: discussing the things I learned. I’m always reflective, and always seeking new answers to the lessons and questions life teaches me on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Maybe someday I’ll walk in a path [...]

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