1950=2009:America has not really changed…

Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America by Rich Benjamin is a must read. I will be getting it soon. I have read his article, “Refugees of Diversity” on this issue in The American Prospect.

I think most people, black or white, equate good neighborhoods with a majority white population, high property taxes, and great schools. “Keep those renters out because they will undoubtedly be lower income, minorities that will bring in blighted communities, crime, and drug use,” is the thought. My daughter commented just a couple of days ago that there were only a hand full of black folks in her homeroom. She is in middle school. I told her that this wasn’t the case in her classrooms. She said that it was in fact the case. I had a “Aha” moment. This is where the the equating of whiteness with better begins. She is just now conceptualizing that her community is majority white. We chose this area to get more bang for our mortgage buck and for the better schools. Incidentally that translated into a majority white area. This is problematic and the perpetuation of a long held stereotype. This is why Rich Benjamin’s book is so timely. Of course I don’t want my daughter to internalize this thinking.

I’ve heard political commentators mostly of the Republican persuasion remark about blacks as a monolithic group due to their voting trends: voting along racial lines. No. No. If you want to see a group that sticks together, it is white people. I remember when I was in elementary school in downtown Atlanta just before white flight took hold. During my 3rd grade year, my school was majority white. The next year, all the white people had left and it was majority black. Talk about organizing and galvanizing to leave the city. Wow. The county I live in now is very big and still considered majority white. There are parts of it that now have a majority Latino population. I see the white people beginning to move further out. I look around waiting for this to happen in our neighborhood.

We are far from a post-racial America.

 

The End of An Era: Oprah says goodbye

Wow! I cannot believe that the force that is The Oprah Winfrey Show is ending. She announced today that next season, season 25, will be her last one. This has been 25 years of excellence. I was around 9 years old when Oprah’s first show began so I have grown up with Oprah. Undoubtedly, she will begin new projects. I think there is one in the works now. Apparently she will start her own network.  This is an ending, but not the last we’ve heard from her.

 

Lesson plans for sale online

A recent NYT article raised questions about teachers selling lesson plans online.

This article raised a lot of great questions. I’ve been writing lessons and creating units (series of lessons) in my graduate teaching program. The notion that they could garner me some extra cash is exciting. However, I do believe in the free exchange of ideas. This really is no different from purchasing curriculum at The School Box store.

 

What I Am Learning…

My work as a substitute teacher is invaluable for the experience I am gaining. Of course it is bittersweet. I don’t own the territory and don’t know the kids. I am at the mercy of the teacher’s classroom management for good or ill.  I am teaching the lessons by the seat of my pants as there is never enough time to prepare. There are many opportunities for the students to tell you that Mrs. so and so doesn’t do it that way. My all time favorite is when the kids walk in and see that they have a substitute. The look on their faces are comical. It is akin to a child finding out that their parent has abandoned them. I guess that isn’t comical, but they are concerned. Where is Mrs. So and So? When is she coming back? Why isn’t she here? Usually I win them over and some end up writing me notes that say, “Your [sic] the best teacher ever!”

There is a great deal of sweet to soothe the bitter. I get to try out some of the instructional strategies I am learning in my teacher education degree program. Each experience confirms my desire to teach. I see the tremendous job teachers have in educating these little ones. I also get a bird’s eye view into the dynamics and culture of schools. Time plays a big role. It is scarce so efficiency is key.

Recently, one particularly challenging class brought me to tears. Thankfully a veteran teacher was next door to assist. I felt sorry for those kids. I had been in their class for two and a half days and witnessed the teacher’s classroom management. She basically screamed at them constantly. The room was like a cluttered closet. Stacks of worksheets, unfinished projects, and random supplies covered every surface. It wasn’t a class where a lot of learning took place. The teacher was stressed out and she shared her personal stories of stress due to school and home life with me one morning as she prepared the lesson plans. I realized that this was one of the teachers who needed to find another line of work. I wondered how she has passed her evaluations? I sub at this school quite a bit and there are a lot of screamers there.

On the whole my experiences have been positive. Next semester, I will begin my first student teaching experience.

 

Stupid Headaches

I suffer from chronic headaches. These obnoxious, painful, annoyances visit me once every two to three months. I experience a very weak, yet nagging pain usually above my left eye that progressively increases in intensity and location, sometimes spreading to parts of my forehead and extending to the top of my head. Usually, but not always, if I take Zomig at the first sign of pain and lay down, the headache goes away. The medicine causes me to feel worse for a time, but it combats the pain.  If I shrug it off like I did yesterday, the pain gets worse and I have the full blown aching, throbbing, stupid headache! I call them migraines, but I have never received a final diagnosis from my doctors.

Combined with the ache, I experience increased phlegm, nose congestion, and sometimes a slightly runny nose. This leads me to believe that this ache is related to my sinuses. These are not clusters because all the symptoms do not match.  I might be having a sinus headache. I’ve had these stupid headaches since before college. During an episode, a friend gave me a Benadryl capsule to try. It worked like magic. The pill knocked me out, but the next morning I was refreshed and pain free. This discovery lead me to using Benadryl as an elixir and then finally Benadryl allergy sinus headache maximum strength tablets.  This worked for a couple of years, but as my body became more tolerant of the medicine, it worked less. I began taking more and more tablets to combat the pain. Eventually I stopped taking Benadryl. I tried drinking coffee when the aches began and the caffeine worked sometimes, but not consistently enough. I spoke to my  doctor about migraines and she prescribed Axert, but it did not help.

Finally, I landed on Zomig which seemed to help more consistently. The medicine needs to be taken at the first onset of pain to work the best. Also, it doesn’t decrease the onset of the headaches over time.There is one remedy that works like magic, but I cannot use it for the duration of the pain. This is standing under a warm shower spray. My ache goes away instantly. I guess the soothing water tricks my brain so that my pain receptors are overtaken by the sensation of the soothing water. I tried to replicate this effect by rubbing Mentholatum or Vicks vapor rub over my eye and under my nose. It works somewhat like the water because the cool/hot sensation takes my mind off the pain.

I just completed an episode of my stupid headache. Last night while I was in the shower under that glorious, warm spray, I was wishing I could stay there until the pain went away. I was also wishing for a pill that worked like a warm shower.

 

Fall is Great

I love the fall. Yes, it is usually marked by an uptick in schedules and everyone is spread thin. I am amongst the throngs of those trying to check off their “to do” lists. I welcome that chill in the air and the turning of the leaves from green to all those burnished fall tones. Perhaps my love of all things Fall has to do with my being born in September.

Tonight I gave a presentation on adolescent brain development. My research to prepare was fascinating. With all the cognitive changes adolescents go through, it is any wonder that any of us develop into well adjusted adults. Most importantly, they need guidance, coaching, modeling, and understanding. There are other projects in process and they are all due in the next couple of weeks. It really helps that I enjoy the content.

My substitute assignments have been great learning experiences. I really feel like I improve with every assignment. The special ed classes I’ve subbed for have been very helpful. Regular education teachers have students receiving special education services in their regular education classes for some or all of the day. I noticed how many of the teachers I’ve subbed for have this. I feel better prepared to manage this now that I’ve experienced it.

There is really no real theme to this post. I haven’t posted in awhile and wanted to lay down some words. I am reading two good books, Republican Gomorrah and The Family.

 

Lament for a Show

The current black out on network TV has been my lament for awhile now. See here and here. I guess the “black out” could be called a “non-white out” since blacks are not the only minority group absent from network television shows.  I watched the Emmy’s last night and that point was driven home again and again. Last summer, Entertainment Weekly put out a special report, Diversity in Entertainment: Why is TV So White?

There was a Cosby Show marathon on WGN last night that my daughter and I watched. I wondered if another show with a majority black cast would ever run again and for eight thriving years. What about a show with a diverse cast? If martians watched television for any indication of life on earth, they could only assume that minorities were some freak of nature, very rare.

I’ve been Googling to see if there are any current articles on this topic and I haven’t found one yet. Are people just accepting this as a fact of the entertainment industry? For anyone who argues that there is a natural progression of racial achievement or progress, they are sadly mistaken. Gains in racial equality have to be constantly fought for and achieved over and over again. Racism and bigotry is a shape shifting creature that never lets up. I don’t want to get started on President Barack Obama and the racist rants of many of his detractors: “We want our America back!”, they scream with mouth frothing tears. These crowds make me uneasy because they are not just referring to Barack Obama when they lift up those caricatures of him as a monkey. They are referring to all those with black and brown skin. They are not just questioning his legitimacy as the president, but non-white people’s legitimacy as full citizens. There is a big gap between what I am describing in the entertainment industry and politics. However, these different spheres can be drawn like Venn diagrams.

Sorry for the rambling nature of my post.

 

On Finding a School

The more I teach the stronger my desire to finally have my own classroom. Since I started subbing in the spring, taking classes this  summer, and completing all my requirements to be hired as a full time teacher, I have been anxious about getting a job. At this moment, I am eligible to be hired even though I have not finished my coursework. To secure employment as a teacher would require me to make contact with a principal who would be willing to hire me on a provisional certificate. I am positioned for this since I am actively subbing in schools. However, I lack the contact with a principal that is so crucial.

There are two principals I know, but the contact has not been beneficial to me. The first one previously worked as the principal of my daughter’s elementary school. She transitioned to another school to be the principal of a newly built school. We worked together on the School Council. I was very visible in the school because of my work on the PTA. I contacted her via e-mail after school began to let her know of my transitioning into teaching and a desire to catch up with her. She never replied to my e-mail. The second person is the current principal at my daughter’s elementary school. We worked together on School Council and with my PTA work. I subbed in the spring under her leadership. She wrote me a recommendation supporting my application to the MAT program. I e-mailed her after school began expressing my eligibility and desire for employment. I stressed that I was interested in employment as a stellar substitute. She replied that she didn’t have anything available. I figured this was the case since school had just started, but I wanted her to keep me in mind. Unfortunately, her school has not called me to substitute.

I need more patience and am constantly telling myself this when I get too anxious. The most important thing to do is to keep gaining the knowledge and skills in teaching and instruction in my course work and on my sub assignments. It will come.

I do wonder how to go about choosing a school to focus my energy upon especially not knowing many people in the field. Of course there are the logical things to consider like location, but what about the administration, staff, students, test scores, etc. These are measures to consider also. Initially, I’d like a smaller school with a diverse population of teachers and faculty/staff.

 

A Great Analysis of Today’s State of Affairs

Jane Devin writes a thoughtful article about America’s political climate.  I have heard many say that these fringe elements are causing the GOP’s downfall.  I don’t think so. It is tapping into people’s fears and exploiting their ignorance.  Unless the left becomes as vocal, albeit using civility, then these folks will move from margin to center.

 

The POTUS’ Difibrillating Words

In a previous post, I asked the question, “Has Hope Flatlined?”  If the answer to that question was, “yes” upon writing my post (actually for me it wasn’t), then President Barack Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009 brought hope back alive. It was a great speech that did what it was intended to do: reframe the message on healthcare reform, explain the features of the president’s desired plan, unify the Democratic party, and for those on the left and middle, quell the rampant lies spread by the Republicans, the right, and the special interests. Now all that remains is the work in the proverbial trenches hammering out the details and getting the votes. I am confident that we will finally get some real reform. Hope is still alive and kicking!

However, I am very disheartened by the essence of the Republican strategy which is basically to look for every opportunity under the sun to criticize, demonize, and illegitimize (my own word) the president. The lack of civility is jarring as illustrated by the congressman from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, who shouted down the President during his speech. He later apologized under duress and orders from the GOP party leaders.

These Obama-haters, birthers, etc. remind me of the bullies we tell our kids about and the ways to negotiate with them. These are the bullies that are just accepted by the teachers and administrators. Most of us have at least one story about a bully.  Everyone knows they are waiting around the corner to call you names, pull your hair, still your lunch money or your lunch, trip you, pick a fight, etc. Unfortunately, if you fight back you are the one who is reprimanded either because the teacher turned around just as you, in frustration, finally decided to hit back.  In another scenario, the bully may lie on you and everyone corroborates the story out of fear. It seems like the Republicans, the fringe right, the Sarah Palins, Rush Limbaughs,  are the bullies and everyone else are the regular folks. We are either targets of the bullies now or will be if we call them out.

I detect a conservative bias in the media as expounded on in Eric Alterman’s book, What Liberal Media: The Truth About Bias in the News. Most people think the mainstream media is liberal by nature. All throughout the campaign, the mantra of conservatives was that the liberal media loved Barack Obama and failed to take him to task. This claim remains into his presidency. This is not true. Networks are owned by an increasingly small pool of big corporate entities which are very conservative. If you watch a typical news broadcast, you will see a similar pattern. Outlandish charges will be leveled against the president: “The president is a martian and has a secret plot to allow his fellow martians to take over the earth.” On the nightly news you will hear, ” President called a Martian, we will examine if it is fact or fiction.”  It is laughable. The reporting gives credence to the claims. I want to scream when I hear some pundit wax on and on that the president promised to bring postpartisanism to Washington, but now the country is more divided than ever since the election. That is like saying it is your fault the bully beat you up. There is an active, concerted effort to bring President Obama down and not just politically. There has been an uptick in hate groups and militias. These “great Americans” warn that it is time to “water the tree of liberty with the blood of martyrs and tyrants” translated to kill, lynch, obliterate this president.  However, the rules are different for the non-bullies. They have to tip toe around the screamers and shouters lest they fan the flames of hate even more. For this reason, Joe Wilson will not be cited for his disruption during the speech even though it is the policy.

Jeff Schweitzer hits the nail on the head:

The double standard held by Republicans has gone too far.

This hyper-partisanship is destroying our ability to solve our most pressing problems.  Republicans have become delusional in thinking that anything done by the GOP is righteous and all actions on the left are threats to our life and liberty.  Reason has been thrown out the door, replaced with a blinded, single-minded and hateful view of the world.  They openly wish for Obama to fail, which if in reverse they would decry as anti-American.  They actively seek to derail health care reform of any kind, no matter the cost of inaction to the nation’s long-term prosperity.  They have redefined hypocrisy by ignoring failures on the right and blatantly lying about the left, often accusing Democrats of the very abuses perpetrated by Republicans.  Think of the response to Joe Wilson’s ridiculous behavior.  Think of family values, Mark Sanford and John Ensign.  Speaking of which, why hasn’t Joe Wilson cried out “You lie!” when Mark Sanford speaks?  Fox News routinely called Bush protesters unpatriotic, but applauded the tea party protests against Obama.  We must no longer abide this repulsive blind bias and hypocritical intolerance.

In order to fight these bullies, you have to be smarter than them. Like little Boland the dinosaur was with Tyrone in the children’s book, Tyrone: The Double Dirty Rotten Cheater. However, civility is always the best policy, at least that is what lesson we want for our children.