Sunday, February 18, 2018
A New Lunar Year
Happy Lunar New Year (a few days late)!
So far 2018 has been rather busy as I hurry to submit all of the paperwork for summer and long-term professional educational opportunities becomes due. For some reason, as I muddle through an unpleasant testing window and all the applications, I seem to get more and more ideas about how I can try to affect serious academic gaps that I see around me. I hope to get some colleagues on board with a couple of new projects which will strengthen more than only my students, but as many as all of us together may work with.
I think that my volley of summer applications has gotten too many brain cells working that may not always be firing at such rapid speeds. My upcoming Saturday with my colleagues from a summer instructional leadership institute with NCAE is certain to get even more ideas flowing freely. I am looking forward to collaborating with this lovely group of educators again, and talking with them about all of our upcoming projects. Of the seventy or so opportunities that managed to come to my attention, I have applied to about ten of them, and have shared all of them with as many people as I could. I am sure that I must seem like a crazy person to be looking at a summer that will be busier than my normal school year, but I firmly believe that I should continue to learn so that I can be the resource that my students need every day.
Lunar New Year is known as a good time to begin new projects in earnest, so I am taking that to heart this year. I was unable to follow the tradition to greet the sun as it broke the horizon on lunar new year this time, but I will certainly not miss it again next year! This year will be life-changing for all of us, and I plan to be in my happy place by the year's end. I hope that each of us will all be in our respective most happy places.
So far 2018 has been rather busy as I hurry to submit all of the paperwork for summer and long-term professional educational opportunities becomes due. For some reason, as I muddle through an unpleasant testing window and all the applications, I seem to get more and more ideas about how I can try to affect serious academic gaps that I see around me. I hope to get some colleagues on board with a couple of new projects which will strengthen more than only my students, but as many as all of us together may work with.
I think that my volley of summer applications has gotten too many brain cells working that may not always be firing at such rapid speeds. My upcoming Saturday with my colleagues from a summer instructional leadership institute with NCAE is certain to get even more ideas flowing freely. I am looking forward to collaborating with this lovely group of educators again, and talking with them about all of our upcoming projects. Of the seventy or so opportunities that managed to come to my attention, I have applied to about ten of them, and have shared all of them with as many people as I could. I am sure that I must seem like a crazy person to be looking at a summer that will be busier than my normal school year, but I firmly believe that I should continue to learn so that I can be the resource that my students need every day.
Lunar New Year is known as a good time to begin new projects in earnest, so I am taking that to heart this year. I was unable to follow the tradition to greet the sun as it broke the horizon on lunar new year this time, but I will certainly not miss it again next year! This year will be life-changing for all of us, and I plan to be in my happy place by the year's end. I hope that each of us will all be in our respective most happy places.
Friday, February 24, 2017
New World Order
Well, let's assume that there are two sides to every story and that compromise can usually be reached when it is desired. Yes, let us assume. Assumptions always work out so well for everyone involved.
So, the United States has elected a man to the highest office in the land who has no interest in truth or ethics, by his own admission, and who has appointed many similar-thinking cronies and oligarchs to high posts in his new administration. The "other side" of the story is....not that he is none of those things, but rather that his lack of interest in truth is endearing. He is seen as a "straight talker", even after many things he has said have been proven to be untrue. That kind of a talker, in the old days, would have been known as a liar. Unfortunately, that term was only reserved for his opponent. I guess that could be the other side of the story.
This election was truly a choice between two candidates whom everyone either loved or hated. My preferred candidate never made it past the primaries for one reason or another, which it might be better not to get into here and now. There will be a time and a place for that some day soon, I am sure. But back to the candidates who actually made it onto the ballot. One of the individuals had a long career in public service, even though she managed to amass a fortune through the efforts of her family and herself. The other candidate had a family fortune to play with, much of which was initially not handled well, and made a bigger fortune by manipulation of tax and bankruptcy code, and by not paying for what he owed. He has had no experience in governance nor law, except in how to avoid it. With two resumés side by side, names omitted, the choice would have been laughable. Had anyone other than Barack Obama been in the White House for the past eight years, the man who won the election would have been booed off the stage as being an idiot. Yet he was not. And now he will be your president, because he most certainly is #NotMyPresident.
So, the United States has elected a man to the highest office in the land who has no interest in truth or ethics, by his own admission, and who has appointed many similar-thinking cronies and oligarchs to high posts in his new administration. The "other side" of the story is....not that he is none of those things, but rather that his lack of interest in truth is endearing. He is seen as a "straight talker", even after many things he has said have been proven to be untrue. That kind of a talker, in the old days, would have been known as a liar. Unfortunately, that term was only reserved for his opponent. I guess that could be the other side of the story.
This election was truly a choice between two candidates whom everyone either loved or hated. My preferred candidate never made it past the primaries for one reason or another, which it might be better not to get into here and now. There will be a time and a place for that some day soon, I am sure. But back to the candidates who actually made it onto the ballot. One of the individuals had a long career in public service, even though she managed to amass a fortune through the efforts of her family and herself. The other candidate had a family fortune to play with, much of which was initially not handled well, and made a bigger fortune by manipulation of tax and bankruptcy code, and by not paying for what he owed. He has had no experience in governance nor law, except in how to avoid it. With two resumés side by side, names omitted, the choice would have been laughable. Had anyone other than Barack Obama been in the White House for the past eight years, the man who won the election would have been booed off the stage as being an idiot. Yet he was not. And now he will be your president, because he most certainly is #NotMyPresident.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Actions, Repercussions and World View
What is wrong with people that they do not see that each and every action, innocuous or not, has its own set of repercussions? We watch news unfold of more policemen shot and, somehow, while we can see that this is in response to police violence against people of color, we fail to notice that the perpetrators are contributing to the the very same issue that they are reacting to. If police currently say that they are in fear for their lives when making traffic stops or approaching people of color, then how does it help to engender further fear and anger between police and the communities in which they operate? Do people who shoot and kill police officers not think of the fact that they are putting more people of color into the cross-hairs of a gun when they are driving to work with an expired tag or a tail light that does not illuminate? Why is it that we all think of today is our own satisfaction and not in how our actions might contribute to the melee going on in our communities and in our society as a whole?
Going back to the world stage where a military coup failed in Turkey in the past week, we can see similar lack of regard for the value of lives other than our own. A faction in the Turkish military had grievances against Erdogan or the military or the government as a whole, so it decides to endanger civilians even before endangering the person or people against whom it has grievances. Disregard for Turkish citizens number one. Erdogan, interestingly enough, was not seized in the coup attempt which, in and of itself, seemed rather stupid to me...if you are going to overthrow the government, at least get the leader out of your way first...might learn a few things from the Bolsheviks. However, what I found most heinous, though politically effective in this case, was Erdogan's call for civil protest against tanks by ordinary citizens, while he stayed in his own "undisclosed location". A responsible, caring leader does not remain behind a curtain while he sends lambs to slaughter, those lambs being the very ones who will keep him in power. Disregard for Turkish citizens number two. Now the backlash will continue while Erdogan shines light into every nook and cranny to purge any opposition to him and his government, in which I believe many normal but nonviolent critics may be caught up. Disregard for Turkish citizens number three. Isn't it three strikes until you are out?
Back to the nonsense occurring across the United States...while we are anticipating two major political conventions this month where decisions which hardly will be good for the American people will be made, attention of the public (as usual) is being diverted from the political arena and system. Rather than scrutinizing the process in this year of insane political options, and rising in unison to resist the will and good of the people being overridden by the rich in so many situations, we give them more ammunition against us through the use of violence. When will we learn that we are actually helping them to divert our attention from their actions and divide us from one another?.
Going back to the world stage where a military coup failed in Turkey in the past week, we can see similar lack of regard for the value of lives other than our own. A faction in the Turkish military had grievances against Erdogan or the military or the government as a whole, so it decides to endanger civilians even before endangering the person or people against whom it has grievances. Disregard for Turkish citizens number one. Erdogan, interestingly enough, was not seized in the coup attempt which, in and of itself, seemed rather stupid to me...if you are going to overthrow the government, at least get the leader out of your way first...might learn a few things from the Bolsheviks. However, what I found most heinous, though politically effective in this case, was Erdogan's call for civil protest against tanks by ordinary citizens, while he stayed in his own "undisclosed location". A responsible, caring leader does not remain behind a curtain while he sends lambs to slaughter, those lambs being the very ones who will keep him in power. Disregard for Turkish citizens number two. Now the backlash will continue while Erdogan shines light into every nook and cranny to purge any opposition to him and his government, in which I believe many normal but nonviolent critics may be caught up. Disregard for Turkish citizens number three. Isn't it three strikes until you are out?
Back to the nonsense occurring across the United States...while we are anticipating two major political conventions this month where decisions which hardly will be good for the American people will be made, attention of the public (as usual) is being diverted from the political arena and system. Rather than scrutinizing the process in this year of insane political options, and rising in unison to resist the will and good of the people being overridden by the rich in so many situations, we give them more ammunition against us through the use of violence. When will we learn that we are actually helping them to divert our attention from their actions and divide us from one another?.
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