I want to know what it would feel like to write tens of thousands of words of fiction every day. Ok, maybe three thousand fictional depictions per day. Isn’t writing, in a sense, an act of redistributing fiction? Isn’t there a separation between the thought and the symbol representing said thought?
Yes. The trait of good writers is the lessening of the Ego/Self chasm to merely a nano-gap. Coming from a science background, hard science nonetheless (!), I witness phenomenon in terms of subatomic essentials. Ok, well actually, electrons are my biggest influence when it comes to theoretical thoughts (which is a redundant statement to say the least; aren't thoughts theoretical because they are thoughts rather than observable actions? that is until it becomes something someone does...ok, you get the point). When we place our hands on our keyboards, our significant others, or a piece of chocolate cake, we aren’t actually touching anything. There is a continual separation between what we perceive as contact and the object intended for movement.
Our proprioceptors/exteroceptors/interoceptors are more observational than they are direct participants. Electrons don’t touch each other. They have gaps/spaces in between their orbits. Electrons do not occupy the exact same location or state of “being” (yes, I am applying a vague form of personification; you can either look for the deeper meaning, or stop reading because these kinds of inferences will continue unabated). So goes everything connected to the atomic structure. Our electrons of thought and action maintain a certain amount of space-distance from the phenomenon of language. Spoken language tends to be quicker than its written sibling (I know, DUH, Homer Simpson). But, oral communication lacks a beauty that the hard pressed structural cadence of written expressions commands. This is the reason I’m perpetually geeked up on having people write down their thoughts rather than say them out loud. Writing is more reflective, less emotionally convulsive. Certainly, when we want to get something out of us, when we want to expel pent up emotional energy, than verbal diarrhea is the spew that keeps on giving (and not in ways over which we have complete control). But, unless we train our emotions to filter through the executive functions of our human brain, then we tend to remain in pre-myelinated adolescence. What is the most accessible way to encourage internal growth (cognitive, emotional, and at the level of the brain, physical)? Writing.
The ability to solidify a language into written symbols which can then be translated into other human languages (yes, I know, there is a bit of a limitation on this as well) is one of the unique characteristics of being homo sapien sapien. And yet, it is an exercise of the human brain which tends to be ignored in lieu of passive/aggressive consumption.
On an ethnographic level, I notice this in the expectation of what teacher’s are supposed to “do” as ideal “teaching”. Somehow, magically, students are to be listening, reading, and writing simultaneously while Mr. X edutains them. No. Fundamentally, students need to be writing through the various structures of communication (yes, yes, yes, after having it scaffolded, of course...but lecturing constantly only serves the purpose of Ego fulfillment for the teacher...tsk tsk).
Reading and writing are the twin electric charges pushing synaptic connections and reinforcing other cellular conversations. They dominate all fields including math and science (guys, come on, even math is reading and writing, you’re just using another set of symbols with another set of rules; I can turn a math equation into a sentence just as easily as a sentence can be transformed into mathematical equation....move beyond the intellectual Ego and do what you math/science people do best…look for the patterns).
AFTER students have written down their structured reflections, then discussion can ensue. Now, I understand that discussion can be the springboard from which ideas have a chance to breathe. I will readily admit that I am approaching the subject from the perspective of classroom churning through 5-fifty one minute periods of early adolescent, low income, non-proficient readers (caught in the vicious cycle of not enjoying reading because they cannot do it very well, and, of course, they are required to read in school….that whole lame attempt to look cool by defying any and all prerequisites just because someone in authority is giving a direction). I am aware of the other existing classroom cultures.
The fundamental point, just like the electron, is to have them writing. Write research reports. Write narratives from different viewpoints (one scene from the perspective of the antagonist, and another scene from the perspective of the protagonist…for example). Write advertisements. Create a blog. Challenge them to a Twitter contest (the most lucid thought in 140 characters or less!). If they are less proficient readers, have them complete Cloze activities with reading materials (if you don’t know what a Cloze activity is, email me) and specifically designed questions after each paragraph (or, for the younger guys, after each sentence). Teach them how to write a movie script, a collection of short stories, a novel, letters and emails to potential employers, procedural/technical manuals...and so forth.
Reading is intertwined through the process of the literature serving as a model reflecting a certain form of writing. The student who does not like to read or write will always be present in at least some form (I am related to one of these kinds of students…much to my chagrin). Perhaps others may look for a way around this issue (usually through the misinterpretation of the Electron Ego as so unique that it is irreplaceable; which isn’t true for electrons…they have a stability of character in order to continue the stability of the system…and also isn’t true for earthly systems as they will continue in the event our existence does not).
However, the reality of the world presents a more positive picture for those who can read and write as a demonstration of their mastery in the realm of literacy. We do not consistently get to pick and choose situations that will bring us our idealized form of joy (again, we are back to that analogy of the electron gap….reality versus what is going on inside of our heads…the farther the two are from each others orbitals, the greater the potential for a huge fall as typified through the Innocent Archetype). Opportunity is as hit or miss as winning it big in Las Vegas. However, we can be prepared for the opportunity regardless of how much we dislike the drudgery of preparation.
The only way out of the relentless bumps and bruises, without the blow back from trying to take systemic shortcuts is through enacting the dialogue of reading and writing (I consider drawing and painting a form of writing...and music is definitively in the writing category), which further negotiates the lessening of the electron chasm between the Ego (basic needs)and the authentic Self (which can’t simply be purchased and worn like costume couture).
So, Write On!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Corporation Me (Patent Pending)
Catlike and circuitous.
Cautious incorporation.
Silence is the kiss of a cocoon.
The Soul unsheathes.
Somewhere, between liquid light,
Filtering through shade and slating,
I rise and stretch from beneath the sediment of skin.
I defy the thread of bone and tendon.
I seep through openings undeterred.
Somewhere, in the midst of this terminal slumber
I am the dream deferred.
Cautious incorporation.
Silence is the kiss of a cocoon.
The Soul unsheathes.
Somewhere, between liquid light,
Filtering through shade and slating,
I rise and stretch from beneath the sediment of skin.
I defy the thread of bone and tendon.
I seep through openings undeterred.
Somewhere, in the midst of this terminal slumber
I am the dream deferred.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Poetry in Progress: Ego ER
Everybody is wretched
In the cold, electric blue clinic
Of my Mind.
I throw Judgment
Like needles pulsating with
Antibiotic.
To immunize my Self
And my glandular ruminations
Against the quotidian Noise.
Through shiny clouded Glare
Their bodies seem as walking sticks
As upright as words…
And just as lethal.
Come just a little closer
It won't hurt but a tickle..
Let me stick this needle...
In your Ear.
In the cold, electric blue clinic
Of my Mind.
I throw Judgment
Like needles pulsating with
Antibiotic.
To immunize my Self
And my glandular ruminations
Against the quotidian Noise.
Through shiny clouded Glare
Their bodies seem as walking sticks
As upright as words…
And just as lethal.
Come just a little closer
It won't hurt but a tickle..
Let me stick this needle...
In your Ear.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Not Anti-Parent, Just Anti-Weenie Ego Pandering
I understand that my exponentially direct manner of communication tends to set people's egos aflame with warrior energy. But, that does not deter me from my goal: jolting people from their ego induced haze of infantile gut reactions.
In education circles the "culture" of the student is thrown around as a mysterious pantheon of pathways to learning. Having taught elementary, middle and high school with highly urban (read: diverse) populations, I stand by my following statement: a student's celebratory culture (i.e. Cinco de Mayo versus the Chinese New Year) does not correlate to student achievement. Meanwhile, FAMILIAL culture IS correlated to student achievement.
Harvard put out a report (from what I have read recently) on schools "engaging" families. I understand the fundamental thrust is to encourage parents to get involved in their child's education, and strengthen community ties. And, for the record, I applaud such efforts (at least theoretically).
But, these pie in the sky, utopian dreamscapades ignore the fundamentally cancerous American Psyche. You see, America is caught in the lower evolution of the Ego. I'm not sure if we are still scarred from being the Orphan of the old European superpowers (this is sarcasm, for readers who are cynically challenged). Or perhaps the seemingly never ending plutocracy of the Boomer Generation is taking too many pharmaceuticals (all the while complaining at how the younger generations are so selfish...well, if we are, we learned it from you...tsk tsk tsk...sins of the father, etc.) which is severely handicapping their ability to stay in reality.
In either case, what we have on our hands is a victimizing lack of discipline (no, we aren't the victims, we are the perpetrators that turn ourselves into the victims in order to justify abusing other people...it's much like saying to Jesus "Hey, dude, that's what you get for refusing to be so greedy" and then getting mad and bombing other people because you are reaping what you sow...oh, wait, isn't that the American way? Hmmmm).
Our Warrior energy is misappropriated and surrealistically twisted into a cycle of celebrating idiocy, rewarding failure, and yelling at everyone else to get off our lawn when we are standing on a patch of land that someone else, technically, owns.
How does this translate into parenting?
The credit card mentality trickles down into the social recesses of the classroom. Parents and kids alike, almost in unison, demand extra credit for work they never turned in (sounds very much akin to taking out a loan to pay off credit cards, either way you don't have something that is actually yours as collateral).
The civil rights movements of the 60's and 70's have given way to the rampant and ravaging debasement of the fine line between "rights" and "entitlements". Correcting a student's work can start a chain of events including a revisiting of the Salem Witch Trials of McMartin proportions. Because, you see, making sure the student is using proper grammar, and that a teacher can read the work, is violating their entitlement to self esteem without having to meet any standard whatsoever. As you know, having standards is outright discriminatory. If people continue to have to meet a certain level of achievement in order to be successful, then, what will we have? It will be anarchy! No one will achieve anything because everyone won't even try....because competition just crushes the self esteem and did I mention that you need to have self esteem before you can achieve anything? (wait, what's that? research debunks this myth? Well, it's wrong, can't you see that my child has high self esteem and he is getting A's in math...he's in 7th grade....wait, hold on, he needs help finding a pencil so he can copy his friends math homework...dammit, if the teacher doesn't give him an "A" for all of this work, I'm going to call the Superintendent and the School Board!).
Discipline. We lack it like the Sahara during a dry spell (and I mean the Sahara Desert for those of you geographically and ecosystemically challenged; yes, I made up the word "ecosystemically" now let's move on). But, that is only about one half of the story.
Let's move on to blame. I was sitting in a parent meeting not too long ago. The student plagiarized their report. Let's call them student A. Student A didn't even actually do any of the writing. Student A delegated that task to Student B. Furthermore, Student A kept missing deadlines for assignments. Gee, a surefire way to fail in just about anything in life (unless you're a bank that is too big to fail, then, you just hand out bonuses for failure, but that is another blog entirely...and mark my words, eventually, the natural cycle of correction will swoop in...but that is another blog entirely). Well, one nasty and highly accusatory (without grounds, I might add) email later (from Mom Warrior) I'm sitting in front of Mom and Dad. It doesn't start out very pretty. Indeed, I felt like I was in the scene in a "Few Good Men" where Jessup and Kaffee face off. The parents weren't only unable to handle the truth, they were making very poor attempts to turn the tables on me. They laughed off the plagiarism as if I had just popped off with Michael Scott manuevar (because, you know, when you do work as a group, you're excused from fraud...I'm thinking they were either former Enron employees or voted for Bush both times).
Did I mention that Student A was sitting and watching the debacle this entire time? On the surface it may not seem so bad, but, I welcome you to try and manage a classroom after a student witnesses another adult (in this case two) trying to humiliate you. In secondary school, "street creds" are alive and well. Once you're punked in front of the kids, they can and will harass you. Which, if course, is your fault because you were stupid enough to care about other people and be a teacher. Idiot! Why didn't you became a banker and work for Goldman Sachs instead!? I mean, you could be making MILLIONS while other people lose their life savings, perish, and die! Isn't that the greatest American hero? Take THAT Bruce Willis! You can have your little asteroid! Destroying human kind through corporate domination is far more cool!
I walked out. I had to. The student did not meet the standard of being "too big to fail" (neither were they "too smart to fail" as the parent's wanted to believe...I mean come on, even the Enron "Smartest Guys in the Room" failed). And of course, they were hurling personal insults down the hallway as I made my way to, once again, split up my attentions between 200 adolescents who thought they were going to be rich and famous before their 18th birthday (so far, how many have made it to that place...well Zero).
You might be saying to yourself, well, this is only one incident. No. Not by a long shot. I've seen and have experienced firsthand (NO! They are actually RARELY directed at me) repeated sloughing off of parental responsibility in the name of fantasized victim-hood for at least a decade now. Parents don the caregiver persona like poorly made up drag queens. If they actually cared about their student's education they would read to them, take them to the library, make sure they get to school every day and on time, would have made sure they just about NEVER missed a day in elementary school (here's a tip, the kids who miss 5 or more days in elementary school, or who jump between schools perform far more poorly in school), check their home work every night, keep the junk food to a minimum, make sure they are getting to bed at a decent hour (no, this isn't relative, if school starts at 8 am, staying up past 10 pm is asking for trouble...and yes, this also goes for those people that claim they only need a few hours of sleep...bull pucky), make sure they eat before they come to school (or at least drop them off in time to be able to eat in cafeteria and get to class on time) and make SURE there are CONSEQUENCES for their ACTIONS.
Look, I'm a parent AND a teacher. I know after working your rear end off all day, that many times, the last thing you have the patience for is getting on your kids about clean rooms, home work, etc. But, it needs to be done. Unless you want them to be living with you (and off of you) when they're well into their 40's (ok, I know, with this economy, it might not be such a bad idea, but they at least need to be able to read the labels on your pharmaceutical bottles so they don't mix up your meds when you're blind from not having access to adequate medical insurance). Sometimes, you just want peace and quiet while they tap away at the computer playing the newest version of World of Warcraft, or hopefully getting some exercise even if it means playing Wii Sport until midnight.
I also understand that we have both good and bad in the profession. However, the same can be said for doctors, lawyers, construction workers, etc. That hasn't stopped you from accessing any of these services? Seriously, how many of you have performed surgery on yourself? How many of you have defended yourself in court (Ted Bundy tried to do this and he ended up in Florida's electric chair, just some food for thought)? How many of you have built your own house from scratch? Ok, you get my point.
Teaching is one of the few professions where the everyday Jane or Joe, or Juan, or Juanita, or LaQuinta or Jamal, mistakenly believes they can do the same or better. Really? What is differentiated instruction? What is RTI? What is Dibels (and what is its validity/reliability)? What is SRI? What testing protocol would you use to measure student academic levels at the beginning of the year? Why are CRT's not reliable indicators of why student's aren't achieving at grade level? How do you implement any of these in a classroom where you have 51 minutes and 40 students, without a teaching aid, with people entering and exiting your class every five minutes, through fire drills, assemblies, parent conferences, parent phone calls, grading papers, taking attendance, auditing the attendance, when there is a 40% transiency rate, and state tests occurs for various students every month, and you have SPED students whose IEP's are legally binding (and you could be sued if you don't follow them), when on any given day 20 to 30% of the students don't attend school, and you have to provide them with make up work? How do you handle students mouthing off, students who absolutely refuse to do any work, students whose parents email you everyday demanding special treatment (aka helicopter parents)? What would you do when parents corner you while you are in the middle of teaching (and you need to keep your job, thank you very much)? What about the fact that students who bring weapons to school may leave for a week or two but are allowed back onto the same campus? Or when they've threatened a teacher, or hit a teacher (and yes, for those of you infantile thinkers, the teachers didn't "disrespect" the student first...grow up).
Ok, ok. I'll stop. My mini tirade doesn't cover even half of what we encounter in U.S. schools on a daily basis.
So? You may say. You get time off. With pay.
Lie. We don't get paid for the time off, silly. We are only paid for the days school is in session. The only reason some of us receive paychecks year around is because they divide our salary by 12 instead of 9 or 10. Get it now? And I assure you many, many, many teachers take summer jobs in order to make ends meet.
But, but, but, you get pay raises and don't have to do anything.
Again, LIE. We have to PAY to take units in order to keep our credentials active. In order to move over on our columns, again, we have to PAY to take units. And, with the cost of higher education continuing to climb faster than unchecked ivy, our 1-3% increase doesn't cover what we have to spend. Oh, and, also, we spend hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies for kids that aren't even our flesh and blood.
Look, I'm not complaining about being a teacher per se. Yes, I chose this career. What I choose to NOT accept about teaching is that it is somehow MY job to parent the kids. It doesn't mean that I don't love them like a parent. I do. But, yes, there is a "but", the school system cannot compensate for the absence of a home environment essential to a healthy Ego.
What is a healthy Ego? First and foremost Ego with a capital "E" has moved beyond laying the blame for all of its ills onto other people. A mature Ego recognizes that other people do exist, other people have a right to exist, and that we can satisfy our own basic needs without trying to annihilate others. In fact, the "good" Ego has found a way to access primary resources for itself AND others. (oh man, America is a long way from this!) The Flourishing Ego takes responsibility for its mistakes, seeks out the lesson in the experience, then moves on. It is not afraid to fail and it refuses to take others down with its Titanic.
Finally, I understand that many people are hurting financially. Yes, I believe the schools can do much positive support in this area. Canned food drives, keep a contact list of social services on hand (more for the front office than the teachers...we do our best, but we have so many confounding variables just in the classroom alone...and, quite frankly, I've seen how much down time offices really have...we, teachers DO NOT have the same amount of coffee cruising bathroom breaks...I'm lucky if I get to make it to the restroom once per day at work), take clothing donations, and so forth. But, parents can still be parents even under dire circumstances (I'm not speaking out of my rear end here, I've been through times without food, money, assistance of any sort, you name it). You will get through this. It DOES take education. The days of stable blue collar jobs with a solid pension and retirement benefits have been over for quite some time now. For all intents and purposes, high tech, highly complex, scientific oriented jobs are what you'll be competing against your kids for.
I urge you to stop working against us, return to the Horatio Alger image of picking yourself up by your bootstraps, increasing your own formal education (grants, loans, scholarships, there is so much available out there, and yes, you need to expend energy in order to attain it) and stop the American Downward Spiral towards making "Idiocracy" a self fulfilling prophecy.
In education circles the "culture" of the student is thrown around as a mysterious pantheon of pathways to learning. Having taught elementary, middle and high school with highly urban (read: diverse) populations, I stand by my following statement: a student's celebratory culture (i.e. Cinco de Mayo versus the Chinese New Year) does not correlate to student achievement. Meanwhile, FAMILIAL culture IS correlated to student achievement.
Harvard put out a report (from what I have read recently) on schools "engaging" families. I understand the fundamental thrust is to encourage parents to get involved in their child's education, and strengthen community ties. And, for the record, I applaud such efforts (at least theoretically).
But, these pie in the sky, utopian dreamscapades ignore the fundamentally cancerous American Psyche. You see, America is caught in the lower evolution of the Ego. I'm not sure if we are still scarred from being the Orphan of the old European superpowers (this is sarcasm, for readers who are cynically challenged). Or perhaps the seemingly never ending plutocracy of the Boomer Generation is taking too many pharmaceuticals (all the while complaining at how the younger generations are so selfish...well, if we are, we learned it from you...tsk tsk tsk...sins of the father, etc.) which is severely handicapping their ability to stay in reality.
In either case, what we have on our hands is a victimizing lack of discipline (no, we aren't the victims, we are the perpetrators that turn ourselves into the victims in order to justify abusing other people...it's much like saying to Jesus "Hey, dude, that's what you get for refusing to be so greedy" and then getting mad and bombing other people because you are reaping what you sow...oh, wait, isn't that the American way? Hmmmm).
Our Warrior energy is misappropriated and surrealistically twisted into a cycle of celebrating idiocy, rewarding failure, and yelling at everyone else to get off our lawn when we are standing on a patch of land that someone else, technically, owns.
How does this translate into parenting?
The credit card mentality trickles down into the social recesses of the classroom. Parents and kids alike, almost in unison, demand extra credit for work they never turned in (sounds very much akin to taking out a loan to pay off credit cards, either way you don't have something that is actually yours as collateral).
The civil rights movements of the 60's and 70's have given way to the rampant and ravaging debasement of the fine line between "rights" and "entitlements". Correcting a student's work can start a chain of events including a revisiting of the Salem Witch Trials of McMartin proportions. Because, you see, making sure the student is using proper grammar, and that a teacher can read the work, is violating their entitlement to self esteem without having to meet any standard whatsoever. As you know, having standards is outright discriminatory. If people continue to have to meet a certain level of achievement in order to be successful, then, what will we have? It will be anarchy! No one will achieve anything because everyone won't even try....because competition just crushes the self esteem and did I mention that you need to have self esteem before you can achieve anything? (wait, what's that? research debunks this myth? Well, it's wrong, can't you see that my child has high self esteem and he is getting A's in math...he's in 7th grade....wait, hold on, he needs help finding a pencil so he can copy his friends math homework...dammit, if the teacher doesn't give him an "A" for all of this work, I'm going to call the Superintendent and the School Board!).
Discipline. We lack it like the Sahara during a dry spell (and I mean the Sahara Desert for those of you geographically and ecosystemically challenged; yes, I made up the word "ecosystemically" now let's move on). But, that is only about one half of the story.
Let's move on to blame. I was sitting in a parent meeting not too long ago. The student plagiarized their report. Let's call them student A. Student A didn't even actually do any of the writing. Student A delegated that task to Student B. Furthermore, Student A kept missing deadlines for assignments. Gee, a surefire way to fail in just about anything in life (unless you're a bank that is too big to fail, then, you just hand out bonuses for failure, but that is another blog entirely...and mark my words, eventually, the natural cycle of correction will swoop in...but that is another blog entirely). Well, one nasty and highly accusatory (without grounds, I might add) email later (from Mom Warrior) I'm sitting in front of Mom and Dad. It doesn't start out very pretty. Indeed, I felt like I was in the scene in a "Few Good Men" where Jessup and Kaffee face off. The parents weren't only unable to handle the truth, they were making very poor attempts to turn the tables on me. They laughed off the plagiarism as if I had just popped off with Michael Scott manuevar (because, you know, when you do work as a group, you're excused from fraud...I'm thinking they were either former Enron employees or voted for Bush both times).
Did I mention that Student A was sitting and watching the debacle this entire time? On the surface it may not seem so bad, but, I welcome you to try and manage a classroom after a student witnesses another adult (in this case two) trying to humiliate you. In secondary school, "street creds" are alive and well. Once you're punked in front of the kids, they can and will harass you. Which, if course, is your fault because you were stupid enough to care about other people and be a teacher. Idiot! Why didn't you became a banker and work for Goldman Sachs instead!? I mean, you could be making MILLIONS while other people lose their life savings, perish, and die! Isn't that the greatest American hero? Take THAT Bruce Willis! You can have your little asteroid! Destroying human kind through corporate domination is far more cool!
I walked out. I had to. The student did not meet the standard of being "too big to fail" (neither were they "too smart to fail" as the parent's wanted to believe...I mean come on, even the Enron "Smartest Guys in the Room" failed). And of course, they were hurling personal insults down the hallway as I made my way to, once again, split up my attentions between 200 adolescents who thought they were going to be rich and famous before their 18th birthday (so far, how many have made it to that place...well Zero).
You might be saying to yourself, well, this is only one incident. No. Not by a long shot. I've seen and have experienced firsthand (NO! They are actually RARELY directed at me) repeated sloughing off of parental responsibility in the name of fantasized victim-hood for at least a decade now. Parents don the caregiver persona like poorly made up drag queens. If they actually cared about their student's education they would read to them, take them to the library, make sure they get to school every day and on time, would have made sure they just about NEVER missed a day in elementary school (here's a tip, the kids who miss 5 or more days in elementary school, or who jump between schools perform far more poorly in school), check their home work every night, keep the junk food to a minimum, make sure they are getting to bed at a decent hour (no, this isn't relative, if school starts at 8 am, staying up past 10 pm is asking for trouble...and yes, this also goes for those people that claim they only need a few hours of sleep...bull pucky), make sure they eat before they come to school (or at least drop them off in time to be able to eat in cafeteria and get to class on time) and make SURE there are CONSEQUENCES for their ACTIONS.
Look, I'm a parent AND a teacher. I know after working your rear end off all day, that many times, the last thing you have the patience for is getting on your kids about clean rooms, home work, etc. But, it needs to be done. Unless you want them to be living with you (and off of you) when they're well into their 40's (ok, I know, with this economy, it might not be such a bad idea, but they at least need to be able to read the labels on your pharmaceutical bottles so they don't mix up your meds when you're blind from not having access to adequate medical insurance). Sometimes, you just want peace and quiet while they tap away at the computer playing the newest version of World of Warcraft, or hopefully getting some exercise even if it means playing Wii Sport until midnight.
I also understand that we have both good and bad in the profession. However, the same can be said for doctors, lawyers, construction workers, etc. That hasn't stopped you from accessing any of these services? Seriously, how many of you have performed surgery on yourself? How many of you have defended yourself in court (Ted Bundy tried to do this and he ended up in Florida's electric chair, just some food for thought)? How many of you have built your own house from scratch? Ok, you get my point.
Teaching is one of the few professions where the everyday Jane or Joe, or Juan, or Juanita, or LaQuinta or Jamal, mistakenly believes they can do the same or better. Really? What is differentiated instruction? What is RTI? What is Dibels (and what is its validity/reliability)? What is SRI? What testing protocol would you use to measure student academic levels at the beginning of the year? Why are CRT's not reliable indicators of why student's aren't achieving at grade level? How do you implement any of these in a classroom where you have 51 minutes and 40 students, without a teaching aid, with people entering and exiting your class every five minutes, through fire drills, assemblies, parent conferences, parent phone calls, grading papers, taking attendance, auditing the attendance, when there is a 40% transiency rate, and state tests occurs for various students every month, and you have SPED students whose IEP's are legally binding (and you could be sued if you don't follow them), when on any given day 20 to 30% of the students don't attend school, and you have to provide them with make up work? How do you handle students mouthing off, students who absolutely refuse to do any work, students whose parents email you everyday demanding special treatment (aka helicopter parents)? What would you do when parents corner you while you are in the middle of teaching (and you need to keep your job, thank you very much)? What about the fact that students who bring weapons to school may leave for a week or two but are allowed back onto the same campus? Or when they've threatened a teacher, or hit a teacher (and yes, for those of you infantile thinkers, the teachers didn't "disrespect" the student first...grow up).
Ok, ok. I'll stop. My mini tirade doesn't cover even half of what we encounter in U.S. schools on a daily basis.
So? You may say. You get time off. With pay.
Lie. We don't get paid for the time off, silly. We are only paid for the days school is in session. The only reason some of us receive paychecks year around is because they divide our salary by 12 instead of 9 or 10. Get it now? And I assure you many, many, many teachers take summer jobs in order to make ends meet.
But, but, but, you get pay raises and don't have to do anything.
Again, LIE. We have to PAY to take units in order to keep our credentials active. In order to move over on our columns, again, we have to PAY to take units. And, with the cost of higher education continuing to climb faster than unchecked ivy, our 1-3% increase doesn't cover what we have to spend. Oh, and, also, we spend hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies for kids that aren't even our flesh and blood.
Look, I'm not complaining about being a teacher per se. Yes, I chose this career. What I choose to NOT accept about teaching is that it is somehow MY job to parent the kids. It doesn't mean that I don't love them like a parent. I do. But, yes, there is a "but", the school system cannot compensate for the absence of a home environment essential to a healthy Ego.
What is a healthy Ego? First and foremost Ego with a capital "E" has moved beyond laying the blame for all of its ills onto other people. A mature Ego recognizes that other people do exist, other people have a right to exist, and that we can satisfy our own basic needs without trying to annihilate others. In fact, the "good" Ego has found a way to access primary resources for itself AND others. (oh man, America is a long way from this!) The Flourishing Ego takes responsibility for its mistakes, seeks out the lesson in the experience, then moves on. It is not afraid to fail and it refuses to take others down with its Titanic.
Finally, I understand that many people are hurting financially. Yes, I believe the schools can do much positive support in this area. Canned food drives, keep a contact list of social services on hand (more for the front office than the teachers...we do our best, but we have so many confounding variables just in the classroom alone...and, quite frankly, I've seen how much down time offices really have...we, teachers DO NOT have the same amount of coffee cruising bathroom breaks...I'm lucky if I get to make it to the restroom once per day at work), take clothing donations, and so forth. But, parents can still be parents even under dire circumstances (I'm not speaking out of my rear end here, I've been through times without food, money, assistance of any sort, you name it). You will get through this. It DOES take education. The days of stable blue collar jobs with a solid pension and retirement benefits have been over for quite some time now. For all intents and purposes, high tech, highly complex, scientific oriented jobs are what you'll be competing against your kids for.
I urge you to stop working against us, return to the Horatio Alger image of picking yourself up by your bootstraps, increasing your own formal education (grants, loans, scholarships, there is so much available out there, and yes, you need to expend energy in order to attain it) and stop the American Downward Spiral towards making "Idiocracy" a self fulfilling prophecy.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Wizard of Id's Independence Day
As I primp and clean myself, my house, and my children on this national holiday, it occurs to me that the 4th of July is the closest thing we have (U.S. citizens) to a collective mythology. Sure, Thanksgiving and the Winter Holiday (better known as Christmas to mainstream America) may offer a more individualistic nostalgia. However, both of the aforementioned 4th quarter celebrations have been thoroughly putrefied through the corpuscular gluttonies of corporate crack dealing (the drug of choice being consumption, of course).
When speaking of the 4th of July, we give reverence to the day in terms of being "American's Birthday", where we, (at that time "we" meaning the white men with property, but it can be safely argued that the spirit of the "independence" stretched to the women and non property owning other white men) declared our independence from the tyrannical rule of England. Indeed, the other core of the myth is that the Declaration was signed, sealed and delivered on the 4th of July in 1776 (which, in actuality, did not occur until August of that year). But, independence is, as independence does and we settle for the date as affirmed by the Congress at that time (how very Forrest Gump of us).
Fast forward 233 years later. We now have a president with recent African heritage in the White House (if the science is correct, we are all, technically, African, the earliest humans having franchised up and outward from there). We also have trillions of dollars of debt sitting on the U.S. books. The Federal Government has stepped in and "saved" banks from the evolutionary tides of insolvency and death. Failure has been propped up like a scarecrow in a wheat field. Yet, it is the "independent minded-ness" of the Americans that the men behind the curtain are trying to frighten into submission. Too big to fail has become a cliched mantra, a spectral floating in between the shock and awe-some-ness of celebrity deaths, disintegrating state governments, and political sexual sagas (to the great orgasmic awakening of a new breed of journalism: political tabloids).
As I cogitate upon this all the more, I am envisioning scenes from the Wizard of Oz, where the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man are all pimps for the little man behind the curtain (sounds an awful lot like Congress, and, perhaps, the Executive Branch?). Our Good Witch of the North (our celebrities, Hollywood myth makers and religions--at least for some) are mere distractions, they aren't helping at all. Instead of the house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East, the housing market landed on top of the middle and struggling classes (not so evil, except for the fact that many ignored the recklessness of trying to live the Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous on a credit card; individualism without the requisite personal responsibility, the cost: trillions of taxpayer dollars). Meanwhile, our feckless trio are being paid billion dollar bonuses to lead Dorothy down the wrong road. I think they are holding Toto for ransom somewhere. (Are the Munchkins our credit derivatives?)
But, our consumption continues. Because, you know, consuming products from corporate monopolies is the individual thing to do (sarcasm is my Glinda the Good Witch).
At least, for a moment, in the hub of sparkling illusory 4th of July illuminations, we can put aside the macabre spectacle of taxes, debt and death (two of which Ben Franklin stated were inevitable…since we went into debt to fight the Revolutionary War, I don't know why he didn't have that as a compulsory of reality as well). We can take a day, merely a moment in the span of evolutionary history, to come together and celebrate our "independence" with corporately farmed animal and plant produces, while lighting up a few legal (and in some cases, not my own, illegal) pyrotechnics, and swilling brand name alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverages (all roads lead back to corporate oligarchy) to enjoy the "freedom" of watching things explode.
I hope it's only the fireworks that detonate and isn't a foreshadowing of the U.S. as a re-enactment of the Hindenburg Disaster. Perhaps, the Titanic is a more apropos image, as it went down on tax day. Such is what happens when man-kind (and I am using the noun "man" with great specificity) believes that he is above nature. The Wizards of Corp. know that economics is beholden to the natural cycles of crests and troughs. They made billions (if not more) betting against their own troughs. Welcome to Animal Farm, the pigs are officially in charge.
However, those of us who have hung our hats on a credit derived living are as guilty as the Flying Monkeys. We bought into the inverted myth of freedom through indentured servitude (mort = death, gage = pledge, we've pledged our death in repaying on the lenders terms). We fueled the "act like teenagers now because feeding impulse feels good" brand of individualism, "independence" devolving into narcissism. Now, we are akin to the middle aged man, gripping on to a lost adolescence and throwing a temper tantrum because he wrecked the leased Porsche while attempting to chase down the next cock tease.
Grow up America.
Individualism does not mean that we get to act like a jack ass for decades and some how skirt the consequences. Our kids are not as exceptional as we want to believe (after all, the government has rewarded corporate failure, why wouldn't this trickle down in some fashion?). We demand exorbitantly high wages for menial labor. Many state that they don't want the government to be the "Nanny" yet they drop their kids off in public classrooms and expect that his or her needs must be the sole focus of a poorly paid, over worked teacher (who has more hoops to jump through just to get that pittance of a paycheck). Many bitch, moan and threaten lawsuits because they believe that high expectations means the kids are being harassed or discriminated against, and yet when they fail, it is the fault of everyone else (because taking a week or two off in the middle of the school year to go to Disneyland in no way interferes with a kids education). Meanwhile, parents stroll through public places, gabbing mindlessly on your $300 iPhones, ignoring their kids, and allowing them to gain negative attention through posting fist fights on Youtube, and irritating strangers with their lower order skill sets. We have turned into our own worst enemy.
For those of us who worked our glutes off and who delayed gratification until after the hard work was done, well, many of us feel like we've earned bread and water in return. If only I could just click those Ruby Red Slippers and return to the pre-Tornado era. Oh, wait, I was born in 1974, and, honestly, it feels as if I've been caught in this tornado for 35 years. Plus, I think my Ruby Red kicks have been repossessed (or maybe Toto is chewing on them in my closet; it figures).
This heroic journey has only just begun. But, what I can promise, to myself, and yes, ultimately, to the rest of America, is that when personal responsibility is combined with the proverbial rugged independence, then those "men behind the curtain" lose their power to sway you into mindless fear. Throughout any Odyssey, there will be sacrifices. Ask yourself what you are willing to sacrifice (I recommend first giving up the Pandora's Box of "isms" that serve only to narrow the mind). You cannot have both low taxes and maintain the number of governmental services at current levels. Neither should the Wizard of Id give the Corporate Olympus tax payer money in order to turn a profit. Remember, in order for the Corporate Zeuses to remain in the realm of the living, they need you to need them.
Personally, they can throw all of the Aphroditic diversions my way, and I will still survive through the Corporate Greek Tragedy of Goldman Sachs working the Oedipus Redux. It doesn't mean I won't look. After all, I need to replace those Ruby Slippers.
Happy 4th!
When speaking of the 4th of July, we give reverence to the day in terms of being "American's Birthday", where we, (at that time "we" meaning the white men with property, but it can be safely argued that the spirit of the "independence" stretched to the women and non property owning other white men) declared our independence from the tyrannical rule of England. Indeed, the other core of the myth is that the Declaration was signed, sealed and delivered on the 4th of July in 1776 (which, in actuality, did not occur until August of that year). But, independence is, as independence does and we settle for the date as affirmed by the Congress at that time (how very Forrest Gump of us).
Fast forward 233 years later. We now have a president with recent African heritage in the White House (if the science is correct, we are all, technically, African, the earliest humans having franchised up and outward from there). We also have trillions of dollars of debt sitting on the U.S. books. The Federal Government has stepped in and "saved" banks from the evolutionary tides of insolvency and death. Failure has been propped up like a scarecrow in a wheat field. Yet, it is the "independent minded-ness" of the Americans that the men behind the curtain are trying to frighten into submission. Too big to fail has become a cliched mantra, a spectral floating in between the shock and awe-some-ness of celebrity deaths, disintegrating state governments, and political sexual sagas (to the great orgasmic awakening of a new breed of journalism: political tabloids).
As I cogitate upon this all the more, I am envisioning scenes from the Wizard of Oz, where the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man are all pimps for the little man behind the curtain (sounds an awful lot like Congress, and, perhaps, the Executive Branch?). Our Good Witch of the North (our celebrities, Hollywood myth makers and religions--at least for some) are mere distractions, they aren't helping at all. Instead of the house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East, the housing market landed on top of the middle and struggling classes (not so evil, except for the fact that many ignored the recklessness of trying to live the Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous on a credit card; individualism without the requisite personal responsibility, the cost: trillions of taxpayer dollars). Meanwhile, our feckless trio are being paid billion dollar bonuses to lead Dorothy down the wrong road. I think they are holding Toto for ransom somewhere. (Are the Munchkins our credit derivatives?)
But, our consumption continues. Because, you know, consuming products from corporate monopolies is the individual thing to do (sarcasm is my Glinda the Good Witch).
At least, for a moment, in the hub of sparkling illusory 4th of July illuminations, we can put aside the macabre spectacle of taxes, debt and death (two of which Ben Franklin stated were inevitable…since we went into debt to fight the Revolutionary War, I don't know why he didn't have that as a compulsory of reality as well). We can take a day, merely a moment in the span of evolutionary history, to come together and celebrate our "independence" with corporately farmed animal and plant produces, while lighting up a few legal (and in some cases, not my own, illegal) pyrotechnics, and swilling brand name alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverages (all roads lead back to corporate oligarchy) to enjoy the "freedom" of watching things explode.
I hope it's only the fireworks that detonate and isn't a foreshadowing of the U.S. as a re-enactment of the Hindenburg Disaster. Perhaps, the Titanic is a more apropos image, as it went down on tax day. Such is what happens when man-kind (and I am using the noun "man" with great specificity) believes that he is above nature. The Wizards of Corp. know that economics is beholden to the natural cycles of crests and troughs. They made billions (if not more) betting against their own troughs. Welcome to Animal Farm, the pigs are officially in charge.
However, those of us who have hung our hats on a credit derived living are as guilty as the Flying Monkeys. We bought into the inverted myth of freedom through indentured servitude (mort = death, gage = pledge, we've pledged our death in repaying on the lenders terms). We fueled the "act like teenagers now because feeding impulse feels good" brand of individualism, "independence" devolving into narcissism. Now, we are akin to the middle aged man, gripping on to a lost adolescence and throwing a temper tantrum because he wrecked the leased Porsche while attempting to chase down the next cock tease.
Grow up America.
Individualism does not mean that we get to act like a jack ass for decades and some how skirt the consequences. Our kids are not as exceptional as we want to believe (after all, the government has rewarded corporate failure, why wouldn't this trickle down in some fashion?). We demand exorbitantly high wages for menial labor. Many state that they don't want the government to be the "Nanny" yet they drop their kids off in public classrooms and expect that his or her needs must be the sole focus of a poorly paid, over worked teacher (who has more hoops to jump through just to get that pittance of a paycheck). Many bitch, moan and threaten lawsuits because they believe that high expectations means the kids are being harassed or discriminated against, and yet when they fail, it is the fault of everyone else (because taking a week or two off in the middle of the school year to go to Disneyland in no way interferes with a kids education). Meanwhile, parents stroll through public places, gabbing mindlessly on your $300 iPhones, ignoring their kids, and allowing them to gain negative attention through posting fist fights on Youtube, and irritating strangers with their lower order skill sets. We have turned into our own worst enemy.
For those of us who worked our glutes off and who delayed gratification until after the hard work was done, well, many of us feel like we've earned bread and water in return. If only I could just click those Ruby Red Slippers and return to the pre-Tornado era. Oh, wait, I was born in 1974, and, honestly, it feels as if I've been caught in this tornado for 35 years. Plus, I think my Ruby Red kicks have been repossessed (or maybe Toto is chewing on them in my closet; it figures).
This heroic journey has only just begun. But, what I can promise, to myself, and yes, ultimately, to the rest of America, is that when personal responsibility is combined with the proverbial rugged independence, then those "men behind the curtain" lose their power to sway you into mindless fear. Throughout any Odyssey, there will be sacrifices. Ask yourself what you are willing to sacrifice (I recommend first giving up the Pandora's Box of "isms" that serve only to narrow the mind). You cannot have both low taxes and maintain the number of governmental services at current levels. Neither should the Wizard of Id give the Corporate Olympus tax payer money in order to turn a profit. Remember, in order for the Corporate Zeuses to remain in the realm of the living, they need you to need them.
Personally, they can throw all of the Aphroditic diversions my way, and I will still survive through the Corporate Greek Tragedy of Goldman Sachs working the Oedipus Redux. It doesn't mean I won't look. After all, I need to replace those Ruby Slippers.
Happy 4th!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Peepshow
I've been devouring the texts of Joseph Campbell as of late. As such, my willful wanderings back into the depths of the celebration of the Hero have all of the Greek Gods oozing out of the collective Archetypal shadows.
Whether I am reading about political philandering, rising revolutions, or the loss of celebrity through the inevitable experience of death, I cannot help but mentally bookmark which mythology/folktale can be aptly applied. I believe, as a writer, my primary purpose is to decipher and communicate the collective symbolism. The monomyth is alive and well ladies and gentlemen (even within the confines of a seemingly uneventful middle class experience; which brings me to question, is there still a "middle class"?).
Each of us has our own mythology. But, they (the mythologies) aren't as unique as Americans suffer to believe. Certainly, we are a compendium of Archetypes, yet, these looming representations are similar, if not the same, trans-culturally.
My patchwork introduction is a coerced leeway into thoughts I wish to cut and paste into this blog for today. I sat down yesterday, as I do everyday, and reflected upon the flow of input values from the media over the past several days. As always, I begin with identifying my own internal position within mighty maelstrom. Slowly, my focus moves from the center and trickles outward as my consciousness becomes a plug in to the world community. I tend to speak in abstractions because I have not yet mastered the art of using details creatively (rather then being used by them). Ok, here we go...my stream of consciousness from yesterday:
The Athena within is gaming for some kind of stimulation other than the slow unfolding of daily existence. I am both welcomed by, and prevent myself from drowning in the womb-like subsistence of the professional class. Having children has greatly dampened, indeed has almost extinguished, my drive for risky adventures. However, it is deeply unfair to heap any blame upon my offspring. The infantile excretions of American humanity (in its droll mental meanderings, small talk, superficial chirpings of mommy groups, allergy attacks, and what is being made for dinner) bore me to tears. Relationships aren't cultivated for their potential re-sourcing, for their fathomable re-connections of one soul to another. Where I see the Divine in infinitely sagacious discussions about the worlds problems, and the mythologies that promote or inhibit their healing, others collect disembodied social networks like small trophies for the purpose of reinforcing egotistical masturbation.
America is the bastard love child of Echo and Narcissus. As such, the culture is more reflective of the myth of Hephaestus. Except, we do not produce anything of great substance. Our magical industriousness has given way to a fantasy based Never Land of paper pushing capitalism. Yes, you too can be wealthy by watching numbers increase or decrease on a world wide screen. Did any of you stop to ask who, exactly, has the authority to place that value on those pieces of paper, and why?
We've been wooed into fossil like stasis by the prostitutes of Aphrodite and the priests of Hermes. This is what our country has become through its refusal to grow out of being wholly representative of a 14 year old boy.
Hey, I'm as interested in the bewitching attributes of Aphrodite as anyone else. I love beauty. But, I am as magnetized by the allure of Zion National Park, as I am by the ornate McMansions and money as power drive of the wealthy and botoxed. A walk through a tree lined and grass quilted neighborhood park brings me as much pleasure as purchasing a new gadget (or eating cheesecake, for that matter).
Nature is sexy, people. Greedy, solipsistic homo sapiens who want to extenuate their denial that short cuts to success aren't successful, are NOT sexy. As we have witnessed through continuous economic avalanches, we can live only so long on a borrowed dime (or trillions of dollars) before the cycles of nature (which many monotheistic religious and secular socio-economic institutions try unsuccessfully to suppress) kick our collective ass. We have another opportunity to learn from our failings (other than how to deftly blame everyone else for our lack of individual responsibility). Well?
That, in a nutshell, is my take on the currently disembodied human condition. One of my offspring is up and ready to roll. But before I go: Which Hero are you?
Whether I am reading about political philandering, rising revolutions, or the loss of celebrity through the inevitable experience of death, I cannot help but mentally bookmark which mythology/folktale can be aptly applied. I believe, as a writer, my primary purpose is to decipher and communicate the collective symbolism. The monomyth is alive and well ladies and gentlemen (even within the confines of a seemingly uneventful middle class experience; which brings me to question, is there still a "middle class"?).
Each of us has our own mythology. But, they (the mythologies) aren't as unique as Americans suffer to believe. Certainly, we are a compendium of Archetypes, yet, these looming representations are similar, if not the same, trans-culturally.
My patchwork introduction is a coerced leeway into thoughts I wish to cut and paste into this blog for today. I sat down yesterday, as I do everyday, and reflected upon the flow of input values from the media over the past several days. As always, I begin with identifying my own internal position within mighty maelstrom. Slowly, my focus moves from the center and trickles outward as my consciousness becomes a plug in to the world community. I tend to speak in abstractions because I have not yet mastered the art of using details creatively (rather then being used by them). Ok, here we go...my stream of consciousness from yesterday:
The Athena within is gaming for some kind of stimulation other than the slow unfolding of daily existence. I am both welcomed by, and prevent myself from drowning in the womb-like subsistence of the professional class. Having children has greatly dampened, indeed has almost extinguished, my drive for risky adventures. However, it is deeply unfair to heap any blame upon my offspring. The infantile excretions of American humanity (in its droll mental meanderings, small talk, superficial chirpings of mommy groups, allergy attacks, and what is being made for dinner) bore me to tears. Relationships aren't cultivated for their potential re-sourcing, for their fathomable re-connections of one soul to another. Where I see the Divine in infinitely sagacious discussions about the worlds problems, and the mythologies that promote or inhibit their healing, others collect disembodied social networks like small trophies for the purpose of reinforcing egotistical masturbation.
America is the bastard love child of Echo and Narcissus. As such, the culture is more reflective of the myth of Hephaestus. Except, we do not produce anything of great substance. Our magical industriousness has given way to a fantasy based Never Land of paper pushing capitalism. Yes, you too can be wealthy by watching numbers increase or decrease on a world wide screen. Did any of you stop to ask who, exactly, has the authority to place that value on those pieces of paper, and why?
We've been wooed into fossil like stasis by the prostitutes of Aphrodite and the priests of Hermes. This is what our country has become through its refusal to grow out of being wholly representative of a 14 year old boy.
Hey, I'm as interested in the bewitching attributes of Aphrodite as anyone else. I love beauty. But, I am as magnetized by the allure of Zion National Park, as I am by the ornate McMansions and money as power drive of the wealthy and botoxed. A walk through a tree lined and grass quilted neighborhood park brings me as much pleasure as purchasing a new gadget (or eating cheesecake, for that matter).
Nature is sexy, people. Greedy, solipsistic homo sapiens who want to extenuate their denial that short cuts to success aren't successful, are NOT sexy. As we have witnessed through continuous economic avalanches, we can live only so long on a borrowed dime (or trillions of dollars) before the cycles of nature (which many monotheistic religious and secular socio-economic institutions try unsuccessfully to suppress) kick our collective ass. We have another opportunity to learn from our failings (other than how to deftly blame everyone else for our lack of individual responsibility). Well?
That, in a nutshell, is my take on the currently disembodied human condition. One of my offspring is up and ready to roll. But before I go: Which Hero are you?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Plucked!
Being the political news junkie that I am, I've decided that it is time to break free from the self imposed limitation of blogs geared strictly towards educational purposes and enter the greater blogosphere cliche where I am either narcissistic enough to believe that people may happen upon and read my posts, or self indulgent enough not to give it a second thought. Essentially, I need a forum that allows more characters for my thoughts as Tweeting only makes room for creative headlining.
My political leanings are neither precisely right nor left of center. Personal responsibility and a strong connection to family and community are primary to my philosophical paradigm. My posts will trend towards an analysis through the lens of social psychology. It is my hope that the deconstructions I present will lead to a greater understanding of the benefits and tragedies of our various socio-economic systems.
My political leanings are neither precisely right nor left of center. Personal responsibility and a strong connection to family and community are primary to my philosophical paradigm. My posts will trend towards an analysis through the lens of social psychology. It is my hope that the deconstructions I present will lead to a greater understanding of the benefits and tragedies of our various socio-economic systems.
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