I love being an American.
I joke about the downside of democracy, like trying to actually cast a vote for someone whose position makes no sense to me, or voting yes or no to a series of judges who I am not qualified to assess but I assume most Americans take my approach to only vote on people and things you have researched and therefore leave blank most of the ballot. I vote for the State Super because I have some knowledge here, you vote for the state controller because you know what that guy will do, and the attorneys vote for the judges.
A friend posted this tremendous quote on my facebook page:
"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Sir Winston Churchill, 1947"
Indeed.
So in watching the concession speeches and acceptances, I started to feel a tug in my chest, a desire to really and truly believe in a candidate to the point of tears at a heartbreaking loss or enthusiasm late at night waiting for the win.
Interestingly, what did it for me was the concession speech of a Pennsylvania Senator who I have absolutely zero knowledge about--he could be a complete criminal or the humble guy he seems in this clip--but his grace at losing the election was something that I hope that all politicians can aspire to and one day I would like to support a candidate--party aside-- whose concession speech makes me cry because I care so much about the cause, or gives me an adrenaline rush.
So thank you Congressman Sestak for the lesson in sportsmanship and class and one day I hope to find my own candidate to support and throw my time and resources behind--maybe even *volunteer on the campaign trail.
*Once the kids are older of course
Showing posts with label politik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politik. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
You Should Do This...
But you probably won't. Anywho, go to this link and support this initiative because it will make you a better person. The italics is what the website generates and then you can put your own story in the middle. Here is what I came up with and I strongly, strongly encourage you to support this. This is going to be part of the reauthorization of the ESEA
Dear Senator(s):
As a Whole Child Advocate, I ask you to cosponsor S. Res. 478 designating March as "National Whole Child Month." The resolution also recognizes that ensuring all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged should be a national priority and encourages parents, educators, and community members to support a whole child approach to education for each student.
My son does well on standardized tests--and so do his sisters. But no one bothers to ask or think about the ability of my children to critically think, to solve problems, or to work with others.
When they graduate from elementary, and then high school I have hope that because of what I teach them at home they will have the ability to solve problems in spite of the school system regularly telling them that they are fine because they can memorize facts. If we as a nation want to stay ahead of the international trade game by producing, not just importing information and products, we MUST begin to focus our school system around ingenuity--the one element of the American spirit that is captured in every child until someone in the school system tells them that creativity is less important than knowing the "right answer."
I encourage you to read, if you haven't already, Yong Zhao's book "Catching Up or Leading the Way" if you want to know what happens to nations that focus exclusively on being "smart."
This initiative is led by ASCD and is a collaborative effort of its national partners. I urge you to show your support to children across the country and your commitment to a quality education for each child by cosponsoring this resolution.
Thank you in advance for your prompt consideration and support of this important measure.
Dear Senator(s):
As a Whole Child Advocate, I ask you to cosponsor S. Res. 478 designating March as "National Whole Child Month." The resolution also recognizes that ensuring all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged should be a national priority and encourages parents, educators, and community members to support a whole child approach to education for each student.
My son does well on standardized tests--and so do his sisters. But no one bothers to ask or think about the ability of my children to critically think, to solve problems, or to work with others.
When they graduate from elementary, and then high school I have hope that because of what I teach them at home they will have the ability to solve problems in spite of the school system regularly telling them that they are fine because they can memorize facts. If we as a nation want to stay ahead of the international trade game by producing, not just importing information and products, we MUST begin to focus our school system around ingenuity--the one element of the American spirit that is captured in every child until someone in the school system tells them that creativity is less important than knowing the "right answer."
I encourage you to read, if you haven't already, Yong Zhao's book "Catching Up or Leading the Way" if you want to know what happens to nations that focus exclusively on being "smart."
This initiative is led by ASCD and is a collaborative effort of its national partners. I urge you to show your support to children across the country and your commitment to a quality education for each child by cosponsoring this resolution.
Thank you in advance for your prompt consideration and support of this important measure.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Power of Anonymity
Anon et al,
I have long wondered at the phenomenon of the anonymous commenter. I have twice received a comment that tugged at my heart and caused me to reflect on my words, both times from anonymous commenters. One was a bit racist so I won't repost it here and the other was recently on my post about the food policy at school. I am left pondering because there was no accountability for the individual. In this recent case, I didn't actually say anything other than to post a picture of the policy so I am unsure where the anger came from...
I want you to know that several times on this blog people have made comments I disagree with. For example:
i'm not sure you can claim extreme righteousness when your kids don't even pay tithing.
OR
Reading for game time is lame. Just ask anyone under the age of 14. But cute of you for trying. I'll teach Casey how to sneak in his room after you've fallen asleep at 10pm (cuz I know you do) for all the free playing time he wants. He deserves to know these things. After all, he's already 4 years late getting a DS as it is.
Conversation starter: Hey Casey, Landee is on the phone for you....
Conversation starter: Hey Casey, Landee is on the phone for you....
OR most seriously from SRBC regarding my FAVORITE book of all time:
I'm trying, really I am. But so far I can't stand it. Maybe I'm d) dead inside. ::sigh:: but I'm only on ch 11.
Even though the first comment was probably meant as a joke even if it was true, the latter two certainly were not. But I believe in healthy, open conflict so I applaud, yea, encourage the disagreement.
Do I seem like the kind of person who will disrespect you if I know who you are? I hope not! I hope no one feels like you can't disagree here. And you can even say what you want without being funny. Well, Tiff cannot, but most people can and are invited to do so.
There are two times when I understand remaining anonymous:
--Donating to a good cause to be sure that your intention is really coming from a good place
--You feel that your comment could be misconstrued by a co-worker, boss, or otherwise impact your political future
If you are someone who feels that my involvement in the school would somehow negatively impact you, I feel sad about that as well.
I would like to publicly state that I am very proud to be a member of my children's school community. I love everything about the school and have personally sacrificed hundreds of hours to fight for its existence. I won't even be in this town longer than one more year so there is absolutely no reason why I should bother to put all this time into it other than the fact that I truly believe in reform and I think the quality of teaching there is worth fighting for. I openly relish the fact that our school is different even if I would like to bring some homemade cookies once in a while.
I love that I live in a crazy liberal town in which raw foodies, vegans, vegetarians, meatatarians, and omnivores all live together in peace, love, and harmony.
And by the way, my children actually are at risk for diabetes as it runs in my family AND we have to work actively to stay in a healthy weight zone on a daily basis.
All this to say, anonymous, I am sorry that you are so powerful as you cloak your identity and I wish that you had less of a hurtful impact on my blogging state of mind but you are still welcome to come, and make your comment without any accountability because in the end, I am an estadounidense and I believe in freedom of speech.
Gracias por venir.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Repost
So my hilarious friend Maren has her blog all locked up so you can't read it but she told a great story about how much she dislikes the kinder registration process and I wanted to just echo that here.
I am going to repost my comment (with modifications) from her site even though she was funnier because, well, if she has her site all locked down she probably doesn't want her post reprinted by a free-for-all blogger like myself.
The gist was that the hoops you have to jump through to register your child for kinder are annoying. To share one small example of this, every year (2 kids so far) I have to make an appointment to take my children into the dr. to get them to sign some paper saying they are kinder ready. Both times I made the appointment so late that the school was harassing me for weeks about it. So this time I totally was ahead of the game and made an appointment in February! Yay for me! So you know what the school told me? It has to be after March 1. Well too bad for them.
I think that if you already have a kid in school they should just give you one paper with a checkbox that says "same as everything on the other kids but with a new name." I happen to know that you don't have to actually have a social security number to enroll so why pretend?
When I went to enroll my #3 in kinder and they gave me the same huge packet with the rest of my kids I took my sweeeet time. I turned it in one piece at a time just to prove to them how annoying it is (or because I was disorganized). I still have to drop off her birth certificate which, again, shows that she was born somewhere. Can't they see that that by looking at her?
As for the emergency card,if all my kids have the same last name, they only need one card. If they call our emergency contact and say "Fleming No. 1 needs a ride home because the school is on fire" then the person on the other end of the line had better say "what about Fleming 2 and 3?" Problem solved. To make it tricky, I think the emergency card has different contacts for each of my kids so they will get three different rides home. That is what they get, I say.
Because I like the school people who organize all of this I make genuine attempts so I don't mess up their job which inevitably is monitored by the state or something.
Oh one more annoyance--if I don't get anything free out of it, I don't want to list my salary. They should have a box that says "I make above or below this amount per kid." I am not super private but I get tired of the "you might qualify" argument when we all know we don't. In fact next time I am going to write 1.5 billion under salary. Yeah.
The thing that makes me the MOST irritated by all of this stuff is that there are people with no social security number, who are not immunized, who do not read or write and their kids are still enrolled in school. Are they trying to say that if you don't have that paperwork turned in you can't attend public school? That has GOT to be a line. So little tommy jones (or fulano de tal) shows up to school and they say "sorry sweetie you can't come to your class because your mommy didn't feel out the pink card indicating your race." So why is it that they call me and ask me for info from the packet when I know that whether or not I send it in they will not turn away my child.
Kinder is optional anyway.
I am going to repost my comment (with modifications) from her site even though she was funnier because, well, if she has her site all locked down she probably doesn't want her post reprinted by a free-for-all blogger like myself.
The gist was that the hoops you have to jump through to register your child for kinder are annoying. To share one small example of this, every year (2 kids so far) I have to make an appointment to take my children into the dr. to get them to sign some paper saying they are kinder ready. Both times I made the appointment so late that the school was harassing me for weeks about it. So this time I totally was ahead of the game and made an appointment in February! Yay for me! So you know what the school told me? It has to be after March 1. Well too bad for them.
I think that if you already have a kid in school they should just give you one paper with a checkbox that says "same as everything on the other kids but with a new name." I happen to know that you don't have to actually have a social security number to enroll so why pretend?
When I went to enroll my #3 in kinder and they gave me the same huge packet with the rest of my kids I took my sweeeet time. I turned it in one piece at a time just to prove to them how annoying it is (or because I was disorganized). I still have to drop off her birth certificate which, again, shows that she was born somewhere. Can't they see that that by looking at her?
As for the emergency card,if all my kids have the same last name, they only need one card. If they call our emergency contact and say "Fleming No. 1 needs a ride home because the school is on fire" then the person on the other end of the line had better say "what about Fleming 2 and 3?" Problem solved. To make it tricky, I think the emergency card has different contacts for each of my kids so they will get three different rides home. That is what they get, I say.
Because I like the school people who organize all of this I make genuine attempts so I don't mess up their job which inevitably is monitored by the state or something.
Oh one more annoyance--if I don't get anything free out of it, I don't want to list my salary. They should have a box that says "I make above or below this amount per kid." I am not super private but I get tired of the "you might qualify" argument when we all know we don't. In fact next time I am going to write 1.5 billion under salary. Yeah.
The thing that makes me the MOST irritated by all of this stuff is that there are people with no social security number, who are not immunized, who do not read or write and their kids are still enrolled in school. Are they trying to say that if you don't have that paperwork turned in you can't attend public school? That has GOT to be a line. So little tommy jones (or fulano de tal) shows up to school and they say "sorry sweetie you can't come to your class because your mommy didn't feel out the pink card indicating your race." So why is it that they call me and ask me for info from the packet when I know that whether or not I send it in they will not turn away my child.
Kinder is optional anyway.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tribute to Mikel with a K, or How I Learned About Race
I grew up in a lily white town. I think it might have more people of color now but at the time it was totally red-neck. There were a handful of non-white kids in my high school:
Henry the black cowboy
Ayesha who had recently moved from the Bay Area
Ese whose family was from Tonga
Jesus the dishwasher
I went to BYU and I think I maybe met two people who were not white from the US (I met several people from Latin America, Africa and Asia but they were all international students).
I shared some of my LA experience which was predominately black and hispanic but there were such class differences that race didn't even enter the equation.
Fast Forward to Sactown.
First day of school I meet this sassy kid in my 9th grade Geography class. Within weeks he quickly rises to the top of my list as a management issue (constantly talking) as well as one of the brighter kids in my class. His favorite thing was to be the self-appointed "marshall" in which he would keep others on task
"Hey he went to the bathroom ten minutes ago--kid, where are you going?"
"Hey you--why you asking such dumb questions? She already said that."
"What? You said it was on page 15, it was page 16."
I hated to love this kid. Kind of like landeelu.
Anyway he was a total pain in my arse for a year and then halfway through his sophomore year (I had him for both his 9th and 10th grade humanities courses) he was suddenly one of my better students. He was clever, innovative, sharp, and had toned down (sort of) in the cop dept. Because he was a creative thinker he did better in our school model (I think) than he would have in a regulah boring drill and kill environment. I didn't have him his junior year other than the group described below, but he would stop by periodically and complain about a teacher, a project, or a social injustice.
What does this have to do with race? So Mikel was in my advisory, a little 30 minute "rap session" in which I had a group of about 20 kids each day. The point was supposed to be to make connections with kids and provide them with a place to talk about issues, speak out about school problems, etc. Build culture and all that.
For whatever reason I had more black students in my advisory than other teachers and my group really loved to talk about race. Mikel was selling newspaper subscriptions one year and shared with the group the way people treated him at the door sometimes--it was always done with a comedic edge and I was really surprised each time to hear what his potential customers would say or do at the door . He was funny and smart, good-looking and well-spoken. The fact that he had dark skin apparently really was an issue for him and for others around him.
Now, I am not naive. Before teaching, if I saw a group of 18-25 year old black men standing on the corner it would have scared me more than a group of white kids wearing the exact same thing. People who look different than us are initially scary to us. I can imagine to a black woman a group of 18-25 year old white men standing on the corner scares the snot out of her if she does not have experience with adolescent males. A lot of Americans would now be fearful of a crew of Arabs wearing backpacks on the corner.
Having said that, the one-on-one racial experiences my kids shared with me enlightened me about a lot of fear of skin color. I think Mikel's older brother was falsely accused of committing a crime and though I am not sure of the outcome, he certainly was not aided by his brown skin in a jury of his "peers."
Mikel once said something that has kind of hung around my brain for the last four years:
"Everyone wants to be black. That is the race that the most people want to be like. The best-looking race are the *Mexicans and whites are the most hated race."
He was always saying crap like that. But this one idea stuck around in my head forever. I am not saying he was correct-- but it makes me think anyway. We had conversations about cultural differences on an almost daily basis and that is the only thing I can really recall from memory. Perhaps the fact that as a nation, only 14% of our population is of African-American descent yet the majority of our discussions around race are black/white, we have a black president, and the majority of court cases around race involve black individuals is something to consider.
Regardless of the veracity of Mikel's statement or whatever other thing he said or did, I feel like I actually can contribute legitimately to conversations around race because of what I learned from him and his peers. I called him last year and asked him a question about race which undoubtedly sealed in his mind the utter incompetence of white teachers everywhere but I realized at that point that he had been my racial compass. When I had a question about something, trying to discern between my own personal prejudices or lack of experience, I could take it for granted that I had someone who I could trust and believe and who would answer honestly without wondering why I was posing these questions. I hope one day to find another compass with as true and comical of a north.
*I once asked if he meant Hispanic and he told me "there ain't anyone here but Mexicans."
PS Renters paid up today. Hallelujah for the prevention of eviction.
Henry the black cowboy
Ayesha who had recently moved from the Bay Area
Ese whose family was from Tonga
Jesus the dishwasher
I went to BYU and I think I maybe met two people who were not white from the US (I met several people from Latin America, Africa and Asia but they were all international students).
I shared some of my LA experience which was predominately black and hispanic but there were such class differences that race didn't even enter the equation.
Fast Forward to Sactown.
First day of school I meet this sassy kid in my 9th grade Geography class. Within weeks he quickly rises to the top of my list as a management issue (constantly talking) as well as one of the brighter kids in my class. His favorite thing was to be the self-appointed "marshall" in which he would keep others on task
"Hey he went to the bathroom ten minutes ago--kid, where are you going?"
"Hey you--why you asking such dumb questions? She already said that."
"What? You said it was on page 15, it was page 16."
I hated to love this kid. Kind of like landeelu.
Anyway he was a total pain in my arse for a year and then halfway through his sophomore year (I had him for both his 9th and 10th grade humanities courses) he was suddenly one of my better students. He was clever, innovative, sharp, and had toned down (sort of) in the cop dept. Because he was a creative thinker he did better in our school model (I think) than he would have in a regulah boring drill and kill environment. I didn't have him his junior year other than the group described below, but he would stop by periodically and complain about a teacher, a project, or a social injustice.
What does this have to do with race? So Mikel was in my advisory, a little 30 minute "rap session" in which I had a group of about 20 kids each day. The point was supposed to be to make connections with kids and provide them with a place to talk about issues, speak out about school problems, etc. Build culture and all that.
For whatever reason I had more black students in my advisory than other teachers and my group really loved to talk about race. Mikel was selling newspaper subscriptions one year and shared with the group the way people treated him at the door sometimes--it was always done with a comedic edge and I was really surprised each time to hear what his potential customers would say or do at the door . He was funny and smart, good-looking and well-spoken. The fact that he had dark skin apparently really was an issue for him and for others around him.
Now, I am not naive. Before teaching, if I saw a group of 18-25 year old black men standing on the corner it would have scared me more than a group of white kids wearing the exact same thing. People who look different than us are initially scary to us. I can imagine to a black woman a group of 18-25 year old white men standing on the corner scares the snot out of her if she does not have experience with adolescent males. A lot of Americans would now be fearful of a crew of Arabs wearing backpacks on the corner.
Having said that, the one-on-one racial experiences my kids shared with me enlightened me about a lot of fear of skin color. I think Mikel's older brother was falsely accused of committing a crime and though I am not sure of the outcome, he certainly was not aided by his brown skin in a jury of his "peers."
Mikel once said something that has kind of hung around my brain for the last four years:
"Everyone wants to be black. That is the race that the most people want to be like. The best-looking race are the *Mexicans and whites are the most hated race."
He was always saying crap like that. But this one idea stuck around in my head forever. I am not saying he was correct-- but it makes me think anyway. We had conversations about cultural differences on an almost daily basis and that is the only thing I can really recall from memory. Perhaps the fact that as a nation, only 14% of our population is of African-American descent yet the majority of our discussions around race are black/white, we have a black president, and the majority of court cases around race involve black individuals is something to consider.
Regardless of the veracity of Mikel's statement or whatever other thing he said or did, I feel like I actually can contribute legitimately to conversations around race because of what I learned from him and his peers. I called him last year and asked him a question about race which undoubtedly sealed in his mind the utter incompetence of white teachers everywhere but I realized at that point that he had been my racial compass. When I had a question about something, trying to discern between my own personal prejudices or lack of experience, I could take it for granted that I had someone who I could trust and believe and who would answer honestly without wondering why I was posing these questions. I hope one day to find another compass with as true and comical of a north.
*I once asked if he meant Hispanic and he told me "there ain't anyone here but Mexicans."
PS Renters paid up today. Hallelujah for the prevention of eviction.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Political Aspirations
So I have returned from a three day stint in my office and hope to stay home until late April. Unlikely but I am hopeful.
I love working from home because I interface with people according to my own availability. While in the office you can only work so long before someone interrupts your task to meet with you or to question you about something.
It was also interesting to experience office politics at a new level. I can't get into the specifics of course but things have been different lately.
I have learned a lot about crafting words carefully and "messaging" of particular issues in ways that are less offensive but still send a strong signal. However, I have a really long way to go. For example I said something fairly innocuous that for some reason wasn't taken the way I intended it and I have been churning it over and over and over.
When I first started this job I wanted to be the Secretary of Education--to take this amazing knowledge I have been given and make permanent change at a higher level. But now that I know how carefully one must go about becoming involved at a political level I think that it isn't right for me. I think there is merit to being a soldier on the frontlines of change--when you talk to a WWII veteran, which impresses you more: "I wrote the proposal that allowed soldiers to have the necessary equipment to be able to defend themselves" vs. "I ordered the soldiers to evacuate and their lives were spared" or "I shot the man with a gun in his hand aimed at my companions"? I would say the latter though sadly, it is really the guy who wrote the proposal made the difference. Russians ended up abandoning WWI having lost more men than any other country because the czar's administration couldn't get their act together and provide proper equipment or training--Obama is finding himself in this situation right now as he does these town hall meetings and is being confronted by some very disgruntled Americans wondering what he is "doing to fix it all."
I kind of feel sorry for him as he gets a 7 year old little boy dressed in a suit and tie who says in his cute little accent "Um I would like to know why my teacher is getting fired and a lot of the others have pinkslips." Wow. What do you say to that? He has been in office for about three months now and people are demanding answers. You gotta admit it is gutsy to stand up in front of those people and say "we are doing all we can."
I am a teensy bit enraged over these bailout scandals regardless of who the Chief Executive Officer of this country is and while I can never ever be compassionate towards those who served themselves up a million in an offshore account with taxpayer dollars, I do understand that people are desperate.
My renter still owes us $1000 and is now officially late for her second rent check installment. Maybe we should move back to Sac.
In short, while I haven't given up on the hopes of being able to make positive change for a large number of people, I am rethinking what my role should be.
I might even just become a crazy reformer parent and ditch the work angle focusing exclusively on the schools where my children attend.
I love working from home because I interface with people according to my own availability. While in the office you can only work so long before someone interrupts your task to meet with you or to question you about something.
It was also interesting to experience office politics at a new level. I can't get into the specifics of course but things have been different lately.
I have learned a lot about crafting words carefully and "messaging" of particular issues in ways that are less offensive but still send a strong signal. However, I have a really long way to go. For example I said something fairly innocuous that for some reason wasn't taken the way I intended it and I have been churning it over and over and over.
When I first started this job I wanted to be the Secretary of Education--to take this amazing knowledge I have been given and make permanent change at a higher level. But now that I know how carefully one must go about becoming involved at a political level I think that it isn't right for me. I think there is merit to being a soldier on the frontlines of change--when you talk to a WWII veteran, which impresses you more: "I wrote the proposal that allowed soldiers to have the necessary equipment to be able to defend themselves" vs. "I ordered the soldiers to evacuate and their lives were spared" or "I shot the man with a gun in his hand aimed at my companions"? I would say the latter though sadly, it is really the guy who wrote the proposal made the difference. Russians ended up abandoning WWI having lost more men than any other country because the czar's administration couldn't get their act together and provide proper equipment or training--Obama is finding himself in this situation right now as he does these town hall meetings and is being confronted by some very disgruntled Americans wondering what he is "doing to fix it all."
I kind of feel sorry for him as he gets a 7 year old little boy dressed in a suit and tie who says in his cute little accent "Um I would like to know why my teacher is getting fired and a lot of the others have pinkslips." Wow. What do you say to that? He has been in office for about three months now and people are demanding answers. You gotta admit it is gutsy to stand up in front of those people and say "we are doing all we can."
I am a teensy bit enraged over these bailout scandals regardless of who the Chief Executive Officer of this country is and while I can never ever be compassionate towards those who served themselves up a million in an offshore account with taxpayer dollars, I do understand that people are desperate.
My renter still owes us $1000 and is now officially late for her second rent check installment. Maybe we should move back to Sac.
In short, while I haven't given up on the hopes of being able to make positive change for a large number of people, I am rethinking what my role should be.
I might even just become a crazy reformer parent and ditch the work angle focusing exclusively on the schools where my children attend.
Monday, March 16, 2009
On Politics
I love to hear what people think about various topics in politico. As someone who was raised in an extremely liberal political environment with hippie parents/step-parents and total absence of religion, I have a lot of sympathy for the left. The left is often accused of being "immoral" by the right and the right doesn't understand how this godless, unmotivated and shifty crowd of criminal illegal-immigrant loving city-dwellers can justify their existence. I find this to be simply untrue--many liberals are religious but private about it. Many liberals are also among the most educated in the nation so the unmotivated bit doesn't seem to apply unless we are classifying higher education as for the unmotivated and lazy? Also most liberals belief in reform, change, and giving a hand to the needy as education can change the cycles of poverty and violence which is why they are more likely to stick with a local school and give it a try to help change the larger system.
As someone who belongs to a church with reportedly high numbers of republicans (Utah is the only state where Clinton came in third) I also am sympathetic to the right. The "liberal media" and Hollywood types accuse the right as being uneducated, greedy, and uncaring about the plight of the poor. This is also untrue. Republicans give a much larger percentage of their time and salary to charitable causes than do Democrats--by some astounding numbers even. The accusation of greedy in that case is untrue and in fact most Republicans are not looking out for "big business" but "small business" owners as the right is very protective of the ideals of the American Dream. This does not make them greedy but hopeful. As for the uncaring about the plight of the poor, they are really much more involved in trying to create laws to protect the poor according to their own ideals.
Both parties have some ugly pundits--Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter--who are funny, but irreverently unkind. The right have Bill Maher and Jon Stewart who both have great comedic timing but say some pretty offensive things as well.
Both parties have some heroes in history and currently who do amazing things for mankind and are trying to change the world in their own way.
I want to coexist peacefully so in the blogosphere I tend to keep a low profile. I like to summarize my political views by sharing a conversation a group of students had about me a few years ago:
Student 1: "Come on Ms. Fleming, who are you going to vote for?"
Flem: "I do not share my political views as I want you to develop your own ideas about politics without my influence."
Student 2: "But just tell us--we won't tell anyone."
Flem: Silence
Student 1: "She is a democrat. All teachers are."
Student 2: "But she is a Mormon! All Mormons are republicans."
Student 3: "Ahhh! What are you?"
Flem: Silence
If you can't tell, I won't tell.
As someone who belongs to a church with reportedly high numbers of republicans (Utah is the only state where Clinton came in third) I also am sympathetic to the right. The "liberal media" and Hollywood types accuse the right as being uneducated, greedy, and uncaring about the plight of the poor. This is also untrue. Republicans give a much larger percentage of their time and salary to charitable causes than do Democrats--by some astounding numbers even. The accusation of greedy in that case is untrue and in fact most Republicans are not looking out for "big business" but "small business" owners as the right is very protective of the ideals of the American Dream. This does not make them greedy but hopeful. As for the uncaring about the plight of the poor, they are really much more involved in trying to create laws to protect the poor according to their own ideals.
Both parties have some ugly pundits--Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter--who are funny, but irreverently unkind. The right have Bill Maher and Jon Stewart who both have great comedic timing but say some pretty offensive things as well.
Both parties have some heroes in history and currently who do amazing things for mankind and are trying to change the world in their own way.
I want to coexist peacefully so in the blogosphere I tend to keep a low profile. I like to summarize my political views by sharing a conversation a group of students had about me a few years ago:
Student 1: "Come on Ms. Fleming, who are you going to vote for?"
Flem: "I do not share my political views as I want you to develop your own ideas about politics without my influence."
Student 2: "But just tell us--we won't tell anyone."
Flem: Silence
Student 1: "She is a democrat. All teachers are."
Student 2: "But she is a Mormon! All Mormons are republicans."
Student 3: "Ahhh! What are you?"
Flem: Silence
If you can't tell, I won't tell.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
On Being a Housewife...
So after yesterday's very thought provoking set of comments (thanks to all of you for your questions/comments that really made me think!) I have wondered about what it means to be a woman with women's rights.
I think it is a woman's right to be home with her children.
I think it is a woman's right to have a career.
I try to do both and strive for mediocrity at both. I am content with a very low bar on housekeeping and while I have periods of time in which I feel like I work too much, I also am happy to be able to go to a play group periodically and/or parent teacher conferences midday without feeling the pain.
I want everyone to know that I am only coincidentally a career woman. I was an at-home mom for the first nine months of my son's life. Rest assured that had I lived in a suburbia near any of you we would still be sitting at your table playing scrabble and drinking diet coke while rehashing American Idol last night and periodically breaking to feed babies and/or chatting up a new mom in our playgroup. But living in a cockroach-infested apartment with homicidal and/or Jamaican cheating-on-wife neighbors in Los Angeles did nothing to encourage me. The only other at-home mom at church was a lady who I would periodically take to her welfare or WIC appointments and who complained that her husband was too fat to climb the stairs (that is a direct quote, not anything I said since I don't like the word "fat.")
So I was stir crazy and decided to go out and substitute teach--you already know the rest of the story (RIP Paul Harvey.)
While I believe that teaching and saving the world is coursing through my veins now, it was all providential (yea, inspired) that I took this course.
I married a man who does not mind this pathway. If I would have married a lawyer or engineer. Doc., etc., who had different ambitions, I would likely not be working either. If I married a rich man I would probably be trying to travel overseas and do cool charity work (Cindy McCain style) or more importantly I would be buying nice shoes. I would also get the entire line of the le creuset cherry red as you know.
As it is I married a man whose number one priority in life is his wife's happiness and having a lot of kids. It is hard to reconcile both of these things for me. Once someone asked me to teach an enrichment group on "How to get your husband to let you go to Europe." Steve commented "well, about once a year my wife looks around and says how she doesn't like her life. I figure if she goes to Europe once a year she is less likely to do that." (Total miquote btw but he reads this blog and if he wants to correct it he can do so in the comments below. He says blogging is for girls but he totally reads blogs all the time. He claims he has nothing to blog about but he periodically says to me "you should blog about _________" to which I always respond "blog it yourself.")
So yeah, I have a career. I have a family. I have it all. And I do it all at a lower standard than all of you people. But I figure that I would be lousy at housework and raising my kids anyway, at least now I have an excuse:
I work.
Side note: The shift I was mentioning might have to do with the way feminism shifted in this country, or perhaps that the church got so big that we shifted our locus inwards instead of playing such large roles on a national scale. Perhaps the ERA might have ended maternity leave, or branded staying at home with kids as less important, or perhaps it was just a good idea the church didn't support, who knows? The 70s were a hard time as is evidenced by the fact that both of my parents died as a result of unsavory activities during that era. Plus, disco? Be real.
I think it is a woman's right to be home with her children.
I think it is a woman's right to have a career.
I try to do both and strive for mediocrity at both. I am content with a very low bar on housekeeping and while I have periods of time in which I feel like I work too much, I also am happy to be able to go to a play group periodically and/or parent teacher conferences midday without feeling the pain.
I want everyone to know that I am only coincidentally a career woman. I was an at-home mom for the first nine months of my son's life. Rest assured that had I lived in a suburbia near any of you we would still be sitting at your table playing scrabble and drinking diet coke while rehashing American Idol last night and periodically breaking to feed babies and/or chatting up a new mom in our playgroup. But living in a cockroach-infested apartment with homicidal and/or Jamaican cheating-on-wife neighbors in Los Angeles did nothing to encourage me. The only other at-home mom at church was a lady who I would periodically take to her welfare or WIC appointments and who complained that her husband was too fat to climb the stairs (that is a direct quote, not anything I said since I don't like the word "fat.")
So I was stir crazy and decided to go out and substitute teach--you already know the rest of the story (RIP Paul Harvey.)
While I believe that teaching and saving the world is coursing through my veins now, it was all providential (yea, inspired) that I took this course.
I married a man who does not mind this pathway. If I would have married a lawyer or engineer. Doc., etc., who had different ambitions, I would likely not be working either. If I married a rich man I would probably be trying to travel overseas and do cool charity work (Cindy McCain style) or more importantly I would be buying nice shoes. I would also get the entire line of the le creuset cherry red as you know.
As it is I married a man whose number one priority in life is his wife's happiness and having a lot of kids. It is hard to reconcile both of these things for me. Once someone asked me to teach an enrichment group on "How to get your husband to let you go to Europe." Steve commented "well, about once a year my wife looks around and says how she doesn't like her life. I figure if she goes to Europe once a year she is less likely to do that." (Total miquote btw but he reads this blog and if he wants to correct it he can do so in the comments below. He says blogging is for girls but he totally reads blogs all the time. He claims he has nothing to blog about but he periodically says to me "you should blog about _________" to which I always respond "blog it yourself.")
So yeah, I have a career. I have a family. I have it all. And I do it all at a lower standard than all of you people. But I figure that I would be lousy at housework and raising my kids anyway, at least now I have an excuse:
I work.
Side note: The shift I was mentioning might have to do with the way feminism shifted in this country, or perhaps that the church got so big that we shifted our locus inwards instead of playing such large roles on a national scale. Perhaps the ERA might have ended maternity leave, or branded staying at home with kids as less important, or perhaps it was just a good idea the church didn't support, who knows? The 70s were a hard time as is evidenced by the fact that both of my parents died as a result of unsavory activities during that era. Plus, disco? Be real.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
What do I do ALLL day?
School districts are dishonest. They aren't actually people, though, but an entity so you cannot hold them accountable.
They make a commitment but can never follow through. They try some attempt at reform, but when they don't have any brown sugar, they just stick in white sugar which completely changes the flavor of the recipe. Then they complain it doesn't taste the same as the original they tasted on their visit to a successful model.
Then they go back to their old ways.
Did you know that educational reform in this country originates with the formation of a more "industrial" school model, meant to mimic the factory environment? Students are treated like a four door sedan and one teacher is designed to produce a window while another works on the steering wheel. No one cared that it only produced a 25% college attendance rate because that was the expected outcome- 75% of adults were needed for manufacturing jobs. People would start in a factory, die in a factory, and provide a fairly decent living.
Why hasn't this whole system been overhauled to meet the needs of a different economy?
They tried in the 1920s but then WWII hit and we went back industrial. They tried in the 60s, but when the civil rights movement emerged, teachers were unprepared for urban populations and shied away from trying anything that would work- they went back to the pedagogy of poverty, a method that is both ineffective and a further violation of any civil rights that people may have been afforded during and since this movement.
The 80s saw a resurgence until the Federal gov. started subsidizing state-funded schools and demanded accountability. The long-term result of that is NCLB, a noble but failed attempt to hold schools accountable for all this money the feds have handed out. NCLB has again derailed any movement to solid meaningful instruction because teachers are afraid to be creative. They have reverted to an antiquated "drill and kill" style, something that works for such a small percentage of the population that we are back to the original design of schools to factory every sedan down the line.
It doesn't matter if a kid is a Nova, an SUV, a VW bug, a minivan or a Cadillac, we are going to give them the same sized window, door, and tires.
I have hope that with a new twist on NCLB under the new prez., this age of accountability might morph into something good, that schools will be held accountable but for the right things: decrease in drop-out rate, increased engagement in school, higher job placement and college rates, the number of students who become productive members of society (problem-solvers who do not need the social services of the government for prolonged periods of time) and unique curriculum designed to meet the needs of the individual. All I can say is that every day I get to work to that end and I love my role in it.
If your kid has a good teacher, get them a box of chocolates and say thanks for meeting the needs of my kid even though you have no training or expectation to do so.
::stepping off of soapbox::
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Childless??
So some couples just do not have children. Not because they can't but because they just are not interested.
For those who do not have children my kind of people are referred to as "breeders." While this is meant with disdain, those of us who are breeders do not take it offensively and to the contrary might even wear it with a badge of pride as in, I am doing the duty of my generation to maintain the population, economy, etc. In terms of the evolutionary battle, we are, as it were, the winners, because our genetic code will long outlast the presence on this earth of those without progeny. So what do we call these non-breeders? For people who cannot have children but want children, the term "childless" seems heartless and cruel (at least to breeders). But for people who choose not to have children, I wonder if the term is an insult.
A Harvard Professor completed a study on "happiness" and determined that those without children are indeed happier. Those with children were of course up in arms because how could we have been so stupid? The study must be wrong.
I do not question this study. I believe that people without children honestly believe that they are happier. Even now as my family is reading together, three children on the couch listening to a reading of Watership Down, and one playing happily in her room, I know my minutes are *numbered. I know that the second this blog is completed (or before), I must cook or clean, get someone ready for church, play a game of monopoly (star wars clone wars edition which is awesome btw), or even worse and more likely, break up a fight of some kind.
I do not have any alone time nor do I have the indulgence of paying attention to my own needs on a minute-to-minute basis. If I want "time alone" it requires the sacrifice of my partner in crime who might want time alone to actually complete his program.
My "happiest" moments are really more about short-lived peace and harmony, a house of cards.
As a woman who considers myself happy AND a mother of four, here are my comments on the study:
1) How can you compare apples and oranges? Can a woman who has never felt the joy of a child believing in her unconditionally really know that she has missed out? Can a man who has never heard a child say "because my dad says so" know that he could be happier?
2) How can you quantify happiness? Is being able to go to your hot yoga class anytime of day with no constraints happiness? Is going out to eat without considering child care what makes a soul joyful?
3) What were the ages of the people in the study? 30-year old women who have a career that fulfills their lives compared to the 30-year olds of my demographic who are doing more laundry a day than their childless counterparts do in a week? I would like to see a sincere comparison of 60 year-old women who are childless, and the breeders with grandchildren AND free time. Now that humans live to be 80 years old on average and you can enjoy 20 years of retirement without children regardless of your childless/breeder status, is there a difference in the happiness levels there?
4) Were we born to be enjoy every single minute of our day? Or look back on our weeks and feel productive? Are lions happier when they hunt, eat, die, or are they happier when they hunt, provide for their children, then eat, see a continuance of their genetic code, and then die? Even more importantly, can you truly be like a creator, a God if you do not have children yourself? Can you understand the relationship we must try to develop with our Heavenly Father if we are not fathers and mothers ourselves?
5) There are a lot of myths about raising children that the childless might celebrate mistakenly and add to their happiness. Gaining weight per child for example--true that the body rearranges, but research indicates that women simply gain weight as they age and women with children only have on average 1-2 more lbs per child. There is the myth that you must pay for your child's college education. You can do so, but there are other ways to pay for college (scholarships, grants, and loans, and heaven forbid, working your way through school). There is also a myth that a woman is more fulfilled working than having children or that you can't do both (though it is hard peeps). A childless woman might say "I am so glad I have my career and I am not getting fat while saving my money for college when I can be thinny thinnerson and spend my hard-earned money on my iphone instead" and THINK they are happier when a woman with children might say "thank goodness I have time to go to the gym that provides childcare so I can be fit and I am buying an iphone since my kids are paying for their own college experience."
Lastly, this study about the happiness factor works well in my favor so I say, study on. Find more reasons to convince people not to have children. The fewer children that people have, the more likely it is that my genetic code will live on as the rescuers of society, those who make decisions that will affect the future. The childless who die without heirs must put their money elsewhere, like donating to art programs which my children can benefit from, or to hospice, which I myself can benefit from someday. The more people decide not to have children, the more that women like Nancy Pelosi (5) Sarah Palin (5) and Soledad O'Brien (4) will seem amazing for both a successful career and a happy family.
Here is a kind of funny article in Newsweek about the study.
So the real question on this post is what do you call a non-breeder? A evolutionary dead end seems rude.
* During the course of this post I changed a messy diaper, wet bedding, broke up two fights, settled an argument, said "no" to 5 requests, and asked twice for children to be more gentle with the baby.
For those who do not have children my kind of people are referred to as "breeders." While this is meant with disdain, those of us who are breeders do not take it offensively and to the contrary might even wear it with a badge of pride as in, I am doing the duty of my generation to maintain the population, economy, etc. In terms of the evolutionary battle, we are, as it were, the winners, because our genetic code will long outlast the presence on this earth of those without progeny. So what do we call these non-breeders? For people who cannot have children but want children, the term "childless" seems heartless and cruel (at least to breeders). But for people who choose not to have children, I wonder if the term is an insult.
A Harvard Professor completed a study on "happiness" and determined that those without children are indeed happier. Those with children were of course up in arms because how could we have been so stupid? The study must be wrong.
I do not question this study. I believe that people without children honestly believe that they are happier. Even now as my family is reading together, three children on the couch listening to a reading of Watership Down, and one playing happily in her room, I know my minutes are *numbered. I know that the second this blog is completed (or before), I must cook or clean, get someone ready for church, play a game of monopoly (star wars clone wars edition which is awesome btw), or even worse and more likely, break up a fight of some kind.
I do not have any alone time nor do I have the indulgence of paying attention to my own needs on a minute-to-minute basis. If I want "time alone" it requires the sacrifice of my partner in crime who might want time alone to actually complete his program.
My "happiest" moments are really more about short-lived peace and harmony, a house of cards.
As a woman who considers myself happy AND a mother of four, here are my comments on the study:
1) How can you compare apples and oranges? Can a woman who has never felt the joy of a child believing in her unconditionally really know that she has missed out? Can a man who has never heard a child say "because my dad says so" know that he could be happier?
2) How can you quantify happiness? Is being able to go to your hot yoga class anytime of day with no constraints happiness? Is going out to eat without considering child care what makes a soul joyful?
3) What were the ages of the people in the study? 30-year old women who have a career that fulfills their lives compared to the 30-year olds of my demographic who are doing more laundry a day than their childless counterparts do in a week? I would like to see a sincere comparison of 60 year-old women who are childless, and the breeders with grandchildren AND free time. Now that humans live to be 80 years old on average and you can enjoy 20 years of retirement without children regardless of your childless/breeder status, is there a difference in the happiness levels there?
4) Were we born to be enjoy every single minute of our day? Or look back on our weeks and feel productive? Are lions happier when they hunt, eat, die, or are they happier when they hunt, provide for their children, then eat, see a continuance of their genetic code, and then die? Even more importantly, can you truly be like a creator, a God if you do not have children yourself? Can you understand the relationship we must try to develop with our Heavenly Father if we are not fathers and mothers ourselves?
5) There are a lot of myths about raising children that the childless might celebrate mistakenly and add to their happiness. Gaining weight per child for example--true that the body rearranges, but research indicates that women simply gain weight as they age and women with children only have on average 1-2 more lbs per child. There is the myth that you must pay for your child's college education. You can do so, but there are other ways to pay for college (scholarships, grants, and loans, and heaven forbid, working your way through school). There is also a myth that a woman is more fulfilled working than having children or that you can't do both (though it is hard peeps). A childless woman might say "I am so glad I have my career and I am not getting fat while saving my money for college when I can be thinny thinnerson and spend my hard-earned money on my iphone instead" and THINK they are happier when a woman with children might say "thank goodness I have time to go to the gym that provides childcare so I can be fit and I am buying an iphone since my kids are paying for their own college experience."
Lastly, this study about the happiness factor works well in my favor so I say, study on. Find more reasons to convince people not to have children. The fewer children that people have, the more likely it is that my genetic code will live on as the rescuers of society, those who make decisions that will affect the future. The childless who die without heirs must put their money elsewhere, like donating to art programs which my children can benefit from, or to hospice, which I myself can benefit from someday. The more people decide not to have children, the more that women like Nancy Pelosi (5) Sarah Palin (5) and Soledad O'Brien (4) will seem amazing for both a successful career and a happy family.
Here is a kind of funny article in Newsweek about the study.
So the real question on this post is what do you call a non-breeder? A evolutionary dead end seems rude.
* During the course of this post I changed a messy diaper, wet bedding, broke up two fights, settled an argument, said "no" to 5 requests, and asked twice for children to be more gentle with the baby.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
New Prez.
Since I consider my blog my journal, I can't help but feel like I ought to blog about today as a truly historical event is taking place as I write this.
A school that I work with in Durham is sending a group of 50 students and 10 teachers to DC for the event today and I have to admit that it seems exciting for a number of reasons.
Regardless of political affiliation, one must admit that having the first Black presidente is a pretty big deal. People can call it tokenism or whatever, but as I have grown up I have realized that a good deal of racism exists in the United States. A lot of that reflects classism as we have such a large portion of minorities in the poverty class but many people cannot separate class from color and therefore we have this racism that occurs on several levels.
An example:
A comedian/writer who I consider to be really funny is David Sedaris. His recent book didn't grab me but a truly hilarious read (if you are a bit edgy) is Me Talk Pretty One Day. He also has a funny bit about Christmas entitled 6 to 8 Black Men which is about the various ways people celebrate Christmas in different cultures. The guy is really, really funny and if you have about 15 minutes you can enjoy his humor. I digress. The point is that I was thinking of recommending this to a teacher who happens to be black and I thought perhaps I should refrain.
While I still find David Sedaris hilarious, my friendship with colleagues of color makes me really think through the nuances of my own culture and whether or not I really have a handle on how Black Americans are treated on a large scale.
The fact that Obama represents a beacon of hope to so many people can go a long way in making a difference in the way we view race. I was told by someone that 24 having a black president paved the way for Obama. I find that disturbing somehow and prefer to give credit to Obama for being at the very least the most well-spoken presidential candidate we have had in ages.
I don't know about you but I am actually looking forward to hearing this speech and watching Americans fall all over themselves in excitement. Hopefully people won't be too disappointed when they don't get a windfall of $$ or find their homes suddenly still have no value.
EDIT!!!
Okay I actually cried during the speech! Is that weirdo?
A school that I work with in Durham is sending a group of 50 students and 10 teachers to DC for the event today and I have to admit that it seems exciting for a number of reasons.
Regardless of political affiliation, one must admit that having the first Black presidente is a pretty big deal. People can call it tokenism or whatever, but as I have grown up I have realized that a good deal of racism exists in the United States. A lot of that reflects classism as we have such a large portion of minorities in the poverty class but many people cannot separate class from color and therefore we have this racism that occurs on several levels.
An example:
A comedian/writer who I consider to be really funny is David Sedaris. His recent book didn't grab me but a truly hilarious read (if you are a bit edgy) is Me Talk Pretty One Day. He also has a funny bit about Christmas entitled 6 to 8 Black Men which is about the various ways people celebrate Christmas in different cultures. The guy is really, really funny and if you have about 15 minutes you can enjoy his humor. I digress. The point is that I was thinking of recommending this to a teacher who happens to be black and I thought perhaps I should refrain.
While I still find David Sedaris hilarious, my friendship with colleagues of color makes me really think through the nuances of my own culture and whether or not I really have a handle on how Black Americans are treated on a large scale.
The fact that Obama represents a beacon of hope to so many people can go a long way in making a difference in the way we view race. I was told by someone that 24 having a black president paved the way for Obama. I find that disturbing somehow and prefer to give credit to Obama for being at the very least the most well-spoken presidential candidate we have had in ages.
I don't know about you but I am actually looking forward to hearing this speech and watching Americans fall all over themselves in excitement. Hopefully people won't be too disappointed when they don't get a windfall of $$ or find their homes suddenly still have no value.
EDIT!!!
Okay I actually cried during the speech! Is that weirdo?
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Internet Junkie
I have no idea what kind of person I was before web 2.0. I am not a particularly talented or gifted individual but my one contribution to life is that I am willing to try anything. The internet allows me to do this without breaking a sweat. Have to rewire your kitchen? Look it up. Need a recipe for homemade mac and cheese without the cheese or the mac? You can find it online. You can even type in a song title or target lyric like "she's so funky yeah" and it pulls up the whole song verifying that it actually is french for games without frontiers and not what you thought you heard.
I am so sold into this culture that when people that I work with email me for help I am shocked that they did not first consult the web. In fact I rarely know answers so I am constantly looking things up-- then on a survey the teachers give me feedback later saying "Lee is so quick she always knows the answers." I chuckle softly to myself and pat my little macbook pro in awe of the world of people around me uploading all the stuff that I only get credit for knowing on a daily basis. In fact JennyESP asked about my little label cloud and you know what? I just typed in "label cloud blogger" and this little gem showed up. I experimented a few times with HTML and the world wide web made me once again look fancier than I really am. Thanks to those in the know!
Blogging is the newest part of this for me and in fact I might even refer to it as web 3.0 in which I can ask a question and have 10 people respond with advice, answers, jokes, or requests to shut this place down. And the liklihood of that advice being just as good as a trained professional is high, higher in fact because these people know me or at least know about me. So thanks for being my personal counselors, comediennes, doctors, lawyers, and yes even friends.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Flat World
I know that The World Is Flat is somewhat outdated having been replaced by Hot, Flat and Crowded, but the world really is changing because of technology.
My job in the past has been to travel monthly for one week and then support teachers and principals remotely from my living room. I get up at 5 am (give or take an hour after Twilight early screenings) and I work online, checking email, creating resources for schools, and brainstorming with people who live in other cities across the country. Now I am doing more and more online work people from my living room rather than traveling, which leads me to my most recent conclusion:
The demise of the 9-5 work day. My evidence:
The 9-5 workday is really a product of the 20th century, right? If you think about it, it goes along with the whole idea of efficiency per minute, right? We need to have every second accounted for--we get paid by the hour, we take breaks and are paid for every second we work after 40 hours a week. Anyone seen the original of Cheaper by the Dozen? The father has a stop watch and his job is to actually go to factories and help them be more efficient by making fewer movements, etc. He even writes a book on efficiency.
The 21st century has other options.
The Japanese were famous for efficiency in the 80s--anyone seen Gung Ho? I loved Michael Keaton in those days-- Night Shift, Mr. Mom, etc. So did everyone know that the Japanese never quite recovered from their major recession of the 90s. Why not? Efficiency stifles creativity. If we want people to be creative, they ought to be encouraged to work at hours that are best for them. If I can get up at 5 am and be focused and creative, my employer ought to encourage me to work at that time. I had a co-worker who was terrible in the mornings-- late and out of it until 4-5 cups of joe. But what if she and the millions of teenagers whose bodies operate on a later clock could work in the evening? What kind of new inventions would spring out of that think tank?
The problem is that in the meantime, people are trying to do both. Like "be innovative with your schedule, save money by telecommuting on a schedule that works best for you" yet HR might ask employees why they were leaving at 3 pm (seriously, no wonder Michael Scott hated Toby so much.)
I predict that the end of this will come soon but we have to be patient with the Old School/Original Gangstas just a little longer while they work out their issues.
I think it is coming--it has already happened to me. Are you ready?
My job in the past has been to travel monthly for one week and then support teachers and principals remotely from my living room. I get up at 5 am (give or take an hour after Twilight early screenings) and I work online, checking email, creating resources for schools, and brainstorming with people who live in other cities across the country. Now I am doing more and more online work people from my living room rather than traveling, which leads me to my most recent conclusion:
The demise of the 9-5 work day. My evidence:
- This week I skyped with someone in India at 7 pm PST (11 am in India) about what was going on at his school in North Carolina.
- I had one-on-one conferences with teachers during their prep time in Durham, NC using Adobe Connect at 5:00 AM PST
- Two teachers from Albany, NY called me via skype at 2 pm EST to review their daily calendar to help tighten up their approaches and make their curriculum more cohesive for their students.
The 9-5 workday is really a product of the 20th century, right? If you think about it, it goes along with the whole idea of efficiency per minute, right? We need to have every second accounted for--we get paid by the hour, we take breaks and are paid for every second we work after 40 hours a week. Anyone seen the original of Cheaper by the Dozen? The father has a stop watch and his job is to actually go to factories and help them be more efficient by making fewer movements, etc. He even writes a book on efficiency.
The 21st century has other options.
The Japanese were famous for efficiency in the 80s--anyone seen Gung Ho? I loved Michael Keaton in those days-- Night Shift, Mr. Mom, etc. So did everyone know that the Japanese never quite recovered from their major recession of the 90s. Why not? Efficiency stifles creativity. If we want people to be creative, they ought to be encouraged to work at hours that are best for them. If I can get up at 5 am and be focused and creative, my employer ought to encourage me to work at that time. I had a co-worker who was terrible in the mornings-- late and out of it until 4-5 cups of joe. But what if she and the millions of teenagers whose bodies operate on a later clock could work in the evening? What kind of new inventions would spring out of that think tank?
The problem is that in the meantime, people are trying to do both. Like "be innovative with your schedule, save money by telecommuting on a schedule that works best for you" yet HR might ask employees why they were leaving at 3 pm (seriously, no wonder Michael Scott hated Toby so much.)
I predict that the end of this will come soon but we have to be patient with the Old School/Original Gangstas just a little longer while they work out their issues.
I think it is coming--it has already happened to me. Are you ready?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Online privacy?
One of the schools I work with recently received a memo saying they can be fired for inappropriate content on Myspace, facebook, twitter, or match.com., etc. If you don't feel like opening the memo, it says they can be fired regardless of if they posted it during school days or not.
I understand if you have a public profile, I do--like if you have a blog that lets any Joe Fool come and post comments (like this one). I also understand if your facebook status says "Mrs. Brown is out of town over John Jacob Jingleheimer in her fifth period class" or other inappropriate material that indicates you are breaking the law or feeling like your car is warm and dry for the student at the wet bus stop. However, I have to draw the line at match.com. I think that if your profile includes that you like Piña Colada and making love in the dunes off the cape, that is your beezwax. If you want to watch porn on weekends with your gay bf, that is your right (in most states.) I think it is ridiculous for CMS (Charlotte-Meck in NC) to dictate what you can do in your personal time because it might make you a "bad teacher."
How about checking to see what these people are actually doing in class and checking for student engagement? How about finding out if the teacher is working all hours of the week to help students after class, before school, during lunch, and staying until 2 am chaperoning a dance and making sure the moral fiber of the students is strong before you go out for a weekend in Vegas for some R and R.
I feel personally that teachers should be good examples, avoid profanity and refrain from swaying students to your political beliefs, to keep your nose clean during the school day certainly yes. But fired for what you do with your online dating? How are they going to track that anyway? Are they going to create a user "PinkertonCMS" looking for potential matches with teachers displaying lewd behavior in the greater Charlotte area?
What do you think?
I understand if you have a public profile, I do--like if you have a blog that lets any Joe Fool come and post comments (like this one). I also understand if your facebook status says "Mrs. Brown is out of town over John Jacob Jingleheimer in her fifth period class" or other inappropriate material that indicates you are breaking the law or feeling like your car is warm and dry for the student at the wet bus stop. However, I have to draw the line at match.com. I think that if your profile includes that you like Piña Colada and making love in the dunes off the cape, that is your beezwax. If you want to watch porn on weekends with your gay bf, that is your right (in most states.) I think it is ridiculous for CMS (Charlotte-Meck in NC) to dictate what you can do in your personal time because it might make you a "bad teacher."
How about checking to see what these people are actually doing in class and checking for student engagement? How about finding out if the teacher is working all hours of the week to help students after class, before school, during lunch, and staying until 2 am chaperoning a dance and making sure the moral fiber of the students is strong before you go out for a weekend in Vegas for some R and R.
I feel personally that teachers should be good examples, avoid profanity and refrain from swaying students to your political beliefs, to keep your nose clean during the school day certainly yes. But fired for what you do with your online dating? How are they going to track that anyway? Are they going to create a user "PinkertonCMS" looking for potential matches with teachers displaying lewd behavior in the greater Charlotte area?
What do you think?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Of Election Results
I know that some of you will be ecstatic to have a new president this morning, some of you will be sorely disappointed and some of you will be indifferent.
To those who are enthused, congratulations on a truly fantastic acceptance speech.
To those who are disappointed, all I can say is that according to some pundits, the GOP has not been in a good place the last few years and in order to re-align the base, Republicans could not win this election. During this time in which Democrats control nearly all facets of government, the GOP can restructure and gain strength rather than stagger along halfway engaging extremes of the party. In other words, had McCain won, it could have meant the end of the party.
To those who are indifferent, well, here is a happy picture of my daughter who also appears to be indifferent:
To those who are enthused, congratulations on a truly fantastic acceptance speech.
To those who are disappointed, all I can say is that according to some pundits, the GOP has not been in a good place the last few years and in order to re-align the base, Republicans could not win this election. During this time in which Democrats control nearly all facets of government, the GOP can restructure and gain strength rather than stagger along halfway engaging extremes of the party. In other words, had McCain won, it could have meant the end of the party.
To those who are indifferent, well, here is a happy picture of my daughter who also appears to be indifferent:
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Happy Voting
I heart being an American. Why?
1. Apathy. No one cares if I vote or not.
2. Signposts of democracy--> Accepting the results of an election. GW lost the popular vote but no one stormed the White House in protest, we just accepted that we set up a system that must work somehow.
3. Red, white, blue.
4. Toby Keith- you can write a lame song about how you are going to shove a boot in someone's rear end for attacking our country and actually sell albums.
5. Red/Blue little states lighting up all over the internet. Can't wait to watch the coverage tonight because it is going to be so close. Or not.
6. The fact that voters sit around and make laws they do not understand-- We are voting on propositions 1-12 in California. I am voting "yes" to half and "no" to half. Lots of social issues- gay rights, animal rights, rights of minors, and rights of corporate America and I honestly have no idea on most of them.
7. Lauren Hanson. Do you know who she is? No? Neither do I, but she is on the ballot running for the local Water Board. I am not voting for her but for all I know she is an amazing individual and I had to pick based on her name alone-sometimes you vote on someone based on their occupation- like parent/teacher (oooh!) or litigator (boo!) or even worse "no ballot designation." This poor person won't get a single vote because what data do we have to vote on? Her name is Jacqueline Inda, though, so you might vote for or against her because of a gender or ethnicity that you might be leaning toward/against.
8. Absentee ballots- you can be out of the country and completely immersed in another culture- perhaps for over ten years- but you can still cast a vote for Lauren Hanson or Jacqueline Inda and feel proud that your vote is going to change laws affecting someone else.
1. Apathy. No one cares if I vote or not.
2. Signposts of democracy--> Accepting the results of an election. GW lost the popular vote but no one stormed the White House in protest, we just accepted that we set up a system that must work somehow.
3. Red, white, blue.
4. Toby Keith- you can write a lame song about how you are going to shove a boot in someone's rear end for attacking our country and actually sell albums.
5. Red/Blue little states lighting up all over the internet. Can't wait to watch the coverage tonight because it is going to be so close. Or not.
6. The fact that voters sit around and make laws they do not understand-- We are voting on propositions 1-12 in California. I am voting "yes" to half and "no" to half. Lots of social issues- gay rights, animal rights, rights of minors, and rights of corporate America and I honestly have no idea on most of them.
7. Lauren Hanson. Do you know who she is? No? Neither do I, but she is on the ballot running for the local Water Board. I am not voting for her but for all I know she is an amazing individual and I had to pick based on her name alone-sometimes you vote on someone based on their occupation- like parent/teacher (oooh!) or litigator (boo!) or even worse "no ballot designation." This poor person won't get a single vote because what data do we have to vote on? Her name is Jacqueline Inda, though, so you might vote for or against her because of a gender or ethnicity that you might be leaning toward/against.
8. Absentee ballots- you can be out of the country and completely immersed in another culture- perhaps for over ten years- but you can still cast a vote for Lauren Hanson or Jacqueline Inda and feel proud that your vote is going to change laws affecting someone else.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New Neighbors
In the Family Student Housing around here we constantly have people coming and going- most families stay 4-5 years but since it is staggered, there is always someone moving in and out. We just so happened to have recently lost the neighbors next door and the apartment above them this summer and have been anticipating getting new "childless" peeps (which is fine you just don't ever get to know them so it is not as fun)... however we were extremely lucky to get some new kids in the place directly next door to us which I have really enjoyed. Also, as a person fairly critical of my own government (I like to refer to it as my critical thinking skills) I don't always have the opportunity to express my appreciation for being an American. My new neighbors have really said some things to make me think twice about what a gift it is, even under current political circumstances, to have been born into such abundance. Here are the reasons why:
1. The neighbors, whom I absolutely adore, have moved here from South Africa- specifically Pretoria, which is one of the nation's three capitol cities. In case you care about such things, she is half Afrikaaner and her husband is mainly British.
2. They moved here from a house surrounding with wiring and it is unheard of to send your children outside to play without watching them like a hawk for unexpected (or expected rather) violence.
3. When her husband was running late from returning home last night (he was down at IKEA buying up their entire household worth of furniture and had yet to load it in the truck by himself) the neighbor said that if she were in South Africa she would be afraid he had been the victim of a violent crime.
4. Their son had a rather unfortunate day at school--his first day in American school as a first grader and no one told him the bell meant to come inside so he wandered around lost trying to figure out what was going on :( The mom was shocked to find out that she could go with him and stay to help him, that she was not legally required to enroll her kids in the school, and that it was okay to talk to the teacher about what was going on
5. When watching the olympics with my aunt last night (we are still catching up from the last three days prior to the closing ceremonies) we were really excited to see Michael Phelps 8th gold medal when the neighbor came knocking on the door. I told her we were watching the olympics and she said "oh it must be fun to watch when your country actually wins medals" She said that South Africa had received one silver medal for the games and had 18 athletes (which I of course verified online).
Summary of the little gifts of being an American:
- We live in a safe country and I know that the biggest risk my kids take in going outside is getting into a neighborhood tiff or falling off of their bikes
- When my husband is running late I assume it is because he got lost or in an accident in a vehicle- not whether or not someone has attacked him
- If my kids have a crap day at school I feel comfortable going to the school and talking to anyone I want including the principal and teacher and know that it is their legal responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education
- Michael Phelps. Yeaaah.
1. The neighbors, whom I absolutely adore, have moved here from South Africa- specifically Pretoria, which is one of the nation's three capitol cities. In case you care about such things, she is half Afrikaaner and her husband is mainly British.
2. They moved here from a house surrounding with wiring and it is unheard of to send your children outside to play without watching them like a hawk for unexpected (or expected rather) violence.
3. When her husband was running late from returning home last night (he was down at IKEA buying up their entire household worth of furniture and had yet to load it in the truck by himself) the neighbor said that if she were in South Africa she would be afraid he had been the victim of a violent crime.
4. Their son had a rather unfortunate day at school--his first day in American school as a first grader and no one told him the bell meant to come inside so he wandered around lost trying to figure out what was going on :( The mom was shocked to find out that she could go with him and stay to help him, that she was not legally required to enroll her kids in the school, and that it was okay to talk to the teacher about what was going on
5. When watching the olympics with my aunt last night (we are still catching up from the last three days prior to the closing ceremonies) we were really excited to see Michael Phelps 8th gold medal when the neighbor came knocking on the door. I told her we were watching the olympics and she said "oh it must be fun to watch when your country actually wins medals" She said that South Africa had received one silver medal for the games and had 18 athletes (which I of course verified online).
Summary of the little gifts of being an American:
- We live in a safe country and I know that the biggest risk my kids take in going outside is getting into a neighborhood tiff or falling off of their bikes
- When my husband is running late I assume it is because he got lost or in an accident in a vehicle- not whether or not someone has attacked him
- If my kids have a crap day at school I feel comfortable going to the school and talking to anyone I want including the principal and teacher and know that it is their legal responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education
- Michael Phelps. Yeaaah.
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