Monday, November 29, 2004
Thanks
A letter from Paulo Coehlo to George Bush.
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Jesse's Wish List
Thanxgiving has come and gone, a weekend that always seems to go by so fast. It really is a great holiday. Get together with your family to express gratitude for all we have and then eat lots of fantastic food. And so now we move onto the meat of the holiday season. December. I've always loved giving and receiving gifts. The problem lies in the pressure that society puts on you to consume. Buy buy buy. And while buying for family and friends is greeted with warm thanks, the element of originality is often lost. Of course, it is terribly difficult to be original with presents for the dozen or so people I buy for each year. I absolutely could find original gifts in the city, gifts that fit the person well. I suppose you'll all have to wait to find out.
However much I would appreciate original, thoughtful gifts, I am not a snob in that respect, so please feel free to choose from the following "Jesse's Wish List" for your gift.
- Mp3 player (Nomad, IPod)
- really good book bag for work
- XBox with two controllers
- really great books
- really good food
- a Rodin sculpture
- rugs for the apartment
- dining room chairs
- road biking gear (pedals, shoes, etc.)
- antique furniture, or lamps
- a trip to Hawaii for 2 (or 4)
- a djembe
- antique finishing tools/materials
- subscription to cool journals/magazines
- socks (non-white)
- a print of nyc, or nyc bridges
- picnic table for the back porch (with umbrella)
- an ultimate frisbee
You guys know me well enough to know that if you can't afford the Hawaii trip, I won't be insulted.
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However much I would appreciate original, thoughtful gifts, I am not a snob in that respect, so please feel free to choose from the following "Jesse's Wish List" for your gift.
- Mp3 player (Nomad, IPod)
- really good book bag for work
- XBox with two controllers
- really great books
- really good food
- a Rodin sculpture
- rugs for the apartment
- dining room chairs
- road biking gear (pedals, shoes, etc.)
- antique furniture, or lamps
- a trip to Hawaii for 2 (or 4)
- a djembe
- antique finishing tools/materials
- subscription to cool journals/magazines
- socks (non-white)
- a print of nyc, or nyc bridges
- picnic table for the back porch (with umbrella)
- an ultimate frisbee
You guys know me well enough to know that if you can't afford the Hawaii trip, I won't be insulted.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Not only did I have to hand out grades and report cards, but I have my first parent/teacher conferences tonight. The attitudes of the other teachers in my program lead me to believe that not many parents will show, if any. Which is extraordinarily lame, given that their children spend 40 hours a week with us. I'd want to know exactly what is going on in my child's classroom, though these attitudes of both the parents and the teachers is indicative of the public school system and the communities that these schools are in. Maybe its just because I'm teaching in special education, students with "emotional disturbances", but I get the feeling that it is broader.
Update:
I ended up having 3 parents come in tonight, which I was pleased with, considering there were teachers who wasted their entire evening waiting for parents who obviously don't care about their kids' education. What I find most frustrating about the job, even more than the misbehavior of the students, is the unending stream of paperwork that teachers are required to produce proving that we are fulfilling certain standards and requirements. I'm going along with it; I've always felt that before you can break the rules, you need to know what they are first. Besides, the best performances (at least in the give and take of knowledge) are those that leave room for ample improv. They're certainly the most enjoyable experiences. And these kids need a degree of fun in order to be pulled into a learning activity. Lecturing just doesn't cut it.
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Update:
I ended up having 3 parents come in tonight, which I was pleased with, considering there were teachers who wasted their entire evening waiting for parents who obviously don't care about their kids' education. What I find most frustrating about the job, even more than the misbehavior of the students, is the unending stream of paperwork that teachers are required to produce proving that we are fulfilling certain standards and requirements. I'm going along with it; I've always felt that before you can break the rules, you need to know what they are first. Besides, the best performances (at least in the give and take of knowledge) are those that leave room for ample improv. They're certainly the most enjoyable experiences. And these kids need a degree of fun in order to be pulled into a learning activity. Lecturing just doesn't cut it.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
I Wish America Wuz A 3rd World Nation
First off, I want to give extreme and grateful props to all of the individuals and organizations who are working towards justice and freedom in this country peacefully and powerfully. In no way do I intend to ignore or downplay their efforts, achievements, dedication. However, this post is directed to the rest of America.....which sadly, includes myself. I wish we were a 3rd world nation! Sure, we'd be more victimized by the New World Order but at least then Freedom and Land would mean something to US and we wouldn't stand silently by as the power-hungry elite abused them. Why are we so compalcent, one might ask? Because we all secretly covet the power-hungry elite. That is the very definition of this country. Not the land of freedom--the land of opportunity. And not the opportunity to be Free--the opportunity to be a Master and not a Slave. Hey, so what I'm wearing Nikes stitched out of your flesh. You could be Me! With just a boat-ticket and a life-jacket, you can come over here and clean up after me for 5 dollars an hour (about a 3000% markup from the Maquilladora) and by the time you're 983, not only will you have enough money to purchase some designer jeans, but you'll have learned all about being Free. Luxury, greed, hunger, fear, desire--these are the things we'd rather have than freedom, community, justice, contentment. Right? That's why communism will never work. There's not enough Plasma-screen TVs and SUVs and McMansions to go all the way around. No one can be rich if there's not a bunch of poor people to build that wealth upon. I recently was blessed to see my friend Maria perform and inform with a group of women (props all) who immersed themselves in the Fillipines this summer. They sang and marched with student youth organizations who were rallying against Dubya, Gloria, Imperialism and Plundering Capitalists. The best and the brightest of these university students are often left with no choice but to become migrant laborers after graudating working--where else--cleaning dishes and doing laundry at American bases in Iraq for $4 an hour! (I'm serious...I'm talking about National Honors, scholarship-receiving, 4.0 motherfuckers!) They visited and spoke with the Urban Poor who left the countryside to seek opportunity in the cities--erecting shelters literally feet from the train tracks. They worked and ate and rode water buffalo with the 75% of the population who live Earth to Mouth, who work the paddies with sickles from dawn to dusk and then gather to plan actions against some dam the government wants to build that would flood them out of their birthrights. These people have no illusions about imperialism and mafioso-style capitalism. They see through the pathetic rhetoric that Bushites cling to like a Bible. They are directly and immediately affected by the actions of the power-hungry elite and thefore they take direct actions daily. If we were a thrid world nation, it would be no suprise to see us living with the same solidarity, courage, and resistance.
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Monday, November 08, 2004
NYC walking
I went walking in lower manhattan yesterday, and although I do love to wander the streets of the west village and soho, check out city hall and the financial district, nothing came close to the experience of the Brooklyn Bridge.
I wish I could upload some of the images from my walk. Beginning on the Manhattan side, walking east over the bridge, into Brooklyn, you start out at city hall and the huge, ornate Municipal Building (which, interestingly, inspired an entire architectural movement in Stalinist Russia). Looking south, you see all of lower manhattan; huge, modern structures at the tip of the island. Looking northwest, you have the bulk of midtown, a broader swath of land that encompasses everything from the east village to chelsea and north. Not quite as breathtaking, simply because it's not all right in front of you, but rather its spread out. As you continue across the bridge you encounter all of the intertwining cables and gorgeous stone masonary that made the bridge famous. Beautiful, complex symmetry. And then you have views of Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, south street seaport, the Verrazanno Bridge, all of New York harbour, and the bridges to the north, not to mention Brooklyn itself.
I planned my crossing so that I'd be on the bridge just at sunset, but I didn't realize the exhileration I'd feel. Because you're directly over a river, huge amounts of moving water, and practically at the mouth of the Atlantic ocean, there is a constant stiff wind blowing at you from the south. Any normal november evening this would've caused at the least a minor discomfort. Last night, around 4:45 pm, it was 70 degrees out, the sun was setting directly behind the Lady and was casting a pink and orange glow onto the clouds above (what wispy strips of moisture there were), onto the harbour below, and onto the glistening windows of the financial district and brooklyn heights. It was magnificent. People were out in hoards, rollerblading, biking, skateboarding, running, and walking the same platform that was laid down in 1883 over the passing traffic beneath us.
I doubt that there will be many more days as warm as last night left in this year, but that doesn't mean I won't do this again. Anyone for joining me?
I wish I could upload some of the images from my walk. Beginning on the Manhattan side, walking east over the bridge, into Brooklyn, you start out at city hall and the huge, ornate Municipal Building (which, interestingly, inspired an entire architectural movement in Stalinist Russia). Looking south, you see all of lower manhattan; huge, modern structures at the tip of the island. Looking northwest, you have the bulk of midtown, a broader swath of land that encompasses everything from the east village to chelsea and north. Not quite as breathtaking, simply because it's not all right in front of you, but rather its spread out. As you continue across the bridge you encounter all of the intertwining cables and gorgeous stone masonary that made the bridge famous. Beautiful, complex symmetry. And then you have views of Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, south street seaport, the Verrazanno Bridge, all of New York harbour, and the bridges to the north, not to mention Brooklyn itself.
I planned my crossing so that I'd be on the bridge just at sunset, but I didn't realize the exhileration I'd feel. Because you're directly over a river, huge amounts of moving water, and practically at the mouth of the Atlantic ocean, there is a constant stiff wind blowing at you from the south. Any normal november evening this would've caused at the least a minor discomfort. Last night, around 4:45 pm, it was 70 degrees out, the sun was setting directly behind the Lady and was casting a pink and orange glow onto the clouds above (what wispy strips of moisture there were), onto the harbour below, and onto the glistening windows of the financial district and brooklyn heights. It was magnificent. People were out in hoards, rollerblading, biking, skateboarding, running, and walking the same platform that was laid down in 1883 over the passing traffic beneath us.
I doubt that there will be many more days as warm as last night left in this year, but that doesn't mean I won't do this again. Anyone for joining me?
