Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Play some golf...
Amazing how many ways the internet allows us to procrastinate. It's almost not fair, like it's twisting our arm...come on you, you don't really want to write that paper anyway...here's a really nice game you'd enjoy much more...
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Monday, November 28, 2005
School
I've decided, after having been back in academia for a year and a half, that I'd really enjoy a few more years off. Sure, it can be stimulating, and force growth through hours of reading, writing, and drone work, but all in all, I'd much rather spend time on the growth and development of my actual work rather than term papers. When I had nothing else to do, except maybe give a few massages and make money at CB's, reading, studying, and writing seemed just fine; in fact, felt good and productive. Now, when I have lesson plans to write, IEP meetings to plan for, and students who expect me to be much more than just a teacher, I'd really like to be working for them instead of snooty professors with a deadline. I mean, come on!, we're in frigging grad school! Can't they accept a late paper with grace and understanding? Empathize that we're working students who just don't feel like writing another piece of bullshit prose for their eyes only?
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Saturday, November 26, 2005
(I'm getting sooo much work done...)
Sort of like the ending in "Men in Black", here is a very very cool experience with images going from 10 million light years away from earth to the internal structure of the DNA of an oak leaf cell.
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Lebowski Bash
Tell your friends! Brainstorm costume ideas! Plan on coming to the Brooklyn Lebowski Bash in early January!
Seriously, all, it is time that we throw ourselves a Lebowski party to properly and formally get out all the rants and quotes that we generally reserve for people who aren't getting it...
Tell anyone who might be interested. Get the word out. Let's have ourselves a good time, dress in costume, drink white russians, and bowl!
The craigslist post is here.
Any other ideas on how to get the word out or suggestions on specifics of the party are welcome...
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Seriously, all, it is time that we throw ourselves a Lebowski party to properly and formally get out all the rants and quotes that we generally reserve for people who aren't getting it...
Tell anyone who might be interested. Get the word out. Let's have ourselves a good time, dress in costume, drink white russians, and bowl!
The craigslist post is here.
Any other ideas on how to get the word out or suggestions on specifics of the party are welcome...
A weekend of work
I love Saturday mornings. I love even more the fact that it feels like it should be Monday, after two days off, but its still Saturday morning. Getting up slowly, making coffee and breakfast, reading the paper are all a little more sweet this morning knowing I have a full weekend left ahead of me. A truly wonderful feeling.
Not so wonderful are the remains of my coursework that I've been putting off till I have a beautiful weekend to spend it on. Instead of wandering Brooklyn on bike or finding a game to play in, I'll be keeping my head in assessment manuals and pumping out a few papers - hopefully finishing before Sunday night. Plenty of time...
Any suggestions for break time activities and refreshers?
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Not so wonderful are the remains of my coursework that I've been putting off till I have a beautiful weekend to spend it on. Instead of wandering Brooklyn on bike or finding a game to play in, I'll be keeping my head in assessment manuals and pumping out a few papers - hopefully finishing before Sunday night. Plenty of time...
Any suggestions for break time activities and refreshers?
Friday, November 25, 2005
Post T-Day morning...and I'm looking forward to all the leftovers sitting in the fridge. Having a complete meal at Lauren's was awesome - the first time shes' thrown a dinner with all the fixin's. She went all out - hor d'ourves of cheese and crackers and baked brie, 3 different kinds of stuffing, freshly made mashed potatoes, string beans, cranberry sauce, candied yams, and of course, the turkey. It was a beautiful meal.
Strange having all the family spread out across the northeast, only in pockets together. But, I guess that having even just a part of the family together on Thanksgiving day was wonderful...Lauren's kicking me off the computer. Peace y'all - have a great long weekend.
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Strange having all the family spread out across the northeast, only in pockets together. But, I guess that having even just a part of the family together on Thanksgiving day was wonderful...Lauren's kicking me off the computer. Peace y'all - have a great long weekend.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
NVOT shut down
Our old high school was shut down yesterday due to a possible gun scare. It reopened again today, after the FBI and the county's prosecutor's office was brought in, presumably securing the school. I'd imagine that OT can bring in the cavalry in a flash; all the same, pretty scary.
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Friday, November 11, 2005
El ultimo cigaro
You know, I've always considered myself a radically generous person. For all my shortcomings (emotional vanity, forgetfullness, indecisiveness, slothfulness, procrastinating...to name a few), I have always felt exonerated of these character flaws by an overarching selflessness that bends over backwards, physically and financially, for family first, friends second and strangers whenever time and occassion permits.
But in the last seven months, working alongiside a group of Mexicans (some legal citizens of the United States, others living under the radar and outside the law), I feel that I have been robbed of the virtue I previously championed. I have to hand it to Mexico, which, in my limited global perception, seems to be the sovereign nation of giving and communality. Needless to say, my Mexican colleagues understand as much as anyone the value of the dollar. Whether its splitting up tips at the end of a night or a shared poker pot, these boys will catch a 25-cents accounting error in a second. And well they should, most are family men working one or two jobs six or seven days a week for lower middle-class cash incomes without insurances.
But for all their scrutiny of the money that is owed them, observe any one of these boys when they are the only one left with a pack of cigarettes. Without request and without permission, the pack is grabbed by anyone who wants a smoke until there is one or two left, at which point, rather than 'rightfully' claiming the last reserves of nicotine for their own addicted veins, the owner of the pack will light up the last stoge, take a couple puffs and 'give it away'. Contrast this with the sight of well-dressed business men accepting quarters from vagrants who offer up their alms for a smoke.
I realize this anecdotal evidence I am presenting as proof of my claim that the Mexican people are the most generous on Earth may seem weak, circumstantial, irrelevant, banal and ridiculous. All I can say in defense is that if you don't smoke cigarettes then you can't understand what it takes to split up your last one with a bunch of moochers who should've brought their own. But observing these babosos closely and repeatedly, I am here to report that the the thought of keeping that last cigarette for their journey home never even crosses their minds. I am practiced at reading their poker faces and there is not a single twitch of the eye or pinch of the skin singnalling regret, annoyance or desire when their final cigarette parts from their hands.
There is an effortless philosophy at work in these boys that mi casa es tu casa. If you have any reservations about sharing your last cigarette be advised not to travel amongst them, because tu casa es su casa holds equally as true.
"Realize I don't wanna be a mesier
Confide with sly you'll be the wiser
Youngblood he's a lovin upriser
How come everybody want to keep it like the keiser
Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now
I can't tell if I'm a kingpin or a pauper
Greedy little people in a sea of excess
Keep your more to receive your less
Unimpressed by material excess
Love is free love me say hell yes...
...Bob Marley, poet and a prophet,
Bob Marley taught me how to off it
Bob Marley walk it like he talk it
Goodness me can't you see I'm gonna cough it
Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now..."
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But in the last seven months, working alongiside a group of Mexicans (some legal citizens of the United States, others living under the radar and outside the law), I feel that I have been robbed of the virtue I previously championed. I have to hand it to Mexico, which, in my limited global perception, seems to be the sovereign nation of giving and communality. Needless to say, my Mexican colleagues understand as much as anyone the value of the dollar. Whether its splitting up tips at the end of a night or a shared poker pot, these boys will catch a 25-cents accounting error in a second. And well they should, most are family men working one or two jobs six or seven days a week for lower middle-class cash incomes without insurances.
But for all their scrutiny of the money that is owed them, observe any one of these boys when they are the only one left with a pack of cigarettes. Without request and without permission, the pack is grabbed by anyone who wants a smoke until there is one or two left, at which point, rather than 'rightfully' claiming the last reserves of nicotine for their own addicted veins, the owner of the pack will light up the last stoge, take a couple puffs and 'give it away'. Contrast this with the sight of well-dressed business men accepting quarters from vagrants who offer up their alms for a smoke.
I realize this anecdotal evidence I am presenting as proof of my claim that the Mexican people are the most generous on Earth may seem weak, circumstantial, irrelevant, banal and ridiculous. All I can say in defense is that if you don't smoke cigarettes then you can't understand what it takes to split up your last one with a bunch of moochers who should've brought their own. But observing these babosos closely and repeatedly, I am here to report that the the thought of keeping that last cigarette for their journey home never even crosses their minds. I am practiced at reading their poker faces and there is not a single twitch of the eye or pinch of the skin singnalling regret, annoyance or desire when their final cigarette parts from their hands.
There is an effortless philosophy at work in these boys that mi casa es tu casa. If you have any reservations about sharing your last cigarette be advised not to travel amongst them, because tu casa es su casa holds equally as true.
"Realize I don't wanna be a mesier
Confide with sly you'll be the wiser
Youngblood he's a lovin upriser
How come everybody want to keep it like the keiser
Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now
I can't tell if I'm a kingpin or a pauper
Greedy little people in a sea of excess
Keep your more to receive your less
Unimpressed by material excess
Love is free love me say hell yes...
...Bob Marley, poet and a prophet,
Bob Marley taught me how to off it
Bob Marley walk it like he talk it
Goodness me can't you see I'm gonna cough it
Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now..."
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
This Weekend, and Lebowski
D - I'm coming into Jersey this weekend to play golf on Friday with Pops. What you doing Friday night?
And for everyone else - John and I were talking earlier ... we're gonna plan a LebowskiFest of our own, probably due in early January, hopefully in BK. Gonna rent out half a bowling alley or so, have food for everyone involved (pizza? wings?), a bowling tournament, and of course, the movie. All our friends combined couldn't fill the alley, so we're thinking about opening it up to the CraigsList community. We're bound to find a ton of Lebowski cultists like ourselves and meet many new friends in the process.
Requirements: only that one comes dressed as a character, and the cover charge - which will cover the costs of bowling and food; white russians and sassparillas at the bar.
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And for everyone else - John and I were talking earlier ... we're gonna plan a LebowskiFest of our own, probably due in early January, hopefully in BK. Gonna rent out half a bowling alley or so, have food for everyone involved (pizza? wings?), a bowling tournament, and of course, the movie. All our friends combined couldn't fill the alley, so we're thinking about opening it up to the CraigsList community. We're bound to find a ton of Lebowski cultists like ourselves and meet many new friends in the process.
Requirements: only that one comes dressed as a character, and the cover charge - which will cover the costs of bowling and food; white russians and sassparillas at the bar.
Elections
Just read that Jon Corzine kicked ass in yesterday's election for governor of NJ. The times seemed to be making a big deal out of the few elections that were won by Dems (governor of Virginia, attorney general of Nassau County) and suggested that they might be indicator of a Bush backlash. We have a looooong way to go before that can be claimed - next year's midterms will give us more information about the nation's pulse on party lines.
What was interesting to me was the Times graphic on how NJ counties voted yesterday. While there were several counties whose majority voted Rep., the highest in the state turned out to Hunterdon. While Bergen went 57% and Essex 72% for Corzine, Hunterdon went 62% for Forrester. It was the whole of Northwestern Jersey, the farmland and the hilltowns, that showed a conservative bend.
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What was interesting to me was the Times graphic on how NJ counties voted yesterday. While there were several counties whose majority voted Rep., the highest in the state turned out to Hunterdon. While Bergen went 57% and Essex 72% for Corzine, Hunterdon went 62% for Forrester. It was the whole of Northwestern Jersey, the farmland and the hilltowns, that showed a conservative bend.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Hip Hop
Mos Def and Talib Kweli are playing November 29th in New Haven. I brought both early albums of Def's- 'Black Star' and 'Black on Both Sides' - up with me to Mass this weekend and I'm sitting here still listening to them at home now with the lyrics in front of me. During the five hour trek bringing me back to Brooklyn I listened to a little Zepp, Dead, and Tull, but the bulk was spent with Mos Def.
I'm not sure where to begin talking about my relatively new relationship with the black community of Brooklyn. Most of my experience has been from the standpoint of the teacher. I'm not questioned, really, by the students or parents, and most of the time, by the staff. It must be difficult to call me out when I'm going into Brownsville and trying my best to teach their ED kids how to read. I'm not from cotton money, I work to create greater equality, and have, I think, high ideals. But I can't pretend that I don't benefit in so many ways from being born into an upper-middle class white family, and everyday by being white.
A lot of Mos Def's music, at least from those albums 6 and 7 years ago, deals with the black community, the hip hop community, their roots, and all within Brooklyn (he mentions Flatbush, and even Parkside Ave). The poverty and apathy that do exist in the lower socio-economic communities of BK, Bronx, Detriot, and other cities with ghettos would do well to have leaders like Mos Def. I can't do it. No white can. And it fills me so much...with pity. I've always had a negative connotation with that word, but it's the best descriptor.
Brooklyn has been one of the hearts of Hip Hop culture producing artists from Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z to Busta Rhymes and Mos Def. Now it seems as if it permeates all corners of the urban world in BK - breakdancing, mcing, djing, even graffiti. I'm interested in it; I want to know these people, my neighbors. There is resistence from the community, or me, or a combination that does not make it easy.
I'm positive in school; I'm becoming more and more myself in the classroom, with my colleagues, and I'm gaining more respect as our relationships build. Still, I can't help but feel I would be almost imposing at a Mos Def concert. I'm digging his music, what he's saying, but he's not talking to me. Franti talks to me - looks me in the eye and talks to me. Mos Def isn't talking to me; he's talking to 'his people' - blacks...
... I'd still like to go to the show ...
I'm not sure where to begin talking about my relatively new relationship with the black community of Brooklyn. Most of my experience has been from the standpoint of the teacher. I'm not questioned, really, by the students or parents, and most of the time, by the staff. It must be difficult to call me out when I'm going into Brownsville and trying my best to teach their ED kids how to read. I'm not from cotton money, I work to create greater equality, and have, I think, high ideals. But I can't pretend that I don't benefit in so many ways from being born into an upper-middle class white family, and everyday by being white.
A lot of Mos Def's music, at least from those albums 6 and 7 years ago, deals with the black community, the hip hop community, their roots, and all within Brooklyn (he mentions Flatbush, and even Parkside Ave). The poverty and apathy that do exist in the lower socio-economic communities of BK, Bronx, Detriot, and other cities with ghettos would do well to have leaders like Mos Def. I can't do it. No white can. And it fills me so much...with pity. I've always had a negative connotation with that word, but it's the best descriptor.
Brooklyn has been one of the hearts of Hip Hop culture producing artists from Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z to Busta Rhymes and Mos Def. Now it seems as if it permeates all corners of the urban world in BK - breakdancing, mcing, djing, even graffiti. I'm interested in it; I want to know these people, my neighbors. There is resistence from the community, or me, or a combination that does not make it easy.
I'm positive in school; I'm becoming more and more myself in the classroom, with my colleagues, and I'm gaining more respect as our relationships build. Still, I can't help but feel I would be almost imposing at a Mos Def concert. I'm digging his music, what he's saying, but he's not talking to me. Franti talks to me - looks me in the eye and talks to me. Mos Def isn't talking to me; he's talking to 'his people' - blacks...
... I'd still like to go to the show ...
