At the top of my blog, I wrote that societal ills affect the most vulnerable populations first. Even though I wrote it, I am understanding it now more than ever. The past 3 weeks have been truly crazy. One of the missions of the school is dropout prevention. But we've been kicking out kids left and right. Right now the tone and environment of the school is the worst that I have ever experienced. Talking with the principal, she was saying this is the worst that she has remembered...and she has been there 35 years. Just in the past month, we expelled 1 kid for drug dealing and being high in classes, 2 kids suspended for almost fighting, and 4 kids expelled for fighting. And I believe more expulsions are on the way. Girls are getting pregnant left and right.
As bad as it is right now, I want to believe that good will come from this. Students and staff want to make things better. We have been trained in restorative justice and this is a situation where we really need it. Kids weren't moving on having circles, but this is the light under their and our asses to make it happen. We are fortunate to have a process to deal with our situation. In response to the situations, we have had 2 student run talking circles. The one last Thursday was intense because it involved more staff and more students. I went to both of them. A lot of emotions were put out at both of them, but the Thursday one had people crying.
The stories that kids tell me about their lives boggles my mind. It often really puts my life into perspective. The things that they go through... I'm not surprised that they aren't into their education. When families are scraping to get by...it's not shocking that kids don't want to read.
But back to what I was saying about societal ills...it's the economy. The ones with the least are having to get by with even less. Funding and budgets are getting cut. People are losing their jobs. The ones that continue to work are working like slaves because they have to do the work of more people and they are happy just to have a job. People with impressive resumes are competing for jobs with people with high school degrees. People looking for just anything. People aren't buying and so businesses aren't expanding. I wonder where the bottom is.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Praxis of Justice
After my little success with circles in 3rd period, I conducted a circle in my film class. It was cool because I really got a lot more feedback from students. I don't like it when I just stand in front of a room to silence and blank stares. We talked about what was their favorite movie of all time, then about what movie they liked the best in the film class. It was interesting because students either loved Clockwork Orange or they hated it. Films that elicit a strong reaction are great for discussion. Doubt was like that most recently for me. Then my final question was, "Had they ever been in love and how did it make them feel?" After they all answered that we started watching "Eat Drink Man Woman." It was cool because the circle set them in the proper mindframe to watch the film. It's been a while since I've seen it, but watching it again was still fun. We didn't get to finish watching it that period, so it's been making me think about it. I want to talk to them about the theme /metaphor of Life without love and honest human relationships is like food without taste. Looks nice and you'll live but there is no je ne sais quoi. All that beautiful Chinese food that makes me so hungry watching it. An interesting cross cultural exchange, when the two sisters are fighting while washing dishes they don't look at each other. They stand side by side. One of my black kids yelled out why aren't they looking at each other. My Chinese student and I both at the same time yell out that it's awkward to look at each other. I notice when I speak sometimes in circle I look to the ground when talking about my feelings.
So come Thursday I wanted to do circles in all my classes. As my opening ceremony, I played a clip from "Enter the Dragon". The one where Bruce is talking to his student about Emotional Content and a finger pointing to the moon. Then I talked about the finger being the circle but the moon being justice. The finger is important in that it points but it is not the thing that is desired. In the circle, we need Emotional Content. Don't think, FEEEEEEEEL! Then from there we created the guidelines. In 1st period, I was able to do some icebreakers and then move onto content on Chinese Lunar New Year. It was cool because it engaged one of my students that is going through some crazy ass shit and she just wants to put her head down on the table. She sat up and participated in something in class.
My 2nd period was a more interesting circle. There are some children in there...and I mean children. It's the part about working with teenagers that is sooooo lame. Remember how back it the day people used to say "Oh my God, you are like soooooo immature"? Watching the interactions and behavior sometimes, just pulls that phrase from the recesses of my mind. I just want to say "pffft! WHATever!" Anyways, the idea of two talking pieces came up and my more obstinate young ladies decided that they wanted to run with it, but they did it by respecting the one talking piece and we did it in circle with each person passing and having their say. Their argument was that if they wanted to ask someone a question or respond to something someone was saying they should be able to have two talking pieces going. The argument that I've read and agree with is that the talking piece gives each person a voice, allows those that have trouble talking talk, and helps control dominant voices. If there were 2 talking pieces then things could easily descend into a back and forth shutting out all others. I said that if they had something important that they wanted to say they could either write it down as I was doing or they could just remember it. At the end of class, one of the young ladies just started saying how she knew she had a bad attitude and would go against things just to go against them. That little girl has it hard. Her story is sad. Unfortunately, she plays out her inner turmoil in classes and on the people around her, especially authority figures. On Friday we had to come back to this, but it was good because I really got a better feel and understanding for building a consensus. A consensus is something agreed upon by everyone but it's also the idea of is this something you can live with. After more rounds of trying to gain consensus, I also better understood the power of the circle as a socializing tool. More and more students that were getting impatient about the obstinate young ladies voiced their opinions on the importance of one mic. This changed the attitude of the girls as they saw that the community was getting restless and they decided to drop the idea of two mics. But the group did agree on suspending the talking pieces and using the terms, "clarify" and "louder" when someone had spoke. Those could be interjected between bowl passing.
The circle worked well for my second period class because that was the class were I had the students with the most behavioral problems. It's the class that needs to build the most community. Through building the community, then we can all become accountable for each other's learning.
So come Thursday I wanted to do circles in all my classes. As my opening ceremony, I played a clip from "Enter the Dragon". The one where Bruce is talking to his student about Emotional Content and a finger pointing to the moon. Then I talked about the finger being the circle but the moon being justice. The finger is important in that it points but it is not the thing that is desired. In the circle, we need Emotional Content. Don't think, FEEEEEEEEL! Then from there we created the guidelines. In 1st period, I was able to do some icebreakers and then move onto content on Chinese Lunar New Year. It was cool because it engaged one of my students that is going through some crazy ass shit and she just wants to put her head down on the table. She sat up and participated in something in class.
My 2nd period was a more interesting circle. There are some children in there...and I mean children. It's the part about working with teenagers that is sooooo lame. Remember how back it the day people used to say "Oh my God, you are like soooooo immature"? Watching the interactions and behavior sometimes, just pulls that phrase from the recesses of my mind. I just want to say "pffft! WHATever!" Anyways, the idea of two talking pieces came up and my more obstinate young ladies decided that they wanted to run with it, but they did it by respecting the one talking piece and we did it in circle with each person passing and having their say. Their argument was that if they wanted to ask someone a question or respond to something someone was saying they should be able to have two talking pieces going. The argument that I've read and agree with is that the talking piece gives each person a voice, allows those that have trouble talking talk, and helps control dominant voices. If there were 2 talking pieces then things could easily descend into a back and forth shutting out all others. I said that if they had something important that they wanted to say they could either write it down as I was doing or they could just remember it. At the end of class, one of the young ladies just started saying how she knew she had a bad attitude and would go against things just to go against them. That little girl has it hard. Her story is sad. Unfortunately, she plays out her inner turmoil in classes and on the people around her, especially authority figures. On Friday we had to come back to this, but it was good because I really got a better feel and understanding for building a consensus. A consensus is something agreed upon by everyone but it's also the idea of is this something you can live with. After more rounds of trying to gain consensus, I also better understood the power of the circle as a socializing tool. More and more students that were getting impatient about the obstinate young ladies voiced their opinions on the importance of one mic. This changed the attitude of the girls as they saw that the community was getting restless and they decided to drop the idea of two mics. But the group did agree on suspending the talking pieces and using the terms, "clarify" and "louder" when someone had spoke. Those could be interjected between bowl passing.
The circle worked well for my second period class because that was the class were I had the students with the most behavioral problems. It's the class that needs to build the most community. Through building the community, then we can all become accountable for each other's learning.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Getting trained in restorative justice circles
So on Sunday and Monday I got trained in restorative justice circles. I trained with my staff and 7 students. Unfortunately, 2 of my coworkers, my principal, and one student weren't able to make it but we'll get them up to speed. If you've ever done workshops or trainings often times they suck. You come out of them feeling like you just wasted a whole bunch of time and what do you do now. This training was completely the opposite.
Before we did the training, my coworker Gina and I identified 8 students that we would like to have trained in restorative justice. These were kids from various backgrounds that had "bought" into our school and we felt could reach students of different backgrounds. Then I composed a letter essentially honoring the students for being chosen, explained what restorative justice was, and created a permission slip for their parents to sign. Then I met with all the students read the letter to them and stressed how important this was and if this was something that they wanted to be a part of. Each student was very excited and flattered to be chosen. This was the buy in on their part. No problem. Then I had to convince my coworkers. Getting them to come in on a Sunday and Monday for a training from 8:30-5 was not something that they wanted to do, but they begrudgingly came along with me telling them how much I loved them and how great they were. A few gave me that "kiss my ass for sucking up to me" look.
So come Sunday, we get there and we immediately start in on getting to know you activities. Real fun icebreaker stuff that everyone that's ever done a workshop/training has done. Then we move into other activities where we ranked our top values on a paper plate and wrote our most important value on the other side. The whole time these activities are being conducted using circles. These activities got us through most of the day and towards the end of the day is when we got to the heavier shit. We started to talk about the impact of harm and the an example of when we were harmed and what are needs were after that harmed happened. Then we talked about a time when we did someone harm and what we needed that led us to committing that harm. It was some heavy ass shit. I mean people got deep and dirty, but the facilitators had done such a great job with creating a safe, respectful, and trusting space that people went there. We had people crying and letting out some shit. At the end of the first day I was wiped out. Two of my coworkers drove me home and we hung out afterwards and just talked about the experience. I was elated because they were all into it. They totally got it and they wanted more of it. After they left I just passed out. No more energy.
Come Monday, people were excited to be back and we wanted to get to the nuts and bolts of it. How can we make this happen. This time the facilitators gave us this exercise that we had to do in silence with blocks. I had read about the exercise in Carole Boyes-Watson's book, but only after having experienced it and only now as I process it, do I start to understand the subtle brilliance in it. It was a fascinating sociological experiment on the dynamics of human relationships through silence. After this exercise, we discussed it and then moved into talking about the history of circles and different uses for circles. The final thing we did was plan on making a circle for a fictious case example. We did this paired with students and their perspective was invaluable. It really fleshed out a lot of things. After this, we discussed it and there was a closing ceremony.
In my 3rd period today, I conducted a circle in class. I saw this as a community building circle. So I explained to them the format of the circle and what the talking piece was (I used a singing bowl). As a centerpiece to the circle, I had my plant sitting on a nice shawl. As an opening, I played Bob Marley's War. My first question was how were they and how was their 3 day weekend. After that, I asked them to answer, "They felt respected when..." next asking, "They felt disrespected when..." Then I had them say something they liked about the school followed by something they didn't like about the school. Next they said something they liked about their hometown and something they would change about it. The last series of questions being something they would change about themselves and something they like about themselves. Finally, I had them stand up and then go around telling what they thought about the exercise and putting their questions next to the centerpiece. Almost every single one enjoyed the experience and many stated that it was a calming experience. Immediate success I'm hooked.
One of the things that I like about this is that this is the praxis of my views on justice. I don't like the punitive system. It's not what I believe in but it's all that I've ever known. I realize now the punitive system is also the easiest of responses and a bandage solution. I recognize of course that there is a time and place for a bandage, but I'm trying to move to where knives won't have to be drawn in the first place and how to get back to that place after someone does draw a knife.
Before we did the training, my coworker Gina and I identified 8 students that we would like to have trained in restorative justice. These were kids from various backgrounds that had "bought" into our school and we felt could reach students of different backgrounds. Then I composed a letter essentially honoring the students for being chosen, explained what restorative justice was, and created a permission slip for their parents to sign. Then I met with all the students read the letter to them and stressed how important this was and if this was something that they wanted to be a part of. Each student was very excited and flattered to be chosen. This was the buy in on their part. No problem. Then I had to convince my coworkers. Getting them to come in on a Sunday and Monday for a training from 8:30-5 was not something that they wanted to do, but they begrudgingly came along with me telling them how much I loved them and how great they were. A few gave me that "kiss my ass for sucking up to me" look.
So come Sunday, we get there and we immediately start in on getting to know you activities. Real fun icebreaker stuff that everyone that's ever done a workshop/training has done. Then we move into other activities where we ranked our top values on a paper plate and wrote our most important value on the other side. The whole time these activities are being conducted using circles. These activities got us through most of the day and towards the end of the day is when we got to the heavier shit. We started to talk about the impact of harm and the an example of when we were harmed and what are needs were after that harmed happened. Then we talked about a time when we did someone harm and what we needed that led us to committing that harm. It was some heavy ass shit. I mean people got deep and dirty, but the facilitators had done such a great job with creating a safe, respectful, and trusting space that people went there. We had people crying and letting out some shit. At the end of the first day I was wiped out. Two of my coworkers drove me home and we hung out afterwards and just talked about the experience. I was elated because they were all into it. They totally got it and they wanted more of it. After they left I just passed out. No more energy.
Come Monday, people were excited to be back and we wanted to get to the nuts and bolts of it. How can we make this happen. This time the facilitators gave us this exercise that we had to do in silence with blocks. I had read about the exercise in Carole Boyes-Watson's book, but only after having experienced it and only now as I process it, do I start to understand the subtle brilliance in it. It was a fascinating sociological experiment on the dynamics of human relationships through silence. After this exercise, we discussed it and then moved into talking about the history of circles and different uses for circles. The final thing we did was plan on making a circle for a fictious case example. We did this paired with students and their perspective was invaluable. It really fleshed out a lot of things. After this, we discussed it and there was a closing ceremony.
In my 3rd period today, I conducted a circle in class. I saw this as a community building circle. So I explained to them the format of the circle and what the talking piece was (I used a singing bowl). As a centerpiece to the circle, I had my plant sitting on a nice shawl. As an opening, I played Bob Marley's War. My first question was how were they and how was their 3 day weekend. After that, I asked them to answer, "They felt respected when..." next asking, "They felt disrespected when..." Then I had them say something they liked about the school followed by something they didn't like about the school. Next they said something they liked about their hometown and something they would change about it. The last series of questions being something they would change about themselves and something they like about themselves. Finally, I had them stand up and then go around telling what they thought about the exercise and putting their questions next to the centerpiece. Almost every single one enjoyed the experience and many stated that it was a calming experience. Immediate success I'm hooked.
One of the things that I like about this is that this is the praxis of my views on justice. I don't like the punitive system. It's not what I believe in but it's all that I've ever known. I realize now the punitive system is also the easiest of responses and a bandage solution. I recognize of course that there is a time and place for a bandage, but I'm trying to move to where knives won't have to be drawn in the first place and how to get back to that place after someone does draw a knife.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Compassion and restorative justice
In case you didn't know, I should tell you that I'm a vegetarian. I started doing it as a religious thing. It's a compassion training thing. I figured working where I was going to work...I should have more compassion. More empathy ain't bad either.
But I don't feel that I have had the opportunity to express my compassion through the system of punishment at my school. When students get less than an 8 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday on their contracts, they have that many hours loaded up in detention. You get a 3 then you have 5 hours. I make my kids do them. You can't have no accountability. If I want something different I've got to have something to replace it with. My problem with our system is that it is just a form of punishment. It doesn't make the person not want to do what they were doing, it just makes them not want to get punished for it.
I would like restorative justice to transform me. I'm hoping the process will be the tool to create the type of social environment and community that I want to be a member of. Restorative justice requires me to change my own mentality. Of course, the irony is that for it to be successful, the qualities that it requires from me are the ones that I need to work on the most. You know, things like listening and patience, and shit like that.
Last week Tuesday I went to see this guy Howard Zehr. He's this guy that's been involved in restorative justice for a while. He talked about the stories of victims. It was some heavy ass shit. Made me really rethink the way that I do things. Too often I focus on the offender to the neglect of the offended. His talk made me think about all the ways that I handled interactions in ways that weren't in line with my core values and beliefs. I have found in my life that when I my values and my actions are in harmony my mental state is as well. The more I move towards praxis the greater the self integration the greater my personal peace. I am hoping for some restorative justice for my self and greater peace. Either way, I feel going through the process of trying to make this work will be purifying for me.
But I don't feel that I have had the opportunity to express my compassion through the system of punishment at my school. When students get less than an 8 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday on their contracts, they have that many hours loaded up in detention. You get a 3 then you have 5 hours. I make my kids do them. You can't have no accountability. If I want something different I've got to have something to replace it with. My problem with our system is that it is just a form of punishment. It doesn't make the person not want to do what they were doing, it just makes them not want to get punished for it.
I would like restorative justice to transform me. I'm hoping the process will be the tool to create the type of social environment and community that I want to be a member of. Restorative justice requires me to change my own mentality. Of course, the irony is that for it to be successful, the qualities that it requires from me are the ones that I need to work on the most. You know, things like listening and patience, and shit like that.
Last week Tuesday I went to see this guy Howard Zehr. He's this guy that's been involved in restorative justice for a while. He talked about the stories of victims. It was some heavy ass shit. Made me really rethink the way that I do things. Too often I focus on the offender to the neglect of the offended. His talk made me think about all the ways that I handled interactions in ways that weren't in line with my core values and beliefs. I have found in my life that when I my values and my actions are in harmony my mental state is as well. The more I move towards praxis the greater the self integration the greater my personal peace. I am hoping for some restorative justice for my self and greater peace. Either way, I feel going through the process of trying to make this work will be purifying for me.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Restorative Justice
So on Thursday, my coworker Gina and I went to see Kay Pranis speak. Kay is the OG of restorative justice and and all around cool lady. A cool quote that she used is "Crime is a wound and justice is healing". With that in mind, here are some notes from our discussion on restorative justice.
First Kay started talking about isolation and disconnection leading to some wrongdoing that causes harm to someone. When someone in the community is harmed this is also a harm to the community. As a result of this harm there is a response to this harm. Usually this response focuses on the person that committed the harm. Oftentimes, focus is so much on the person that committed the harm that the person that was harmed is neglected. As a result of the focus on the harmer and the neglect of the harmed, this can lead to greater isolation and disconnection.
Restorative justice focuses on an intervention in the response to the harm caused. This interventon should strengthen the community, create new or strengthen existing relationships, connect the community to a shared vision, and build skills to listening.
So then we started to explore what types of intervention leave the community stronger than before the incident. We discussed making amends, peer mediation, a capacity for the community members to self regulate without coercive force so there is less of a reliance on authority figures, an inclusive intervention, and finally an intervention that is a safe space to share stories and break down social distance.
In the restorative framework, Kay talked a bit about the responsibilities that the community has,
1) The community must rally around the one harmed.
2) The community must support the person who caused harm in making amends.
3) The community must attend to its own healing.
4) The community must pay attention to the pattern and what that says about the community.
In the traditional justice framework the question is what do we do to the harmer. In the restorative framework, the question is what does the harmer need to do to create peace. A lot of the discussion we had was focused on creating a community and framework where people could be heard and when they are heard they are more open to looking towards solutions.
At the end of it all, I was really excited to see a circle in action. But I'll have to wait to get a training. I really want to institute this at my school. Right now, when a student is a problem or does something that harms a person or the community, they either are dealt with by their CTM or they have a staff meeting where they appear before all of the teachers with their parents. They are supposed to only get one staff meeting and after that they go. Restorative justice circles would be an intermediate step between CTMs and staff meetings. This would be a way to take the pressure off of teachers but also give students more of a buy in to the school. Circlekeepers would do peer mediation and discipline would be be less authoritarian. We'll see how this works and I'll keep posting as more happens.
First Kay started talking about isolation and disconnection leading to some wrongdoing that causes harm to someone. When someone in the community is harmed this is also a harm to the community. As a result of this harm there is a response to this harm. Usually this response focuses on the person that committed the harm. Oftentimes, focus is so much on the person that committed the harm that the person that was harmed is neglected. As a result of the focus on the harmer and the neglect of the harmed, this can lead to greater isolation and disconnection.
Restorative justice focuses on an intervention in the response to the harm caused. This interventon should strengthen the community, create new or strengthen existing relationships, connect the community to a shared vision, and build skills to listening.
So then we started to explore what types of intervention leave the community stronger than before the incident. We discussed making amends, peer mediation, a capacity for the community members to self regulate without coercive force so there is less of a reliance on authority figures, an inclusive intervention, and finally an intervention that is a safe space to share stories and break down social distance.
In the restorative framework, Kay talked a bit about the responsibilities that the community has,
1) The community must rally around the one harmed.
2) The community must support the person who caused harm in making amends.
3) The community must attend to its own healing.
4) The community must pay attention to the pattern and what that says about the community.
In the traditional justice framework the question is what do we do to the harmer. In the restorative framework, the question is what does the harmer need to do to create peace. A lot of the discussion we had was focused on creating a community and framework where people could be heard and when they are heard they are more open to looking towards solutions.
At the end of it all, I was really excited to see a circle in action. But I'll have to wait to get a training. I really want to institute this at my school. Right now, when a student is a problem or does something that harms a person or the community, they either are dealt with by their CTM or they have a staff meeting where they appear before all of the teachers with their parents. They are supposed to only get one staff meeting and after that they go. Restorative justice circles would be an intermediate step between CTMs and staff meetings. This would be a way to take the pressure off of teachers but also give students more of a buy in to the school. Circlekeepers would do peer mediation and discipline would be be less authoritarian. We'll see how this works and I'll keep posting as more happens.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A black president!!!??? I feel like I'm in a modern day version of Blazing Saddles.
Now that I've had more time to reflect on things, it's pretty amazing. Obama is part of the democratic revolution that has been and is taking place all over the world. For a country with a population that is 75% white and a very racist history to elect a black man to the highest office is pretty cool. While it is pretty cool in racial terms what Obama has achieved, in terms of policy I still have many problems with him.
Here's an article by one of my favorite reporters Jeremy Scahill on the team that Obama has selected so far to surround himself with.
Here's the thing... if Obama really wants to change shit up then bring in some people that would actually be a sign of that. With regards to the wars, why not tap Barbara Lee to be the Secretary of War. My bad "Defense". Why not tap Bernie Sanders? John Lewis? Cynthia McKinney? Sheila Jackson Lee? Could you imagine Ralph Nader as Secretary of the Treasury? You can believe that there would be a lot more transparency and this bailout would play out a whole lot differently.
One of the most important pieces of political/economic advice I ever learned was, "Follow the money". With that in mind, here are the list of Obama and McCain's top campaign donors. Then compare this to the companies receiving money from the federal bailout. With this in mind, I'm not so confident about the financial system getting "fixed". Another thing with the Federal Bailout is that the process is already nontransparent. Dirty ass financial companies getting tons of money out of the American people and nothing being done to fix the problems that got us into this situation. Just give them more and more money.
During the election, a lot of friends asked me what would make me vote for a Democrat. There's actually something that someone could say to me that would make me want to vote for them. Tell me that you are going to cut the military budget. Just a little. Instead of 1 trillion dollars a year for the military... how's about 850 billion dollars instead. $900 billion? $950 billion? Something! Boys with their toys are dangerous.
People have been guzzling the Obama Kool-Aid and I'm worried that they won't pay attention to politics like they did under GWB. That's the thing with GWB... he got people involved! Obama gets points for being the first black president... but that's where it ends cuz his policies aren't so different from historic US foreign policy. Is the US going to stop being an imperialist power? That would be some change that I could get behind.
Now that I've had more time to reflect on things, it's pretty amazing. Obama is part of the democratic revolution that has been and is taking place all over the world. For a country with a population that is 75% white and a very racist history to elect a black man to the highest office is pretty cool. While it is pretty cool in racial terms what Obama has achieved, in terms of policy I still have many problems with him.
Here's an article by one of my favorite reporters Jeremy Scahill on the team that Obama has selected so far to surround himself with.
Here's the thing... if Obama really wants to change shit up then bring in some people that would actually be a sign of that. With regards to the wars, why not tap Barbara Lee to be the Secretary of War. My bad "Defense". Why not tap Bernie Sanders? John Lewis? Cynthia McKinney? Sheila Jackson Lee? Could you imagine Ralph Nader as Secretary of the Treasury? You can believe that there would be a lot more transparency and this bailout would play out a whole lot differently.
One of the most important pieces of political/economic advice I ever learned was, "Follow the money". With that in mind, here are the list of Obama and McCain's top campaign donors. Then compare this to the companies receiving money from the federal bailout. With this in mind, I'm not so confident about the financial system getting "fixed". Another thing with the Federal Bailout is that the process is already nontransparent. Dirty ass financial companies getting tons of money out of the American people and nothing being done to fix the problems that got us into this situation. Just give them more and more money.
During the election, a lot of friends asked me what would make me vote for a Democrat. There's actually something that someone could say to me that would make me want to vote for them. Tell me that you are going to cut the military budget. Just a little. Instead of 1 trillion dollars a year for the military... how's about 850 billion dollars instead. $900 billion? $950 billion? Something! Boys with their toys are dangerous.
People have been guzzling the Obama Kool-Aid and I'm worried that they won't pay attention to politics like they did under GWB. That's the thing with GWB... he got people involved! Obama gets points for being the first black president... but that's where it ends cuz his policies aren't so different from historic US foreign policy. Is the US going to stop being an imperialist power? That would be some change that I could get behind.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Why I'm not voting for Barack Obama
I like Barack Obama. He seems like he's a nice guy. He appears that he really loves his wife and 2 kids. He was born in Hawaii like myself. I prefer him over McCain. But I'm still not voting for him. Here are my reasons why.
First off, I should note that I live in California. In the world of the electoral college, all of California's votes will go to the winner of the popular vote. So let's look at some history and some facts.
In 2000, Al Gore won California by over 11%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_California,_2000 It was in this election that Ralph Nader was running on the Green Party ticket and won 3.76% of California's votes. Ralph and the Green Party won a bunch of votes, but the Democrats still easily took California.
In 2004, the Democratic propaganda machine came out in force against Ralph Nader and 3rd parties. California voters feared a repeat of 2000 and 2nd Bush term. Greens backed David Cobb and Ralph was a write-in vote. Democrats fielded John Kerry as their candidate and he easily won California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2004,_in_California I find it interesting that votes for Ralph and the Green Party combined totaled less than 1% of popular votes, yet John Kerry beat Bush by only 9.81%. This is less than what Gore beat Bush by even when Ralph was at his strongest.
In California, the number of registered Democrats surpass the number of registered Republicans by 11.6%. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror_090508.htm Click on the PDF for historical voter registration statistics. This year, Californians and especially young voters are very excited about Barack Obama. The statistics, the history, and the energy are all in favor of Barack Obama. If he doesn't win California... then the Democrats will really need to evaluate their party.
Just last weekend I was in Ohio. In one day in Ohio I saw more McCain and Obama ads than one month in California. The Democrats don't put any money and energy into winning California because they know that they will win it.
With that in mind, I believe that the Democrats need to re-evaluate their party. I abhor being threatened to vote Democrat (A vote for a third party is a vote for John McCain. It's the lesser of two evils). Talk about the issues and stop threatening me for my vote. When it comes to many important issues, I do not agree with Barack Obama. I'm not going to get into the McCain and the Republicans because I am soooooo far in disagreement with them on so many issues.
Barack has said that he wants to withdraw troops from Iraq and move them to Afghanistan. Then if Al Queda and Osama are in their sights and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to get them, Obama is willing to attack and kill them. Can you imagine if the Chinese said that they wanted to get Uighurs on US soil and if the US was unable or unwilling to get them for them, the Chinese would do it themselves? Can you imagine the same scenario with Russians and Chechnyans on US soil? The Sri Lankans and Tamil Tigers? The UK and the IRA? Israel and Palestinians? The Mexicans and Zapatistas? I could go on but then I'd have to look up groups on wikipedia and it's a pain.
When it comes to nuclear proliferation, Obama claims to want to reduce nuclear proliferation. Yet he has also spoken on creating a missile defense shield. That shield would lead to greater nuclear proliferation as countries sought to increase their capabilities to overwhelm the shield. The dirty little secret is that you can put a cheap ass mylar sheath on the warhead and it will cover the heat signature so that a missile shield can't find it. However, if the US creates a missile shield, China will likely increase their nuclear arsenal. China's increase will lead to an increase in Russia and India's. India's increase will lead to an increase by Pakistan. And on and on with this crazy fucking Mutually Assured Destruction dance of Shiva. A missile shield is an irresponsible position that contradicts his professed goal of reducing nuclear proliferation.
At no time has Obama spoken on cutting the US military budget. The US is currently spending approximately $1 trillion a year for all defense related purposes. In 2005, the US military budget was almost as much as the rest of the world's defense spending combined. Why aren't we talking about cutting the military budget? War is a racket! THE MILITARY DOESN'T NEED MORE MONEY!!! BUT EVERY OTHER SECTOR SURE DOES!!!
Gay marriage is one of the issues where Republicans and Democrats can come together. They both oppose it. WTF??? Let people get married, be happy and be legitimized under the law and their faith or lackthereof. It's as simple as that. Don't continue with the treatment of people as second class citizens.
When it comes to the economy, I have very little faith in the Democrats as they presided over NAFTA and the WTO. Ross fucking Perot was right when he talked about the giant sucking sound of American jobs heading to Mexico. Now that sucking sound has extended to the world. Republicans have continued Democrat policies. Obama has never talked about seriously reviewing and changing the policies of NAFTA and the WTO.
When it comes to Wall Street bailouts, Obama and McCain are both talking about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. How come no one is talking about credit default swaps (CDS) and the roughly $60 trillion dollars in unregulated money? AIG and Lehman brothers probably wouldn't have tanked if it wasn't for massive amounts of unregulated CDSs. How serious is Obama about regulating the financial system when no attention is given to CDSs?
When it comes to the draconian death penalty, Obama is for it. This is an unjust policy that has a racial bias based on a justice system that is imperfect. I don't want the state executing anyone when there is even the remotest possibility that it could execute the wrong person. And we know that people have been exonerated and released after being on death row. How many people were executed that could have been exonerated? I don't know, but I don't want to take the chance.
When it comes to healthcare I was happy to hear Obama say that it was a right for people. I actually agree with that. However, he's not talking about universal healthcare for all like most industrialized countries have. If healthcare is a right...shouldn't it be a right for everyone regardless of their situation? Shouldn't Obama be pushing for universal healthcare?
When it comes to education Obama isn't telling me the things I really want to hear. How about fully funding students through college so that everyone can benefit from a college education? How about cutting the military budget in half and giving that half to public education? Why are we cutting classes and programs? Let the arts and sciences flourish motherfuckers! Then we wouldn't have so many narrow-minded undereducated dumbasses that will cause the future structural unemployment of America!
Here's where I insert my problem with America section. McCain is right. Americans do need to serve. But my generation is rather selfish. What can I say, we grew up in the Reagan years and its rubbed off on our kids! Service has negative connotations. It sounds like I won't get paid or I'll be underpaid. It sounds like I'll have to deal with ungrateful bastards. It sounds like something you do for a little while until you get a real job. It sounds like there's a master on the other side of my service. It sounds like an inferior subservient position to be in. It would be so much easier to vote and put all my political energy into that than to make that one component in utilizing all my political energy. We tell people they are wrong for doing what they believe to be right and instead tell them to do what represents the least change from our comfort zone. I completely believe that is it wrong to tell a person to not vote for their ideals and their "promised land" but rather to vote for that which is most politically expedient. It is better to vote for the greater good than for the lesser of two evils. Aren't the issues supposed to be important??? While Obama's stances on the issues are closer to mine than McCain's, he and the Democratic party do not stand on the issues on the side of greater justice for all in all things.
Don't get me wrong. I'll be happy if and when Obama wins. A black guy from Hawaii in the WHITE house? That's fucking hilarious, ironic, and cool to think about all in one. But I have to vote on the ISSUES , where I believe America should be, and Barack is not enough change for me. Tickle my balls and tell me some shit that I want to hear!
First off, I should note that I live in California. In the world of the electoral college, all of California's votes will go to the winner of the popular vote. So let's look at some history and some facts.
In 2000, Al Gore won California by over 11%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_California,_2000 It was in this election that Ralph Nader was running on the Green Party ticket and won 3.76% of California's votes. Ralph and the Green Party won a bunch of votes, but the Democrats still easily took California.
In 2004, the Democratic propaganda machine came out in force against Ralph Nader and 3rd parties. California voters feared a repeat of 2000 and 2nd Bush term. Greens backed David Cobb and Ralph was a write-in vote. Democrats fielded John Kerry as their candidate and he easily won California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2004,_in_California I find it interesting that votes for Ralph and the Green Party combined totaled less than 1% of popular votes, yet John Kerry beat Bush by only 9.81%. This is less than what Gore beat Bush by even when Ralph was at his strongest.
In California, the number of registered Democrats surpass the number of registered Republicans by 11.6%. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror_090508.htm Click on the PDF for historical voter registration statistics. This year, Californians and especially young voters are very excited about Barack Obama. The statistics, the history, and the energy are all in favor of Barack Obama. If he doesn't win California... then the Democrats will really need to evaluate their party.
Just last weekend I was in Ohio. In one day in Ohio I saw more McCain and Obama ads than one month in California. The Democrats don't put any money and energy into winning California because they know that they will win it.
With that in mind, I believe that the Democrats need to re-evaluate their party. I abhor being threatened to vote Democrat (A vote for a third party is a vote for John McCain. It's the lesser of two evils). Talk about the issues and stop threatening me for my vote. When it comes to many important issues, I do not agree with Barack Obama. I'm not going to get into the McCain and the Republicans because I am soooooo far in disagreement with them on so many issues.
Barack has said that he wants to withdraw troops from Iraq and move them to Afghanistan. Then if Al Queda and Osama are in their sights and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to get them, Obama is willing to attack and kill them. Can you imagine if the Chinese said that they wanted to get Uighurs on US soil and if the US was unable or unwilling to get them for them, the Chinese would do it themselves? Can you imagine the same scenario with Russians and Chechnyans on US soil? The Sri Lankans and Tamil Tigers? The UK and the IRA? Israel and Palestinians? The Mexicans and Zapatistas? I could go on but then I'd have to look up groups on wikipedia and it's a pain.
When it comes to nuclear proliferation, Obama claims to want to reduce nuclear proliferation. Yet he has also spoken on creating a missile defense shield. That shield would lead to greater nuclear proliferation as countries sought to increase their capabilities to overwhelm the shield. The dirty little secret is that you can put a cheap ass mylar sheath on the warhead and it will cover the heat signature so that a missile shield can't find it. However, if the US creates a missile shield, China will likely increase their nuclear arsenal. China's increase will lead to an increase in Russia and India's. India's increase will lead to an increase by Pakistan. And on and on with this crazy fucking Mutually Assured Destruction dance of Shiva. A missile shield is an irresponsible position that contradicts his professed goal of reducing nuclear proliferation.
At no time has Obama spoken on cutting the US military budget. The US is currently spending approximately $1 trillion a year for all defense related purposes. In 2005, the US military budget was almost as much as the rest of the world's defense spending combined. Why aren't we talking about cutting the military budget? War is a racket! THE MILITARY DOESN'T NEED MORE MONEY!!! BUT EVERY OTHER SECTOR SURE DOES!!!
Gay marriage is one of the issues where Republicans and Democrats can come together. They both oppose it. WTF??? Let people get married, be happy and be legitimized under the law and their faith or lackthereof. It's as simple as that. Don't continue with the treatment of people as second class citizens.
When it comes to the economy, I have very little faith in the Democrats as they presided over NAFTA and the WTO. Ross fucking Perot was right when he talked about the giant sucking sound of American jobs heading to Mexico. Now that sucking sound has extended to the world. Republicans have continued Democrat policies. Obama has never talked about seriously reviewing and changing the policies of NAFTA and the WTO.
When it comes to Wall Street bailouts, Obama and McCain are both talking about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. How come no one is talking about credit default swaps (CDS) and the roughly $60 trillion dollars in unregulated money? AIG and Lehman brothers probably wouldn't have tanked if it wasn't for massive amounts of unregulated CDSs. How serious is Obama about regulating the financial system when no attention is given to CDSs?
When it comes to the draconian death penalty, Obama is for it. This is an unjust policy that has a racial bias based on a justice system that is imperfect. I don't want the state executing anyone when there is even the remotest possibility that it could execute the wrong person. And we know that people have been exonerated and released after being on death row. How many people were executed that could have been exonerated? I don't know, but I don't want to take the chance.
When it comes to healthcare I was happy to hear Obama say that it was a right for people. I actually agree with that. However, he's not talking about universal healthcare for all like most industrialized countries have. If healthcare is a right...shouldn't it be a right for everyone regardless of their situation? Shouldn't Obama be pushing for universal healthcare?
When it comes to education Obama isn't telling me the things I really want to hear. How about fully funding students through college so that everyone can benefit from a college education? How about cutting the military budget in half and giving that half to public education? Why are we cutting classes and programs? Let the arts and sciences flourish motherfuckers! Then we wouldn't have so many narrow-minded undereducated dumbasses that will cause the future structural unemployment of America!
Here's where I insert my problem with America section. McCain is right. Americans do need to serve. But my generation is rather selfish. What can I say, we grew up in the Reagan years and its rubbed off on our kids! Service has negative connotations. It sounds like I won't get paid or I'll be underpaid. It sounds like I'll have to deal with ungrateful bastards. It sounds like something you do for a little while until you get a real job. It sounds like there's a master on the other side of my service. It sounds like an inferior subservient position to be in. It would be so much easier to vote and put all my political energy into that than to make that one component in utilizing all my political energy. We tell people they are wrong for doing what they believe to be right and instead tell them to do what represents the least change from our comfort zone. I completely believe that is it wrong to tell a person to not vote for their ideals and their "promised land" but rather to vote for that which is most politically expedient. It is better to vote for the greater good than for the lesser of two evils. Aren't the issues supposed to be important??? While Obama's stances on the issues are closer to mine than McCain's, he and the Democratic party do not stand on the issues on the side of greater justice for all in all things.
Don't get me wrong. I'll be happy if and when Obama wins. A black guy from Hawaii in the WHITE house? That's fucking hilarious, ironic, and cool to think about all in one. But I have to vote on the ISSUES , where I believe America should be, and Barack is not enough change for me. Tickle my balls and tell me some shit that I want to hear!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero in a day
I don't know why it is, but when we travel or on vacation I wake up really early. I mean before AL early. When we are at home, I sleep in. On this particular morning, I popped 2 ibuprofen and set my timer for 5 hours to take the next 2.
When traveling in Peru, you have to make sure your US dollars are immaculate. I mean perfect perfect. Depending on the person working the exchange, they won't accept bills that got a small little rip. In my case, they wouldn't take my $100 that had a small little hole in them. So I exchanged our money and came back to the hotel and was told that our tour was waiting for us at the Plaza de Santo Domingo. I got AL going and we made our way to the the plaza, but there was no bus. We waited around with AL going back and forth to the hostel to call our agency lady inquiring about the bus. I went around to each bus with my receipt asking if they were the ones. We kept being told that the bus was there, or was going to be there, but nothing. We waited for over and hour and I was getting pissed off. Finally, s
ome local police decided to help us. I like the Peruvian female officer uniforms with their mini skirts and knee high leather fuck me boots. The two officers ended up taking us to the iperu on Avenida del Sol and from there those people contacted the tour . Once the iperu steps in then you get service. Our travel agency lady showed up there with one of the ladies that works the buses that do the tour. Apparently, we were told the wrong place to wait for them. If we wanted to meet up with our tour, we had to take a taxi to where they were. It would cost us 40 NS or $14 to do that. Well, I still wanted to do the tour and we had no other plans for that day, so we took it. Our taxi driver was this cool Quechua guy named Eduardo and he talked to us in Spanish while he drove us. He explained some of the Incan philosophy and showed us the difference between a llama and an alpace. Also, he told us the difference between an alpaca suri and alpaca huaynaca. The latter produces the best wool and is on the Peruvian money and flag. We finally met up with our bus and luckily they hadn't even done anything yet. From there we went to Pisaq to visit an Incan Ruin. Incan walls are amazing. They have huge stones and the rocks are held together without mortar. 
Note the smooth curves and the rock that is made to be a corner of two walls coming together. High up in Pisaq, I was also surprised to find this amazing aqueduct that the Incans used for water and for their purification rituals. Pisaq also had this beautiful terracing built on the sides of mountains that last to this day. Much like the Mayans, it is a marvel how they move these huge rocks to the middle of nowhere. However, I think the Incans are crazier cause they did it in high altitude on top of mountains. All I can think whenever I see such amazing structures is that someone had to be exploited to make those things. Cause my lazy ass would not be having it. I 
would be thinking you want me to move what??? Because you say you are the incarnation of God??? Yeah... I don't think that I could have been an Incan. After Pisaq, we went to Ollantaytambo which was really impressive. The Incans planned their cities based on their sacred animals. For example, Machu Picchu is based on the condor design. Ollantaytambo is built on the design of 2 llamas, a baby llama and a mother llama. It was an incredibly beautiful structure. The picture to the lower right is of Ollantaytambo. The picture below it is of a fountain at Ollantaytambo. If there is one symbol that represents the Incans then this picture of the fountain is an example of that symbolism. Notice the 3 step pattern along the outside and inside of fountain. This is called the Chakana and represents the 3 sacred planes of heaven, earth, and the underworld. Each of these sacred planes has an animal that represents that plane. The underworld is where the snake lives. The earth is where the puma lives and the heavens is where the condor lives. This symbol was pretty much found throughout all the Incan s
ites that we visited. Hiking in Peru is hard. Especially when we found out that Cuzco and the Sacred Valley is at a higher altitude than Machu Picchu. It's funny cause everyone thinks that Machu Picchu is so high up, but Cuzco is higher. I figured that once I hiked Cuzco, then Machu Picchu would be a breeze...so to speak. From Ollantaytambo we went to Chinchero to check out an Incan ruin that had a Spanish Cathedral built over it. The picture below the fountain is of the Cathedral. It's crazy because you can see where the Incan ruins end and the Spanish Cathedral begins so perfectly. The picture below the fountain is of the Cathedral in Chinch
ero.On our bus ride, AL and I talked to these two cool young nuns from the states. They were in their 20s and we talked a bit about liberation theology and its impact on Latin America. They also talked about the declining enrollment of nuns in the US. The median age for nuns in the US... 71 years old. That's median folks. Anyways, they were doing missions in Peru and they were saying that it was cool for them because in Peru there were many girls their age and younger becoming nuns.
Just visiting those three sites and getting lunch took the whole day and we got back at 7 pm at
night. We were wiped out by then...but what an experience.
When traveling in Peru, you have to make sure your US dollars are immaculate. I mean perfect perfect. Depending on the person working the exchange, they won't accept bills that got a small little rip. In my case, they wouldn't take my $100 that had a small little hole in them. So I exchanged our money and came back to the hotel and was told that our tour was waiting for us at the Plaza de Santo Domingo. I got AL going and we made our way to the the plaza, but there was no bus. We waited around with AL going back and forth to the hostel to call our agency lady inquiring about the bus. I went around to each bus with my receipt asking if they were the ones. We kept being told that the bus was there, or was going to be there, but nothing. We waited for over and hour and I was getting pissed off. Finally, s
ome local police decided to help us. I like the Peruvian female officer uniforms with their mini skirts and knee high leather fuck me boots. The two officers ended up taking us to the iperu on Avenida del Sol and from there those people contacted the tour . Once the iperu steps in then you get service. Our travel agency lady showed up there with one of the ladies that works the buses that do the tour. Apparently, we were told the wrong place to wait for them. If we wanted to meet up with our tour, we had to take a taxi to where they were. It would cost us 40 NS or $14 to do that. Well, I still wanted to do the tour and we had no other plans for that day, so we took it. Our taxi driver was this cool Quechua guy named Eduardo and he talked to us in Spanish while he drove us. He explained some of the Incan philosophy and showed us the difference between a llama and an alpace. Also, he told us the difference between an alpaca suri and alpaca huaynaca. The latter produces the best wool and is on the Peruvian money and flag. We finally met up with our bus and luckily they hadn't even done anything yet. From there we went to Pisaq to visit an Incan Ruin. Incan walls are amazing. They have huge stones and the rocks are held together without mortar. 
Note the smooth curves and the rock that is made to be a corner of two walls coming together. High up in Pisaq, I was also surprised to find this amazing aqueduct that the Incans used for water and for their purification rituals. Pisaq also had this beautiful terracing built on the sides of mountains that last to this day. Much like the Mayans, it is a marvel how they move these huge rocks to the middle of nowhere. However, I think the Incans are crazier cause they did it in high altitude on top of mountains. All I can think whenever I see such amazing structures is that someone had to be exploited to make those things. Cause my lazy ass would not be having it. I 
would be thinking you want me to move what??? Because you say you are the incarnation of God??? Yeah... I don't think that I could have been an Incan. After Pisaq, we went to Ollantaytambo which was really impressive. The Incans planned their cities based on their sacred animals. For example, Machu Picchu is based on the condor design. Ollantaytambo is built on the design of 2 llamas, a baby llama and a mother llama. It was an incredibly beautiful structure. The picture to the lower right is of Ollantaytambo. The picture below it is of a fountain at Ollantaytambo. If there is one symbol that represents the Incans then this picture of the fountain is an example of that symbolism. Notice the 3 step pattern along the outside and inside of fountain. This is called the Chakana and represents the 3 sacred planes of heaven, earth, and the underworld. Each of these sacred planes has an animal that represents that plane. The underworld is where the snake lives. The earth is where the puma lives and the heavens is where the condor lives. This symbol was pretty much found throughout all the Incan s
ites that we visited. Hiking in Peru is hard. Especially when we found out that Cuzco and the Sacred Valley is at a higher altitude than Machu Picchu. It's funny cause everyone thinks that Machu Picchu is so high up, but Cuzco is higher. I figured that once I hiked Cuzco, then Machu Picchu would be a breeze...so to speak. From Ollantaytambo we went to Chinchero to check out an Incan ruin that had a Spanish Cathedral built over it. The picture below the fountain is of the Cathedral. It's crazy because you can see where the Incan ruins end and the Spanish Cathedral begins so perfectly. The picture below the fountain is of the Cathedral in Chinch
ero.On our bus ride, AL and I talked to these two cool young nuns from the states. They were in their 20s and we talked a bit about liberation theology and its impact on Latin America. They also talked about the declining enrollment of nuns in the US. The median age for nuns in the US... 71 years old. That's median folks. Anyways, they were doing missions in Peru and they were saying that it was cool for them because in Peru there were many girls their age and younger becoming nuns.Just visiting those three sites and getting lunch took the whole day and we got back at 7 pm at
night. We were wiped out by then...but what an experience. Monday, August 25, 2008
Pisco Sour, dealing with hustlers, and peruvian prices
The plane flight to Peru wasn't that bad. TACA airlines is far superior to anything in the US. They were giving out not bad for airplane food breakfast omelets and free alcohol drinks. It was about 5 hours to San Salvador, which has the dubious distinction of having the highest murder rate per 100,000 people. After a 2 hour layover, it was a 4 hour flight to Lima. At Lima, we were picked up by the Hotel San Antonio Abad for free. The accommodations were ok...some of the thinnest walls in the world. We were tired from traveling so we decided to et some food and then pass out. Lima has the hustle and bustle of an industrializing city with the air to go along with it. Still not as bad as China or even Havana. We ate at an overpriced Italian restaurant with mediocre pizza and tried yuca fritas served with mayo. It was here that AL tried and fell in love with the national drink of Peru, the Pisco Sour. It's a limey tasting drink with frothy egg whites on top of it...totally to her tastes. American franchises I noticed in Miraflores. Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's and Starbucks were everywhere.
The flight to Cuzco from Lima was really expensive. $802.00, but there is no direct flight to Cuzco from he Bay. You have to go through Lima. Cuzco is high up in the mountains and yours truly is prone to motion, altitude, and whatever other sickness is out there. So to deal with it, I followed local customs and traditions...coca. In the tea form and the candy form. It's a lil energizer. AL really liked the pick me up but I didn't feel any huge difference. I blame it on my 20s.
When we got to our hostel in Cuzco, we were met there by a hustler. The taxi driver actually handed us off to him and told us that the guy would take care of us. AL and I figured he was working for the Hostel with the way he came in and ordered tea for us and sat us down at the table. He started talking to us and wrote up a list of things for us to do in the short time we were in Cuzco. He also reserved train tickets to Aguas Caliente for us. Anyways, the duded wanted to charge us $900 to do a tour of the Sacred Valley, take a train to Aguas Caliente and all the tourist stuff. I was like "No Way! Too Expensive!" Then he started lowering him price to $700. All the warning signs were going off so I had to ditch the guy. I said I had to go to my room and settle in 1st. There we checked prices in Lonely Planet and came back down to the guy to say no way. Then he wanted $225 for each of us. I said no and the guy started getting belligerent. He started asking me if I was an adult or was I a serious person. So now the guy was starting to insult me. I told him to cancel the ticket and he said it was impossible. Yeah, right! I said let's go the train station and he said he wanted $50 per person to go to the train station. I laughed and said no way. Now the dude was really pissing me off. So I said let's go tot he tourist agency on Avenida del Sol and see if the prices were right, knowing there was no way he'd go to the government agency. We started to walk that way and on the way I stopped a white guy and asked him if he'd been up to Machu Picchu and how much did he pay. The guy was part of a tour, but he was saying the price on his ticket was $8. I knew that was too low but a lot better sounding than $225. After that, I knew the guy's hustle was completely blown. I got that wonderful feeling that I get when someone's gig is up. Then I was all about going to the tourist agency. Dude sarted cursing at me and it brought a smile to my face. Sweet Schadenfreude.
So when we got to the train station we could only get on a train from Ollantaytambo which is a little Incan city 2 hours away from Cuzco. Tickets from there to Aguas Caliente were $129 for the both of us. Wayyyyy better deal. The lady at the train counter also told us that there were already tickets in our name and they would have to be canceled and the guy would have to pay a 10% cancellation fee. Sweet Sweet Schadenfreude! The guy lost money talking to us.
To tour the Sacred Valley in Cuzco you have to buy a general ticket which cost 130 Nuevo Soles or roughly $46. Travel Tip: Things get cheaper and more negotiable for the same service the farther you are from the main tourist area. The Plaza de Armas is the main area and so I checked out prices there and walked away from that area. One of the things about Cuzco is that it's really high up in the mountains. 10,800 feet. I have never popped more ibuprofen in my life. We found a place called mapi trek peru that cost 60 NS or about $21. Once again, way better than the $25 per person our hostel was going to charge us and infinitely better than what the hustler wanted.
The flight to Cuzco from Lima was really expensive. $802.00, but there is no direct flight to Cuzco from he Bay. You have to go through Lima. Cuzco is high up in the mountains and yours truly is prone to motion, altitude, and whatever other sickness is out there. So to deal with it, I followed local customs and traditions...coca. In the tea form and the candy form. It's a lil energizer. AL really liked the pick me up but I didn't feel any huge difference. I blame it on my 20s.
When we got to our hostel in Cuzco, we were met there by a hustler. The taxi driver actually handed us off to him and told us that the guy would take care of us. AL and I figured he was working for the Hostel with the way he came in and ordered tea for us and sat us down at the table. He started talking to us and wrote up a list of things for us to do in the short time we were in Cuzco. He also reserved train tickets to Aguas Caliente for us. Anyways, the duded wanted to charge us $900 to do a tour of the Sacred Valley, take a train to Aguas Caliente and all the tourist stuff. I was like "No Way! Too Expensive!" Then he started lowering him price to $700. All the warning signs were going off so I had to ditch the guy. I said I had to go to my room and settle in 1st. There we checked prices in Lonely Planet and came back down to the guy to say no way. Then he wanted $225 for each of us. I said no and the guy started getting belligerent. He started asking me if I was an adult or was I a serious person. So now the guy was starting to insult me. I told him to cancel the ticket and he said it was impossible. Yeah, right! I said let's go the train station and he said he wanted $50 per person to go to the train station. I laughed and said no way. Now the dude was really pissing me off. So I said let's go tot he tourist agency on Avenida del Sol and see if the prices were right, knowing there was no way he'd go to the government agency. We started to walk that way and on the way I stopped a white guy and asked him if he'd been up to Machu Picchu and how much did he pay. The guy was part of a tour, but he was saying the price on his ticket was $8. I knew that was too low but a lot better sounding than $225. After that, I knew the guy's hustle was completely blown. I got that wonderful feeling that I get when someone's gig is up. Then I was all about going to the tourist agency. Dude sarted cursing at me and it brought a smile to my face. Sweet Schadenfreude.
So when we got to the train station we could only get on a train from Ollantaytambo which is a little Incan city 2 hours away from Cuzco. Tickets from there to Aguas Caliente were $129 for the both of us. Wayyyyy better deal. The lady at the train counter also told us that there were already tickets in our name and they would have to be canceled and the guy would have to pay a 10% cancellation fee. Sweet Sweet Schadenfreude! The guy lost money talking to us.
To tour the Sacred Valley in Cuzco you have to buy a general ticket which cost 130 Nuevo Soles or roughly $46. Travel Tip: Things get cheaper and more negotiable for the same service the farther you are from the main tourist area. The Plaza de Armas is the main area and so I checked out prices there and walked away from that area. One of the things about Cuzco is that it's really high up in the mountains. 10,800 feet. I have never popped more ibuprofen in my life. We found a place called mapi trek peru that cost 60 NS or about $21. Once again, way better than the $25 per person our hostel was going to charge us and infinitely better than what the hustler wanted.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Steven Colbert and the Cookie Monster
My favorite Sesame Street character is the Cookie Monster. It's his voice, his crazy eyes, his love of cookies. This skit has to be one of my favorite comedy bits I've seen in a long time.
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=174545
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=174545
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Update on my student graduating
Great news! I just found out yesterday that my CTM is going to be school Valefuckingdictorian. I'm so ridiculously jazzed. It's like the prodigal son. He was lost and now he has returned. He is going to give a speech at the graduation and everything.
One of the qualities that helps in teaching is compassion. To train in compassion, I went vegetarian. This was a precept of my religion so it really helped me spiritually and in teaching. A quality that helps with compassion is empathy. Empathy is very important in working with kids when they are hurt, but it's even better when the kid does well. To be with someone's suffering is very important, but to share in someone's joy...that rocks!
So this Friday I get to share in the joy of my students graduating and my CTM being the valedictorian. Graduation is what teaching is all about. Whether it's the joy of getting rid of kids that get under my skin or the joy of seeing kids graduate when the deck was stacked against...I'm a happy man!
One of the qualities that helps in teaching is compassion. To train in compassion, I went vegetarian. This was a precept of my religion so it really helped me spiritually and in teaching. A quality that helps with compassion is empathy. Empathy is very important in working with kids when they are hurt, but it's even better when the kid does well. To be with someone's suffering is very important, but to share in someone's joy...that rocks!
So this Friday I get to share in the joy of my students graduating and my CTM being the valedictorian. Graduation is what teaching is all about. Whether it's the joy of getting rid of kids that get under my skin or the joy of seeing kids graduate when the deck was stacked against...I'm a happy man!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
End of the fucking year
Hell yeah! 2 more days till the school year is ovah! Then I'm teaching the summer bridge program and then it's off to Peru and Brazil. AL and I are going to Machu Picchu and then to Salvador and Rio. We were supposed to go to Paraguay but AL's dad backed out and then her mom didn't want to go. Then it was like...what the fuck is there to do or see in Paraguay. So I decided we should go to Peru and check out Machu Picchu.
AL is really excited to go to Brazil. We have both been dancing samba de gafieira, afro-brazilian samba, and capoeira, so she's juiced to go. This summer I got 5 weddings I'm going to be going to. People are either having babies or getting married. Either way it means my cheap ass is going to have to shell out money for something.
I got 2 students graduating. I'm proud of them both but one of them I'm really proud of. He comes from a crazy family and environment and at one point he was talking about dropping out. Then he turned everything around and started to excel. It's good when a student does well but it's even better when the student completely changes. It's seeing and being a part of that change that makes my job wonderful. It's what makes me get up in the morning and happy to be doing what I'm doing.
It's good that we're having break too cuz I was starting to not like kids. Nothing like the summer to recharge my batteries and make things better.
AL is really excited to go to Brazil. We have both been dancing samba de gafieira, afro-brazilian samba, and capoeira, so she's juiced to go. This summer I got 5 weddings I'm going to be going to. People are either having babies or getting married. Either way it means my cheap ass is going to have to shell out money for something.
I got 2 students graduating. I'm proud of them both but one of them I'm really proud of. He comes from a crazy family and environment and at one point he was talking about dropping out. Then he turned everything around and started to excel. It's good when a student does well but it's even better when the student completely changes. It's seeing and being a part of that change that makes my job wonderful. It's what makes me get up in the morning and happy to be doing what I'm doing.
It's good that we're having break too cuz I was starting to not like kids. Nothing like the summer to recharge my batteries and make things better.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
De Facto Head of the Department
My friend and co-worker J.D. left for a job at district offices for almost twice the amount of money. I don't blame him...I mean twice??? As a result, I am now de facto head of the department. And I'm mad sick with power!!!!!!!!! MOOOHAAAA! MOOOOHAAAAA!
Over the summer, I plan on reorganizing the department and putting my thumbprint on it. I get to do things my way now. I really enjoyed working with J.D. but now it's my thang. I get to focus the department and standardize it the way that I've been wanting to. I'm going Qin Emperor style. Standardize and bury the scholars.... ok the first part not the second.
I'm also excited because now I'm going to start teaching Political Econ, American government and US history. It's on like Donkey Kong. I'm most excited for political economy because I love talking finance with the kids. Yes I'll be talking about the international global economy, but I also want to teach basic financial literacy to the kids. I was never taught basic financial literacy and had to learn it all by myself. I know for the most part that my students aren't taught it either as I've talked about it in class and they were just mystified. I firmly believe that being aware and taking control of your finances is a self-empowering political action. Understanding your own finances will also help you understand the world's finances. Investing your money in guns and not your education is going to royally fuck you...the parallels to the US go without saying.
I also think that teaching different classes will reinvigorate my pedagogy. I've gotten comfortable in my curriculum but now I'd like to try something else. More work...no accompanying raise! Gotta love it!
Over the summer, I plan on reorganizing the department and putting my thumbprint on it. I get to do things my way now. I really enjoyed working with J.D. but now it's my thang. I get to focus the department and standardize it the way that I've been wanting to. I'm going Qin Emperor style. Standardize and bury the scholars.... ok the first part not the second.
I'm also excited because now I'm going to start teaching Political Econ, American government and US history. It's on like Donkey Kong. I'm most excited for political economy because I love talking finance with the kids. Yes I'll be talking about the international global economy, but I also want to teach basic financial literacy to the kids. I was never taught basic financial literacy and had to learn it all by myself. I know for the most part that my students aren't taught it either as I've talked about it in class and they were just mystified. I firmly believe that being aware and taking control of your finances is a self-empowering political action. Understanding your own finances will also help you understand the world's finances. Investing your money in guns and not your education is going to royally fuck you...the parallels to the US go without saying.
I also think that teaching different classes will reinvigorate my pedagogy. I've gotten comfortable in my curriculum but now I'd like to try something else. More work...no accompanying raise! Gotta love it!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Sad for my boy
WTF? When it rains it pours. My one kid. The one that wanted to join a gang and that I talked out of it. The one with a good heart but very little self control. He's been acting out again. He was talking shit to teachers and being disrespectful. We were going to suspend him, but I couldn't get a hold of his parents so that we could send him home. Then he started crying and saying that he wanted to talk to me. Since we were only testing right now I went into one of the therapist's room and talked to him while she took over the testing for me.
His dad has cancer. And his family is poor and won't be able to pay for any serious treatment. He's melting down and wants to say fuck it all to everything. 99.99% of the time that a kid is acting out it's because he is unhappy and there is something going. Kids don't want to be assholes and angry it's just that they don't know how to deal with their emotions. They haven't lived long enough to gain the discipline and self-awareness to control themselves. What a shitty break. His reaction is understandable, though not acceptable. It ain't right to take your shit out on others.
But he doesn't have the luxury of being able to melt down and fall apart. I told him that the last thing that his dad needs is to have to come up to the school and deal with his shit. Fuck it all is how children act. Unfortunately, he has to step up to the plate and start acting like a man. He needs to be strong for his family. Everyone is having to deal with this issue. Mom and sister don't need to have to see him fall apart while the dad is dying. He is forced to grow up faster than he wants to. I'm sad for him and sad for his family.
This situation once again highlights the problems with the American medical system. Truthfully, it's not a system. If you don't have the money, you don't have the care. And good hardworking people that are scraping by get left behind. It is shameful and disgraceful. In the richest country in the world, everyone should be taken care of. It's not like there isn't enough to go around.
No one should have to feel hopeless because they don't know how they are going to take care of their family members. It's hard enough to have to deal with cancer, you shouldn't have to deal with if you'll be able to pay for the treatment for cancer.
His dad has cancer. And his family is poor and won't be able to pay for any serious treatment. He's melting down and wants to say fuck it all to everything. 99.99% of the time that a kid is acting out it's because he is unhappy and there is something going. Kids don't want to be assholes and angry it's just that they don't know how to deal with their emotions. They haven't lived long enough to gain the discipline and self-awareness to control themselves. What a shitty break. His reaction is understandable, though not acceptable. It ain't right to take your shit out on others.
But he doesn't have the luxury of being able to melt down and fall apart. I told him that the last thing that his dad needs is to have to come up to the school and deal with his shit. Fuck it all is how children act. Unfortunately, he has to step up to the plate and start acting like a man. He needs to be strong for his family. Everyone is having to deal with this issue. Mom and sister don't need to have to see him fall apart while the dad is dying. He is forced to grow up faster than he wants to. I'm sad for him and sad for his family.
This situation once again highlights the problems with the American medical system. Truthfully, it's not a system. If you don't have the money, you don't have the care. And good hardworking people that are scraping by get left behind. It is shameful and disgraceful. In the richest country in the world, everyone should be taken care of. It's not like there isn't enough to go around.
No one should have to feel hopeless because they don't know how they are going to take care of their family members. It's hard enough to have to deal with cancer, you shouldn't have to deal with if you'll be able to pay for the treatment for cancer.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
update on a former student
Sometimes this job is too hard on my heart. So my former CTM. The 49.5 one. The soft as warm butter one. When it rains it pours...
A while back this kid told me he had a girlfriend. At first I didn't believe him. Turned out it was true. And she wasn't bad looking. When he showed me her picture, I set him up for the old diss.
"Hey, she's pretty good looking...what's she doing with you?" It was perfectly timed. Everyone in the room laughed. He laughed at it. It made him feel good that I validated the looks of his girl that he got in front of everyone and I cut down his looks which made it even cooler that he was with her. This fool was so in love. He asked me to correct/read a love poem that he wrote to her. The poem was such a teenage love letter. It started with "You are my..." It was the full, wholehearted, unreserved, unabashed love that teenagers in love for the first time can only have. That compounded with his painfully sad home life made his time with her even more important and powerful.
At one time he got the girl pregnant and they lost the baby. The boy was totally fucked up by the whole thing and I probably wasn't as sensitive and understanding about his situation. Then his family pulls him from the school and he just sits around cuz he wasn't really gonna go to adult school. The kid has no academic skills. Is mentally and emotionally underdeveloped because of his home life and being picked on through most of his life. The kid had to be 6'5 or so and he would get picked on. He would come to school sometimes wearing the same clothing and sometimes smelling. Well his girlfriend got sick and died in her sleep. I know this kid well enough to know something of his heart. He is a fucking mess right now. I found this out second hand from one of his friends on Tuesday.
When I see and know kids that have no skills, nobody taking good care of them at home, no direction, and just lost, it weighs heavy on my heart. This world is an incredibly painful, sad, and unfair place. I thank God for all that I have and am angry at men for the world that we have created.
When I talk to people about the problems in innercity education, they often want to attribute the problems with the kids to the parents. It's always the parents' fault. While parents are sometimes to blame, that is only one analysis, albeit an important one. I personally blame society. It's on all our hands and on all our heads. Everyone that is alive has a part in making this society a more just and equitable society. The kids are fine. It's the adults that are fucking things up. We are not making a world that includes people and allows them to be a part of a community and society. We are not properly socializing our families, communities, society, and the world. Instead we destroy communities and families and people at the bottom are left with few means. In treating people less than human and not including and socializing them, we create people that act anti-social and destructive.
This kid was not properly socialized. His environment was too rough for him and he was too soft for most places. He was starting to be social at my school, but now I worry that he has no "safe" space to be a kid. I want to somehow get him to at least hang back out at our school (Counter to school rules) and maybe get involved with the mural project going on upstairs in the school. I like that my school provides that space for kids. But realistically, I doubt and wonder if that will really happen. It is hard for me to accept when I think that there really isn't hope for some kids.
A while back this kid told me he had a girlfriend. At first I didn't believe him. Turned out it was true. And she wasn't bad looking. When he showed me her picture, I set him up for the old diss.
"Hey, she's pretty good looking...what's she doing with you?" It was perfectly timed. Everyone in the room laughed. He laughed at it. It made him feel good that I validated the looks of his girl that he got in front of everyone and I cut down his looks which made it even cooler that he was with her. This fool was so in love. He asked me to correct/read a love poem that he wrote to her. The poem was such a teenage love letter. It started with "You are my..." It was the full, wholehearted, unreserved, unabashed love that teenagers in love for the first time can only have. That compounded with his painfully sad home life made his time with her even more important and powerful.
At one time he got the girl pregnant and they lost the baby. The boy was totally fucked up by the whole thing and I probably wasn't as sensitive and understanding about his situation. Then his family pulls him from the school and he just sits around cuz he wasn't really gonna go to adult school. The kid has no academic skills. Is mentally and emotionally underdeveloped because of his home life and being picked on through most of his life. The kid had to be 6'5 or so and he would get picked on. He would come to school sometimes wearing the same clothing and sometimes smelling. Well his girlfriend got sick and died in her sleep. I know this kid well enough to know something of his heart. He is a fucking mess right now. I found this out second hand from one of his friends on Tuesday.
When I see and know kids that have no skills, nobody taking good care of them at home, no direction, and just lost, it weighs heavy on my heart. This world is an incredibly painful, sad, and unfair place. I thank God for all that I have and am angry at men for the world that we have created.
When I talk to people about the problems in innercity education, they often want to attribute the problems with the kids to the parents. It's always the parents' fault. While parents are sometimes to blame, that is only one analysis, albeit an important one. I personally blame society. It's on all our hands and on all our heads. Everyone that is alive has a part in making this society a more just and equitable society. The kids are fine. It's the adults that are fucking things up. We are not making a world that includes people and allows them to be a part of a community and society. We are not properly socializing our families, communities, society, and the world. Instead we destroy communities and families and people at the bottom are left with few means. In treating people less than human and not including and socializing them, we create people that act anti-social and destructive.
This kid was not properly socialized. His environment was too rough for him and he was too soft for most places. He was starting to be social at my school, but now I worry that he has no "safe" space to be a kid. I want to somehow get him to at least hang back out at our school (Counter to school rules) and maybe get involved with the mural project going on upstairs in the school. I like that my school provides that space for kids. But realistically, I doubt and wonder if that will really happen. It is hard for me to accept when I think that there really isn't hope for some kids.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Ain't been this sick since I can remember
On the 11th, I was at school and my coworker Joseph said that he hasn't been so sick in years. I thought nothing of it until the end of the day. At the end of the day, everyone was going out for drinks to celebrate a coworker's bday. I felt like shit. I went home and passed out. On Saturday and Sunday I was too fucked up to go anywhere. Like a fool, instead of taking more time off I went to school on Monday through Thursday. Then I realized on Friday that I couldn't do it. I took Friday off and spent that day and the weekend alternating between coughing and sleeping. I coughed so often and so hard that I lost my voice.
So there I was at school today unable to talk. Physically, I feel better. But I still got a hacking cough and I can't talk. At this compromised time I also got an eczema breakout too. On my face no less. When it rains it pours. Being a teacher without your voice is somewhat emasculating. It's hard to get people's attention when you can't talk that loudly. To get kids' attention I have to bang a stick on the table. It's pretty bad. Then speak in a barely audible whisper to say a few words about whatever topic we are discussing. Not the ideal situation for me at all. Since I knew we were doing seminars in class. I printed out signs with questions on it for the kids. In class I just held up the questions and had the students discuss things.
I am tired of being tired. I am sick of being sick. I'm meta tired and meta sick. Whatever viral infection I got is an assfucking kicker. I haven't been this sick in I don't remember when. Usually when I don't feel so well I get over it in a day or so. This is kicking my ass.
So there I was at school today unable to talk. Physically, I feel better. But I still got a hacking cough and I can't talk. At this compromised time I also got an eczema breakout too. On my face no less. When it rains it pours. Being a teacher without your voice is somewhat emasculating. It's hard to get people's attention when you can't talk that loudly. To get kids' attention I have to bang a stick on the table. It's pretty bad. Then speak in a barely audible whisper to say a few words about whatever topic we are discussing. Not the ideal situation for me at all. Since I knew we were doing seminars in class. I printed out signs with questions on it for the kids. In class I just held up the questions and had the students discuss things.
I am tired of being tired. I am sick of being sick. I'm meta tired and meta sick. Whatever viral infection I got is an assfucking kicker. I haven't been this sick in I don't remember when. Usually when I don't feel so well I get over it in a day or so. This is kicking my ass.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Olympics in China
The Olympic torch went through San Francisco today. Gavin Newsome pulled an Operation Fortitude on everyone. This is a high profile controversial issue for China and the world.
Let me start by saying, I absolutely support the desire of the Tibetan people for their independence from China. But I also think there is a demonization of China going on. There's nothing China is doing the US hasn't done. Ask the native Americans. Yes, I wish China didn't work with Sudan. I also wish my school's SIMPLE IRA with American Funds didn't invest in Sudan either. Yes I wish China didn't sell arms to fucked up countries, but I also wish the US wasn't the largest arms dealer in the world. The West wants to control China like it did in the late 1800's. The West knows that China is a sleeping giant. Better to have as much leverage and influence in the development over that giant as possible.
I think there is a Shangri-la-ization (I know I'm making up words) of Tibet and all thing Tibetan. While I'm down with the desire of the Tibetan people I'm not a fan of the Dalai Lama. I don't like feudal theocrats. Theocrats sucks whether they are in Iran, the Vatican, Tibet, or anywhere else. Children picking personal objects is no basis for a system of government. Tibetan Buddhism is very en vogue right now. It's the TM of the moment.
Tibetan sovereignty is important but so is Hawaiian sovereignty. China invades and takes over Tibet 1950. US overthrows the Hawaiian government 1893 and makes Hawaii a state 1959. People are making this more of an issue because of the demonization of China and the exoticization of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.
Let me start by saying, I absolutely support the desire of the Tibetan people for their independence from China. But I also think there is a demonization of China going on. There's nothing China is doing the US hasn't done. Ask the native Americans. Yes, I wish China didn't work with Sudan. I also wish my school's SIMPLE IRA with American Funds didn't invest in Sudan either. Yes I wish China didn't sell arms to fucked up countries, but I also wish the US wasn't the largest arms dealer in the world. The West wants to control China like it did in the late 1800's. The West knows that China is a sleeping giant. Better to have as much leverage and influence in the development over that giant as possible.
I think there is a Shangri-la-ization (I know I'm making up words) of Tibet and all thing Tibetan. While I'm down with the desire of the Tibetan people I'm not a fan of the Dalai Lama. I don't like feudal theocrats. Theocrats sucks whether they are in Iran, the Vatican, Tibet, or anywhere else. Children picking personal objects is no basis for a system of government. Tibetan Buddhism is very en vogue right now. It's the TM of the moment.
Tibetan sovereignty is important but so is Hawaiian sovereignty. China invades and takes over Tibet 1950. US overthrows the Hawaiian government 1893 and makes Hawaii a state 1959. People are making this more of an issue because of the demonization of China and the exoticization of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.
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