Eminently Credulant Musings

The Right to Bear Arms and Other Alienable Rights

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 08:55:12 PST

One of the things I find most frustrating in the discussion surrounding the 2nd Amendment in the last week is the conflation of Natural Rights and the human constructed documents designed to protect them. (Don't click on this link unless you want to read a poorly written exegesis on the inviolate nature of the 2nd Amendment) I'm not a lawyer or a constitutional scholar, but there are some things

Mental Illness -- The Cuphineous Debate

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:21:52 PST

This is a good read and it brings up a very important point. While the treatment of those with mental illness is a vital need in our country, the mentally ill account for an infinitesimally small percentage of our gun violence. The question is whether we allow our discussion of gun control to be derailed into an equally important but mostly cuphineous discussion of mental illness in order to

Beyond Bans -- other gun control measures we need to consider

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:03:30 PST

Now that the NRA instituted waiting period for discussing gun control in public after a mass shooting has nearly passed, ideas are emerging about which policy changes would be most effective in deterring future events. Most of these ideas are centering around the banning of large-capacity magazines and new sales of assault weapons and while I support both of these measures, I don't think they

Every Wasted Day Means 38 Wasted Lives

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 20:04:05 PST

We can't wait. On Friday we lost twenty children all at once. In twenty five minutes a collective 1,500 years of future life was lost. These children left their clothes on the floor Friday morning and their parents will have to pick up knowing that it is the last time that they'll do so. They left dvds in the DVD player that will shuttle out and surprise their parents weeks from now. Their

When Policy Reaches the Street: Antonio Reaches for the Dream

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 15:27:35 PDT

I first noticed the change when a kid named Antonio walked back into our program a month ago. I'd always liked Antonio -- we'd gotten along well. The kid is nineteen years old, bright, moderately well-skilled, but angry. He plays bass in a psychobilly band and earns his living doing unlicensed tattoos because he's got talent and no papers. Our program is built for kids like Antonio. We're a

For your morning amusement.

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:58:39 PDT

10,000 Thanks!!

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:12:34 PDT

For the 10,000th page view at ECM. It's a small achievement but its one I've been anxiously awaiting. More to come.

Why Romney's Racism Matters

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:49:32 PDT

So the Romney foreign policy team is open with their belief that a non-white man cannot properly relate to the white experience and therefore cannot properly engage with Western Europe. No surprise. Not anymore. It’s just another sign that the American ethos, forcibly divorced from open racism by the civil rights movement, has finally decided to go public with its not-so-secret affair with

The Case for Pacifism and Against Self Defense

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:02:13 PDT

Recent discussions have reminded me that pacifism is not popular. Being a pacifist or making arguments against violence and aggression is often met with eye-rolling incredulousness, as if believing that violence is destructive even when used in defense of self is naive. It is not. My pacifism is far from naive. It is not a theological or even philosophical construction. It is a practical

True Cost of Gas

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:40:36 PST

As gas prices "rise", just a quick reminder about what our gas really costs.

Tantalus' Reach: Luis Goes to College

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:05:14 PST

If you've been reading my posts for a while, you've probably determined that success, as it is normally defined in education, is a rarity in my program. It is rare, but it does happen and Luis is a success. Luis is going to college. He's been asking for help with his FAFSA and EOP. He's been coming to school with his pockets stuffed with forms and envelopes each morning -- he used to carry a

When One of "Those Kids" Goes Back to Jail

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:34:25 PST

Another one of my kids got arrested today. Outgoing, pretty and with a golden smile, she looks like an all-star, but she's one of Those Kids who's have some difficulty with the basics of school: she can't seem to stop talking. Now she's back in jail and that's not going to help her be a better student. There's a poem, one of those sappy teacher-poems that gets sent around by and for teachers

"I'm The One" by Cody Moree

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:40:12 PST

This is a poem that circulated a while ago. I've been thinking about it recently because it relates to another issue I'm going to be writing about and thought I'd reshare it. I'M THE ONE Have you ever stopped and asked yourself Just what you're working for? Some might say fame and some say fortune, But I hope there is something more. You see, I'm the one you

Just a Reminder...

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:34:38 PST

Although we have a long way to go, we are on the right track. The jobs being created aren't just service and retail -- they are blue and white collar jobs, as well. The more we invest in our society, the more opportunities our society offers all of us.

Ernesto is Dead and It Matters to Me

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:28:29 PST

Yesterday, I was driving home from school and listening to Marketplace when a piece from their series, "My Life is True," aired. It was from a man named Leo Webb and this is what he said: ... I just got back from Iraq... ... I got 17 confirmed kills. I didn't see their faces. I only saw them through a scope and blew their brains out. I didn't meet them, or ask how many kids they had. When you

Lessons in Capitalism from OWS Oakland

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:28:49 PST

Those of us on the sidelines of capitalism are flabbergasted when some massive international megacorp sues a mom'n'pop operation for copyright infringement because their store name sounds a little bit like the corporate brand. It seems ridiculous. And it is ridiculous. But the core reason behind such moves are anything but ridiculous -- these actions are borne from the most basic desires for

The God Trap: Trust and Fear in Modern Politics

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:15:55 PST

There are few countries on Earth with more people who believe in God than right here in the United States of America. According to Gallup, as of June of 2011, upwards of 90% of believed that God exists. For me, even as a casual believer myself, this is an astonishing figure because it tells us that 9 out of every ten Americans is willing to stake themselves to a position for which there is

Newt's Redemption or, Why Romney Must Sin

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:04:27 PST

In college, while most people were drinking and partying, I was on a spiritual quest. I had been an habitually unhappy person for much of my life and had already discovered that drugs and alcohol were at best, for me, a terribly destructive partial solution. I understood from experience with 12-step programs that a connection with a power greater than myself could help me, but I didn't want to

Educational Moneyball: Why Value-Added Analysis Will Fail

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:22:59 PST

My students are all on the far side of screwing up in school and if you ask them what went wrong in their education, their answer is almost always a variation on a theme. Somewhere along the line, they each ran into the teacher who wrecked education for them. The teacher that called them an animal or the teacher who was never there, or the teacher who told them that they were stupid or (more

The Problem With Not Being Finland

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:23:37 PST

Over the last twelve years, I've taught in a college preparatory alternative school run by the county office of education, a charter arts and business school which I helped to plan and found, and a second charter arts and business school before landing at my current post. My career trajectory has been an intentional downward arc which has finally settled me into a place where I am working with

Travon Free's open letter to Gingrich

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:56:36 PST

In case you weren't convinced that Newt's an idiot by my open letter to him, here's Travon Free's. His open letter is his personal story and it's worth a read. Thanks to Eminent Credulant, Michael Gallagher, for the heads up and link!

Goodbye Roberto; A Fond Farewell to A Kid We Couldn't Save

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:11:23 PST

Roberto came to us last year when he was seventeen and had passed only 18 classes in his three year high-school career. A big kid, matching my 6'1" and besting me in weight by a good twenty pounds, he has a kind demeanor and a giggle that gurgles out whenever he's uncomfortable. He won't say much about what happens at his house, but what does leak out is painful to listen to. He's smart and

Pidgen-Watts: Life or Death Language Lessons in South LA

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:39:29 PST

I was in the office the other day and ran across a new kid. He was morose, sitting in one of the shit-seats where kids in trouble fidget while they wait to meet with the principal. He stared at me through a mop of thick stringy hair that fell in his face. I didn't know him, but I took a moment anyway because he looked like he needed a friend. "Hey man, what's up?" He looked at me.

Gingrich vs. Beck: A Noodle Soup Event

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:10:51 PST

As somebody who loves both words and history, and who blogs under the title "Eminently Credulant Musings," I know a thing or two about speaking quickly and looking serious while saying ridiculous things. So it was with no small amount of professional respect that I read the transcript of Glenn Beck's interview with Newt Gingrich (warning, clicking gives a hit to Glenn Beck). Newt, I must say,

Finally Some Truth About Writing: Ten Fiction Writing Rules and Why They're Wrong

ajaxsinger@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:49:36 PST

I'm a writer of fiction, as well. I've finished one novel (as yet unpublished) and am closing in on the end of the first draft of my second. I compulsively avoid reading things on the topic of writing fiction -- though I have read John Gardner and Kurt Vonnegut's books on the subject -- but occasionally there's an article that is short enough for me to read without giving up and is pop