From Beirut to New York

Jazz

2011-05-01T19:09:00.000+03:00

I use the term "jazz" here not so much as a term for a musical art form, as for a mode of being in the world, an improvisational mode of protean, fluid, and flexible dispositions toward reality suspicious of "either/or" viewpoints, dogmatic pronouncements, or supremacist ideologies. To be a jazz freedom fighter is to attempt to galvanize and energize world-weary people into forms of organization with accountable leadership that promote critical exchange and broad reflection. The interplay of individuality and unity is not one of uniformity and unanimity imposed from above but rather of conflict among diverse groupings that reach a dynamic consensus subject to questioning and criticism. As with a soloist in a jazz quartet, quintet or band, individuality is promoted in order to sustain and increase the creative tension with the group--a tension that yields higher levels of performance to achieve the aim of the collective project. This kind of critical and democratic sensibility flies in the face of any poliicing of borders and boundarites of "blackness," maleness," "femaleness," or "whiteness." Black people's rage out to target white supremacy, but also ought to re realize that blackness per se can encompass feminists like Frederick Douglass or W.E.B. Du Bois. Black people's rage should not overlook homophobia, yet also should acknowledge that heterosexuality per se can be associated with so-called "straight" anti-homophobes--just as the struggle against black poverty can be supported by progressive elements of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.

--Cornel West, Race Matters, 1994, Vintage Books, pp. 150-151

How Slavery Dehumanizes the Master

2011-05-01T18:55:00.002+03:00

My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door,--a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. I was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave towards her. She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was accustomed to approach other white ladies. My early instruction was all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested toward her. Her favor was not gained by it; she seemed to be disturbed by it. She did not deem it impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face. The meanest slave was put fully at ease in her presence, and none left without feeling better for having seen her. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music.

But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of ha rsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.

--Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Ch. 6. Retrieved November 26, 2008 from: http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/06.html

Du Bois on Double-Consciousness

2011-05-01T18:28:00.000+03:00

The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, --a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.

--Du Bois, quoted in Cornel West, Race Matters, 1994, Vintage Books, p. 138.

De Tocqueville on Race in America

2011-05-01T17:51:00.000+03:00

I do not imagine that the white and black races will ever live in any country upon an equal footing. But I believe the difficulty to be still greater in the United States than elsewhere. An isolated individual may surmount the prejudices of religion, of his country, or of his race, and if this individual is a king he may effect surprising changes in society; but a whole people cannot rise, as it were, above itself. A despot who should subject the Americans and their former slaves to the same yoke, might perhaps succeed in commingling their races; but as long as the American democracy remains at the head of affairs, no one will undertake so difficult a task; and it may be foreseen that the freer the white population of the United States becomes, the more isolated it will remain.

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835, quoted in Cornel West, Race Matters, 1994, Vintage Books, p. 135.

Relating Across our Human Differences

2011-05-01T17:12:00.001+03:00

Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people. As members of such an economy, we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate. But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion.

--Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider, 1984 quoted in Cornel West, Race Matters, 1994, Vintage Books, p. 93.

bell hooks on white terrorism

2011-02-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

    "Returning to memories of growing up in the social circumstances created by racial apartheid, to all black spaces on the edges of town, I reinhabit a location where black folks associated whiteness with the terrible, the terrifying, the terrorizing. White people were regarded as terrorists, especially those who dared to enter that segregated space of blackness. As a child, I did not know any white people. They were strangers, rarely seen in our neighborhoods. The "official" white men who came across the tracks were there to sell products, Bibles and insurance. They terrorized by economic exploitation. What did I see in the gazes of those white men who crossed our thresholds that made me afraid, that made black children unable to speak? Did they understand at all how strange their whiteness appeared in our living rooms, how threatening? Did they journey across the tracks with the same "adventurous" spirit that other white men carried to Africa, Asia, to those mysterious places they would one day call the "third world"? Did they come to our houses to meet the Other face-to-face and reenact the colonizer role, dominating us on our own turf?
      Their presence terrified me. Whatever their mission, they looked too much like the unofficial white men who came to enact rituals of terror and torture. .. . .
      In the absence of the reality of whiteness, I learned as a child that to be "safe," it was important to recognize the power of whiteness, even to fear it, and to avoid encounter. There was nothing terrifying about the sharing of this knowledge as survival strategy. . .
     Even though I live and move in spaces where I am surrounded by whiteness, there is no comfort that makes the terrorism disappear. All black people in the United States, irrespective of their class status or politics, live with the possibility that they will be terrorized by whiteness."

--bell hooks, "Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination" in White Privilege: essential readings on the other side of racism. 2nd ed. Ed. by Paula S. Rothenberg, 2005, Worth, New York, pp 22-23.

Facebook Status Updates from a South Bronx 10th grader

2011-02-04T23:15:00.001+02:00

Was on the 17 bus smell like mad weed lmao. Times is ruff now nigga gotta be smoking on the buses.

My favorite animal is steak.

white version: 911 what your emergency?
black version: 911 wat the fuck is wrong wit yu?

A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself

It all started when my dog began getting free roll over minutes:)

EVERYONE EBT IS NOW PAYING RENT SO TOMORROW AROUND 4 GO GET ONE TIME IS RUFF.

White people:OMG ''I LOVE THIS SONG.'' Black people: OH YEAH NIGGA THAT MY SHIT.

Ima name my child La'Taniana'Bo'Vanashrianiqualiquanicejeeahann

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,But by the moments that take our breath away.

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.

Can a hoe survive without her pimp?

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

If your voice had a heart what would it be? mine would be steve harvey da nigga is funny.

#333 has some problems wit small childern so hide ur kids and there brother and sister cuz #333 well take ur handbag and start grabbing lmao jp #333 funny pretty ODDDD fun to bee with. HANNNNNN

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

I never did very well in math - I could never seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn't meant my answers literally

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

Health food makes me sick.

I don't have a bank account because I don't know my mother's maiden name.

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words

I got some new underwear the other day. Well, new to me.

Watchin pranks on youtube. Tell me how Dis guy prank walmart saying that he lost his 2 month daughter,and the police had put the walmart on lockdown Lmao.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey

No more Glee or any other shows cuz fox 5 wants more money for there Network there mad Greedy.

WHERE MY METRO CARD! fuck outta here where is it!(clap)Im not wit It!sOmeone getting Fuck up(Clap)Where my Metro card!(clap)lmao so funny in class.

ATTENTION IF UR RIDING ON A AIRPLANE YOU HAVE TO PAY EXTRA FEES LIKE GOING TO THE BATHROOM, pets, Breathing, food and sleeping.

The Mayor is wild Crazy,he says oh they should make a law. saying if ur on food stamps you can't buy soda.

Black pll love soda!

Wdf??.! first weed is illegal now we cant buy soda wit foodstamps!? wat is wit this economy

Black ppl r not the only ones on foodstamps..so the white ppl gonna miss out on the soda too

Yea that true I wonder what's next candy, cereal.

shit i onli have foodstamps for soda...DAMN!!!!

Where the Wild Things Are is a great movie makes want to be a kid forever

When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving.

doing math homework SOOOconfused!

Not Only for science but I Failed math what's the point in summer skewl might as well drop out

Going to Summer Skewl for science regents feel so crappy at least im not goin alone

my mom is annoying!!!!

GoOd night World Hope it ForEver

Most of them say Bored and Don't wanna go to skewl tomrw

Mother Teresa quote

2011-02-01T00:37:00.000+02:00

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you; Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating others could destroy overnight; Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten; Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give your best anyway. You see, in the final analysis, It is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway." - Mother Teresa

Sagging

2011-01-31T15:49:00.003+02:00

So this is the crisis in the 'hood.

Lampposts, laundromats, fences have signs to come to the community meeting. What's the issue? What's corroding our neighborhoods? What do we have to join together to address and stop?

Sagging.

"Pull up your pants, because you look like an idiot."

Another teacher heard my principal tell a student on the way out of his office to pull up his pants. "Do you know where that comes from? Do you know what that means? That comes from prison. If you wore your pants like that, it meant you were someone's bitch. Yeah, easy access." The kid walked out of the office holding up his pants to the point where he had a wedgie.

On another sign, I got a different version of the history. Sagging does come from prison life. It was that the prison guards took away the belts from the inmates because they would get so depressed and hang themselves. They would get depressed from things like being made someone's bitch.

At the end of our scavenger hunt in Central Park, the tie breaker was to find out how much a boat ride cost. The kids took off running. Chris Garrett bound down the stairs, and was ahead, holding his sagging jeans the whole time.

Just like President Obama, I don't want to be seeing anyone's underwear. And I get indecently exposed all the time. Even Chessily (who just happens to be very proud of being a lesbian, and then talks loudly about her sexual escapades which include bagging teachers).

In March, a campaign started in Brooklyn, and then in May, in Queens. And I'm seeing the signs up in Harlem.

Top 5 Bible Verses

2011-01-31T15:40:00.000+02:00

2 Corinthians 4: 8-9 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

Philippians 4: 6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Matthew 11: 28-29 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Top 5 Bible Passages

2011-01-17T17:03:00.004+02:00

Isaiah 43:1-3.
But now, this is what the LORD says—
   he who created you, Jacob,
   he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

Revelation 21: 1-8

¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Genesis 32: 22-31

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
   But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”
   “Jacob,” he answered.
²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
   But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

1Samuel 17: 28-37

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
   Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”

2 Corinthians 3-4

¹ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
⁴ Such confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
⁷ Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹ If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰ For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹ And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! ¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
¹ Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ² Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit offaith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Man with a Guitar on the Train

2011-01-17T10:32:00.004+02:00

"It's taken me 11 years to figure out how to play this thing and avoid the police."

"I love all the people--the Puerto Rican people, the White people, the Mexican people, the crackheads."

The middle-aged, black man sitting across from me with the Nike fitted and blue hoody jacket is laughing his ass off. I am, too.

"Who can guess who sang this song?" Then he starts strumming that old Latino favorite and belting out, "Poh-lice Navidad, Poh-lice Navidad. . ."

I wanted to say, "Richie Valens." But I was almost positive that was wrong. And then it would come off as racist or something because that's the only old, famous Hispanic singer a white girl would know. And then I would be drawing attention to myself. . .

So this other guy shouts out, "Jose Feliciano" Was that a mistake or what? Especially since he said it in a serious sort of way. Most people know better than to play into these people's games. The rest of us watched on, always interested to see what'll happen.

But the man with the guitar responded, "You didn't hear what I said? Police Navidad."

A man gives him some change. "You got the idea, man."

Then he starts walking up and down the aisle with his bag open. "I take Mexican, African, food stamps, turkey leftovers, weed (if you have it), college credits, school lunches."

He sits back down at the other end of the train from me. "This is for the white lady with the brown coat on," as he looked at me. (There was only one other white lady on the train.)

"I've got Sunshine
on the #2 Train.
I guess you say,
you must also do cocaine.
My girl, my girl
Talking about that white lady, my girl."

"I love all the people. This is for the Chinese lady standing in the middle of the train. I learned Chinese songs. I checked out 2 books from the library. This is what they taught me."

"And they were Kung-Fu fighting. Dahnnanana, Dahnanana"

Advice to a New Teacher

2010-10-29T22:10:00.006+03:00

This was a very long e-mail I wrote in 2002 to a friend of a friend who was looking for some advice about starting out as a new teacher.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Avik,

Thanks for thinking of me for next year. I'm actually not going to be in Boston. I'm in Brazil right now, and am pretty positive I'll be staying here over this next school year. (But things are still up in the air.)

That's great that you're going to be a teacher. Honestly, I haven't heard good things about the Teach for America program. Basically, because they put kids into the hardest schools with no support and then they burn out and don't become teachers. My first year I worked at an inner city school in Houston with no training, etc. And honestly it almost killed me. I didn't sleep for three months. Everything about the school was crazy. Somehow I did manage to stick it out, even though the kids and everyone else expected me to drop at any moment. (Because all the other teachers do.) And then I moved to Boston and came to a much better school.

As for advice, I could give tons and tons and tons.

Hmmmmm....

1) Get Wong's First Days of School. I'm not sure if that's the correct title or author. And I've never read it, but everyone says it's good.

2) Make sure you really, really like kids, and that you enjoy them. If you don't like kids and don't like being around them, DROP OUT NOW. I've actually seen people who are in classrooms who don't particularly enjoy kids. Why torture them and yourself?

3) Expect it to be really, really, really hard. Make friends with other teachers and help each other out as much as possible. Having supportive friends and mentors in the building makes all the difference in the world. They're the reason I continue to teach.

4) Managing your time is really, really important. Since you don't know what you're doing, it's going to be hard to be efficient. After four years, I've come up with systems for grading that save time. Ask every teacher about their systems for grading, for conducting class, notebooks, letting kids go to the bathroom, etc. See what people do. (I can tell you mine in another e-mail if you want.) Try not to make school your entire life. But your first year, it probably will be. Try to set up some boundaries with work. Don't bring it home every night, etc.

5) Classroom management will be the hardest thing for you as a first year. (And it's still hard for veterans.) Everyone has their own philosophy, and most of it is trial and error. Don't beat yourself up when things go badly, because they will. So here are my classroom management tips.

---In the classroom, what you say goes period. Don't negotiate. EVER. You'll see how they try to negotiate everything. If you come up with a bad assignment or whatever, learn from your mistake, and make a better assignment for the next time. But don't let them think they can manhandle you.

---Spend as much time as possible with them outside the classroom. Hang out in the halls, before school, after school. Do after school activities. Talk to them. Get to know them. But not in class, because then class would be a joke, and your class has to be serious, where work happens. But do everything possible to establish rapport with them and to know personal things about their life and remember them. KEEP A JOURNAL. And then when you see them in the halls, follow up on conversations.

---When a kid is absent, ask about it when they get back. To show that you noticed they were out. And if you're really, really good (which I never was) you'd call home after 3 days of no-show.

---When a kid is obnoxious and rude, talk to them one-on-one preferably side by side, not confrontational face to face and have a little conversation.
It kind of goes something like this:

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No."

"Well, you got up in the middle of class and slapped Tommy on the back."

"some sort of garbled noise."

"So what are we going to do about this, because you can't get up and hit people, ever, and most especially during class."

"Well, he started it. ... ." (Most of the time, they shift blame and never take responsibility for anything.)

"Okay, but we're not talking about Tommy, and I didn't see it. I saw you hit him. So, because of that, you're going to have to XX( whatever punishment will work, that really depends on the school, the community, etc.) So that you don't have to do X again, what are you going to do next time Tommy calls you a fag."

Hopefully, you get the gist.

Those little conversations are way, way important. The kids do want to voice their opinions, but at the same time it needs to be made perfectly clear, they did something and there are consequences for their

actions.

---Avoid power struggles at all costs, like "Give me that magazine/cell phone/etc." Just walk by them, and tell them to put it away. (The cell phone thing also depends on the building policy, just stick to whatever it is. I decided last year to just give up on the cell phone thing--I don't want to see it, it better not go off in my class. But I treat it kind of like cursing, if it goes off, I give them a disapproving look, which means turn it off or watch it, and usually they apologize and feel bad and turn it off.) Of course, you will have to say "Okay, Johnny, move to this seat up in the front." And Johnny will say no. So then you repeat yourself, and see if they do it. And then if they totally refuse. You say "We'll deal with this later." And then a serious punishment needs to happen.

---Become best friends with the dean of discipline/assistant principal. These people will save you. Hopefully, if they're good. If they're no good, that makes your life harder. You should try to deal with as much stuff as possible in your class. Again, establishing rapport with the kids is key.

---I read somewhere that good teachers are highly compassionate and highly dominant. They communicate that they care about the kids and genuinely like the kids, and at the same time, it's clear that the teacher and not the kids are in charge of the classroom.

---You don't want them to be your friend. They should think Mr. Chatterjee is a serious teacher. We do work in that class. Do everything possible to ensure that your classroom is serious and work happens, and that you maintain high standards. It's so easy to give into the kids and to school and to all the messed up stuff around you. This sounds really easy, but you'll see what I'm talking about once you're in it. You communicate you care about the kids, when you do everything possible to make sure they have a good education, which means not giving in to their complaints.

---They will always complain. Just say "Too bad, so sad." Don't take anything personally. They love saying, "This is boring." Again, too bad, so sad. They'll do whatever they can to get under your skin.

---Most of the time, like 95%, they're lying. Accept this fact and don't let them get out of stuff because of whatever story they make up. Sometimes they're grandma really did die. It's always a tough call. But if they're trying to get out of something, then most of the time they're lying. Don't look like a chump by believing everything. But then don't be an insensitive jerk if something really bad happened, because really bad stuff happens all the time. This is a balance, just like everything.

---Try to be as down as possible with everything. If I didn't speak Spanish, that would have been very, very bad because then I wouldn't have understood what they were saying in class. Pay attention to what they're saying. Don't be clueless. Start studying popular culture NOW. Listen to all the hard core hip hop stations. Know the songs, because they're going to be referring and alluding to them. Watch movies. Figure out all the ghetto lingo. Walk and drive around the neighborhood. Know about the McDonald's they go to after school. The BJ's they shop at. Etc. You want to pepper your lessons with stuff from their lives. "So when you go to Royal's, get X." Know streets, buildings, etc. The more you know about their world, the better. You'd be surprised how much this stuff helps in the classroom.

---Have eyes and ears in the back of your head. Just pay attention to everything. Be constantly vigilant. Just about every bad discipline problem could have been prevented. An adult's active presence is crucial. It's never really like the whole class just all started doing X. Someone started it. When you're vigilant, you can say "Tommy, you're going to start that again." And wow, you just saved yourself a ton of hassles.

---Kids love shows. They want to be entertained. School is boring. If they can upset the teacher, and make the teacher really mad and frustrated, so that they're cussing or even better crying, then that's fun. Do your best to show that they're not getting to you. Remain calm, and maintain an attitude like, I've seen this all before, and it'll pass. Because it will, especially if they don't get a reaction out of you.

6) Don't take anything personally. And try not to beat yourself up about things. |It's really easy to get into the "I suck" mentality. You will probably get really depressed, not just because you think your class will suck, but because of the harsh reality of life. The kids have really, really hard things they're dealing with, and it's really, really overwhelming. A big part of my depression the first year was coming to grips with the reality of most kids' situations. I had the opportunity to go to school in a stable environment with everything supporting me. It's really, really painful when you realize all the things your kids don't have, and how unfair everything in the world truly is.

7) Kids are fun. Don't ever lose your sense of humor. But try not to laugh when they're being obnoxious in class. (I always do, and that's probably really bad. But hey, it's how I cope.) Fall in love with the kids, and pray for them. I don't know if you're a religious person, but in tough situations, you'll realize that you can only do so much, God really needs to take care of the rest.

Feel free to e-mail me about anything. Veteran teachers have always saved me.

Just remember you're not alone. Every teacher has gone through this. . . And that you don't suck.

Good luck with everything,

Jane

Edward Said quote

2010-10-29T21:52:00.000+03:00

A sense of citizenship and of critical awareness will allow you to see the whole of human history as a common enterprise, and not as a kind of Darwinian race for domination and supremacy. Cultures are. . . in a state of continuing development and dynamic change. . . As citizens your obligation towards your community is also a commitment to the existence of other communities, and that is what the poet William Butler Yeats called the dialogue of self and soul in the dialogue taking place inside us as vigilant seekers after truth and justice, without which there can be no real education, no dialogue of cultures, no real understanding.

Edward W. Said, AUB Commencement Speech, June 2000

MainGate: American University of Beirut Quarterly Magazine, Fall 2006, Beirut, Lebanon, “From the AUB Archives: In War and Peace:” p. 39

A Desk Job

2010-10-26T21:20:00.000+03:00

"Behind such a desk, a man resembles an invalid in an orthopaedic brace. He cannot stand up normally to shake hands, but must first disengage himself delicately from his chair and cautiously rise, attending more to the desk than the visitor, as it takes only a nudge for this rickety, spindly-legged contraption to collapse with a roar on to the parquet. The seriousness of a whole office disintegrates into sniggering when instead of an official enthroned behind a monumental sculptured desk it sees a crouching, cramped wretch imprisoned in a miniature cut-rate snare. I cannot suffer a desk!"

Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Soccer War, 1986, pp. 145-146

Black Application

2010-10-14T15:15:00.003+03:00

Last year, my 9th grade students in the Bronx came up with an application to be black. Here it is:
(Thanks, Shakiaria, for giving me permission to post it.)
_____________________________________________________________

Black Application

Name:

Mothers Address:

(usually Black Kids Dont Leave they mama house till they get kicked out) [age mim 3O+]

BBM pin: [Blackberry Messsenger] (Note : one aspect of being black is owning a BLACKBERRY ! if not pls run to your nearest phone store & Negotiate with the clerk .. Black ppl ALWAYS negotiate EVEN IF THE ITEM IS on sale .

1.Have You ever Shoplift? if so list how many times

2.How Many Times have you been arrested?

3.How Many warrants do you Have?

4. How Many Tickets Have You Not paid?

5. When is Your Next Court date?

6. Do You Have A Cousin Named Shaquana?

7.How Many R. Kelly CD's Do you Own?

8. Do You Use the Word "Nigga" after every sentence?

9. Do You Drink a 4O with every Meal?

1O. Your Dream as a A Lil Kid, was 2 be in the NBA? (Guys ONLY)

11. Do You own a Frying Pan? (every black person Love to fry)

12. How Many ppl do u owe money to?

13. How Many Times have you changed your phone number
in a month?

14. How Many Baby Mothers Do You Have?

15. Do You feel there are kids out there you might not know about?

16. Do you Have a BJ's Membership Card? if Not Please go register for one A.S.A.P !

Please Be aware That Your Application would Not Be submitted if Your answers do Not Meet the required criteria!

Bonquisha Latique Laray Jackson
Supervisor of "I want 2 Be Black"offices

___________________________________________
There were other things in previous drafts that didn't make it to this final version:

17. How much watermelon is in your fridge?
18. What's your favorite chicken spot?
19. List all your family members--through birth or marriage, all halfs, steps, etc. (There were 3 pages for this part.)

New York City irony

2010-09-16T00:15:00.001+03:00

The organizer of the African American Day Parade in Harlem (The Largest Black Parade is America) is Abe Snyder.

When they mentioned it at the community meeting (where I was the only white person out of a group of eight black people), I was the only one to display shock and dismay. They told me, "You must be new to the neighborhood."

Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine 9/20/2010

2010-09-15T23:24:00.001+03:00

In response to the cover article, "How to Fix Our Schools" by Amanda Ripley. (The on-line version is abridged from the print version.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems that Ripley has missed the major debate in education since No Child Left Behind was passed in 2001. The research is showing that the accountability measures that she is heralding as saving the future of American education are not actually closing the achievement gap. Neither does she address the criticism of the unions concerning charter schools. The reason they do so well is because they don’t serve special-education students and English Language Learners-- populations that keep test scores down. They also keep kids in school for longer hours.

If we fire all the “bad” teachers, where are we going to find this reserve army of “good” ones? If we shut down all the schools, the one place where most of these students find stability in their lives, where are they going to go? A different over-crowded institution that has to start everything from scratch?

South Bronx Lexicon

2010-09-15T01:21:00.001+03:00

beastin'=going crazy.
becky=giving neck/head; blow my spot; something sexual (I didn't ask my students for too much detailed description.) "Give me that becky."
dead/dead-ass=really and truly "I'm not kidding. I'm dead-ass."
head= same as "becky"; getting into someone's business
hype= happy and excited "That girl called him last night. He's hype"
mad=a lot
my nigga=my buddy, my pal; used when trying to endear yourself to someone. "Can you give me that pen, my nigga?"
O.D.'ing=over the top going crazy, more extreme than whilin'. It comes from over-dosing. According to Urban Dictionary, over doing it or doing something excessively.
sonning=putting someone down "He's my son."
sucking me= getting into my business. Response to harassment or an insult. "Stop sucking me."= Get off my back.
throwing under the bus= betraying someone. My students don't say this, their parents do, when I talk to them on the phone, or in a parent-teacher-principal conference
tight=pissed off angry "Cecilia just hit him in the face. He's tight."
violate=disrespect ("dis" is old school, and interestingly, violar means to rape in Spanish) "He just violated." "You violated my whole set."
whilin'=crazy
wild=a lot

Beastin', ODin', whilin' pretty much mean the same thing. ODin' is the strongest.

A massacre is not a massacre by Ghassan Hage

2010-09-15T01:14:00.001+03:00

A massacre is not a massacre
Ghassan Hage, The Electronic Intifada, 3 June 2010

Occupation is not occupation (Anne Paq/ActiveStills)

I don't write poems but, in any case, poems are not poems.

Long ago, I was made to understand that Palestine was not Palestine;
I was also informed that Palestinians were not Palestinians;
They also explained to me that ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing.
And when naive old me saw freedom fighters they patiently showed me that they were not freedom fighters, and that resistance was not resistance.
And when, stupidly, I noticed arrogance, oppression and humiliation they benevolently enlightened me so I can see that arrogance was not arrogance, oppression was not oppression, and humiliation was not humiliation.

I saw misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentration camp.
But they told me that they were experts in misery, racism, inhumanity and concentration camps and I have to take their word for it: this was not misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentration camp.
Over the years they've taught me so many things: invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation, colonialism was not colonialism and apartheid was not apartheid.

They opened my simple mind to even more complex truths that my poor brain could not on its own compute like: "having nuclear weapons" was not "having nuclear weapons," "not having weapons of mass destruction" was "having weapons of mass destruction."

And, democracy (in the Gaza Strip) was not democracy.
Having second class citizens (in Israel) was democracy.
So you'll excuse me if I am not surprised to learn today that there were more things that I thought were evident that are not: peace activists are not peace activists, piracy is not piracy, the massacre of unarmed people is not the massacre of unarmed people.

I have such a limited brain and my ignorance is unlimited.
And they're so fucking intelligent. Really.

Ghassan Hage is professor of anthropology and social theory at the University of Melbourne.

Chinese School vs. Black School vs. White School

2010-09-14T06:46:00.001+03:00

African-American father to five-year-old daughter: You see? That's why I send you to a Chinese school. Because those Chinese kids know how to do math. You gotta know how to do math if you want to make something of yourself. If I sent you to a black school, you'd just turn into a crackhead. If I sent you to a white school, you'd turn into an asshole. But those Chinese kids, man, they know how to do shit.

--4 Train

From the blog Overheard in New York

A Sin And A Shame: Soul Voyeurism* And Harlem “Gospel Tours” [Racialigious]

2010-09-14T03:52:00.002+03:00

Some quotes from a great article by Fiqah, originally published at Possum Stew
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . .when the tourists watched the choir and the other attendees with that peculiar mixture of fascination, fear and envy that White people in spaces of color often seem to have.
. . .

Here, an excerpt from an account by a White tourist from London** who went to a Harlem church specifically for the music:

I meet Tim Rawlins at the Memorial Baptist church choir practise. He’s rare proof of the fact that white men can sing gospel. He says I’ve got to surrender to the music – feel it – and forget I’m English.

That statement, which positively reeks of cultural fetishizing, gave me a headache. Forget you’re “English” (read: White and proper) and “surrender” (is it attacking you?) to the wild, untamed Black Black Blackity Blackness of the music. Hallelujah, let the Othering begin.

. . .
The unexamined sense of entitlement that accompanies the idea of White people being welcome in any space is the factor that makes these tours possible. (I’m fully convinced that if 100 casually-dressed and snap-happy Black Americans rolled up into a Lutheran church on a Sunday in Haarlem, the ensuing outrage at their gall would cause an international incident…but I digress.)

Woman at Point Zero

2010-09-10T17:28:00.003+03:00

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (London: Zed Books Ltd, 1975.)

“I developed a love of books, for with every book I learned something new. . . But I preferred books written about rulers. I read about a ruler whose female servants and concubines were as numerous as his army, and about another whose only interests in life were wine, women, and whipping his slaves. A third cared little for women, but enjoyed wars, killing, and torturing men. Another of these rulers loved food, money and hoarding riches without end. Still another was possessed with such an admiration for himself and his greatness that for him no one else in the land existed. There was also a ruler so obsessed with plots and conspiracies that he spent all his time distorting the facts of history and trying to fool his people.

I discovered that all these rulers were men. What they had in common was an avaricious and distorted personality, a never-ending appetite for money, sex and unlimited power. They were men who sowed corruption on the earth, and plundered their peoples, men endowed with loud voices, a capacity for persuasion, for choosing sweet words and shooting poisoned arrows. Thus, the truth about them was revealed only after their death, and as a result I discovered that history tended to repeat itself with a foolish obstinacy.” (26-27)

“After I had spent three years in the company, I realized that as a prostitute I had been looked upon with more respect, and been valued more highly than all the female employees, myself included . . . I came to realize that a female employee is more afraid of losing her job than a prostitute is of losing her life. An employee is scared of losing her job and becoming a prostitute because she does not understand that the prostitute’s life is in fact better than hers. And so she pays the price of her illusory fears with her life, her health, her body, and her mind. She pays the highest price for things of the lowest value. I now knew that all of us were prostitutes who sold themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a cheap one. I also knew that if I lost my job, all I would lose with it was the miserable salary, the contempt I could read every day in the eyes of the higher level executives when they looked a the lesser female officials, the humiliating pressure of male bodies on mine when I rode in the bus, and the long morning queue in front of a perpetually overflowing toilet.” (75-76)

“But in love I gave all: my capabilities, my efforts, my feelings, my deepest emotions. Like a saint, I gave everything I had without ever counting the cost. I wanted nothing, nothing at all, except perhaps one thing. To be saved through love from it all. To find myself again, to recover the self I had lost. To become a human being who was not looked upon with scorn, or despised, but respected, and cherished and made to feel whole.” (86)

“My virtue, like the virtue of all those who are poor, could never be considered a quality, or an asset, but rather looked upon as a kind of stupidity, or simple-mindedness, to be despised even more than depravity or vice.” (86)

“The time had come for me to shed the last grain of virtue, the last drop of sanctity in my blood. Now I was aware of the reality, of the truth. Now I knew what I wanted. Now there was no room for illusions. A successful prostitute was better than a misled saint. All women are victims of deception. Men impose deception on women and punish them for being deceived, force them down to the lowest level and punish them for falling so low, bind them in marriage and then chastise them with menial service for life, or insults, or blows.

Now I realized that the least deluded of all women was the prostitute. That marriage was the system built on the most cruel suffering for women.” (86-87)

I hope for nothing

I want for nothing

I fear nothing

I am free. (87)

“Now I had learnt that honour required large sums of money to protect it, but that large sums of money could not be obtained without losing one’s honour. An infernal circle whirling round and round, dragging me up and down with it.” (91)

“. . .the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another. Because I was intelligent I preferred to be a free prostitute, rather than an enslaved wife. . . Everybody has a price, and every profession is paid a salary. The more respectable the profession, the higher the salary, and a person’s price goes up as he climbs the social ladder. One day, when I donated some money to a charitable association, the newspaper published pictures of me and sang my praises as the model of a citizen with a sense of civic responsibility. And so from then on, whenever I needed a dose of honour or fame, I had only to draw some money from the bank.” (91)

The Rescue Industry: Turning Prostitutes into Victims

2010-09-10T17:16:00.003+03:00

On the opposing side are advocates of decriminalization, including unionized “sex workers” and other groups, who see a wide range of transactions taking place under the heading of prostitution. Captive trafficking victims—“modern-day slaves”—occupy one end of that spectrum. (In Calcutta, organized sex workers campaign against trafficking, identifying victims, especially minors, and turning them over to rehabilitation centers.) Some of these critics see a self-admiring narrative at work in the “rescue industry,” one that seeks to turn all prostitutes, but particularly migrants, into victims.

The Countertraffickers: Rescuing the victims of the global sex trade by William Finnegan in The New Yorker, May 5, 2008

Dance Quotes

2010-07-31T15:07:00.000+03:00

Let that day be lost to us on which we did not dance once!--Friedrich Nietzsche

To dance at all is to confront oneself. It is the art of honesty. . .It is impossible to dance out of the side of your mouth. You tell the truth when you dance. If you lie, you hurt yourself. --Shirley Maclaine

Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order. ~Samuel Beckett

Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen? ~Friedrich Nietzsche

It is of course possible to dance a prayer. ~Glade Byron Addams

I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Stifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips. ~Adabella Radici

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Through dancing many maidens have been unmaidened, whereby I may say it is the storehouse and nursery of bastardy. ~John Northbrooke
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. ~William James

Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery. ~Martha Graham

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~Vicki Baum