Yesterday was supposed to be my first day back after Thanksgiving break. But Sunday night I got pretty sick. About once a year I get some flu-like or food-poisoning like thing. If it was food-poisoning, it was Oreo cookies, which seems pretty unlikely to me. But you never know. I'm feeling not quite normal today but close enough. Having the day off did allow me to catch up on my grading, and that feels good. Now I need to pay bills and do some graduate school stuff and then I'll be in good shape.
There are now Star Trek books for children - they are part of a series on the Starfleet Academy. I read one, and it was pretty good, it was about how Spock chose to enter Starfleet instead of the Vulcan Science Academy.
Watched Bourne Identity last night - one of my favorite movies. The Supremacy is also good - but it has more action, less plot/character development and deviates even more from the books. Better car chase scene, which is really saying something, since the first one was already excellent.
I'm really enjoying Ninhajaba's blog lately - check it out if you can.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Thanksgiving
I've been off work since Wednesday, back tomorrow. Wednesday was spent working on graduate school papers and going with my brother to look for a truck.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. My brother and his family, me, and Byron joined my parents at their house. We had a halal turkey lunch and then we played the Farming game for about eight hours. The Farming Game is kind of like Monopoly except better. It is a board game in which you plan crops and harvest them, etc. Amazon has it if you're curious. My dad played just for a little while and then left the group. That's normal, but he's really depressed right now and not willing to do anything about it.
All day Friday I was with mom helping her do Christmas shopping. We usually don't shop the day after Thanksgiving but mom definitely didn't want to hang around at home all weekend so we went and did her shopping. We were going to see Spongebob Friday night, but the kids weren't home (my brother's kids) and they'd be really disappointed if we saw it without them. Alexander is getting poor reviews so we decided to pass on that one for now. We saw another movie that isn't worth seeing, Bridget Jones. What a whiny, annoying character. But, I did get to spend my gift certificate that Lori gave me for helping her with something. I bought Elf at Target Saturday morning while mom and I were getting a Christmas present there. We had seen what we wanted to get for my nephew on Friday but the prices ended up not being better anywhere else so we had to go back and get it before the sale price ended or they sold out. Saturday afternoon I just kind of hung out, snow came in and I was tired. I watched Elf. :)
Today it is cold and snowy again. I need to do some grading later on.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. My brother and his family, me, and Byron joined my parents at their house. We had a halal turkey lunch and then we played the Farming game for about eight hours. The Farming Game is kind of like Monopoly except better. It is a board game in which you plan crops and harvest them, etc. Amazon has it if you're curious. My dad played just for a little while and then left the group. That's normal, but he's really depressed right now and not willing to do anything about it.
All day Friday I was with mom helping her do Christmas shopping. We usually don't shop the day after Thanksgiving but mom definitely didn't want to hang around at home all weekend so we went and did her shopping. We were going to see Spongebob Friday night, but the kids weren't home (my brother's kids) and they'd be really disappointed if we saw it without them. Alexander is getting poor reviews so we decided to pass on that one for now. We saw another movie that isn't worth seeing, Bridget Jones. What a whiny, annoying character. But, I did get to spend my gift certificate that Lori gave me for helping her with something. I bought Elf at Target Saturday morning while mom and I were getting a Christmas present there. We had seen what we wanted to get for my nephew on Friday but the prices ended up not being better anywhere else so we had to go back and get it before the sale price ended or they sold out. Saturday afternoon I just kind of hung out, snow came in and I was tired. I watched Elf. :)
Today it is cold and snowy again. I need to do some grading later on.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
I would like to call your attention to a link down in my fun links section that is particular good, imho.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is essentially a fictional journal / blog of a 7th grader. It is hilarious and makes lots of good points.
For example, if you read next week's entries, you can get a classic example of a bad teacher. His English teacher reminds me of my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Moody. She is just about the only teacher in my whole K-12 career that made me mad. Every year she read Little House on the Prairie Books to her classes. Instead of reading to us, she usually just complained to us about how bad we were so that she never had time to read us. Excuse me, we're third graders - that's your classroom management problem and telling us about it does nothing to solve it. Then, one day a parent came to talk to her during class. So she left the class area into the hallway. I can't say she left the classroom, because we were an open concept school and we didn't have classrooms. All third grade classes were in one large open area divided only by cubby shelves. Same for every other grade except Kindergarten, which actually had two separate rooms. But kindergarten had some overlapping space - namely the centers (fun!) and the pit - a literal pit in the ground where we met for story time, etc. The library also had a pit. How I loved the pit - it was just cool! In kindergarten, the pit was associated with the filly milly box, a box that if we were good we got to reach into and pull out a prize to take home - like pink plastic butterfly magnets or spider rings!
I guess people think the open concept is weird, but having grown up in it we never found a problem with it and liked it. We were not distracted by the other classes but we did know when they had specials like art or music and when their lunch and recess times were and if they got in really big trouble. But other than that, we were too busy in our classes to know what they were doing. It did kind of unite us - we thought of ourselves as a grade as a whole instead of a bunch of separate classes exclusively. I'm a person who likes to see the big picture - so I liked knowing what was going on in the other classes yet it never distracted me. At the same time, that is why I like living in Colorado - you look outside and you can actually SEE WHERE YOU ARE and where you are going - not like those annoying places out east where you'd need to burn down a forest to get a lay of the land. I feel claustrophobic driving on those highways out there where there is nothing to look at but the road and even then you can't see but 400 yards of road in front of you because it turns every few seconds.
Back to Ms. Moody and the parent. While she left, we had nothing to do. So, we talked. We were not way out of hand, we were not throwing things, we were not out of our seats. Well, when she came back she threw a hissy fit and went on a tirade about how awful we were for talking while she was talking to the parent. Then she did the dumbest thing imaginable. She asked third graders to tattle on each other and tell her who were the main culprits. Well, duh, we were all talking. But, no, she let people raise their hands, she picked some of them to call on, and then that kid got to tell one someone and say they were talking. And once your name was given up by someone, you were not allowed to give any names to her because that would be retaliation. Obviously, my name was given or I probably wouldn't remember this at the age of 30. There were kids who had been talking more loudly or whatever who did not get called. Those of us who were given up had to stay after school, where she went on about how bad we were and how we would lose centers and recess for a week and how we needed to write letters to our parents about what we did. Then she looked right at me, singled me out, and said how she knew my mother and knew how disappointed my mother would be. I was probably in tears by this point. When I met my mom later, I told her what happened and she thought exactly what I thought, that it was ridiculous. I didn't get angry until later because up to that point in my life teachers could do no wrong. I had always practically worshipped my teachers and been a really good student. I stayed that way, but she became an exception to the rule in my book. The statement she said to me about my mother was totally false. She didn't really know my mother and I knew my mother would not think it was that big of a deal and be disappointed in me, and she wasn't.
So go read Diary of a Wimpy Kid starting here Day 86
to read about a Ms. Moody - like teacher, then if you like it you may find yourself going back to read from the first day of the journal.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is essentially a fictional journal / blog of a 7th grader. It is hilarious and makes lots of good points.
For example, if you read next week's entries, you can get a classic example of a bad teacher. His English teacher reminds me of my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Moody. She is just about the only teacher in my whole K-12 career that made me mad. Every year she read Little House on the Prairie Books to her classes. Instead of reading to us, she usually just complained to us about how bad we were so that she never had time to read us. Excuse me, we're third graders - that's your classroom management problem and telling us about it does nothing to solve it. Then, one day a parent came to talk to her during class. So she left the class area into the hallway. I can't say she left the classroom, because we were an open concept school and we didn't have classrooms. All third grade classes were in one large open area divided only by cubby shelves. Same for every other grade except Kindergarten, which actually had two separate rooms. But kindergarten had some overlapping space - namely the centers (fun!) and the pit - a literal pit in the ground where we met for story time, etc. The library also had a pit. How I loved the pit - it was just cool! In kindergarten, the pit was associated with the filly milly box, a box that if we were good we got to reach into and pull out a prize to take home - like pink plastic butterfly magnets or spider rings!
I guess people think the open concept is weird, but having grown up in it we never found a problem with it and liked it. We were not distracted by the other classes but we did know when they had specials like art or music and when their lunch and recess times were and if they got in really big trouble. But other than that, we were too busy in our classes to know what they were doing. It did kind of unite us - we thought of ourselves as a grade as a whole instead of a bunch of separate classes exclusively. I'm a person who likes to see the big picture - so I liked knowing what was going on in the other classes yet it never distracted me. At the same time, that is why I like living in Colorado - you look outside and you can actually SEE WHERE YOU ARE and where you are going - not like those annoying places out east where you'd need to burn down a forest to get a lay of the land. I feel claustrophobic driving on those highways out there where there is nothing to look at but the road and even then you can't see but 400 yards of road in front of you because it turns every few seconds.
Back to Ms. Moody and the parent. While she left, we had nothing to do. So, we talked. We were not way out of hand, we were not throwing things, we were not out of our seats. Well, when she came back she threw a hissy fit and went on a tirade about how awful we were for talking while she was talking to the parent. Then she did the dumbest thing imaginable. She asked third graders to tattle on each other and tell her who were the main culprits. Well, duh, we were all talking. But, no, she let people raise their hands, she picked some of them to call on, and then that kid got to tell one someone and say they were talking. And once your name was given up by someone, you were not allowed to give any names to her because that would be retaliation. Obviously, my name was given or I probably wouldn't remember this at the age of 30. There were kids who had been talking more loudly or whatever who did not get called. Those of us who were given up had to stay after school, where she went on about how bad we were and how we would lose centers and recess for a week and how we needed to write letters to our parents about what we did. Then she looked right at me, singled me out, and said how she knew my mother and knew how disappointed my mother would be. I was probably in tears by this point. When I met my mom later, I told her what happened and she thought exactly what I thought, that it was ridiculous. I didn't get angry until later because up to that point in my life teachers could do no wrong. I had always practically worshipped my teachers and been a really good student. I stayed that way, but she became an exception to the rule in my book. The statement she said to me about my mother was totally false. She didn't really know my mother and I knew my mother would not think it was that big of a deal and be disappointed in me, and she wasn't.
So go read Diary of a Wimpy Kid starting here Day 86
to read about a Ms. Moody - like teacher, then if you like it you may find yourself going back to read from the first day of the journal.
It's Truck Season! No, Wabbit Season!
I have a big paper for graduate school to write today. I have the day off for Thanksgiving break. My friend Laura called yesterday and left a message for me; half way through it she remembered that not everyone got the whole week off like she did. :) Well, good for her. A two-day work week wasn't bad either. I need to do grading still, I actually brought it home.
My brother showed up with his kids today. He is a teacher, too, so he was also off today. We got lunch and drove around looking for trucks. He wants a 4x4 crew or extended cab full-size diesel truck with decent mileage for under 20 grand. He's been looking for months. And after today he's still looking.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving at mom's. I got a halal turkey in the refrigerator right now. Byron is joining us, which is good. Laura left him all alone..... We usually have turkey and rolls and green bean casserole and cranberry sauce (for dad), pumpkin pie, relish tray stuff like celery with cheese and peanut butter and olives and cheese and sometimes mashed potatoes too. And stuffing.
I hope dad will be in a good mood tomorrow. Being out of work he's been depressed. I think he lost his job because he missed too much work with all his health problems.
So I heard yesterday that Seinfeld is now out on DVD. I'm not running out to buy it, but Seinfeld was an interesting show, kind of a commentary on selfishl deceitful people. My mom hated it. The characters are all really self-absorbed. But sometimes it was really funny the situations they got themselves into. I really despised George, the character played by Jason Alexander, and as a result, I now can't stand Jason Alexander in anything.
I have tons of reading to do - Hinson at work gave me one of his Star Trek library books to read about the Dominion Wars during this week. So I brought him in a whole bag of ST books from my shed - stuff that didn't sell at the garage sale. I ended up bringing some back in to the house to keep for myself. :)
Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. Canadians had theirs last month already.....
Drop me a line if you stop by and read this, especially if you know what my title is referencing.....
My brother showed up with his kids today. He is a teacher, too, so he was also off today. We got lunch and drove around looking for trucks. He wants a 4x4 crew or extended cab full-size diesel truck with decent mileage for under 20 grand. He's been looking for months. And after today he's still looking.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving at mom's. I got a halal turkey in the refrigerator right now. Byron is joining us, which is good. Laura left him all alone..... We usually have turkey and rolls and green bean casserole and cranberry sauce (for dad), pumpkin pie, relish tray stuff like celery with cheese and peanut butter and olives and cheese and sometimes mashed potatoes too. And stuffing.
I hope dad will be in a good mood tomorrow. Being out of work he's been depressed. I think he lost his job because he missed too much work with all his health problems.
So I heard yesterday that Seinfeld is now out on DVD. I'm not running out to buy it, but Seinfeld was an interesting show, kind of a commentary on selfishl deceitful people. My mom hated it. The characters are all really self-absorbed. But sometimes it was really funny the situations they got themselves into. I really despised George, the character played by Jason Alexander, and as a result, I now can't stand Jason Alexander in anything.
I have tons of reading to do - Hinson at work gave me one of his Star Trek library books to read about the Dominion Wars during this week. So I brought him in a whole bag of ST books from my shed - stuff that didn't sell at the garage sale. I ended up bringing some back in to the house to keep for myself. :)
Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. Canadians had theirs last month already.....
Drop me a line if you stop by and read this, especially if you know what my title is referencing.....
Monday, November 22, 2004
nothing much, but feel free to comment anyway.
I'm sinking in a pile of papers to grade. Help, Aaah, help... :)
Friday I went to see National Treasure with mom, we found it to be a really fun movie.
Saturday and Sunday were WAY cold so I stayed inside most of those days. I theoretically finished shopping for my non-Muslim family and friends for Christmas.
Got annoyed at a lady on one of my discussion groups, but I won't go into it, I am trying to just forget about it because all that discussion group stuff that goes on is usually a lot of hullaballoo anyway. I get annoyed sometimes because the groups are often my only Muslim connection and I want it to be peaceful not catty or nasty or whatever. So sometimes I am debating whether to reply to correct some wrong knowledge or whatever or just to let it go....
Looking forward to Thanksgiving break! Wednesday I plan to write a grad paper most of the day. Thursday at my parents' house. I don't know about the rest yet.
Friday I went to see National Treasure with mom, we found it to be a really fun movie.
Saturday and Sunday were WAY cold so I stayed inside most of those days. I theoretically finished shopping for my non-Muslim family and friends for Christmas.
Got annoyed at a lady on one of my discussion groups, but I won't go into it, I am trying to just forget about it because all that discussion group stuff that goes on is usually a lot of hullaballoo anyway. I get annoyed sometimes because the groups are often my only Muslim connection and I want it to be peaceful not catty or nasty or whatever. So sometimes I am debating whether to reply to correct some wrong knowledge or whatever or just to let it go....
Looking forward to Thanksgiving break! Wednesday I plan to write a grad paper most of the day. Thursday at my parents' house. I don't know about the rest yet.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Pebbles and Brackets
I like this story below. I always try to encourage my students to expand their thinking and have positive attitudes.
Today I went with a few students to a math contest down at CSU Pueblo, formerly USC. They don't seem happy about the name change from USC to a branch of CSU. Anyway, they did all right. They won one round of the team competitions and three of my students placed honorable mention in the written individual test. D-11 in general kicked butt, we had lots of awards across the district. Now, we went mainly for the experience and to have fun. We don't drill for these things, we just show up and do it. But even so, I was annoyed by the bracket system for the team competitions. They had all the small rural schools against each other and all the large urban schools against each other. The result is that small schools are guaranteed to be in the final rounds even though they are generally MUCH less competent than many of the larger schools who got knocked out by other large schools in the early rounds. For example, my team lost to a team that won the consolation round by defeating a team called Centauri who only had to beat Rocky Ford and Kim to get there and who was totally blown out of the water. My team could have beaten all the small school teams, even the one that took second place by beating all the other small schools but not the large school that made it to the finals. I understand wanting to give small schools a chance. But then the competition isn't really fair. Further, teams that lost in the first round got to continue, but teams that lost in any other round were eliminated. I think they should be more consistent - randomly assign brackets or have two separate brackets - 1A - 3A schools, and then 4A - 5A schools, and also have consistent single elimination or consistent double elimination.
Okay, I guess I'll try to get off my high horse now.
Well, I started two grad courses today. I'm doubling up trying to finish sooner. I figure this is the time to do it because we actually get a little time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas so even though it is hard I'll get a break.
Now on to the story, hope you enjoy it:
THE PEBBLE STORY
Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of
owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender.
The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful
daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's
debt if he could marry his daughter.
Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the
cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.
He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an
empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.
If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's
debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry
him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to
pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
All the villagers were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's
field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles.
As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two
black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a
pebble from the bag. Now, imagine you were standing in the field.
What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her,
what would you have told her?
Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and
expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to
save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the
hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and
logical thinking.
The girl's dilemma can not be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers.
What would you recommend to the Girl to do? ;;;;;;;
Well, what she did was :
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without
looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where
it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag
for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."
Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked
the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty,
the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely
advantageous one.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only
that we don't attempt to think out of the box.
Today I went with a few students to a math contest down at CSU Pueblo, formerly USC. They don't seem happy about the name change from USC to a branch of CSU. Anyway, they did all right. They won one round of the team competitions and three of my students placed honorable mention in the written individual test. D-11 in general kicked butt, we had lots of awards across the district. Now, we went mainly for the experience and to have fun. We don't drill for these things, we just show up and do it. But even so, I was annoyed by the bracket system for the team competitions. They had all the small rural schools against each other and all the large urban schools against each other. The result is that small schools are guaranteed to be in the final rounds even though they are generally MUCH less competent than many of the larger schools who got knocked out by other large schools in the early rounds. For example, my team lost to a team that won the consolation round by defeating a team called Centauri who only had to beat Rocky Ford and Kim to get there and who was totally blown out of the water. My team could have beaten all the small school teams, even the one that took second place by beating all the other small schools but not the large school that made it to the finals. I understand wanting to give small schools a chance. But then the competition isn't really fair. Further, teams that lost in the first round got to continue, but teams that lost in any other round were eliminated. I think they should be more consistent - randomly assign brackets or have two separate brackets - 1A - 3A schools, and then 4A - 5A schools, and also have consistent single elimination or consistent double elimination.
Okay, I guess I'll try to get off my high horse now.
Well, I started two grad courses today. I'm doubling up trying to finish sooner. I figure this is the time to do it because we actually get a little time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas so even though it is hard I'll get a break.
Now on to the story, hope you enjoy it:
THE PEBBLE STORY
Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of
owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender.
The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful
daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's
debt if he could marry his daughter.
Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the
cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.
He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an
empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.
If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's
debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry
him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to
pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
All the villagers were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's
field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles.
As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two
black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a
pebble from the bag. Now, imagine you were standing in the field.
What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her,
what would you have told her?
Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and
expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to
save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the
hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and
logical thinking.
The girl's dilemma can not be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers.
What would you recommend to the Girl to do? ;;;;;;;
Well, what she did was :
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without
looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where
it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag
for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."
Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked
the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty,
the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely
advantageous one.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only
that we don't attempt to think out of the box.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Mid-week update
Even though we just had Eid, I've been fasting still except for Eid day to make up the days I couldn't fast. But today I'm not going to do it. Yesterday I was so foggy and had so little energy that I decided I better eat today and see if that makes a difference.
The CSEA meeting last night went until around 7:30. Lots of stuff on the agenda but nothing I feel like sharing right now.
One graduate course ends today, I have one more paper to write. Then I have two starting tomorrow.
I thought it was interesting this morning to read about the Republican party possibly lifting its policy on not allowing an indicted person in leadership so Tom Daschle can keep his position. They came up with that policy a few years ago because of someone in democratic leadership who had been indicted, and now that it is someone from their own party they want to change it. Both parties will change everything if it is in their favor, it seems.
The CSEA meeting last night went until around 7:30. Lots of stuff on the agenda but nothing I feel like sharing right now.
One graduate course ends today, I have one more paper to write. Then I have two starting tomorrow.
I thought it was interesting this morning to read about the Republican party possibly lifting its policy on not allowing an indicted person in leadership so Tom Daschle can keep his position. They came up with that policy a few years ago because of someone in democratic leadership who had been indicted, and now that it is someone from their own party they want to change it. Both parties will change everything if it is in their favor, it seems.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Da Vinci Code Movie news
Here's a news brief from ew.com: They're making a Da Vinci code movie and Tom Hanks has signed on to play the lead. Several of us have recently read the book and discussed it here. My mom is reading it now and liking it so far. I think it has potential as a movie, but it will be interesting to see how it differs.
Mona Lisa Smile
Tom Hanks will star in ''The Da Vinci Code.'' He'll play the Holy Grail-seeking professor in Ron Howard's movie adaptation of the bestseller
by Gary Susman
How do you make a watchable cinematic thriller about a guy who spends a lot of time hanging out in libraries and surfing the Web? If you're Ron Howard, and your filming an adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, you hire Tom Hanks. ''Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,'' the Oscar-winning director tells Newsweek. Noting that Dan Brown's bestseller would probably be a blockbuster even without such an A-list leading man playing Holy Grail-seeking professor Robert Langdon, Howard says, ''We probably don't need his status from a box-office standpoint, but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy.''
The film will mark Hanks' third film for Howard, who made him a movie star in Splash 20 years ago and cemented his star status in 1995's Apollo 13. Producer Brian Grazer promises that Hanks will be supported by a truly international cast, not just American actors playing Europeans. For instance, he says, France's Jean Reno is on his short list to play cop Bezu Fache. And he says he turned down an inquiry by a recent Oscar winner to play Sophie Neveau, the Parisian cryptologist whose grandfather's murder sets the plot in motion. ''She could easily do it,'' Grazer says. ''But I think the audience would be let down a bit. They expect a French girl.''
(Posted:11/15/04)
Mona Lisa Smile
Tom Hanks will star in ''The Da Vinci Code.'' He'll play the Holy Grail-seeking professor in Ron Howard's movie adaptation of the bestseller
by Gary Susman
How do you make a watchable cinematic thriller about a guy who spends a lot of time hanging out in libraries and surfing the Web? If you're Ron Howard, and your filming an adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, you hire Tom Hanks. ''Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,'' the Oscar-winning director tells Newsweek. Noting that Dan Brown's bestseller would probably be a blockbuster even without such an A-list leading man playing Holy Grail-seeking professor Robert Langdon, Howard says, ''We probably don't need his status from a box-office standpoint, but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy.''
The film will mark Hanks' third film for Howard, who made him a movie star in Splash 20 years ago and cemented his star status in 1995's Apollo 13. Producer Brian Grazer promises that Hanks will be supported by a truly international cast, not just American actors playing Europeans. For instance, he says, France's Jean Reno is on his short list to play cop Bezu Fache. And he says he turned down an inquiry by a recent Oscar winner to play Sophie Neveau, the Parisian cryptologist whose grandfather's murder sets the plot in motion. ''She could easily do it,'' Grazer says. ''But I think the audience would be let down a bit. They expect a French girl.''
(Posted:11/15/04)
Eid
Well Eid was nice and quiet. It was really cold here. I got to sleep in a little bit for the first time in a few weeks, and after mom and I walked I had something to eat. Then I did some computer work and relaxed. Being a convert in an isolated place, I've never really seen any of the celebrations or get-togethers that people do for Eid. I don't know what they do for gifts, socializing, etc. And I don't know what they do for iftars, either, during the month.
There were Eid prayers about 90 miles from here but with the weather as it was and just being worn out also, I didn't go. I've been before and it was a bit awkward not knowing hardly anyone.
Today was back to business at school. We are at second quarter progress now, meaning we're 3/4 through the second semester. Time flies from here on. Which is fine with me, I don't mind school going quickly at all except trying to get everything done in time can be rough.
There were Eid prayers about 90 miles from here but with the weather as it was and just being worn out also, I didn't go. I've been before and it was a bit awkward not knowing hardly anyone.
Today was back to business at school. We are at second quarter progress now, meaning we're 3/4 through the second semester. Time flies from here on. Which is fine with me, I don't mind school going quickly at all except trying to get everything done in time can be rough.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Eid Mubarak! Your "Present"
I added some fun/silly/stupid/extremely stupid links on the sidebar for your blog entertainment. Please comment and tell us which one is your favorite!
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Blogs and News, Halal Meat, AP Stats, Calculators, and Eid
Eid Mubarak!!!
I thought this article appended below was interesting in discussing how blogging is affecting the news media. Well, I never claimed my blog was journalism but some certainly are, like Healing Iraq on my sidebar.
Today I drove up in the snow to Denver for an AP Stats training thing. Got lots of handouts. Learned a few new calculator things - particularly Catalog Help, an app that allows you to have the calculator remind you how to use a command - comes in handy. Saw TI-Presenter, which allows the calculator screen to be displayed on a TV monitor and I want one! $300, so if I decide to get it, it'll have to come from my own pocket. But in a way that is good, because then it is YOURS to take with you if you ever leave. And tax deductible, for what it is worth. I've never kept careful watch of all that tax deductible stuff. Apparently teachers' mileage to conferences and union dues is also deductible - I just learned that this year. I also just learned this year that your car registration tag thing is deductible, too. If anyone knows other things that are deductible I'm interested. I also went to the halal meat store and bought about $70 of halal meat. There is one Lebanese-Christian owned store on the north end of my city that has some halal meat, but it is usually old, very limited selection. Last time I went all they had was Crescent chicken - they had tons of it, but nothing else I trusted to be halal. But in Denver there is a store where they have fresh beef - they cut it up right in front of you if you want, like any grocery store butcher. And they also carry a better selection of the national halal meat brands. I wanted beef, so I bought Midamar beef bologna and hotdogs and then I bought about 6 packages of ground beef from the market. I didn't see any other cuts that looked particularly appealling. I think it would be cool if they had a roast sometime or something like that. Maybe they do, but I'm not there often.
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said that the true Eid is the day in which you do not sin. Every day can be Eid. And no Eid is really Eid if you fill it with sin. We are happy to see Eid because we stop fasting, but really it is not such a happy occasion unless one has purified oneself. You see, Eid is a celebration of becoming pure through the spiritual opportunities in the month of Ramadan. If we did not take advantage, then we have no cause for celebration, but rather we have a cause for mourning, because the opportunity is lost to us and we have to wait for the next year, if by Allah's swt will, we are blessed to make it to that time.
By CHRIS T. NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The woman who writes Wonkette! needed no introduction and offered no apologies Saturday, telling her peers in online journalism that Web logs like hers have spurred a quicker response to breaking news by major media outlets.
Ana Marie Cox and others who maintain "blogs" were criticized after the Nov. 2 presidential election for posting exit polls throughout the day - a practice frowned upon in the mainstream media because the data could sway the outcome.
"To the extent to which they affect voter turnout is to the extent people believe them," Cox told the Online News Association conference in Hollywood. She added that blogs have made it more difficult for mainstream news organizations "to sit on a story."
Cox, whose gossip-packed and sometimes bawdy postings make her political blog among the most-viewed on the Web, said she did nothing wrong and had the right to give people information they wanted.
Blogs have drawn attention to political stories that more established media outlets then report on, and exposed flawed journalism by those same newspapers and television news programs. But some at the gathering said they face a near-constant struggle to establish the credibility enjoyed by professionals.
"Things get picked up by bloggers that take awhile to get picked up by the mainstream media," said Mark Glaser, a columnist for the Online Journalism Review who writes about Web logs. "Bloggers have to start from scratch in building trust."
Glaser noted the importance of bloggers in tearing down CBS News' election season story about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. The constant barrage of questions and charges from the Web kept heat on the network until it admitted a mistake in relying on what turned out to be fake documents.
Mindy McAdams, a University of Florida journalism professor, applauded bloggers' efforts but urged them to adhere to ethical standards held by mainstream journalists.
"Our credibility is suffering with so many people rushing to publish things without checking them out," McAdams said after Cox's speech. "Blogging is really great. I like that more and more people have a voice. That's good ... But it doesn't give people who call themselves journalists an excuse to not check out the information."
---
On the Net:
Online News Association: http://www.journalists.org/
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I thought this article appended below was interesting in discussing how blogging is affecting the news media. Well, I never claimed my blog was journalism but some certainly are, like Healing Iraq on my sidebar.
Today I drove up in the snow to Denver for an AP Stats training thing. Got lots of handouts. Learned a few new calculator things - particularly Catalog Help, an app that allows you to have the calculator remind you how to use a command - comes in handy. Saw TI-Presenter, which allows the calculator screen to be displayed on a TV monitor and I want one! $300, so if I decide to get it, it'll have to come from my own pocket. But in a way that is good, because then it is YOURS to take with you if you ever leave. And tax deductible, for what it is worth. I've never kept careful watch of all that tax deductible stuff. Apparently teachers' mileage to conferences and union dues is also deductible - I just learned that this year. I also just learned this year that your car registration tag thing is deductible, too. If anyone knows other things that are deductible I'm interested. I also went to the halal meat store and bought about $70 of halal meat. There is one Lebanese-Christian owned store on the north end of my city that has some halal meat, but it is usually old, very limited selection. Last time I went all they had was Crescent chicken - they had tons of it, but nothing else I trusted to be halal. But in Denver there is a store where they have fresh beef - they cut it up right in front of you if you want, like any grocery store butcher. And they also carry a better selection of the national halal meat brands. I wanted beef, so I bought Midamar beef bologna and hotdogs and then I bought about 6 packages of ground beef from the market. I didn't see any other cuts that looked particularly appealling. I think it would be cool if they had a roast sometime or something like that. Maybe they do, but I'm not there often.
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) said that the true Eid is the day in which you do not sin. Every day can be Eid. And no Eid is really Eid if you fill it with sin. We are happy to see Eid because we stop fasting, but really it is not such a happy occasion unless one has purified oneself. You see, Eid is a celebration of becoming pure through the spiritual opportunities in the month of Ramadan. If we did not take advantage, then we have no cause for celebration, but rather we have a cause for mourning, because the opportunity is lost to us and we have to wait for the next year, if by Allah's swt will, we are blessed to make it to that time.
By CHRIS T. NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The woman who writes Wonkette! needed no introduction and offered no apologies Saturday, telling her peers in online journalism that Web logs like hers have spurred a quicker response to breaking news by major media outlets.
Ana Marie Cox and others who maintain "blogs" were criticized after the Nov. 2 presidential election for posting exit polls throughout the day - a practice frowned upon in the mainstream media because the data could sway the outcome.
"To the extent to which they affect voter turnout is to the extent people believe them," Cox told the Online News Association conference in Hollywood. She added that blogs have made it more difficult for mainstream news organizations "to sit on a story."
Cox, whose gossip-packed and sometimes bawdy postings make her political blog among the most-viewed on the Web, said she did nothing wrong and had the right to give people information they wanted.
Blogs have drawn attention to political stories that more established media outlets then report on, and exposed flawed journalism by those same newspapers and television news programs. But some at the gathering said they face a near-constant struggle to establish the credibility enjoyed by professionals.
"Things get picked up by bloggers that take awhile to get picked up by the mainstream media," said Mark Glaser, a columnist for the Online Journalism Review who writes about Web logs. "Bloggers have to start from scratch in building trust."
Glaser noted the importance of bloggers in tearing down CBS News' election season story about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. The constant barrage of questions and charges from the Web kept heat on the network until it admitted a mistake in relying on what turned out to be fake documents.
Mindy McAdams, a University of Florida journalism professor, applauded bloggers' efforts but urged them to adhere to ethical standards held by mainstream journalists.
"Our credibility is suffering with so many people rushing to publish things without checking them out," McAdams said after Cox's speech. "Blogging is really great. I like that more and more people have a voice. That's good ... But it doesn't give people who call themselves journalists an excuse to not check out the information."
---
On the Net:
Online News Association: http://www.journalists.org/
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Hijab, in more ways than one.
I think this weekend I'll be going back through the archives and deleting some previous posts in my blog ala the conversation on Sis. Soljah's blog. And I might be taking a hiatus as well.
This article disturbed me. Yes, it is jilbab, not hijab, but the growing paranoia around a woman's Islamic dress really bothers me.
Muslim Dress code stirs controversy in Britain
CAIRO, November 10 (IslamOnline.net) - The need grew for national rules to organize Muslim dress in British schools after a local school enforced a ban on “jilbab”, drawing the ire of British Muslims, according to a British daily.
“The current situation is causing chaos. Islam is a diverse faith and some people feel their faith requires them to wear the jilbab,” The Independent quoted Inyat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain as saying.
Bunglawala was commenting on the controversy that raised following three Muslim students were withdrawn from schools in Tower Hamlets, the London suburb of highest Muslim intensity in the country, after receiving letters banning them from wearing jilbab in schools.
“We feel that those who wish to wear jilbab should be able to do so. It seems the Government needs to set out precisely what is and is not acceptable,” Bunglawala was quoted by the British daily as saying Tuesday, November 9.
Other Muslim students protested the letters, requesting to be moved to other schools.
Jilbab is an ankle-length dress which covers the whole body except for face and hands.
The British move echoes one by France which has triggered a controversy by adopting a bill banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools that went effective mid September.
The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French move as “discriminatory”.
National Guidelines
Muslim leaders in Britain has Monday called for drawing up national guidelines on appropriate dress Muslims could put on, following a series of clashes between students and school governors.
As a case in point, a 15-year-old Muslim student from Luton lost a High Court legal action on violating her human rights when she was barred from attending school classes for wearing jilbab.
Under effective British rules, dress codes are decided by the head teacher and governors of each school in accordance with guidelines provided by local authorities and central government.
“The jilbab is part of my religious belief,” said Rifat Akhtar, 13, a pupil at the Central Foundation school.
“It makes me confident and gives me an identity as a Muslim.” She added that she was considering to leave the school for another.
The Muslim community in Britain has been coming under mounting racist attacks lately.
A British woman teacher was brought to court for assaulting a Muslim schoolgirl and insulting her religion as a “big joke”.
The incident dates back to March 2003 when Hazel Dick, 43, at Bretton Woods Community School “forcibly” removed the girl’s black hijab because it contradicted the school's dress code, causing a pin scratch across the neck.
Muslims in Britain also complain they are maltreated by police stop-and-search operations under the Terrorism Act for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
In an effort to face the mounting racist attacks and stop-and-search activities targeting British Muslims, a new pocket guide has seen the light Saturday, September 25, to educate the community about their basic rights and responsibilities in a bid to allay their fears.
This article disturbed me. Yes, it is jilbab, not hijab, but the growing paranoia around a woman's Islamic dress really bothers me.
Muslim Dress code stirs controversy in Britain
CAIRO, November 10 (IslamOnline.net) - The need grew for national rules to organize Muslim dress in British schools after a local school enforced a ban on “jilbab”, drawing the ire of British Muslims, according to a British daily.
“The current situation is causing chaos. Islam is a diverse faith and some people feel their faith requires them to wear the jilbab,” The Independent quoted Inyat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain as saying.
Bunglawala was commenting on the controversy that raised following three Muslim students were withdrawn from schools in Tower Hamlets, the London suburb of highest Muslim intensity in the country, after receiving letters banning them from wearing jilbab in schools.
“We feel that those who wish to wear jilbab should be able to do so. It seems the Government needs to set out precisely what is and is not acceptable,” Bunglawala was quoted by the British daily as saying Tuesday, November 9.
Other Muslim students protested the letters, requesting to be moved to other schools.
Jilbab is an ankle-length dress which covers the whole body except for face and hands.
The British move echoes one by France which has triggered a controversy by adopting a bill banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools that went effective mid September.
The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French move as “discriminatory”.
National Guidelines
Muslim leaders in Britain has Monday called for drawing up national guidelines on appropriate dress Muslims could put on, following a series of clashes between students and school governors.
As a case in point, a 15-year-old Muslim student from Luton lost a High Court legal action on violating her human rights when she was barred from attending school classes for wearing jilbab.
Under effective British rules, dress codes are decided by the head teacher and governors of each school in accordance with guidelines provided by local authorities and central government.
“The jilbab is part of my religious belief,” said Rifat Akhtar, 13, a pupil at the Central Foundation school.
“It makes me confident and gives me an identity as a Muslim.” She added that she was considering to leave the school for another.
The Muslim community in Britain has been coming under mounting racist attacks lately.
A British woman teacher was brought to court for assaulting a Muslim schoolgirl and insulting her religion as a “big joke”.
The incident dates back to March 2003 when Hazel Dick, 43, at Bretton Woods Community School “forcibly” removed the girl’s black hijab because it contradicted the school's dress code, causing a pin scratch across the neck.
Muslims in Britain also complain they are maltreated by police stop-and-search operations under the Terrorism Act for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
In an effort to face the mounting racist attacks and stop-and-search activities targeting British Muslims, a new pocket guide has seen the light Saturday, September 25, to educate the community about their basic rights and responsibilities in a bid to allay their fears.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Board of Education Meeting
I just got home from the District Board of Education Meeting. I realized a few hours in I'd probably want to blog on it, so here goes. I realize my blogging has been excessive of late; I've just been in the mood I guess.
The meeting convened shortly after 6:30pm. The board has adopted a moment of silence in the preliminaries. I know this annoys some folks because they view it as an opening to prayer and the possible association of anything religious with a governmental event sets some people off. But personally, I like it, and I do pray in it, and it's my own business just like whatever anyone else does in that moment of silence is their own. It does remind me of the legislation that we now are required to say the Pledge every day in school. Again, something I can tolerate because it includes provisions for quiet objectors which I think have a right to be in our society. But, I think passing legislation to have us say the pledge is not the most important legislation on the agenda or the best use of our resources, etc. I'd rather see time spent on the budget, on health care, etc.
The citizens comments were lively, particularly around the issue of Planned Parenthood. Apparently a health class at Palmer had a guest speaker from Planned Parenthood. An anti-abortion group showed up outside the school handing out literature and having pictures of aborted fetuses or something like that. Protests were involved. So citizens were weighing in on the issue of sex education in the schools. My main comment about it all is that people on both sides of the issue displayed a lot of misinformation about what goes on in sex education in our schools, and that in many cases, the stuff they were misinformed about was the stuff they were most upset about. But for people, it is the issue of the organization Planned Parenthood itself, and its association with abortion. When I was first married, I actually went to Planned Parenthood for birth control because I was in college and the doctor on my insurance was 200 miles away. I didn't know where else to go without insurance and I was not prepared to not be on birth control when my husband was living 800 miles away most of the time. My personal experience with them had nothing to do with abortion and I never witnessed any aspect of that realm of what they do. Growing up, I largely held the opinion that I would never consider abortion for myself no matter the circumstances but that I didn't feel compelled to have an opinion one way or the other about what someone else should or shouldn't do. I've changed my position in recent years. I think abortion is wrong and I can't support someone's right to choose killing a living human being. The Pro-Choice position is all about the mother and I can understand that position. But it doesn't speak for the child in any way, who can't speak for itself. When someone can't speak for himself, then it is our duty to do so and it is better to err on the side of caution for those without a voice.
So what does that mean for sex ed and Planned Parenthood? I don't disagree with the concept in health education classes that students should be given factual information about sex. I don't know if abstinence is being under-emphasized or not. If it is, it is because we have a dearth of moral education in this country, in my opinion resulting from the separation of church and state, which I'll talk more about in a minute. But I think a teacher is inviting controversy unnecessarily by having an organization associated with such a heated issue as abortion involved in the education of students, even if what they say is totally factual. I also disagree with the manner of the anti-abortion protest; I agree with Palmer students who expressed concern that they should not have to be subjected to harassment or to the graphic images they saw. It seems to me the children were turned into pawns in this little war and neither side has done them justice.
Now back to church and state: I understand why this constitutional principle was devised. If church and state are not separated, then freedom of religion is endangered, rather, it most likely cannot exist fully. Our founding fathers believed that religious freedom was a must-have so that people with different religious views could all practice according to their beliefs. As a member of a minority faith in this country, I can really appreciate that concern and sentiment and I benefit from it. At the same time, I think the concept of separating church and state is fundamentally flawed. No government can rightly function without God in the picture. We can separate for ourselves God out of anything we like, but it is an entirely false construction. God is present in any picture, and if we decide to remove Him, we cheat ourselves.
I am not about to by any means violate the principles of church and state in my practice. It is the code we have adopted and therefore I abide by it and am very accustomed to do so to the extent that it comes naturally. But I do feel the loss. Both for myself and the children. I have been in a few situations in which there was not some imaginary boundary line that religion had to stay without and the experience was much more human, natural, logical, sane, etc.
Moving on: next items that caught my interest on the agenda were about dropout rates and graduation rates. What I would like to know is what portion of D-11 students eventually graduate from here or anywhere else - with a D-11 student being somehow defined as one whose education comes primarily from us. The numbers don't seem to be actually calculated that way. And what I really want to know is the students who never graduate - what are they doing? As a high school student, I never noticed how many kids didn't make it because it seemed so easy to me to make it. As a teacher, I am frustrated with a few students that I don't feel I have anything to offer them to help them get to their diploma. I mean that nothing I have to offer is something that will work for that student. I have students that I worked with for three years, developing relationships and working for their successes, but in the end I had students who loved me because they knew I cared but I still couldn't get them to do homework. It is just something that isn't going to work for them for whatever reason. I see the Digital School as an option that might work for many of them. However, I feel at the same time that the Digital School is a lowering of standards. From my experience with high school education programs online, I am quite sure that the learning students get at the Digital School does not equate with what we offer in the "traditional" schools. I think a student who graduates with a diploma earned primarily through the Digital School has a diploma that doesn't mean as much - it is earned with less learning and work on the part of that student. On the other hand, the student wasn't learning in the traditional school what was being offered, so the Digital School is better than nothing.
Next item was increasing graduation requirements. I have no problem with that and think we should be heading in that direction sooner rather than later. But as a high school math teacher, I know that if graduation requirements are increased and nothing else changes - particularly nothing else changes in elementary and middle school, then all that will happen is an additional proportion of students will not graduate, or else standards will be dropped so that students can get their credits to graduate. I'm all for much improved measures to help students succeed in high school. What annoys me is the disjoint between middle and high and elementary and middle. It is illogical, stupid, and it gets in the way of what needs to be done. But it is so ingrained in the system it seems impossible to fix. Here's a little example to explain what I mean by the disjoint. All the high schools have been working very hard over the past year to redesign the freshman math program (Algebra) to try to make it better aligned, better matching standards, better meeting kids needs, and so on. Further, it is designed to be a continuing process to completely revamp three years of high school math, not just the first. An attempt for the perfect spiral - a seamless development of mathematical ideas over the course of three years in a logical progression. I think it is real progress that needs to continually tuned. We hear from Mary Thurman that Algebra will soon be mandated at 8th grade instead of at 9th. My question was, so, will the middle school then be using our program so that when students come up they can continue the logical progression? Answer: well, they'll do whatever they want. Which means they'll pick a textbook or two and teach from them and there will be no relationship between one year of math to the next. How stupid is that? But that is the current standard. That is one thing I liked about teaching at CMCA. I designed the entire science program there and I made sure that students got everything and got it at the appropriate time, and so on. When there is no vertical fluidity, then the whole system is not a system, it is just a bunch of disjointed sets.
Next item: graduation exercises. I.e. should students 1-2 credits short of graduation still be allowed to walk at graduation if they are enrolled in summer school. My opinion: No way! This seems to be quite an issue. Students get angry when they know someone is walking who didn't earn all the credits, and as a high school teacher, so do I. It cheapens the experience of graduation. Just as all those mini-graduations that people put between other grades do, too.
Next item: course approvals. Director Christen made a comment about choosing research-based curricula. No disagreement there. I think we probably do disagree on individual curricula, though. For example, Saxon and IMP as math programs. I've been trained in and taught both and read research on both. Saxon is a program that can produce students highly proficient in computation. And it is a program that unskilled teachers and even teachers lacking some basic mathematical knowledge can teach. Homeschoolers use it a lot and I think that is one of the reasons - it is easy, almost boring, to teach. It does have deficits in problem solving. What I encountered is that positively brilliant students trained exclusively in Saxon math did not recognize an identical problem not written in Saxon-ese. Saxon has a very particular language to it that students become accustomed to and they don't generally get the bigger picture of the problem scenario if the language is changed at all. Saxon students also tended not to do so well on think-out-of-the-box or extended problems because they had no experience with those. So Saxon shouldn't, in my opinion, be used alone as a sole source of curriculum. I have also taught IMP. IMP is a program that can produce students highly proficient in mathematical reasoning but less proficient in computation than Saxon. From a teacher's perspective, the design of IMP is positively brilliant. Mathematical concepts are developed from first principles and derived and spiraled and expanded over time, and not compartmentalized into categories that have no meaning in real world application like "Algebra" and "Geometry". As an adult, I could think of no better way to learn how math really works and why it works. If someone offered a college degree that taught math the IMP way, I'd be on it in a heart beat, and I'd gladly fork over ten grand for it. From IMP training, I learned a great many tools for teaching concepts to students in all my classes, IMP or not, that have really worked. I know students who learned math and loved math in IMP and never got it and/or never liked it in the other, more traditional method.
So I support IMP for those students who just aren't reached by the other method. But I would not jump to put every kid in IMP and expect it to work for everyone. The trouble with IMP in practice is that it assumes and requires a classroom that is a Socratic community of learners. Creating that environment at the freshmen and sophomore levels is such a piece of sophistry and it is extremely difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort and the successes are relished because there are plenty of failures. Even the best trained and best skilled teachers I know can't make that magic happen regularly until the junior year at least. IMP definitely cannot be taught successfully by teachers who have not undergone extensive training and who do not extensively collaborate with one another. So my viewpoint is I like and dislike both. My own math department divides on two issues: IMP vs. non-IMP teachers and those who think honors should be separate classes vs. those who think they should be integrated. My viewpoint is that both have complementary strengths and I advocate keeping both types of curriculum available at the high school level as long as they being successful for some students.
Related to the course approval curriculum stuff -- whatever happened to site-based management? It was all the buzz last year, to the point that we were worried about how as a school we were going to be doing our own budgets and contracting our own trash services, etc. If we're into site-based, then the standards come from the district and higher, but the hows about how to meet the standards come from the schools. In other words, the schools each make their own curricular decisions. But that isn't the message I'm hearing this year.
By eleven pm the meeting was deteriorating. This is the first board meeting I've been to this year, and I was initially impressed that the board seemed to be functioning better than it did last year. More professional. But that faded a bit as time progressed; people started arguing and the arguing deteriorated over time. Which brings me to the last set of issues on the agenda. Director Weirman proposed an item about removing Eric Christen as treasurer and President Shakes proposed a reprimand of Director Christen over various matters. It is no secret that this board does not get along. Mr. Christen has sort of evolved into the icon of this infamous "board problem" - I have no idea what to call it. Mr. Christen in particular has written numerous letters to the editor and made other public statements that have upset quite a few people. He tends to use language of extremes which invites polarization. For example, at tonight's meeting, it was mentioned that an abstinence group speaks in health classes at the high schools. He commented that having the abstinence group there does not excuse the Planned Parenthood group being there. In other words, offering a balance is not acceptable to him. But in his language, he made an analogy between Planned Parenthood and the KKK to his make point. If I understood him correctly, he was trying to say he wouldn't want the KKK in schools as a balance to the opposite viewpoint and, by the same token, he doesn't want Planned Parenthood there. The manner in which he says things, though, is people end up hearing things like 'planned parenthood = KKK to Eric Christen'. I only attended a few board meetings last year as well, and from my limited experience, I think Director Christen has improved as a board member. He seems to listen better and seem more professional than what I remember from last year, and I think he does a better job than some other members of doing his homework and research, etc. And it is not like he never has anything worthwhile to say, even though he comes across as more politicized and agendized than other board members. I felt his frustration at just trying to get people to follow their own procedures and policies consistently-- a seemingly endless battle. And I also got tired of hearing people emphasizing how far we've come over how far we need to go. The flip was also true; the board members play the same roles over and over, it seems, singing the same tune. Half are always touting how good things are and the other half is always touting how bad things are. We need to hear both. But what is annoying is always hearing the same message from the same people and rarely a middle ground. Seems to mirror the national political landscape, doesn't it?
Anyway, I didn't understand from Ms. Wierman's statement how removal of Mr. Christen as Treasurer would solve anything of the issues she and other board members felt concerning Director Christen. I also do not understand the value of a public reprimand other than to make someone feel like they did something.
I am aware that Mr. Christen has done some inflammatory things - like putting election signs on school grounds and I heard that he was involved with the anti-abortion group at Palmer, and so on. I certainly don't have the knowledge to say what is fact and what is fiction unless I cared to meddle to find out, which I don't. But what is sad is that his letters, these actions and the press about them and so on have so angered the public that I now see at board meetings citizens looking for opportunities to take a stab at him. I don't think a board meeting should be a three-ring circus or WWF.
In general, I really dislike the politicization of public education. I want to go into my classroom and teach my students math. That is harder to do when all around me are issues like Planned Parenthood, should D-11 have a resolution that says married two-parent families are the ideal family, and so on. I wonder if some of these topics need be in the arena they are brought into; I mean does the school board debating these issues accomplish anything that helps me and my students in the classroom? Or do these issues detract from the essentials of running a district and improving student achievement? Yes, they can be related to education performance, but are they the central issues? I dislike politics in general, yet somehow I find myself compelled to be involved at some levels now and then out of a sense of moral repugnance for apathy and victimization, or just because someone asked me to be there.
I also get really frustrated by the things that keep good ideas from working. Take CQI for instance. Good idea. But "forcing" training in a six month window on every district employee doesn't work. For CQI to work, it has to be driven from a CQI process to begin with. People rebel when they feel something is forced on them. Plus, the training was not of a quality to be useful for application in the classroom, so it practically seems like wasted money only accomplishing a huge amount of sub hours and frustrated staff but little or no advancement in CQI actually occurring in the district. Education is just full of this stuff. Every year or two another thing comes along - a new curriculum, a new technology push, a new business model. Its implementation dooms it from the start. But some people make sincere effort to make it work. Just when it starts to make inroads, it is ditched for not working fast enough and replaced with the latest thing.
Well, it's almost 2:10 in the morning now and it is plausible that I'm not making any sense at this hour so I'll conclude here.
The meeting convened shortly after 6:30pm. The board has adopted a moment of silence in the preliminaries. I know this annoys some folks because they view it as an opening to prayer and the possible association of anything religious with a governmental event sets some people off. But personally, I like it, and I do pray in it, and it's my own business just like whatever anyone else does in that moment of silence is their own. It does remind me of the legislation that we now are required to say the Pledge every day in school. Again, something I can tolerate because it includes provisions for quiet objectors which I think have a right to be in our society. But, I think passing legislation to have us say the pledge is not the most important legislation on the agenda or the best use of our resources, etc. I'd rather see time spent on the budget, on health care, etc.
The citizens comments were lively, particularly around the issue of Planned Parenthood. Apparently a health class at Palmer had a guest speaker from Planned Parenthood. An anti-abortion group showed up outside the school handing out literature and having pictures of aborted fetuses or something like that. Protests were involved. So citizens were weighing in on the issue of sex education in the schools. My main comment about it all is that people on both sides of the issue displayed a lot of misinformation about what goes on in sex education in our schools, and that in many cases, the stuff they were misinformed about was the stuff they were most upset about. But for people, it is the issue of the organization Planned Parenthood itself, and its association with abortion. When I was first married, I actually went to Planned Parenthood for birth control because I was in college and the doctor on my insurance was 200 miles away. I didn't know where else to go without insurance and I was not prepared to not be on birth control when my husband was living 800 miles away most of the time. My personal experience with them had nothing to do with abortion and I never witnessed any aspect of that realm of what they do. Growing up, I largely held the opinion that I would never consider abortion for myself no matter the circumstances but that I didn't feel compelled to have an opinion one way or the other about what someone else should or shouldn't do. I've changed my position in recent years. I think abortion is wrong and I can't support someone's right to choose killing a living human being. The Pro-Choice position is all about the mother and I can understand that position. But it doesn't speak for the child in any way, who can't speak for itself. When someone can't speak for himself, then it is our duty to do so and it is better to err on the side of caution for those without a voice.
So what does that mean for sex ed and Planned Parenthood? I don't disagree with the concept in health education classes that students should be given factual information about sex. I don't know if abstinence is being under-emphasized or not. If it is, it is because we have a dearth of moral education in this country, in my opinion resulting from the separation of church and state, which I'll talk more about in a minute. But I think a teacher is inviting controversy unnecessarily by having an organization associated with such a heated issue as abortion involved in the education of students, even if what they say is totally factual. I also disagree with the manner of the anti-abortion protest; I agree with Palmer students who expressed concern that they should not have to be subjected to harassment or to the graphic images they saw. It seems to me the children were turned into pawns in this little war and neither side has done them justice.
Now back to church and state: I understand why this constitutional principle was devised. If church and state are not separated, then freedom of religion is endangered, rather, it most likely cannot exist fully. Our founding fathers believed that religious freedom was a must-have so that people with different religious views could all practice according to their beliefs. As a member of a minority faith in this country, I can really appreciate that concern and sentiment and I benefit from it. At the same time, I think the concept of separating church and state is fundamentally flawed. No government can rightly function without God in the picture. We can separate for ourselves God out of anything we like, but it is an entirely false construction. God is present in any picture, and if we decide to remove Him, we cheat ourselves.
I am not about to by any means violate the principles of church and state in my practice. It is the code we have adopted and therefore I abide by it and am very accustomed to do so to the extent that it comes naturally. But I do feel the loss. Both for myself and the children. I have been in a few situations in which there was not some imaginary boundary line that religion had to stay without and the experience was much more human, natural, logical, sane, etc.
Moving on: next items that caught my interest on the agenda were about dropout rates and graduation rates. What I would like to know is what portion of D-11 students eventually graduate from here or anywhere else - with a D-11 student being somehow defined as one whose education comes primarily from us. The numbers don't seem to be actually calculated that way. And what I really want to know is the students who never graduate - what are they doing? As a high school student, I never noticed how many kids didn't make it because it seemed so easy to me to make it. As a teacher, I am frustrated with a few students that I don't feel I have anything to offer them to help them get to their diploma. I mean that nothing I have to offer is something that will work for that student. I have students that I worked with for three years, developing relationships and working for their successes, but in the end I had students who loved me because they knew I cared but I still couldn't get them to do homework. It is just something that isn't going to work for them for whatever reason. I see the Digital School as an option that might work for many of them. However, I feel at the same time that the Digital School is a lowering of standards. From my experience with high school education programs online, I am quite sure that the learning students get at the Digital School does not equate with what we offer in the "traditional" schools. I think a student who graduates with a diploma earned primarily through the Digital School has a diploma that doesn't mean as much - it is earned with less learning and work on the part of that student. On the other hand, the student wasn't learning in the traditional school what was being offered, so the Digital School is better than nothing.
Next item was increasing graduation requirements. I have no problem with that and think we should be heading in that direction sooner rather than later. But as a high school math teacher, I know that if graduation requirements are increased and nothing else changes - particularly nothing else changes in elementary and middle school, then all that will happen is an additional proportion of students will not graduate, or else standards will be dropped so that students can get their credits to graduate. I'm all for much improved measures to help students succeed in high school. What annoys me is the disjoint between middle and high and elementary and middle. It is illogical, stupid, and it gets in the way of what needs to be done. But it is so ingrained in the system it seems impossible to fix. Here's a little example to explain what I mean by the disjoint. All the high schools have been working very hard over the past year to redesign the freshman math program (Algebra) to try to make it better aligned, better matching standards, better meeting kids needs, and so on. Further, it is designed to be a continuing process to completely revamp three years of high school math, not just the first. An attempt for the perfect spiral - a seamless development of mathematical ideas over the course of three years in a logical progression. I think it is real progress that needs to continually tuned. We hear from Mary Thurman that Algebra will soon be mandated at 8th grade instead of at 9th. My question was, so, will the middle school then be using our program so that when students come up they can continue the logical progression? Answer: well, they'll do whatever they want. Which means they'll pick a textbook or two and teach from them and there will be no relationship between one year of math to the next. How stupid is that? But that is the current standard. That is one thing I liked about teaching at CMCA. I designed the entire science program there and I made sure that students got everything and got it at the appropriate time, and so on. When there is no vertical fluidity, then the whole system is not a system, it is just a bunch of disjointed sets.
Next item: graduation exercises. I.e. should students 1-2 credits short of graduation still be allowed to walk at graduation if they are enrolled in summer school. My opinion: No way! This seems to be quite an issue. Students get angry when they know someone is walking who didn't earn all the credits, and as a high school teacher, so do I. It cheapens the experience of graduation. Just as all those mini-graduations that people put between other grades do, too.
Next item: course approvals. Director Christen made a comment about choosing research-based curricula. No disagreement there. I think we probably do disagree on individual curricula, though. For example, Saxon and IMP as math programs. I've been trained in and taught both and read research on both. Saxon is a program that can produce students highly proficient in computation. And it is a program that unskilled teachers and even teachers lacking some basic mathematical knowledge can teach. Homeschoolers use it a lot and I think that is one of the reasons - it is easy, almost boring, to teach. It does have deficits in problem solving. What I encountered is that positively brilliant students trained exclusively in Saxon math did not recognize an identical problem not written in Saxon-ese. Saxon has a very particular language to it that students become accustomed to and they don't generally get the bigger picture of the problem scenario if the language is changed at all. Saxon students also tended not to do so well on think-out-of-the-box or extended problems because they had no experience with those. So Saxon shouldn't, in my opinion, be used alone as a sole source of curriculum. I have also taught IMP. IMP is a program that can produce students highly proficient in mathematical reasoning but less proficient in computation than Saxon. From a teacher's perspective, the design of IMP is positively brilliant. Mathematical concepts are developed from first principles and derived and spiraled and expanded over time, and not compartmentalized into categories that have no meaning in real world application like "Algebra" and "Geometry". As an adult, I could think of no better way to learn how math really works and why it works. If someone offered a college degree that taught math the IMP way, I'd be on it in a heart beat, and I'd gladly fork over ten grand for it. From IMP training, I learned a great many tools for teaching concepts to students in all my classes, IMP or not, that have really worked. I know students who learned math and loved math in IMP and never got it and/or never liked it in the other, more traditional method.
So I support IMP for those students who just aren't reached by the other method. But I would not jump to put every kid in IMP and expect it to work for everyone. The trouble with IMP in practice is that it assumes and requires a classroom that is a Socratic community of learners. Creating that environment at the freshmen and sophomore levels is such a piece of sophistry and it is extremely difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort and the successes are relished because there are plenty of failures. Even the best trained and best skilled teachers I know can't make that magic happen regularly until the junior year at least. IMP definitely cannot be taught successfully by teachers who have not undergone extensive training and who do not extensively collaborate with one another. So my viewpoint is I like and dislike both. My own math department divides on two issues: IMP vs. non-IMP teachers and those who think honors should be separate classes vs. those who think they should be integrated. My viewpoint is that both have complementary strengths and I advocate keeping both types of curriculum available at the high school level as long as they being successful for some students.
Related to the course approval curriculum stuff -- whatever happened to site-based management? It was all the buzz last year, to the point that we were worried about how as a school we were going to be doing our own budgets and contracting our own trash services, etc. If we're into site-based, then the standards come from the district and higher, but the hows about how to meet the standards come from the schools. In other words, the schools each make their own curricular decisions. But that isn't the message I'm hearing this year.
By eleven pm the meeting was deteriorating. This is the first board meeting I've been to this year, and I was initially impressed that the board seemed to be functioning better than it did last year. More professional. But that faded a bit as time progressed; people started arguing and the arguing deteriorated over time. Which brings me to the last set of issues on the agenda. Director Weirman proposed an item about removing Eric Christen as treasurer and President Shakes proposed a reprimand of Director Christen over various matters. It is no secret that this board does not get along. Mr. Christen has sort of evolved into the icon of this infamous "board problem" - I have no idea what to call it. Mr. Christen in particular has written numerous letters to the editor and made other public statements that have upset quite a few people. He tends to use language of extremes which invites polarization. For example, at tonight's meeting, it was mentioned that an abstinence group speaks in health classes at the high schools. He commented that having the abstinence group there does not excuse the Planned Parenthood group being there. In other words, offering a balance is not acceptable to him. But in his language, he made an analogy between Planned Parenthood and the KKK to his make point. If I understood him correctly, he was trying to say he wouldn't want the KKK in schools as a balance to the opposite viewpoint and, by the same token, he doesn't want Planned Parenthood there. The manner in which he says things, though, is people end up hearing things like 'planned parenthood = KKK to Eric Christen'. I only attended a few board meetings last year as well, and from my limited experience, I think Director Christen has improved as a board member. He seems to listen better and seem more professional than what I remember from last year, and I think he does a better job than some other members of doing his homework and research, etc. And it is not like he never has anything worthwhile to say, even though he comes across as more politicized and agendized than other board members. I felt his frustration at just trying to get people to follow their own procedures and policies consistently-- a seemingly endless battle. And I also got tired of hearing people emphasizing how far we've come over how far we need to go. The flip was also true; the board members play the same roles over and over, it seems, singing the same tune. Half are always touting how good things are and the other half is always touting how bad things are. We need to hear both. But what is annoying is always hearing the same message from the same people and rarely a middle ground. Seems to mirror the national political landscape, doesn't it?
Anyway, I didn't understand from Ms. Wierman's statement how removal of Mr. Christen as Treasurer would solve anything of the issues she and other board members felt concerning Director Christen. I also do not understand the value of a public reprimand other than to make someone feel like they did something.
I am aware that Mr. Christen has done some inflammatory things - like putting election signs on school grounds and I heard that he was involved with the anti-abortion group at Palmer, and so on. I certainly don't have the knowledge to say what is fact and what is fiction unless I cared to meddle to find out, which I don't. But what is sad is that his letters, these actions and the press about them and so on have so angered the public that I now see at board meetings citizens looking for opportunities to take a stab at him. I don't think a board meeting should be a three-ring circus or WWF.
In general, I really dislike the politicization of public education. I want to go into my classroom and teach my students math. That is harder to do when all around me are issues like Planned Parenthood, should D-11 have a resolution that says married two-parent families are the ideal family, and so on. I wonder if some of these topics need be in the arena they are brought into; I mean does the school board debating these issues accomplish anything that helps me and my students in the classroom? Or do these issues detract from the essentials of running a district and improving student achievement? Yes, they can be related to education performance, but are they the central issues? I dislike politics in general, yet somehow I find myself compelled to be involved at some levels now and then out of a sense of moral repugnance for apathy and victimization, or just because someone asked me to be there.
I also get really frustrated by the things that keep good ideas from working. Take CQI for instance. Good idea. But "forcing" training in a six month window on every district employee doesn't work. For CQI to work, it has to be driven from a CQI process to begin with. People rebel when they feel something is forced on them. Plus, the training was not of a quality to be useful for application in the classroom, so it practically seems like wasted money only accomplishing a huge amount of sub hours and frustrated staff but little or no advancement in CQI actually occurring in the district. Education is just full of this stuff. Every year or two another thing comes along - a new curriculum, a new technology push, a new business model. Its implementation dooms it from the start. But some people make sincere effort to make it work. Just when it starts to make inroads, it is ditched for not working fast enough and replaced with the latest thing.
Well, it's almost 2:10 in the morning now and it is plausible that I'm not making any sense at this hour so I'll conclude here.
If NCLB were applied to football...
Football Season - "No Child Left Behind"
The Federal government has announced that all high school football teams
must meet "No Child Left Behind" legislation beginning next season. The
following summation outlines the plan:
1. No team will be declared a winner, as that will leave 50% of other
participants behind.
2. All high schools will be divided into districts with eight teams per
district. Every team must finish in at least third place to be proficient.
3. No tournaments will be held as this would result in one champion. (The BCS experimented with this concept in NCAA D-1 football.)
4. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the
championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on
probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held
accountable. (In a recent experiment, the University of Nebraska football
program modeled this theory.)
5. All teams must score at least 21 points, but no defense can allow more
than 7 points.
6. All participants will be expected to have the same football skills at
the same time and in the same conditions; no exceptions for interest in
football, desire in athletics, genetic abilities or disabilities... ALL
CHILDREN WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
7. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without
instruction, because the coaches will be busy using all their instructional
time with the athletes that aren't interested in football, having limited
athletic ability, and whose parents don't like football.
8. Games will be played year-around, but statistics and records will only
be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th games.
9. This will create a NEW AGE of sports where every school is expected
to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal
goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.
The Federal government has announced that all high school football teams
must meet "No Child Left Behind" legislation beginning next season. The
following summation outlines the plan:
1. No team will be declared a winner, as that will leave 50% of other
participants behind.
2. All high schools will be divided into districts with eight teams per
district. Every team must finish in at least third place to be proficient.
3. No tournaments will be held as this would result in one champion. (The BCS experimented with this concept in NCAA D-1 football.)
4. All teams must make the state playoffs, and all will win the
championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on
probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held
accountable. (In a recent experiment, the University of Nebraska football
program modeled this theory.)
5. All teams must score at least 21 points, but no defense can allow more
than 7 points.
6. All participants will be expected to have the same football skills at
the same time and in the same conditions; no exceptions for interest in
football, desire in athletics, genetic abilities or disabilities... ALL
CHILDREN WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
7. Talented players will be asked to work out on their own without
instruction, because the coaches will be busy using all their instructional
time with the athletes that aren't interested in football, having limited
athletic ability, and whose parents don't like football.
8. Games will be played year-around, but statistics and records will only
be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th games.
9. This will create a NEW AGE of sports where every school is expected
to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal
goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.
Post-Election Thoughts
by Tom Roderick
I protested against Bush and the war in Iraq, contributed to MoveOn and the Kerry Campaign, and voted for John Kerry. Like some 56 million Americans, my heart sank when I awoke Wednesday morning, November 3, to learn that Bush had almost certainly won Ohio and the election.
Four more years. Ugh! I thought of my daughters, ages 16 and 19, who participated in a War Resisters League "die-in" while the Republicans were in town and spent 48 hours in custody at the infamous Pier 57 and the Tombs. I thought of all the people I know who volunteered in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Hampshire. In the 12 (yes 12!) presidential elections I have experienced as an adult, I had never seen such passion, enthusiasm, and creative energy at the grassroots level. Convinced that the polls were not picking up this activity on the ground, I was cautiously optimistic that Kerry would win by a solid majority. Alas, it was not to be.
My feelings of disappointment lasted for about ten minutes. Campaigns develop a momentum of their own. After the first debate, when Kerry finally began to take Bush to task for his Iraq follies, I began wearing my Kerry-Edwards button proudly alongside the anti-Bush button I'd been wearing for months. But on November 3 it didn't take me long to remember what I had pushed to the back of my mind in the heat of the campaign: that although I passionately wanted Bush fired—for lying, for incompetence, and for misleading the country into an unjust and unnecessary war—I also had grave concerns about a Kerry presidency.
A dear friend of mine is close to John Kerry. She confirms what I saw in the debates: he is a thoughtful, decent man who would never have led the country into the tragic, foolhardy venture which is the war in Iraq. But Kerry calculated—rightly, I think—that he had no chance of being elected unless he promised to "win" the war in Iraq. I was not looking forward to watching a Democratic president with a slim majority spend the next four years trying to "win" an unwinnable war—while getting blamed on all sides for his death-strewn failure to do so.
Perhaps I've never recovered from my vote for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Barry Goldwater was saying he'd bomb North Vietnam back to the Stone Age if necessary. Johnson was the "peace candidate." On February 13, less than four months after the election, Johnson made the fateful decision to order Operation Rolling Thunder, the continuous bombing of North Vietnam, a major turning point in the tragic escalation of the war. I felt betrayed, and have never forgiven Johnson.
Would John Kerry, following in Johnson's footsteps, have felt the need to protect his right flank by proving that he was as macho as the next guy? A man trying to prove he's tough can sometimes turn out to be just as dangerous as the real thing. That was my fear. And although I wanted Bush fired, I feel some satisfaction that the President now has to deal with the mess he has made in Iraq rather than turning it over to the Democrats.
John Kerry was not a perfect candidate (who is?). He made some mistakes (who doesn't?). But he ran about the best campaign he could under the circumstances. We need to change those circumstances. Steadily, one step at a time, since the end of the sixties, the right has worked systematically and effectively to narrow the spectrum of politically acceptable discourse to the point where our choices are between right and right-center. In that context, whether we win or lose, we still lose. With issues framed in such a way, a candidate has little wiggle room even for telling the truth, let alone for proposing alternative strategies, especially when it comes to matters of war and peace.
We can begin to turn this around. Having lost the election while gaining support from nearly half the electorate, the Democrats have the responsibility to lead a "loyal" opposition. To be worthy of our continued support, our representatives in Congress must question, investigate, and critique the Bush administration's activities while fostering a true national debate about the U.S. role in the world in general and Iraq in particular. During the campaign, John Kerry showed glimmers of the ability to do this effectively. I hope he does not slink off in defeat as Al Gore did four years ago, or blindly support the President, as his gracious-to-a-fault "we must stand together and succeed in Iraq" concession speech unfortunately implied.
That's what Kerry and the Democrats owe their supporters. But we are unlikely to get what we deserve from this lot of Democratic politicians unless we hold their feet to the fire—and that means building a broad-based peace movement.
It'll be easier to build a movement with Bush as president than it would have been with Kerry as president, for most (but not all) of the potential support for a movement comes from people who vote Democratic and might have felt conflicted about protesting Kerry's efforts to "succeed" in Iraq.
But it will not be easy. We will have to contend with public officials who violate our constitutional rights to protest, as Mayor Bloomberg did so disgracefully during the Republican National Convention. We will have to deal with feelings of despair and frustration in our own ranks, as Bush moves forward to fulfill the false "mandate" the media have allowed him to claim.
And our greatest challenge will be to "think anew and act anew" in order to reach out to the 70 percent of Bush supporters, who, according to a study released by the University of Maryland shortly before the election, still believe that Iraq possessed or was building weapons of mass destruction and provided substantial support to Al Qaeda.
For starters, we need to find ways to persuade these voters, including the many upstanding churchgoing people who voted for Bush, that lying is a character flaw, and that 1,100 dead American soldiers and 100,000 or more dead Iraqi civilians in an unnecessary war is a moral issue.
Tom Roderick is Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility Metropolitan Area. This article appears in the Nov.-Dec. 2004 issue of ESR Metro's newsletter, Action News. Tom welcomes email responses to this article at: troderick@esrmetro.org
I protested against Bush and the war in Iraq, contributed to MoveOn and the Kerry Campaign, and voted for John Kerry. Like some 56 million Americans, my heart sank when I awoke Wednesday morning, November 3, to learn that Bush had almost certainly won Ohio and the election.
Four more years. Ugh! I thought of my daughters, ages 16 and 19, who participated in a War Resisters League "die-in" while the Republicans were in town and spent 48 hours in custody at the infamous Pier 57 and the Tombs. I thought of all the people I know who volunteered in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Hampshire. In the 12 (yes 12!) presidential elections I have experienced as an adult, I had never seen such passion, enthusiasm, and creative energy at the grassroots level. Convinced that the polls were not picking up this activity on the ground, I was cautiously optimistic that Kerry would win by a solid majority. Alas, it was not to be.
My feelings of disappointment lasted for about ten minutes. Campaigns develop a momentum of their own. After the first debate, when Kerry finally began to take Bush to task for his Iraq follies, I began wearing my Kerry-Edwards button proudly alongside the anti-Bush button I'd been wearing for months. But on November 3 it didn't take me long to remember what I had pushed to the back of my mind in the heat of the campaign: that although I passionately wanted Bush fired—for lying, for incompetence, and for misleading the country into an unjust and unnecessary war—I also had grave concerns about a Kerry presidency.
A dear friend of mine is close to John Kerry. She confirms what I saw in the debates: he is a thoughtful, decent man who would never have led the country into the tragic, foolhardy venture which is the war in Iraq. But Kerry calculated—rightly, I think—that he had no chance of being elected unless he promised to "win" the war in Iraq. I was not looking forward to watching a Democratic president with a slim majority spend the next four years trying to "win" an unwinnable war—while getting blamed on all sides for his death-strewn failure to do so.
Perhaps I've never recovered from my vote for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Barry Goldwater was saying he'd bomb North Vietnam back to the Stone Age if necessary. Johnson was the "peace candidate." On February 13, less than four months after the election, Johnson made the fateful decision to order Operation Rolling Thunder, the continuous bombing of North Vietnam, a major turning point in the tragic escalation of the war. I felt betrayed, and have never forgiven Johnson.
Would John Kerry, following in Johnson's footsteps, have felt the need to protect his right flank by proving that he was as macho as the next guy? A man trying to prove he's tough can sometimes turn out to be just as dangerous as the real thing. That was my fear. And although I wanted Bush fired, I feel some satisfaction that the President now has to deal with the mess he has made in Iraq rather than turning it over to the Democrats.
John Kerry was not a perfect candidate (who is?). He made some mistakes (who doesn't?). But he ran about the best campaign he could under the circumstances. We need to change those circumstances. Steadily, one step at a time, since the end of the sixties, the right has worked systematically and effectively to narrow the spectrum of politically acceptable discourse to the point where our choices are between right and right-center. In that context, whether we win or lose, we still lose. With issues framed in such a way, a candidate has little wiggle room even for telling the truth, let alone for proposing alternative strategies, especially when it comes to matters of war and peace.
We can begin to turn this around. Having lost the election while gaining support from nearly half the electorate, the Democrats have the responsibility to lead a "loyal" opposition. To be worthy of our continued support, our representatives in Congress must question, investigate, and critique the Bush administration's activities while fostering a true national debate about the U.S. role in the world in general and Iraq in particular. During the campaign, John Kerry showed glimmers of the ability to do this effectively. I hope he does not slink off in defeat as Al Gore did four years ago, or blindly support the President, as his gracious-to-a-fault "we must stand together and succeed in Iraq" concession speech unfortunately implied.
That's what Kerry and the Democrats owe their supporters. But we are unlikely to get what we deserve from this lot of Democratic politicians unless we hold their feet to the fire—and that means building a broad-based peace movement.
It'll be easier to build a movement with Bush as president than it would have been with Kerry as president, for most (but not all) of the potential support for a movement comes from people who vote Democratic and might have felt conflicted about protesting Kerry's efforts to "succeed" in Iraq.
But it will not be easy. We will have to contend with public officials who violate our constitutional rights to protest, as Mayor Bloomberg did so disgracefully during the Republican National Convention. We will have to deal with feelings of despair and frustration in our own ranks, as Bush moves forward to fulfill the false "mandate" the media have allowed him to claim.
And our greatest challenge will be to "think anew and act anew" in order to reach out to the 70 percent of Bush supporters, who, according to a study released by the University of Maryland shortly before the election, still believe that Iraq possessed or was building weapons of mass destruction and provided substantial support to Al Qaeda.
For starters, we need to find ways to persuade these voters, including the many upstanding churchgoing people who voted for Bush, that lying is a character flaw, and that 1,100 dead American soldiers and 100,000 or more dead Iraqi civilians in an unnecessary war is a moral issue.
Tom Roderick is Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility Metropolitan Area. This article appears in the Nov.-Dec. 2004 issue of ESR Metro's newsletter, Action News. Tom welcomes email responses to this article at: troderick@esrmetro.org
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Random Thoughts Installment 2
Ashcroft resigned - thank goodness! The father of the Patriot Act and robbing of civil liberties has had his day. Apparently, Ashcroft poo-pooed the wisdom of Ben Franklin: B. Franklin said “He who gives up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.” Now let's see if someone worse or better or just a clone ends up in his place.
The Incredibles - cool movie. The first movie I've seen in recent memory in which the superheroes were really like superheroes. Brought back nostalgia of comic books with the 45 records so you could read along - do you remember those? Not a movie for huge laughs - although some people in the audience were laughing so hard I thought they must be stoned. Just cool. I just thought of a few weeks ago - I think we were watching Taxi - this lady behind us fell asleep in the theater and was actually snoring loudly. Last week, some lady had a toddler at the movie and it was crying and she literally sat there while it cried for probably 20 minutes before taking it out. I think people were about to throw stuff at her. Sometimes at the movies I think I'm going deaf anymore these days. I like it loud. But sometimes it is like they only have a quarter of the speakers on and I can't hear as well. The sound is more flat. The sound really affects how one perceives a film, because people never like as much those ones with poorer sound as the ones with the dolby digital surround sound.
Veteran's Day. The district has gone PC the past few years and given us Veteran's Day off instead of Columbus Day. Not a fan of Columbus Day, but the timing of Veteran's Day is awkward -- too close to Thanksgiving. We need some more holidays in that LOOOOOONG third quarter if you ask me. Hey, Cesar Chavez day is now an official state holiday that we don't get off, but, alas, I don't think it is in 3rd quarter either. I think it is in 4th when there's no time to take a day off. Anyway, we're off Thursday and back Friday. My intuition suggests there will be lots of "sick" kids Friday. I had a student stay home today to play Halo2 - he stood in line at midnight last night to get it.
It feels wrong how soon it gets dark now. I have to turn on my headlights before 5pm. It's just crazy - this isn't Canada!
If I get to teach IMP year 3 next year I'll have an awesome schedule. Technically, it will be my "turn" to teach it because I should, insha'allah, be taking the training for it over summer. And I should still be the only one trained to teach AP Stats - so if I get two of those to go again next year, thats 3 upper level classes. Plus, I'm planning to recruit for FST (trig) to try to get it to go again because we need it when kids drop matrig (a harder trig class). If I recruit for it and request it, maybe I'd get to teach it, too, seeing as I've only taught it once. Then I'll ask for Mastery - I have to take a "low" one, and that one is computer lab and relatively easy to prep for. But getting all three upper level courses is maybe asking a bit much. We'll see.
I need to stop blogging and write some grad papers.
Why do I blog? I guess it is just like getting my thoughts worked out - a journal, but with some occasional feedback. I never thought I'd want to blog or like blogging until I started doing it.
month of Ramadan - thank Allah swt for it, but how much of it did I not take advantage of! I think I'll be missing Eid prayers this year - just too far to go!!!
I don't like sweet stuff as much as I used to. Guess that's a good thing. I don't really like candy anymore. I do like a bit of chocolate. Is it true women like chocolate more than men?
Had AP Stat meeting this afternoon. We worked out what problems we'll be assigning through Christmas break and tenatively planned our next meeting. We meet at Wasson. Whenever I go to Wasson I think of music, because when I was in school we had our music competitions there. Older building, reminds me of Widefield for some reason. I think they must've been built around the same time and have some similarities in architectural design. Whenever I go to a meeting up in Denver I am awed by their buildings. Their schools are generally much nicer than ours - better design and apparently more money put into the initial construction and updates. Maybe they pass bonds and mill levy overrides more easily than we do. Glad I don't teach at Wasson - I'm not a fan of block scheduling.
Okay, seriously need to write those papers now!
There was a time when I thought of myself as religious. Not as a kid. Religion wasn't a big deal in my family. In junior high/ high school, I questioned the existence of God. I was a heavy metal type kid. Sort of, never quite fit the mold. In high school, I gradually tried to become a practicing Christian. read lots of literature, checked out different denominations. Some really freaked me out, others just seemed mundane, human. Participated in FCA. College it was Campus Crusade for Christ - but I totally didn't feel it. I tried pretty hard. Was blessed with finding Islam - really worked for me and still does. First I was a know nothing. Gradually came to feel "religious". I think it is a natural feeling of a convert because so much energy and thought goes into the process. Came of age in the religion five years later going to hajj. I finally didn't feel like an outsider anymore. But with that, there was also a bit of loss. It was now "normal" to be Muslim - shocking, but it has now been my whole adult life and a third of my life in total! I lost that feeling of being religious. Maybe I just got more realistic, more aware of my shortcomings, more accustomed to being Muslim, more sins after the clean slate of conversion. I still consider myself somewhat spiritual, God conscious, trying to do right. But it is different. I wonder if it is that back then I was a student and had more time to focus, now I work full time and more thought and energy is spent on the worldly endeavors. I miss that luxury of time I didn't even realize how precious it was when I was a student in college. I loved college life. I could go back except I'd feel like freeloader - in college it was all about you you you - I got tired of it and wanted to do something that mattered. What's the point of learning if never to do anything with it? I enjoyed physics. Now I am a different person and I doubt I would choose that major again, but it was right at the time. Learned how to think, alhumdooleluh. Now I'd like to study languages a bit. Or religion - but not at an American university for that.
Thinking of an AP Stats party. Would order a Stats shirt at scienceteecher.org (com?) for it....
Okay, seriously, I think I'll work on some graduate school papers now. I'm looking at my assignment calendar and it came with Eid ul Fitr pre-printed in it - how awesome is that!!!
If you inhaled enough helium could it make you have less weight (not mass, but weight)? Would it kill you first? Or would it just not work?
The Incredibles - cool movie. The first movie I've seen in recent memory in which the superheroes were really like superheroes. Brought back nostalgia of comic books with the 45 records so you could read along - do you remember those? Not a movie for huge laughs - although some people in the audience were laughing so hard I thought they must be stoned. Just cool. I just thought of a few weeks ago - I think we were watching Taxi - this lady behind us fell asleep in the theater and was actually snoring loudly. Last week, some lady had a toddler at the movie and it was crying and she literally sat there while it cried for probably 20 minutes before taking it out. I think people were about to throw stuff at her. Sometimes at the movies I think I'm going deaf anymore these days. I like it loud. But sometimes it is like they only have a quarter of the speakers on and I can't hear as well. The sound is more flat. The sound really affects how one perceives a film, because people never like as much those ones with poorer sound as the ones with the dolby digital surround sound.
Veteran's Day. The district has gone PC the past few years and given us Veteran's Day off instead of Columbus Day. Not a fan of Columbus Day, but the timing of Veteran's Day is awkward -- too close to Thanksgiving. We need some more holidays in that LOOOOOONG third quarter if you ask me. Hey, Cesar Chavez day is now an official state holiday that we don't get off, but, alas, I don't think it is in 3rd quarter either. I think it is in 4th when there's no time to take a day off. Anyway, we're off Thursday and back Friday. My intuition suggests there will be lots of "sick" kids Friday. I had a student stay home today to play Halo2 - he stood in line at midnight last night to get it.
It feels wrong how soon it gets dark now. I have to turn on my headlights before 5pm. It's just crazy - this isn't Canada!
If I get to teach IMP year 3 next year I'll have an awesome schedule. Technically, it will be my "turn" to teach it because I should, insha'allah, be taking the training for it over summer. And I should still be the only one trained to teach AP Stats - so if I get two of those to go again next year, thats 3 upper level classes. Plus, I'm planning to recruit for FST (trig) to try to get it to go again because we need it when kids drop matrig (a harder trig class). If I recruit for it and request it, maybe I'd get to teach it, too, seeing as I've only taught it once. Then I'll ask for Mastery - I have to take a "low" one, and that one is computer lab and relatively easy to prep for. But getting all three upper level courses is maybe asking a bit much. We'll see.
I need to stop blogging and write some grad papers.
Why do I blog? I guess it is just like getting my thoughts worked out - a journal, but with some occasional feedback. I never thought I'd want to blog or like blogging until I started doing it.
month of Ramadan - thank Allah swt for it, but how much of it did I not take advantage of! I think I'll be missing Eid prayers this year - just too far to go!!!
I don't like sweet stuff as much as I used to. Guess that's a good thing. I don't really like candy anymore. I do like a bit of chocolate. Is it true women like chocolate more than men?
Had AP Stat meeting this afternoon. We worked out what problems we'll be assigning through Christmas break and tenatively planned our next meeting. We meet at Wasson. Whenever I go to Wasson I think of music, because when I was in school we had our music competitions there. Older building, reminds me of Widefield for some reason. I think they must've been built around the same time and have some similarities in architectural design. Whenever I go to a meeting up in Denver I am awed by their buildings. Their schools are generally much nicer than ours - better design and apparently more money put into the initial construction and updates. Maybe they pass bonds and mill levy overrides more easily than we do. Glad I don't teach at Wasson - I'm not a fan of block scheduling.
Okay, seriously need to write those papers now!
There was a time when I thought of myself as religious. Not as a kid. Religion wasn't a big deal in my family. In junior high/ high school, I questioned the existence of God. I was a heavy metal type kid. Sort of, never quite fit the mold. In high school, I gradually tried to become a practicing Christian. read lots of literature, checked out different denominations. Some really freaked me out, others just seemed mundane, human. Participated in FCA. College it was Campus Crusade for Christ - but I totally didn't feel it. I tried pretty hard. Was blessed with finding Islam - really worked for me and still does. First I was a know nothing. Gradually came to feel "religious". I think it is a natural feeling of a convert because so much energy and thought goes into the process. Came of age in the religion five years later going to hajj. I finally didn't feel like an outsider anymore. But with that, there was also a bit of loss. It was now "normal" to be Muslim - shocking, but it has now been my whole adult life and a third of my life in total! I lost that feeling of being religious. Maybe I just got more realistic, more aware of my shortcomings, more accustomed to being Muslim, more sins after the clean slate of conversion. I still consider myself somewhat spiritual, God conscious, trying to do right. But it is different. I wonder if it is that back then I was a student and had more time to focus, now I work full time and more thought and energy is spent on the worldly endeavors. I miss that luxury of time I didn't even realize how precious it was when I was a student in college. I loved college life. I could go back except I'd feel like freeloader - in college it was all about you you you - I got tired of it and wanted to do something that mattered. What's the point of learning if never to do anything with it? I enjoyed physics. Now I am a different person and I doubt I would choose that major again, but it was right at the time. Learned how to think, alhumdooleluh. Now I'd like to study languages a bit. Or religion - but not at an American university for that.
Thinking of an AP Stats party. Would order a Stats shirt at scienceteecher.org (com?) for it....
Okay, seriously, I think I'll work on some graduate school papers now. I'm looking at my assignment calendar and it came with Eid ul Fitr pre-printed in it - how awesome is that!!!
If you inhaled enough helium could it make you have less weight (not mass, but weight)? Would it kill you first? Or would it just not work?
Moral issues
It is a busy week with lots of meetings and lots of graduate school papers due.
A few things I've been thinking about lately:
I have a problem with the religious Christian right claiming a monopoly on moral values. Apparently, moral issues are what supposedly put George W. over the top in this election. But exactly what moral issues are we talking about here? People who voted for Bush for moral issues voted for him because they opposed gay marriage ( so does Kerry), they are anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research and pretty much those were the three issues. I don't have a problem with someone having an opinion about those things, but what I do have a problem with is presenting those asthe only moral issues, moreover, the most important issues of the election.
What about the moral issue of going to war on false premises? What about the moral issue of unequitable taxation and cursing our children and grandchildren with insurmountable debt? What about the moral issue of detaining people indefinitely without giving any reason or access to legal counsel?
To me, these moral issues seem more important to me than the ones the Christian religious right promotes as if they were the ONLY moral values. Whether I am for or against gay marriage, what two people do with themselves is not nearly as big a concern to me as something that directly harms millions upon millions of people.
Why aren't people talking about the war as a moral issue? Since when are war and taxes in an arena separate from morality - as if they had their own standards separated from God's standards?
And what about the virtues of kindness and tolerance? It seems to me the religious right overlooks any verse in the Bible in which Jesus (as) displayed tolerance for a sinner - even those with moral sins. People who are filled with hate and self-righteousness don't have preeminent moral character in my book - even if they say they do so much that they actually believe themselves and deceive some others along with them. In the religious right, the saying often attributed to Jesus (as) of "hate the sin but love the sinner" is completely forgotten. They are more interested in dividing so they can consider themselves a morally elite class than they are in forgiving and inviting to virtue.
It is time that others stood up and took back morality in this country from the religious right. They don't own it, and they don't have a right to define it, but we're letting them.
Well, that's my soapbox for the day. P.S. Laura - I don't think I can walk Wed. - I need to go to the school board meeting.
A few things I've been thinking about lately:
I have a problem with the religious Christian right claiming a monopoly on moral values. Apparently, moral issues are what supposedly put George W. over the top in this election. But exactly what moral issues are we talking about here? People who voted for Bush for moral issues voted for him because they opposed gay marriage ( so does Kerry), they are anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research and pretty much those were the three issues. I don't have a problem with someone having an opinion about those things, but what I do have a problem with is presenting those asthe only moral issues, moreover, the most important issues of the election.
What about the moral issue of going to war on false premises? What about the moral issue of unequitable taxation and cursing our children and grandchildren with insurmountable debt? What about the moral issue of detaining people indefinitely without giving any reason or access to legal counsel?
To me, these moral issues seem more important to me than the ones the Christian religious right promotes as if they were the ONLY moral values. Whether I am for or against gay marriage, what two people do with themselves is not nearly as big a concern to me as something that directly harms millions upon millions of people.
Why aren't people talking about the war as a moral issue? Since when are war and taxes in an arena separate from morality - as if they had their own standards separated from God's standards?
And what about the virtues of kindness and tolerance? It seems to me the religious right overlooks any verse in the Bible in which Jesus (as) displayed tolerance for a sinner - even those with moral sins. People who are filled with hate and self-righteousness don't have preeminent moral character in my book - even if they say they do so much that they actually believe themselves and deceive some others along with them. In the religious right, the saying often attributed to Jesus (as) of "hate the sin but love the sinner" is completely forgotten. They are more interested in dividing so they can consider themselves a morally elite class than they are in forgiving and inviting to virtue.
It is time that others stood up and took back morality in this country from the religious right. They don't own it, and they don't have a right to define it, but we're letting them.
Well, that's my soapbox for the day. P.S. Laura - I don't think I can walk Wed. - I need to go to the school board meeting.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Blessed
Wow, do you have any idea how fortunate I am? I have my own home, I have so far always been able to pay my bills, I've enjoyed good health, I have a loving mother, I have a nice work place, I wear my hijab and practice my faith freely, I have food to eat, I have heat in the winter, my car runs and I can pay for the gas, I have books to read, I have Internet so I can blog and meet with my friends, I've have access to lots of good education and am working on my master's degree, I live in a beautiful state, I'm not forced to be other than myself, I have hope for forgiveness from God, and for His continued guidance, insha'allah.....
Oh, btw, I did a geocache today - first in a long time - there was a new micro only a mile from my house! I like when they're close, in neighborhoods or areas I am somewhat familiar with. Mom came to walk in the morning. I went to the grocery store and decided to spend a wad there on canned goods and freezer stuff, etc., since they're really close to striking and I don't want to cross potential picket lines - but I don't want to shop at Wal-mart, either. I was so good, I even bought antifreeze and wiper fluid for my car. I tend to ignore cars until something is wrong with them - bad, I know. Then I spent the afternoon cleaning. I'm not finished but I don't plan to continue after iftar - which is now, so insha'allah I'll write again some other time.
Oh, btw, I did a geocache today - first in a long time - there was a new micro only a mile from my house! I like when they're close, in neighborhoods or areas I am somewhat familiar with. Mom came to walk in the morning. I went to the grocery store and decided to spend a wad there on canned goods and freezer stuff, etc., since they're really close to striking and I don't want to cross potential picket lines - but I don't want to shop at Wal-mart, either. I was so good, I even bought antifreeze and wiper fluid for my car. I tend to ignore cars until something is wrong with them - bad, I know. Then I spent the afternoon cleaning. I'm not finished but I don't plan to continue after iftar - which is now, so insha'allah I'll write again some other time.
Tongue
Yesterday I had IMP training in Denver. It was a small group but good training as always. I have AP Statistics training next Saturday in Denver as well. Maybe I won't carpool to that one so that I could try to go to the meat store to get some halal meat - it has been quite a while since I've had meat. But we'll see. If it is still the month of Ramadan Saturday, that will put me up to 8 days I'll need to make up. Maybe this year I'll actually do it right after Eid. Well, I always say that but don't often do it. I am disappointed with myself over how I did on Laylatul Qadr amaals. I just conked out. I've also had trouble focusing this year. Astaghfirullah.
from the book "A Divine Perspective On Rights" Imam Sajjad Ali Ibn al-Hussein(as)
On your tongue (strange looking word):
And the right of the tongue is that you consider it too noble for obscenity, accustom it to good, direct it to politeness, do not use it except in situations of needs and benefits of the religion and this world, and refrain from any meddling in which there is little to be gained; and there is no security from its harm that accompanies its small benefits. It is the witness to and the evidence of the existence of the intellect. The demonstration of a intelligent person's intellect is through his reputation of good speech. And there is no power but in God the High, the Great.
"A man is hidden behind his tongue"
The tongue will unveil the curtain and display our real character.
from the book "A Divine Perspective On Rights" Imam Sajjad Ali Ibn al-Hussein(as)
On your tongue (strange looking word):
And the right of the tongue is that you consider it too noble for obscenity, accustom it to good, direct it to politeness, do not use it except in situations of needs and benefits of the religion and this world, and refrain from any meddling in which there is little to be gained; and there is no security from its harm that accompanies its small benefits. It is the witness to and the evidence of the existence of the intellect. The demonstration of a intelligent person's intellect is through his reputation of good speech. And there is no power but in God the High, the Great.
"A man is hidden behind his tongue"
The tongue will unveil the curtain and display our real character.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
CANADA REPORTS HUGE JUMP IN IMMIGRATION
A humorous article from a friend: But, Canada IS, in my experience, a great place.
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the
number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four
hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since
late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came
from U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New
York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he
was "flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for
Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the
precise reasons for the staggering increase.
"My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S.,
hockey is finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is
sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the
north: "People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard
to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing
uncontrollably."
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday
to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You
can run, but you can't hide."
Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office
Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want
fries with that?"
Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a
Kerry victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed
behind and voted again.
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the
number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four
hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since
late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came
from U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New
York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he
was "flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for
Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the
precise reasons for the staggering increase.
"My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S.,
hockey is finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is
sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the
north: "People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard
to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing
uncontrollably."
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday
to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You
can run, but you can't hide."
Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office
Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want
fries with that?"
Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a
Kerry victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed
behind and voted again.
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the
number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four
hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since
late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came
from U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New
York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he
was "flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for
Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the
precise reasons for the staggering increase.
"My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S.,
hockey is finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is
sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the
north: "People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard
to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing
uncontrollably."
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday
to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You
can run, but you can't hide."
Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office
Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want
fries with that?"
Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a
Kerry victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed
behind and voted again.
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the
number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four
hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since
late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came
from U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New
York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he
was "flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for
Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the
precise reasons for the staggering increase.
"My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S.,
hockey is finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is
sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the
north: "People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard
to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing
uncontrollably."
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday
to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You
can run, but you can't hide."
Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office
Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want
fries with that?"
Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a
Kerry victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed
behind and voted again.
Capitol takeover signals shake up
This is almost definitely very good news as far as public education in Colorado is concerned. Virtually all of the most damaging legislation public education in Colorado has faced has been passed over a party-split vote with the Republican majority resulting in passage. Any potentially damaging bill that did not pass failed only because some Republicans crossed party lines. With a democratic majority, presumably we will face less of a threat from the voucher bills that seek to dismantle public education, as well as bills affecting funding for schools and teacher's organization rights, etc. I think this shows people in Colorado have had enough with the way our legislators had been operating - very nastily - for the past several years, and maybe this is a positive sign of change. In my opinion, the fact that this change has happened while Bush still carried the state suggests that the Dems had the wrong leading man for President. Not enough people believed in Kerry.
By KYLE HENLEY - THE GAZETTE
DENVER - Maybe Colorado Democrats were channeling the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
Tuesday night, the perennially losing Democrats swept the GOP out of power just like the Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In stunning fashion they took the state Senate and House in a surprise that hasn’t been seen in Colorado for four decades.
House Democrats awoke Wednesday morning to find their ranks had swollen from 28 to at least 33, perhaps 35 depending on the outcome of two races that were still undecided.
Democrats haven’t controlled the Colorado House since the 1970s. They controlled the Senate from 2000 to 2002, but the party hasn’t held both chambers since 1960.
In the Senate, Democrats ousted one incumbent Republican — Bruce Cairns in Arvada — and held on to a handful of key races to pick up one seat. That was enough to shift the balance of power 18-17 in their favor.
“This will be an opportunity, with both chambers changing leadership, to forge a new direction for our state,” said Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, likely to become the first female Senate president in Colo- rado history.
A surreal moment Wednesday: Rep. Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, stood in the quiet halls of the Capitol. Romanoff, once the minority leader, will probably be the next speaker of the House.
No one was watching except one reporter when Rep. Keith King – a Colorado Springs lawmaker who would have been the next speaker had the GOP retained control — approached him for the first time since Election Day.
“Congratulations, you are going to be a great speaker,” King said. “You guys hit us big. Congratulations to you.”
The two shook hands and King walked away. “It’s going to take some time to get used to that,” Romanoff said.
Democrats saw success across Colorado on Tuesday. In addition to winning legislative races, Attorney General Ken Salazar beat beer titan Pete Coors in the race for Colorado’s open U.S. Senate seat.
“The results from last night indicate the people of Colorado very much embrace the independent spirit of the West,” Salazar said.
The string of wins was countered by President Bush’s defeat of Democratic Sen. John Kerry in Colorado’s presidential totals.
“The Democrats seem to have come under the radar with this,” said Bob Loevy, a Colorado College political science professor. “It’s going to make this a monumental Colorado election because control of both houses has not happened for decades.
“For them to win when a Republican is comfortably carrying Colorado for president is truly phenomenal. I have always said presidential coattails in Colorado extend down to the state legislatures, and that is clearly not the case.”
While Democrats are still giddy, they face daunting problems in Colorado, including a difficult budget situation and a sputtering economy.
Colorado is facing a $263 million budget shortfall for the 2005-06 fiscal year, a funding gap that many predict will lead to wide-ranging cuts.
In the long-term, however, Romanoff would like to see investments in higher education, economic development efforts and the health care system.
“I don’t want to exaggerate the mandate we were given,” he said. “But I think the fact that Democrats were able to win not just in the (Denver) area but across Colorado, I think that suggests there is a real appetite for change and we expect to do that.”
Democrats and Republicans will officially pick their leaders today. Soon after, Democratic leaders will meet with Republic Gov. Bill Owens.
“Am I happy my friends in the Democratic Party are in the majority? No,” Owens said. “Can I work with them? Yes.”
Owens noted he served in the General Assembly when Roy Romer and Dick Lamm – both Democrats – were governor.
“You can do good things across party lines,” he said.
By KYLE HENLEY - THE GAZETTE
DENVER - Maybe Colorado Democrats were channeling the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
Tuesday night, the perennially losing Democrats swept the GOP out of power just like the Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In stunning fashion they took the state Senate and House in a surprise that hasn’t been seen in Colorado for four decades.
House Democrats awoke Wednesday morning to find their ranks had swollen from 28 to at least 33, perhaps 35 depending on the outcome of two races that were still undecided.
Democrats haven’t controlled the Colorado House since the 1970s. They controlled the Senate from 2000 to 2002, but the party hasn’t held both chambers since 1960.
In the Senate, Democrats ousted one incumbent Republican — Bruce Cairns in Arvada — and held on to a handful of key races to pick up one seat. That was enough to shift the balance of power 18-17 in their favor.
“This will be an opportunity, with both chambers changing leadership, to forge a new direction for our state,” said Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, likely to become the first female Senate president in Colo- rado history.
A surreal moment Wednesday: Rep. Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, stood in the quiet halls of the Capitol. Romanoff, once the minority leader, will probably be the next speaker of the House.
No one was watching except one reporter when Rep. Keith King – a Colorado Springs lawmaker who would have been the next speaker had the GOP retained control — approached him for the first time since Election Day.
“Congratulations, you are going to be a great speaker,” King said. “You guys hit us big. Congratulations to you.”
The two shook hands and King walked away. “It’s going to take some time to get used to that,” Romanoff said.
Democrats saw success across Colorado on Tuesday. In addition to winning legislative races, Attorney General Ken Salazar beat beer titan Pete Coors in the race for Colorado’s open U.S. Senate seat.
“The results from last night indicate the people of Colorado very much embrace the independent spirit of the West,” Salazar said.
The string of wins was countered by President Bush’s defeat of Democratic Sen. John Kerry in Colorado’s presidential totals.
“The Democrats seem to have come under the radar with this,” said Bob Loevy, a Colorado College political science professor. “It’s going to make this a monumental Colorado election because control of both houses has not happened for decades.
“For them to win when a Republican is comfortably carrying Colorado for president is truly phenomenal. I have always said presidential coattails in Colorado extend down to the state legislatures, and that is clearly not the case.”
While Democrats are still giddy, they face daunting problems in Colorado, including a difficult budget situation and a sputtering economy.
Colorado is facing a $263 million budget shortfall for the 2005-06 fiscal year, a funding gap that many predict will lead to wide-ranging cuts.
In the long-term, however, Romanoff would like to see investments in higher education, economic development efforts and the health care system.
“I don’t want to exaggerate the mandate we were given,” he said. “But I think the fact that Democrats were able to win not just in the (Denver) area but across Colorado, I think that suggests there is a real appetite for change and we expect to do that.”
Democrats and Republicans will officially pick their leaders today. Soon after, Democratic leaders will meet with Republic Gov. Bill Owens.
“Am I happy my friends in the Democratic Party are in the majority? No,” Owens said. “Can I work with them? Yes.”
Owens noted he served in the General Assembly when Roy Romer and Dick Lamm – both Democrats – were governor.
“You can do good things across party lines,” he said.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Salazar Victory
From the Rocky:
Fifth generation Coloradan Ken Salazar's narrow victory over 4th generation Coloradan Beer Baron Republican Pete Coors sends him to a U.S. Senate that has had only three Hispanics in its history, the last nearly 30 years ago.
That fact alone rockets Salazar to national prominence, said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.
Isn't that shocking that he's the first hispanic Senator in nearly 30 years and there have only been two others!? That isn't right.
Fifth generation Coloradan Ken Salazar's narrow victory over 4th generation Coloradan Beer Baron Republican Pete Coors sends him to a U.S. Senate that has had only three Hispanics in its history, the last nearly 30 years ago.
That fact alone rockets Salazar to national prominence, said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.
Isn't that shocking that he's the first hispanic Senator in nearly 30 years and there have only been two others!? That isn't right.
A few reasons why my conscience made me vote "not Bush"
I don't particularly like John Kerry's politics. Nor am I particularly convinced he has the skills to run a country - but then, I'm not sure anyone does until they get the job and do it for a few years.
I could not in good conscience vote for Bush for a number of reasons.
1. Bush lied about very important matters to bring us into Iraq.
2. Our economy is about the worst it has been since the Great Depression while he presided in office.
3. He took a balanced budget and turned into the greatest defecit we've ever had to bear.
4. He turned an opportunity for America to have better international relations than ever before post 9/11 into the worst international relations we've ever had.
5. He was a party boy in college who cared less about study than drinking and has DUI's to show for it.
6. If Bush dies Cheney will be President and that is really really really scary because the man has the shortest fuse I've seen in a long time.
7. Halliburton is a way bigger scandal than Enron or Watergate.
8. Iraq is another Vietnam now.
9. Doctors' reports and other reports suggest Bush may be mentally ill, believes God talks to him. He has said repeatedly he believes God has ordained and approved his every action - another Manifest Destiny type.
10. Under his administration, our public education system has been hijacked and threatened more than any time in history.
11. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.
12. He speaks poorly, he comes across as being very unintelligent - maybe it was that partying in college.
13. Tax cuts appeal to the masses but are stupid unless the wealthy bear the brunt - but in contrast they now pay less taxes than before while we pay more.
14. Working men and women in fields of labor - our grocers, electricians, etc., are out of work in greater numbers than since the depression and our white collar jobs are being outsourced as never before under his administration.
15. Patriot Act and another nonsense passed under his administration rob Americans of Civil Liberties in extreme measure.
16. Islamaphobia and using scare tactics to push bull-headed policies instead of any real attempt at solving problems.
17. Couldn't catch Osama bin Laden. Or maybe just didn't really want to?
18. Irresponisble blanket support for Israel.
19. Did not fulfill his National Guard service and also lied about it.
20. No Weapons of Mass Destruction. And what's the death toll in Iraq again? Draft, anyone?
One man is not responsible for every problem in the country, but when so many things go so wrong I want a change of hands!
Our school bond - the public voted to approve it, but apparently did not vote to approve the mill levy cap release, which essentially means we could get the bonds but we couldn't spend them. We cannot repair our buildings or build the badly needed new schools. A lot of people worked really hard to make this happen for our kids and for the staff that work in these buildings, too, so it is very disappointing.
The privatization-bought Peggy Littleton won the seat on the state school board. People vote for whoever has the most signs rather than investigating the issues. As a result, we have more and more people in office whose goal is to dismantle public education so they can make money off of it - at the expense of our kids.
I was disappointed Coloradans did not vote to approve a split electoral vote. I hate that if I don't vote for what the majority wants my vote ends up not counting. I think every vote should count and every person should have a voice.
Trying to be positive, we did have a few victories - ex-teacher Michael Merrifield remains the only democratic official from the county in public office despite brutal negative campaign attempts to get him out. Ken Salazar beat Coors - at least people had enough sense to see that a beer baron is probably not the best choice as a public official. Although I would've preferred Ken Salazar had waited and run for governor against Owens - another privitzation mogul at the expense of our kids.
I could not in good conscience vote for Bush for a number of reasons.
1. Bush lied about very important matters to bring us into Iraq.
2. Our economy is about the worst it has been since the Great Depression while he presided in office.
3. He took a balanced budget and turned into the greatest defecit we've ever had to bear.
4. He turned an opportunity for America to have better international relations than ever before post 9/11 into the worst international relations we've ever had.
5. He was a party boy in college who cared less about study than drinking and has DUI's to show for it.
6. If Bush dies Cheney will be President and that is really really really scary because the man has the shortest fuse I've seen in a long time.
7. Halliburton is a way bigger scandal than Enron or Watergate.
8. Iraq is another Vietnam now.
9. Doctors' reports and other reports suggest Bush may be mentally ill, believes God talks to him. He has said repeatedly he believes God has ordained and approved his every action - another Manifest Destiny type.
10. Under his administration, our public education system has been hijacked and threatened more than any time in history.
11. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.
12. He speaks poorly, he comes across as being very unintelligent - maybe it was that partying in college.
13. Tax cuts appeal to the masses but are stupid unless the wealthy bear the brunt - but in contrast they now pay less taxes than before while we pay more.
14. Working men and women in fields of labor - our grocers, electricians, etc., are out of work in greater numbers than since the depression and our white collar jobs are being outsourced as never before under his administration.
15. Patriot Act and another nonsense passed under his administration rob Americans of Civil Liberties in extreme measure.
16. Islamaphobia and using scare tactics to push bull-headed policies instead of any real attempt at solving problems.
17. Couldn't catch Osama bin Laden. Or maybe just didn't really want to?
18. Irresponisble blanket support for Israel.
19. Did not fulfill his National Guard service and also lied about it.
20. No Weapons of Mass Destruction. And what's the death toll in Iraq again? Draft, anyone?
One man is not responsible for every problem in the country, but when so many things go so wrong I want a change of hands!
Our school bond - the public voted to approve it, but apparently did not vote to approve the mill levy cap release, which essentially means we could get the bonds but we couldn't spend them. We cannot repair our buildings or build the badly needed new schools. A lot of people worked really hard to make this happen for our kids and for the staff that work in these buildings, too, so it is very disappointing.
The privatization-bought Peggy Littleton won the seat on the state school board. People vote for whoever has the most signs rather than investigating the issues. As a result, we have more and more people in office whose goal is to dismantle public education so they can make money off of it - at the expense of our kids.
I was disappointed Coloradans did not vote to approve a split electoral vote. I hate that if I don't vote for what the majority wants my vote ends up not counting. I think every vote should count and every person should have a voice.
Trying to be positive, we did have a few victories - ex-teacher Michael Merrifield remains the only democratic official from the county in public office despite brutal negative campaign attempts to get him out. Ken Salazar beat Coors - at least people had enough sense to see that a beer baron is probably not the best choice as a public official. Although I would've preferred Ken Salazar had waited and run for governor against Owens - another privitzation mogul at the expense of our kids.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Election Day Game
Give Bush a Brain!
My friend had a link to this game in her blog and I thought it was fun so I'll pass it on to you, too!
My friend had a link to this game in her blog and I thought it was fun so I'll pass it on to you, too!
Monday, November 01, 2004
Snow Day
Last night was Halloween; kids came to the door from about quarter to five until about quarter to eight. Not as late as some years, I suspect because it was starting to get very cold. Most groups had parents with them. I saw Captain America, the Hulk, a few Spider Men, an elf, a few drag queens, Princess Jasmine, the skeleton guy from Scary Movie, and a few others. By the time I went to bed the ground was getting wet. We got a few inches of snow and high winds causing some white-out conditions and icy roads. School was put on a two-hour delay so I took my time getting ready and even warmed up the car and all that. Teachers are supposed to arrive at normal time during two-hour delays, or rather we're supposed to leave at normal time and get there as soon as is safely possible. I was there by eight. I picked up some copies, delivered some items, checked mail, and was getting ready to plan when the principal announced school was canceled. So, I chatted a bit with other teachers who were coming in and then came back home and took a nap. The roads look not so bad now but the wind is still strong and biting and it is quite cold out there - in the twenties, and below zero with wind chill. I haven't felt like doing too much yet, but maybe soon I'll work on some graduate school stuff and house chores and so on. Last night I got to eat right around 5 o'clock now that we're back to standard time.
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