“The Rich and the Rest of Us” – What is the Real Divide?

There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the price. The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed, more than a decade of foreign wars, and unregulatedtax benefits for the wealthy. When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government’s doorstep in search of salvation. The government obliged, allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans. The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations—not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age, and gender lines. Nearly one-third of the American middle class—mostly families with children—have fallen into poverty.”

—Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

“Class warfare” is the claim that Republican conservatives have spouted when the issue of economic inequality is brought by advocates like Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley.  What does that mean? It means that when the truth about the rules and rights of the rich versus the poor is exposed, the argument is that these advocates are discriminating against people who are rich, creating a “war” against people who are wealthy.

Does that make sense?

This becomes an argument of between facts and impressions.  People with facts tend to stand on more solid ground in this kind of argument.  Why is that? Could it be because FACTS can’t be subjective?

The excerpt above is an example of using logic and facts to support the rationale behind financial and economic instability.

I am not a political debater.  I actually get a little disinterested in the extended cable commentary that reiterates the same 5 minute soundbite over and over and over.  I just want truth to be spoken to power in an authentic and genuine way.

People like Dr. West and Mr. Smiley tend to cut through the political, pontificating rhetoric to get at the truth of the matter. In this case, it’s dealing with why only a small amount people stay rich while the majority live in poverty.  It mirrors the educational gap between majority students  and minority students in varying communities. The frustrated adults and commentators question why the gap remains; the everyday victims of this crime sadly become immune to its destructive results.

How do we change this? How do you fix this problem? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as taking a pill to take the pain away.

It requires community involvement on a local, state, and federal level.  It requires pointed activism from the Occupy Wall Street movement.  It requires re-calibrating the opportunity scales so that EVERYONE has a fair shake at the American Dream of getting a good education, getting a good job, buying a house, having a family, saving money for your own kids to go to college, etc.

What do you think about this “class warfare”? Is it really a battle or just one-sided argument?

Today’s Group Assignment for English II – What is LOVE?

From my experience, poetry in general can be a little intimidating to non-English majors/self-described non-writers. It ranges from having archaic and overly developed vocabulary that requires a dictionary to understand every line to deeply metaphoric description and symbolism that “makes no sense” without doing a mini-history lesson.

So what do you do? You address one of its most popular topics of the ages – LOVE! It has toppled empires, caused wars, heightened family feuds, severed  relationships and marriages, enraged gods, empowered  lonely starlets and their fans to want more from life, and changed the social class of fair maidens everywhere.

• Why would people go through so much destruction, pain, and frustration in their pursuit of LOVE?
•  What is the reward? What do people get in return?
•  Is there an age requirement for being in love? Are adults the ONLY people who can REALLY fall in love? Why?
• What other emotions do you experience when you are in love?

We are going to explore that today with today’s group assignment.

Take a look below at the collage I created on this post.  Notice the pictures, listen to the music lyrics playing and read the quotations. Then, in a group of three, you will brainstorm on the definition of love in your journal/separate sheet of paper.  EVERYONE needs to have his/her own completed assignment (10 ideas at least) to get full credit for classwork today.

You have 20 minutes to complete this assignment.  I will need some brave volunteers to share what your group came up with using the Promethean Board. Be prepared!

Making Your Own “Happily Ever After” – Titanic Returns April 4, 2012

As I contemplate the end of my 20′s, I realize how the positive and negative experiences have shaped my personal philosophy of life and love.  For a career, I need to feel like I am making a difference in the world and be passionate about my pursuits.

For my social life, I need real friends to comfort me in times of strife and tragedy and are consistent in their concern which only empowers me to be the same for them.  In dating relationships, I need the companionship of a best friend, the intimacy of a lover, and the empathy of a passionate philanthropist so that I feel safe enough to be the same thing for my partner.

Being a romantic, I have been reflecting on what elements are necessary to make my current relationship work through cinema-therapy (I know how that sounds but I am an unabashed romantic).  My favorite films I have been “revisiting” is a classic from high school – Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Besides the epic tragedy of lives lost, the film centers around the love story between a penniless but ambitious artist and a privileged yet fearless debutante defying the odds to be together.

They meet at a very sensitive time for the young woman – she is contemplating suicide so that she can escape her life of strict expectation and family obligation.  At that moment, Jack (Leo’s character) sees through the fine clothes and fancy jewels to who Rose really is – a trapped canary in a bejeweled cage who has lost her song.  It isn’t until he challenges her to fight for the life she wants that she sees him as the lifelong companion she needs and deserves.

When I saw the film in theaters, I remember yearning to have the intimate connection that Rose had with Jack; they knew each other as individuals outside of their disparate, social classes.  Rose and Jack had the courage to support one another no matter what obstacles came their way – threats of being shot, arrested, beat up, called ugly names, even a sinking ship.  How did they know that they were supported? It was innate.  When Jack was arrested for allegedly stealing the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace, Rose was stunned by the accusation.  But when she listened to her intuition, she realized that Jack would never steal from her – that was not the kind of man he was.

I wanted to be Rose in my own life – having the courage to love someone fearlessly and get that same love in return.  I think I have found it.

Trust is vital – without it, you are rowing the lifeboat by yourself.  That can be pretty tiring and emotionally frustrating.  Luckily, I have a partner-in-crime. I also realized that I need more quality time and romance from my significant other (and I am pretty sure he knows it too).

The advantage to being in a secure and trusting relationship is that it gives you space to focus on your own life and interests.  I plunge into new activities and interests that my partner may not be as passionate about as I am.  Then I get to recount the fun to him later.

To be clear, I understand that real life is not a fairytale nor one of Disney’s classic films.  There is no Prince Charming and no Hollywood “happy ending.”  What there is are real people making personal connections, establishing emotional boundaries, and making the leap to loving someone without restraint for the sake of being human.  I would rather leap with Love’s courage than be afraid to fall.

A New Adventure: Reflecting on Destiny and Stanley Ann Dunham

It’s a bright and sunny Sunday morning – my favorite time of day.

Despite it being Easter Sunday (which is sacred in itself for spiritual rebirth and family fellowship), this time of day offers my favorite reading material of the week – the Sunday Edition. Today, I was lucky enough to be given today’s New York Times paper with an interesting magazine cover on top of the piling. The cover was a vintage picture of a young white mother with black shorts with her adorable son dressed up as a pirate in brown sandals for Halloween with the title “Why She Went: When Barry Obama was 6 years old, his mother moved him to Indonesia. It was a decision that would define his life and hers.” That adorable pirate and that Barry Obama are one in the same – he would later become our President Barack Obama.

His life story is the stuff of folklore almost – absent father, caring and supportive grandparents and mother raising him, having to figure out where he belongs as a teenager and young adult, finding his footing to go to Columbia for undergrad, law school, working as a community organizer only to ascend even higher and higher as a senator and finally, the President of the United States. If you haven’t read his memoir, it is definitely a requirement for any educated person. But little is known about his mother, the woman who fell in love with and married a charismatic and articulate Kenyan from the University of Hawaii, producing a baby boy that would be “king” so to speak.

After the divorce, she met and married a grad student named Lolo Soetoro from the Indonesian island of Java. She later moved to Indonesia with her young son in tow to begin her international adventure of raising children, working, and travelling the world. It’s kind of incredible to have a mother like that.

All the while, she was instilling in her six-year-old son the manners, morals, and widened, world perspective that would be his signature persona as an adult. The new Mrs. Soetoro had her son reading from workbooks, encouraging him to be “a combination of Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, and Harry Belafonte.” High standards for sure but somehow I think she succeeded in her task.

What internal strength it must have taken to move away from everyone and everything you know to submerge yourself in a completely new culture and country to marry the man you love. Bravery and courage almost seem too simple to use in describing such a feat. It was something steely and powerful inside of this “mild-mannered” Kansas native – almost like Clark Kent with the heart and soul of Superman.

I reflect on this chapter of her life with relief, relief to know that my new adventure has been travelled by one of the most influential people in American history. Okay, this is just MY OPINION but the mother of President Barack Obama was the person that shaped him to be the man, leader, father, husband, brother, and human being that we all have the privilege to know and respect. Therefore, she is a part of American history, one of the many stories from the American Dream.

I’m not going to say that I am not afraid of this new adventure that I am on in a week but I will say that I am more calm and even resolute to this new chapter. I think I have that travelling spirit of Stanley Ann Dunham, ready to meet my destiny no matter where it takes me. I pray that God will lead my heart to that destination and that I will trust in His plan for me.

Happy Easter, everyone!

“It’s Been a Long Time /Shouldn’t Have Left You /Without a Dope Beat to Step To”

Forgive me, blog subscribers! I have been going through a lot of transition on many facets of my life lately – socially, emotionally, fiscally, intellectually, and physically (in less than two weeks).

I realized that it would be a pretty boring blog if I only wrote about all the wonderful things that happen in my life.  Life is not always wonderful! It can be difficult, riddled with hardship and sacrifice, and it wouldn’t be fair to ignore that portion of life in order to maintain the unrealistic facade of perfection.  It would almost be liking dumbing my material down and you all are way too smart for that!

But don’t worry. Sustained amounts of self-pity and negative self-talk is not my style.  A balance must exist, exposing both the ying and yang to make my experiences real and more importantly, give us all a wider and more varied perspective on the good and bad.

With that, here we go!

The move for the new job in my beloved NOLA occurs in less than two weeks and I am making plans for every step of the process.  Luckily, the only “major’ piece of furniture I proudly own is a white nightstand I bought used with crystal-like knobs and picturesque design.  Everything else I classify as “stuff” - toiletry stuff, kitchen stuff, wardrobe stuff, past-time stuff, etc.  All that “stuff” will have to fit in my car or it’s getting tossed.  Talk about SPRING CLEANING!

But life never hands you just one “obstacle” at a time.  I am also ending the semester with my classes, forced to start Final Exam season prematurely because of the move.  I would like to say that all of my students were completely understanding and sympathetic to this change of plans but I can’t.  I’m pretty fragile right now so all the unnecessary criticism and requests (especially coming at the END of the semester, the most stress-ridden time of the semester for every faculty member, staff member, student, and member of administration) are cutting me pretty deeply.  I had to take a mental health day today and have office hours through email just to collect myself.

To keep perspective, I keep reminding myself that no matter how hard it is for me right now, it will be that much more sweet two weeks from now when I moved to New Orleans for the summer in a furnished sublet in walking distance from the Quarter and exciting cafes, bars, and other excursions while I begin my teaching training and start work in the following month.  And then there is the Essence Music Festival that I have always wanted to go but never had the money for.  I will BE THERE this year! It’s kind of amazing how life can turn on a dime. I already have a short tally of colleagues who are coming to visit me this summer.  Maybe I’ll charge a small fee.  What do you think?

It also kind of interesting to know that a year ago, the BP Oil Spill occurred and changed the future of the Gulf Coast drastically.  I have mixed feelings about this.  While I am happy that NOLA and other major cities in the Gulf have made an effort to resurrect themselves from the tragedy as best they can, I think the tragedy is still happening even if the news stops covering it.  People who depend on the healthy life of the Gulf for survival are still being victimized and the powers that be (i.e. BP) STILL have not fixed the problem nor done what is RIGHT and FAIR.  The company KNOWS what needs to be done yet nothing is happening and you know who suffers?  The good people at the bottom of the food chain who only want to work hard and provide for themselves and their families.  It feels like Katrina all over again.

The only solace I can have is that I have an opportunity to make a difference on my working vacation this summer.  I get to work as a teacher through an institution outside the reach of school board bureaucracy and greed to reach my students and their parents in a pragmatic and holistic way that I have never been able to do before. It’s a great honor!  Wish me luck!

Finishing Out the Week – Is Senioritis Contractable?

Finishing out this week is a welcome ending to a very chaotic series of events, both personal and professional. The best news of the week is getting an offer to be a full-time instructor over the summer in my beloved New Orleans. So now the frenzy begins – moving, checking out the summer rentals, working on when to officially leave road trip-style. It’s enough to make anyone feel completely overwhelmed!

But as you know, life never just hands you one thing to fret/get frustrated over. I had to grade huge piles of MLA research papers from my TWO Composition classes, totalling about 25-30 papers ranging from 5-10 pages in length. You do the math. But it wasn’t the fact that I had to grade these papers that made me feel discouraged, it was the overall content and organization of a certain set of papers that made me want to cry.

Let me explain. As an educator, I try to be as transparent as possible with my expectations for class participation, class discussions, homework, and essays. That is why I hand out very detailed syllabi with the breakdown of course material that will be covered every week of the semester. I painstakendly sculpted course material to advance gradually so students could steadily improve in their writing and critical content. Because a MLA research paper is chronically much more intense and difficult for students, I took great care in assigning simpler papers at the beginning of the semester, gradually intensifying the material to prepare students for this major assignment. I make myself completely available to students during office hours and via email. I spent many class meetings outlining the paper’s guidelines and offered MANY resources that students can refer to to help them in their endeavor. In short, I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do.

Despite all of this active precautions and preparation, I have had to read papers that lack the basic guidelines I have outlined since the beginning of the semester in January. Essay headings are deformed, typos and spelling errors run amuck, in-text citations and peer-viewed drafts are missing in action, and repetition makes the reading stale.

I have been talking to my colleagues in the office and they are experiencing the same frustration with their own students. Somehow some students have forgotten the work ethic and professionalism they had learned from their college classes this semester. Is senioritis contagious? Can it be contracted through the campus air conditioning, drinking fountains or cafeteria food? I am afraid for everyone!

I think the reason why we educators take this so hard is because we care WAY TOO MUCH. I mean, this isn’t a profession known for its lucrative paychecks. You get into this profession because you genuinely LOVE what you do – you love mentoring and helping students ascend to their best selves “by any means necessary.” And that is why you stay up late crafting interesting course material, writing syllabi, and finding supplementary materials that we get you and your students excited about learning.

So to see the bright side of the situation, I refer to my students who really “GET IT” – the students who see what you see in the importance of this class and its material. They are the people I work for and give selflessly to. They are the light at the end of this very dark tunnel. Thank you for seeing ME the way I see YOU – empathetic critical learners, writers, and citizens of the global community.

“All You Need is Love” – An Innate Awareness and Direct Action of Human Events

This past Thursday, I had the wonderful privilege of planning a film screening of 2009′s Across the Universe at a college’s theater.  I set this event up for my two Composition classes as a diversion from regular classwork (even though the ulterior motive was to foster critical thinking and connecting the dots of human experience from 1960s to 2011).

While it was a meager showing (only 13 students came),  it was a beautiful showing.  A few students even brought cookies for the event.  I was touched because I wasn’t planning to have food at all.  I suggested bringing enough food for “the class” (of 15-20) but I know my students are strapped for cash (even more than me).  I didn’t want to push the issue.  Despite that, there was a great showing of fellowship snacks and shockingly, DINNER!

One of the students who worked as a pizza delivery driver donated six pies of pizza to the event, saying that his manager even donated an extra pie because the event was “for college kids and they sure will be hungry.”  I almost cried!  This generosity was the embodiment of the film’s theme (and the students didn’t even know it yet).

I also thought about how I can make the theme of the film have practical applications to our world now.  The morning before the screening I was listening to my playlist on shuffle and my MP3 player played a song I haven’t heard a few years at least – “We Are The World” of 1985.  As I listened the lyrics (which I know by heart), I realized that this event could be more than just a diversion from class; it had the potential to make history (even if it is just for these classes and this college).

So I decided to make the event a mini-fundraiser for the American Red Cross towards the Japan Disaster Relief.  The suggested donation was $5 but any donation would be accepted.  Before we watched the film, I collected donations that totaled $37.  That might seem small to some people but knowing my students and the financial stresses they carry with them daily, I was very honored that they offered what little they had to such a worthwhile cause.  That is a memory I was always remember.

Who knows what else we’ll do this semester? Visiting the Smithsonian a-la-To Sir, With Love?  Having an End-of-the Semester Party in DC? Get invited to the White House by the President and the First Lady? The President and the First Lady visiting US on-campus?  The sky is the limit! Stay posted!

“Don’t Take My Kindness for Weakness” – Moving “On To The Next One”

So like always (or every couple of days), my roommate and I got into an argument over unwarranted assumptions, arrogance, and general disrespect. But yesterday morning, the argument took a sinister tone.

My roommate needed a ride to work at 11 but I had to go in to work early because I had some clerical work to do before my 9:30AM class. He assumed that since my job is very close by and my work doesn’t really “start” until 9:30AM, he could take as long as HE wanted to get ready. Naturally, that logic was extremely flawed. There is MORE to my job than just teaching and I relayed that to him. I later addressed the fact that if he doesn’t inquire (or seem interested in knowing) about my work life, he will continue to assume a whole lot of flawed logic. The argument intensified where he called me “immature,” that I was “acting like I was better than him,” and that I was not accepting the “fact” that he was “doing the best [he] can do” by working full-time and getting a paycheck.

When you know a person for more than ten years (I have known my roommate for 19 years), you have a stable sense of who this person is and more importantly, you know his/her potential to impact the world. So when you hear excuses from this same person to not tap into that potential, you listen intently but know that those excuses are holding this person back from his/her destiny. That’s what I told him but instead of hearing how much potential I believe he has, all he heard was that he wasn’t trying hard enough and got defensive. Once he gets defensive, he starts yelling and I stop listening (call it a woman thing).

I realized that his emotional maturity is underdeveloped and the “chip on [his] shoulder” will make it impossible to have any honest conversation about his future. I also realized that it wasn’t up to me to “save” him – he has to want to save himself first.

So now he is planning on moving out at the end of the month and personally, I’m relieved. I won’t be tethered to his insecurity anymore. So naturally, I’m “on the next one” as Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter would say in his song. At this point, I am all about self-progression.

Being an Adult – Just Making Money Doesn’t Make You “Grown”

As my Spring Break slowly comes to an end, I am very appreciative of the time off because it allowed me to rest and make plans for the future (more specifically, the summer and the upcoming fall).  It also allowed me to make some realizations about where I am in my life.

I realized that living from paycheck to paycheck is not living at all; it’s surviving.  It keeps the lights on, food in the fridge, gas in the car, needed clothes on your back, and a place to stay for another month. I spent my twenties nickel-and-diming from one job to another (and even two or three at once to make ends meet) and realized that those days need to become less and less if I have any hope of becoming the strong, independent woman that I want to be.

For that to happen, my skills need to be recognized by employers with full-time job opportunities.  Therefore, marketing and creating exposure for those skills are paramount.  So in a way,  this blog is part of my marketing package.  Freelancing is also another part.  My dream is to become a writer and live (and work) in either New Orleans or New York City.  Just throwing that out to the universe.

But “what I know for sure” is that making money does not insure “success” as an adult.  Anyone can make money in many different ways – some legally but many illegally.  A bi-weekly paycheck is the product; as an adult, one has to focus on the process that creates the product.  What are you doing to get that paycheck? What OTHER skills and life experiences are you cultivating in the process?

These kinds of qualities are not tangible objects to be counted like cash but nonetheless, they are more valuable than a thousand paychecks! Qualities like emotional maturity, responsibility,character, and integrity are just a few things that transform you from a kid working from job to job to an adult pursuing a lifelong career.

I’m not a kid anymore and if anyone claims to be an adult, those qualities need to become a priority because no employer wants a kid as a lifelong employee.  Companies want adults that are more than just worker bees.  They want people with those intangible qualities that can eventually become the Queen (or King) Bee.

To Be Human Is To Be Current on the Latest Developments of Human Events – How To Help the Victims of the Japan Disaster

Last year, the global (and digital) community came together to help the victims of Haiti after the terrible earthquake murdered thousands and displaced even more people from their homes, families,  and friends.  We now have the unfortunate opportunity to do the same for the people of Japan.  Please visit the following link and find out how you can help with this tragedy.  Every little bit helps! Thank you in advance!

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20473235,00.htm