in a middle school history class

when a student leans over to me and asks:

"When the U.S. bought half of Mexico, did they try to build a wall immediately to make it more difficult for families to see each other? I thought that wall was kinda new."

He was referring to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and trying to make connections to his reality in California, to the federal wall built to keep immigrants out of what is now the U.S. But his teacher was not making connections to today, and the treaty was an event that happened, a spot on a timeline that did not make sense to this student. Another historical blip that could have helped the student see the long line of oppression, wars, and colonization that created (and maintains) the U.S., instead, the student will likely not get that answer right on the final because he did not see a reason to remember information that was presented as historical fact without historical context.

monday morning

Last week I talked with a middle school student to school; we walked about a block together and I asked him how his weekend was. He replied that he was really tired; he couldn't sleep because they had to move out of their home, I think because they were evicted (he hinted that they had to move because they had no money).

An hour later, as I was leaving the school, I saw him in the assistant principal's office. The assistant principal wasn't there, so I asked the office coordinator if I could chat with the student; she agreed. I asked him why he wasn't in class and he said he got kicked out of class because he wouldn't tell his teacher what he did over the weekend. Apparently several students per week are required to share what they did over the weekend aloud to start Monday morning's class.

When the assistant principal came into his office, he immediately began looking for transitional housing, and told the student to stay in his office until he was ready to go back to the next class. I was thankful for this response, but am reminded of what happens when teachers force students to share painful embarrassing realities as a way of building "classroom community."

corporate knowledge

does anyone expect the billion dollar corporate interests that develop racially biased and offensive and (mostly) irrelevant curriculum to just stop making money off of silencing children?

to stop lobbying districts and counties and states and politicians and educators into believing that a pre-packaged curriculum or corporate text books are actually "scientifically" proven to do anything other than create inequalities amongst communities?

because at some point, if we do not transform schools entirely away from corporate knowledge, we cannot expect to change anything about societal inequality that is justified by how and what we teach in the vast majority of schools in the u.s.

howard zinn

Recognizing one of the great historians who helped alter the notion of history as more than just those who win wars and elections;

Howard Zinn recently passed.

I've used his work to teach history, to teach teachers how to think about history, and his work found positive reception with the incarcerated men I have been able to provide readings to.

A quote to keep his passion for conscious thought and memory alive:

"I am asking all of us to think carefully and clearly. For if we are all being herded into actions that will make the world even more dangerous than it is now, we will later regret that we went along silently and did not raise our voices as citizens to ask, "How can we get at the roots of this problem? Is it right to meet violence with violence?" All of us can do something, can ask questions, can speak up."
- p. 35, artists in times of war

and on tired days

and on tired days
when budgets are slashed
when wars are exacerbated
when outreach programs are smashed
when lucky's and safeway sell fish stolen from somali or mozambique
when poet positions are squashed
when federal grants require 1/2 the funds to be spent on evaluation
when university grants offices take another 1/4 of the remainder
when the elder black woman scanning my groceries sighs heavily, then replies: "i just wish i had enough money to retire, but i cant get no health care"
on tired days
i simply cannot get myself to turn on the television and hear
anything that yet another president absorbed in randomly killing folks identified only by the religion they may or may not adhere to and identify with
on these tired days
i sometimes just need some sunshine.

donating to haiti

just like in post-katrina new orleans, i offered up a local grassroots community based organization that is on the ground in haiti (and was before the earthquake) for those who can donate.

you can donate here!

International organizations often spend a lot of their money on administration and are not always culturally responsive or most aware of how to address, heal, and work within communities. So if you're going to donate, do it through a relevant organization.

imperializing haiti

as if the occupation of haiti has never been enough, there are now lines of americans who have earthquake-expedited adoptions (white parents black babies), the red tape simply melted when the protections for haitian children crumbled to the ground;

as if that's not enough, the now popular stories are of happy vacationers who feel that their money is actually going to the rebuilding of haiti when they jet ski/skim across an ocean of recent forced-poverty earthquake blood (or just stay aboard cruise ships that leak gas that pollutes local beaches that are only accessible to vacationing westerners anyhow).

happy world. take advantage of earthquakes and displaced people.
happy happy. fun. vacation. play. kill. adopt.