Practice makes something that will never be perfect

Something Worth Pondering

2008-02-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

How do we achieve this level of involvement? That's one of the things that I hope to discover on the City School Board.

This is from North Central Regional Educational Library

The ideas that I focus in this are of involving the whole community because we all have a stake in making our schools work for everyone.

Successful change initiatives never take place in a vacuum. Moreover, sustaining desired change takes great effort by many committed people to overcome the inertia and barriers typical to any complex system. If the education bureaucracy is to be altered to incorporate technology in meaningful ways, changemakers need to rally all the support available.

A stakeholder is defined as any individual, group, or organization that has a stake in the outcome of an endeavor. When it comes to preparing students to achieve their potential in school and beyond, everyone in the community has something at stake. Unfortunately, not all stakeholders see this connection or play a role in education matters. Schools need the active participation of all stakeholders in order to plan and realize a vision for technology that goes beyond window dressing and helps to ensure successful implementation. Likewise, parents, students, businesses, and community organizations look to school and district personnel to make wise investments and to prepare learners for an increasingly technology-based world. Consequently, it is to everyone's benefit to work together in improving technology use in schools.

Technology developments in one sector of the community often create a synergistic effect across other sectors. For example, school-based technology use may translate into evening programs for adult learners, which may, in turn, reduce unemployment, the demand for social services, and so on.

The potential stakeholder groups for districts and schools include some or all of the following:

* District personnel
* School principals
* Teachers
* Parents
* Students
* Local and regional technology service providers
* Technical support staff
* School boards
* Teacher unions
* Local businesses
* Corporations with or without local offices
* Chambers of commerce
* Government agencies
* Nonprofits that serve youth
* Local and state policymakers
* Ethnic and cultural organizations
* Neighborhood organizations
* Service groups

P.S. I am not in any promoting this organization.

Straight from the Classroom

2008-02-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lindsey for this message concerning the classroom environment.

The other day I had Dallas (D-ray) sub for me and the first thing he said when I asked how his day went, was "Every classroom should have an assistant". I have a specialized enhanced resource (self-contained)classroom with around 14-16 kids per subject, so it makes sense for me to have an assistant or two, but I kept thinking... you know, he's right!

I calculated it out the other day with rough number for Davidson county and the cost of hiring assistants for all classrooms if you added four kids to each class would cost less than what Bredesen is trying to spend to build a ball room/renovate the mansion. in other words... you wouldn't have to hire a couple of hundred teachers (which I'm sure we are probably short of anyways)and with that money you provide assistants for each (willing) classroom teacher actually reducing the student to teacher/assistant/adult ratio and reducing distractions to class because the assistant can take care of behavior issues, work with struglling students, etc. Plus most assistants are aspiring teachers and what better experience than in the classroom!

Lets spend our tax money in better ways this year, and I know if you get in there you can make a change for the children and our future...

You asked, so that's my thought for the day! ;)

Crime and Education

2008-02-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

This is another post 'concerning' Monday's State Street shooting.
"Man Gunned Down on State Street"

For the past few days, there has been a very lively discussion going on concerning the nature of crime, especially drug-related crime.

A person replied to my earlier response "A New Attitude is Needed" and I am now replying to his.

There was one thing he said that did make me feel pretty good. He completely disagreed with my views, but also said this this:

"I read your post and thought to myself for second.... This is how we should be thinking....but"

I leave out the rest of his response because I am not trying to put anyone down or make them look silly. I simply want to present my views. You can view the complete story and people's responses at the above link.

The last thing that she/he said was this: "I wish it was that easy, to be able to say better education and better paying jobs would fix the problem............. Although it's a good start, it's far from the answer!

Here is my reply:

No, it is not that easy. But, yes, I do believe that education is the 'Silver Bullet' for our problems. If we spend our time arresting, shooting and blowing up all of the 'bad guys' and 'thugs', more people will fill their boots in the future. Will we continue throwing people in the slammer ad infinitum?

Are these people born as 'thugs'? Are they born a problem and completely useless to our society? Education starts as soon as a person is born. The sole purpose of a new human is to learn. It is in our genes. Every person wants to learn when they come into the world. I wholeheartedly believe that the only thing that we can do with someone's desire to learn, other than encouraging it, is to crush it. Otherwise, the person will continue wanting to learn throughout their life.

I believe that when someone turns to a life of crime, especially one that risks them being shot, stabbed, arrested, etc., they have lost their desire to learn and they have given up trying to 'fit in' in their society. As long as society has existed, crime has existed. As long as crime has existed, prisons have existed as well. I have yet to see an example of a country eradicating crime by locking people up. It has to take more than removing criminals from society to make it work smoothly.

With this premise, we have two options. One is to work to better our education system to keep people from having to turn to the black market for employment. The other option, which should be used in conjunction with the first, is to continue to educate incarcerated individuals. At least while we have their attention in prison, we can teach them more about attaining gainful employment when they are released.

It does us no good to demonize law-breakers as 'thugs' and 'animals'. As long as we do not understand the reasons for turning to a life of crime, we will have a society full of individuals who turn to this life.

The first thing that we should be doing with education is to work to prevent our youth from seeing this life as something good. The purpose of education is to give each individual the tools with which to live a life of purpose and to respect themselves. As long as there is crime, we are not completely doing our jobs.

This is a very tough subject to get to the bottom of and I have only scratched the surface. But, we cannot continue to ignore the problems inherent in our society. We must face them, we must take those who have fallen to the side in America by the hand and lead them to a better life.

One last point. About them making thousands of dollars a day. As long as something is illegal, there will be a black market for it. When a black market exists, prices inflate and the sale of those items becomes more and more attractive to those who may have chosen legal employment in the past. I am not advocating the legalization of drugs, just that we look at some new solutions. There is also the option of more rehabilitation programs for drug users, thereby taking away the market for these drugs.

These are my feelings on these issues. Please do not take them as an attack on your intelligence or person. However, I would like for you all to pick apart this argument. Tell me if I'm wrong.

I am very happy that this discussion is going on, but sad that these things happen. But, if I can make even one person think twice about their hard-held views then I am doing my job.

With your help, I can do the same when on the City School Board.

Thank you.

Transitions, pt. 3

2007-12-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

This, of course, is an idealistic view which I have taken. Thank the world that I'm still a bit of an idealist. Daniel Bell, in his 1960 book The End of Ideology, declared my idealism dead. But he was wrong. Despite all that I have learned in my 27 years, the good, the bad and the ugly, I still believe in the inherent good nature of the world and its inhabitants. It is this belief that has waxed and waned throughout my life, giving me both hope and despair. It has sometimes seemed to me as if there is no hope for good to prevail for the large part of the world. When looking at the larger governmental and institutional structures of the world, it is often hard to see any hope. But through my involvement in the volunteer community, I have renewed hope for the future of our world. I have met hard-working people of all ages who do not seek personal reward for efforts that are much more valuable than those which pay. This is work that touches the lives of people from all walks of life and asks for nothing in return. It is also this work that has changed my life forever.

As I said before, it all started with my involvement in the Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp in Murfreesboro. This camp brings girls ages 10-18 from all over the state together for a week-long day camp to learn about playing rock and roll. They also learn how to form a band, screen printing, zine making (self-published magazines), recording, and much more. Most importantly, the young women learn self respect and that they rock! The week is closed with a bang during the live showcase. Each band gets a few minutes in the spotlight up on stage in front of their parents, peers and area media outlets. This gives them the experience of being in a real band. For the volunteers in the camp, an overwhelming feeling of pride and sadness at the end of camp comes from this event. It is also a recruitment tool. It worked on me. I first saw the SGRRC showcase in July of 2005. My brother and many friends volunteered for the camp and I attended the showcase at the end of the week as well as a private Indigo Girls show for the girls during the week. I was floored by what I experienced the night of the showcase and told myself that I wouldn't miss the next year's camp for anything in the world. I made that promise that night and I kept it. That was the best decision I've ever made.

Enter Rock and Roll Camp 2006. I volunteered to assist in teaching screen printing, filling in as an extra body in instrument lessons and as a band manager. All during the week, the girls exhibited a passion to learn as much as they could. This eagerness has a way of giving an extra charge to the volunteers, working over 40 hours during the week for only the experience. During the week of camp is when I first got to know Kelley. She is good friends with another friend of mine, Anna. I previously assisted Anna with her work with Students for Environmental Åction (SEA) on MTSU's campus and she probably recommended me to Kelley in some way. I am an individual who is always eager to help where needed, I only as for direction and a bit of prodding.

At the end of the week, Kelley asked me if I'd like to attend a committee meeting for a new organization that she was starting, the YCAC. She told me a bit about it and I agreed to check it out. Little did I know that it would lead to this great change in me. After one or two meetings, I was nominated by Kelley to act as Chair of the YCAC committee and was approved by the rest of the group. Needless to say, I had absolutely zero experience with this sort of operation, but she shepherded me through my transition into leading meetings and drawing up agendas. During this time, I was still in school. A political science major, I think. I didn't want to commit myself too much, so I stuck to leading the committee and letting the other members spearhead fundraisers and recruitment. I didn't realize it until later, but this was my first experience with a concrete form of self-governance. However, when I did realize this fact, it send my head spinning with ideas concerning where this could lead myself and the organization.

to be continued...

Transitions, part 2

2007-11-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

This is one of the reasons that I moved away from the D.C. metro area in January of 2004. If Washington wouldn't listen to me from 30 miles away, it could not listen to me from 600 miles away in Murfreesboro, TN as well. The real reason that I left northern Virginia though is because that area is overcrowded, too high-paced and required driving too much. I made approximately $37000 in my last year with Old Navy before moving and didn't have much left over after living and auto expenses. My move to Tennessee was predicated by several visits to see my brother. I liked the people that I met, the fact that we mostly walked where we went and most of all, I love the thunder storms here. They are wonderful!

After a year of working at a book factory in Middle Tennessee and driving an hour round-trip every day, I decided that it was time for me to return to college. This past stint was my third time returning to the university setting and I was eager to learn in a structured environment again. I quit my job, almost a year to the day after accepting it, dropped the car, bought a bike and a laptop. I haven't looked back since, except to drop out of school yet again this fall.

In the year that I worked at the book factory, I read a ton of books, about 50. I studied some economics, political science, history and wound down with some nice fiction like Frank Herbert's Dune series. I listened to NPR every day of the week and subscribed to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to keep up with current affairs. I still love NPR but I listen to the news much less these days. By the time that I returned to college at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), I thought that I knew the basics of every field of study that was important to me. I was pretty much right. Intro classes to economics, political science and history bored the heck out of me, but I stuck with it. For example, in my macro economics class, I attended about 8 times the whole semester. I had the blessing of my professor because I aced the first test. I also aced the class. The subsequent semesters were less tiresome and more challenging.

Earlier, I mentioned Dr. Franklin. I first met him in American Government and Politics. I wasn't looking forward to this class, but Dr. Franklin has a fresh way of teaching his courses. He brought in many articles specific to what we were learning and made the material relevant to current events. The class was more informative than I would have expected and quite enjoyable. That and I got a B! I left the class looking forward to another opportunity to learn with Dr. Franklin. That opportunity came in the fall of 2006 and a class called Special topics in Political Science: A Survey of Social Movements.

By this time, I had gone from an Economics major to Political Science. Not the first change of major that I had made and certainly not the last. This survey class took us through the major and minor social movements of the world in the past century to today. We studied movements, violent and non-violent; large-scale and small. They took place in Venezuela, the United States, China, Northern Africa and more. Through this class I learned that social change is possible, challenging and dangerous depending upon the nature of your government. I learned that there really is something called 'people power' and that it could take down racist institutions and fight back against oppressive governments. Through this class I learned that I could have a positive effect upon my country without being a politician or one of the rich and powerful. Co-incidentally, the following semester, spring 2007, was when I became involved in the YCAC; an organization that gave me a whole picture of the power of community and the average person. People power!

STAY TUNED FOR MORE IN THE
NOT-SO-EXCITING SAGA
OF THE DROP-OUT
WHO NEVER STOPS LEARING

Transitions, part 1

2007-11-15T21:45:00.000-08:00

I am writing this story for a long overdue paper.
Please follow along with me as I take a journey from an unsuspecting, uninformed 21 year-old
to a person with a mission in life.
Though I'm still probably horribly uninformed,
my life now has direction.
I hope to share how I got where I am
and to show you a different way of looking at the world.
Please enjoy, and comment frequently.

It all started with my friend Kelley Anderson inviting me to a meeting of the Youth Culture and Arts Center's (YCAC) organizing committee and a dedicated professor named Dr. Franklin. Kelley told me of her idea to start an after-school arts program for local kids and I immediately fell in love. Dr. Franklin showed me that there are many ways to change your world, even more than I can recount. A top ten complaint of teachers, administrators, parents and students for a long time has been that that there aren't enough arts programs in the schools and the community. For a long time I have complained about this when discussing the state of public education in America. Finally I was presented with a way to change this. Here is our mission statement: "The mission of the YCAC is to provide a safe and positive atmosphere for young people to create and experience the arts. The YCAC will help build character in our youth by providing positive role models and access to the tools and technology used in various art disciplines. While focusing on programs for young people, the YCAC will also serve as a community and arts resource for people of all ages."

I was brought in at the very beginning of the organization and quickly was nominated and approved to chair the organizing committee. During my one year term I learned how to prepare agendas, lead meetings and encourage others to voice their ideas. The biggest challenge though has been to get individuals to show up for meetings. I was also made a member of the board of directors for Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities (YEAH). This organization the umbrella non-profit and fundraising arm for the Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp (SGRRC) and the YCAC. Through these experiences, my world-view has been completely redirected; from federal politics to local and state. All in the span of two years. In this paper, I hope to show that focusing our energies on our communities, instead of at the federal government, can change the outlook of every individual and bring back significance to millions of disenchanted Americans. I believe that if I can show this to enough people, our local governments will be empowered to wrest back control of important issues from the states and federal government. I believe that in doing this we can make our country whole and respected in the world again. This is the story of an awakening, followed by another awakening and so ad infinitum.

I have one thing, and one thing only to thank George W. Bush for; his war on the country of Iraq woke me up to politics. In the 2000 election, I actually voted for him. I didn't know a thing about his politics and background. I merely listened to what my parents said about him and did the same. One year later, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were dive-bombed by airliners, supposedly piloted by Arab extremists angry at my country for our relations with the Middle East. Of course, that was not what I was told by any member of our government. They said that the 'terrorists' hated us because we had too many 'freedoms' and because we are perfect. At the time, I still didn't have a clue. I watched the towers fall 651,504,657,504 times, felt sad and then went on with my life almost as if nothing had happened. The one active thing that I did was to stick up for dark-skinned people who I witnessed being lambasted at local gas stations. Of course, most of them were usually Indian, not Arabs, not Muslims. Regardless, returning soldiers told them that they "just got back from blowing the #*%& out of your kind" and regular Joes generally said "*$^( off" to them. In retort, after making a joke about how they weren't even Arab, I always told the offended person that they were welcome in my country at any time.

I did not take offense to the invasion of Afghanistan shortly after 9-11. I believed then that it was our duty to clean out the riff-raff so that we could get on with our "peaceful" American existence. Now, I don't even know if the invasion of Afghanistan was justified. Nevertheless, it wasn't until late in 2002 when Mr. Bush started spouting rhetoric about the innocent country of Iraq, that I started to take notice of our wrongs. I started picking up the Washington Post on an almost daily basis, reading the justifications given by our President, wondering why this poor, beat up country was being targeted by us. Why was a country, starved by sanctions and still bombed, even though the official war against them was over, being target for the biggest war since Vietnam. Of course, at the time we were told that we'd be in and out, welcomed as 'liberators'. We'd leave behind a wonderful democracy and bring capitalism to the heart of the Middle East. We now know that to be untrue. Every day I screamed at the top of my lungs that we should not carry out this misguided action. Regrettably, though only 30 miles away from me, Washington did not hear my cries. And the rest, as they say, is history.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I Not You, Not I

2007-07-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Otherside Otherside Otherside Otherside
Othersdie Othersdie Othersdie
I want the greener otherside
even if the others die
I'd like the sweeter waters
my dream is worth a life

but not my life, if you take that from me
there will be no otherside
it will not be the others died, but me
anything, anything to stretch mine longer
even if to shorten that of the other
to make mine better

I will lie for it,
cheat and steal
i will preach the suffering and guilt of the other
if it will lighten my suffering
but does it have to be suffering?

I will give more suffering than I receive
then I will be blessed, lucky
destined to attract
if only I could feel better about myself
that'd do the trick

I'll look in the mirror every day
speak words of wisdom
I am sexy, I am attractive
I am special, I am loved
I... I... I...

otherside othersdie
I want to die for the otherside
I want to make their day a better one
lift them up in front of the sun
praise them to god as i rise up to heaven
or not or not

If they're to die, why not I
If they want dead persons
does it matter whom?
returning to the dust
at least that's usually how it works

not to say I'm an expert but
whether tomorrow or ten years or forty
I'm bound to die sometime

obey your instincts
a lack of understanding leads to fear
leads to hate, murder and war
and nothing too nice
are you getting the picture?

to encourage these things is unacceptable
to aid these instinctual drives is against
or with the natural way
but how do you decide?

you don't decide
I don't decide
it can't be controlled
to attempt to control
it brings only more pain and suffering
oh but how it does

there is no answer
or there is no answer, there
is it acceptable to live our lives as beasts?
maybe more natural than before thought

will it lead to anything constructive?
probably not
but I guess that's the point isn't it?
I'm not too sure we're capable of that
pretty close but so far away
give it some time
I'll bet we'll still not get it yet

Half of An Amendment

2006-02-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Amendment IV
Searches and Seizures
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." -- The Fourth Amendment

President Bush, in issuing an executive order allowing the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless wire-taps, has cut the fourth amendment in half. In a statement made at the National Press Club on January 23rd, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, General Michael V. Hayden, stated that the only part of the fourth amendment that applies to the NSA's wire-tapping program is the 'unreasonable searches and seizures' clause. He said, "...if there's any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the Fourth.... The constitutional standard is 'reasonable.'" And he is right. The national press has been reporting this statement as a blunder by Gen. Hayden, because the Fourth amendment also states, "...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...". Apparently the media thinks that Gen. Hayden doesn't know the Constitution, but it is very clear that his statement is true. Because President Bush issued a directive allowing the NSA to conduct surveillance without warrants, the 'probable cause' clause no longer applies. The NSA only has to provide probable cause if it is applying for a FISA warrant, something which it is not longer obligated to do.
The President is now allowing the NSA to sidestep half of the Fourth amendment giving them the right to forego warrants for surveillance. In 2002, Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, offered an amendment (s. 2659) that would have lowered the FISA standard to be met for authorizing surveillance of non-U.S. citizens, from 'probable cause' to 'reasonable suspicion'. This amendment was not passed, and the administration has not yet given a good reason as to why it personally hasn't pushed for an amendment to the FISA act. It is interesting to note that Sen. DeWine is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence as this is the group of Senators that is briefed by General Hayden on NSA's surveillance program, yet it's not clear whether the President asked Sen. DeWine to offer his amendment.
Until further information is available, it seems that, legally speaking, the President is on solid ground in this matter. Since the NSA is not seeking warrants it does not have to provide probable cause, and since the President himself authorized this, the NSA has nothing to worry about either.