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Showing posts from March, 2014

Not Training Seals

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If there is one word that hits a nerve for me it's the word performance.  Used in many of the educational circles I frequent, that one word, so popular today when discussing student assessment, seems to encapsulate all that is wrong with the so-called "reform" movement today.  Humans, unlike corporations, are people. The use of the word once prompted me to interject at a faculty meeting, "We're not training seals here." Yet, the constant use of the term student performance leaves some doubt. Sure, teachers care about "outcomes" and scores and how data can "inform" our practice, but we care more and know more about people and their diverse learning styles and what motivates an individual. In a recent interview, leading education historian Diane Ravitch noted that because of the corporate assault on public education, some large American cities (Dallas, Philadelphia) might no longer have public schools.  She followed that comment with t

Ethical Treatment

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Only a matter of time.  Given the new technology, the motivation, and the ease with which people will be themselves if given the opportunity, PETA was going to get what it wanted--in a big way. With the New York Times article by Joe Drape last week, one of the top thoroughbred trainers in the country now finds his nomination to the Hall of Fame "tabled."  Looks like it's going to be on the table for a good while now. Apparently an undercover investigative reporter with PETA backing has got trainer Steve Assmussen, and his assistant, by the balls.  It's all on tape, captured by a hidden camera.  Reputed accusations of unlawful medications and running injured horses seem to have been norm for the Texas born and bred trainer.  As shocking as that is, what's worse is the way assistant trainer Scott Blasi talks about it all.  His use of expletives in such an uncaring and careless way is telling.  You wouldn't want this man around horses, ever. And while Assmusse

Evacuation or Evisceration?

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72 years ago today Executive Order 9066 was enforces and thousands of Japanese Americans, many of them citizens, were interred in "relocation camps."  Initially, those were horse stalls at Santa Anita and the old Tanforan racetrack in Northern California. Much has been written, and with such talented photographers as Dorothea Lange around, many photographs exist.  Some are particularly stunning. In my view, it's important to remember and honor these dates/events because so many young people don't know about the history of our country.  They may know various terms and dates, but often some of the most objectionable parts of U.S. history conveniently get left out.  Especially now that the big publishers and corporate interests have hijacked so much of the curriculum. In California, where I taught for 33 years, it was inadvisable, if not impossible to not include this shameful event.  Many of my students had relatives who were sent to those horse stalls and then on

A Vital New Writer

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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel by Anthony Marra My rating: 5 of 5 stars As a first novel, Anthony Marra's Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a stunner.  It gives me faith that wonderful writers are emerging daily.  Marra sets this work in Chechnya, and his character's lives intertwine in time and space to paint a portrait of life in this former Soviet Republic as it disintegrates over a period of 8 years.  The novel is brutal, haunting, and thought provoking.  The writing is eminently readable and loaded with remarkably fresh imagery, historical accuracy, and the promise of similar works to come. That this work hasn't received more critical acclaim is as unfathomable as the way human beings are treated between the pages of what will surely become a major work of fiction. View all my reviews

Male Room

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Something recently brought me back to the first real job I ever had: working in a mail room.  My father had learned of an opening in the company where he worked as an accountant.  It was early summer of 1967 and I knew I'd be going back to school that Fall so a chance to make some money to support my college education and put a little gas in my VW bug was a welcome opportunity. The company in question was an exclusive distributor for Sony Tape Recorders in the U.S.  It can best be described as a plantation. In this small collection of buildings ruled three plutocrats, all brothers, who had made some money in the development of stereo components and a specific lens used by the motion picture industry.  They'd gained rights to this distributorship just as Sony was making a name for itself in the U.S. market.  Sales were good and the business expanded fast.  Out of this little plant portable tape recorders and all parts and schemata and instruction manuals were shipped all over

Trade Off

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That morning I reluctantly drove to the closest shopping mall.  I hate those things.  If you could put all the most disgusting traits of a consumer culture under one roof (with polluted air) just go to any mall.  They all look the same.  Plastic rules from the food to the crap they sell to the people whose eyes light up as they push their kids around in a stupor.  But I digress.  Thus isn't about the mall, just going there.  My local mall has a Sears...at least for the moment.  It's soon going to go the way of Montgomery Ward and JC Penney will follow soon after.  But Sears still has the best "work clothes" and occasionally a good deal on athletic clothes. We went to see about some workout cloths or sweats.  Whether Everlast or Russell Athletic, or Nike, or Spalding,  they are all made in some Asian country.  The first pair I picked up was made in Vietnam.  That always gives me pause because I know that Vietnam is the U.S.s fastest growing trading partner.  Yup, t

Having Written

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A famous writer once said that writing is "easy."  He went on to say that you just "sit down at the typewriter (change that to keyboard now) and wait until blood comes out of your forehead."  I've seen the quote attributed to a few people, and in a few different ways, but the first time I saw it was next to the great sports writer, Red Smith's name. Hemingway is high on the list too.  His version says you just bleed. No matter; lots of writers agree with the sentiment. I don't think I've ever littered my keyboard with blood.  Lots of other things, though.  It's dangerous to eat while you write, but we all do it, don't we? The quote that I think most writers would agree on goes something like this:  "I hate writing, but I love having written."  Again, this little thought finds it's way alongside a few names, but is generally associated with Dorothy Parker.  So what's the message, that writing is torture?  That we like to ba