I Teach...

I'm all for accountability.  But America, how are you going to produce productive citizens if the children are not held to a higher standard?  I am a sucker for technology.  I am of an age that ALWAYS remembers a computer being in the house.  My mother never let me have a pager in middle school.  I never really wanted one.  I saw how my cousin could remember every girls number but couldn't remember his homework.  In undergrad, I ran most ninjas in Madden, NCAA, etc. but I still graduated in 4 years with honors.  But now my job pits me on the "Battlefield for Brains" and where this may sound a bit hyperbolic, I assure you it's an understatement.  "Hide yo' wife!  Hide yo' kids!.."  My students have more facebook friends than I do.  NO, not one of my students can be found in my friends' list.  They tell me, "I have 1,000 friends!"  I ask, "are you a friend to yourself?"

Here's an excerpt from a piece called "I Teach"

I teach English

It's more than a 9 to 5

Instructing grammar to teens

Who often scheme each others' lives…

Fiendish lifestyles from every arena

With one agenda:

Survive!

We write business letters

Students speak SMS,

Caring less and less about these tests

Awaiting chance to text,

IPODS and IPhone 3G now 4

Xbox, Playstation, and Wii

Outperform reported scores but…

Everybody gets a trophy

Felonious odors exude pores as

Gassed-up kids get passed-up

By their peers from foreign shores

America!

I teach English...

It’s more than a 9 to 5

Let me know what you think

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trying to get the most out of this "smart" phone

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

True Education Reform

This is one message I approve:

CHARTER SCHOOL'S FOUNDER LEADS NATIONAL "WALKATHON" FOR AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION
-- Co-founder and current Board Chairman, Amefika D. Geuka will walk from the school in West Palm Beach, Fl to Washington, DC to dramatize the urgent need for African-centered education for children of African descent. --
West Palm Beach, FL (BlackNews.com) - Florida's only African-centered public school today announced that its co-founder and current Board Chairman, Amefika D. Geuka will walk from the school in West Palm Beach, Fl to Washington, DC to dramatize the urgent need for African-centered education for children of African descent. Geuka and his colleagues have dubbed this venture a "Trek for African-Centered Education," to be conducted from July 15th through August 15, 2009. In addition to gaining credibility for African-centered education, the walk is expected to raise money to close the funding gap for Geuka's Joseph Littles-NGUZO SABA Charter School which completed ten years of continuous operation on January 20th of this year. Overall coordination and planning for the walkathon has been contracted to iZania, LLC based in Columbus, Ohio.
This 1,000 mile "trek" from West Palm Beach, Florida to the nation's capital has a three-fold purpose:
1. To challenge consciously responsible Black adults to demonstrate willingness to revive their sense of responsibility to restore our children's inalienable right to a childhood;
2. To raise the level of awareness among the caring public to the critical need for, and elevate the credibility of African-centered education as the most effective means of restoring "an adequate, realistic self-image" to Black children who have too long been under mental and emotional siege;
3. To raise an unprecedented amount of money via sponsorships and pledges, to elevate Joseph Littles-NGUZO SABA Charter School to the long-sought after status of self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and fiscal independence and autonomy.
In so doing, we intend to prove by example that the African-American community can and will take on the responsibility of becoming the primary source of funding for the effective education and development of our own children - just as our Jewish and Catholic counterparts have long done.
Both President Barack Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan have spoken strongly in favor of public charter schools, which are designed to explore creative and innovative approaches to educating students who do not fare well in traditional public schools. The African-centered approach to providing a strong cultural foundation for children of African descent is being adopted across the country by school districts, public schools, private schools, and charter schools. The supporters of African-Centered Education draw parallels between the 'ACE' approach and the generally accepted contention by Jews and Catholics that their respective students learn best when their formal education is rooted in study and appreciation of their own heritage, history, and culture.

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Ashe' Brother. I commend your efforts to revitalizing our community through a tangible education. Not too many are willing to take the necessary steps to encourage our youth by empowering them with their identity.

More of the good news later...

untiNEXTime

One Day It'll All Make ...

Is it Friday yet!?!!??

Damn! Ninja tired.

The Mrs is recovering. Good days, Bad days... What makes matters worse is now my Sugar Bear Nyla has caught some kind of bug and been barfing all day since 830. Two of my three leading ladies are down and this infirmary is trying to claim me too but I won't allow it. Ariana is eating fine, and as I write this, she and her sissy are enjoying popsicles. Prayerfully everybody can save their meal and save Daddy the headache of changing sheets during the height of the night.

Transitions

It is said death takes people three at a time. Ed McMahon, Farrah, and Michael Jackson were pop icons. How can somebody, anybody say they watched television in the 1980's without one of these three being seen? Impossible.

Who can forget Star Search before Publisher's Clearinghouse? Charlie's Angels? Where were you the first time you witnessed the King of Pop?

Michael Jackson was a sensation. It was as if he was a celestial being gliding across stages made of wood. The Moonwalk is an ode to entertainers passed in Vaudeville acts. The irony to Michael is he didn't have to wear Blackface. He chose whiteface. Maybe he was ahead of his time. Maybe he was showing what happens when the performer is made to do just that? Perhaps we never got to really know Michael Jackson the person. Perhaps we will one day...

R.I.P.

Rest in PEACE.

Nyla's 1st Photo Op

This is only the beginning. :(( Pictures were taken today for the Dance Recital May 31, 2009 @ Clifton Center.

Crimes Against HUeMANity

Things are... How can I say this??? Well, in a flux.

Now, Obama's first one hundred days are in the books. When can we stop with this laissez faire attitude err love affair with the man and start expecting the change his campaign promised? Now, I for one am not somebody expecting anything much diferent from W, but, it appears that's just the case. Troops are still marching the Middle East. Torture is still okay. Well, it's not a punishable offense which leads me to believe it's okay if justified... But justified by whom? One man's terrorost is another man's patriot.

Enough politics. Let's move on to something a little more close to home. Education. We would be hard-pressed to not know someone not directly effected by American Public Education. Let's take a few moments and revisit Batman. Not the Caped Crusader, but a more, vigilant crime fighter. I use the word crime very intently. I firmly believe stealing is taken too lightly these days. If a person is murdered, whether it be accidental or pre-meditated, that person's life was stolen from them. If life without knowledge is death disguised, why aren't we as citizens using our Constitutional rights to hold these beurocratic educators to their tasks? Again, here is crazy Joe Clark, aka Batman, aka “you smoke crack, don't you"



Now, you’ve made it this far, don’t stop now. The continuation: