A great passage from Ralph Ellison's book

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am i one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me...That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their inner eyes, those eyes with which they look through their physical eyes upon reality. I am not complaining, nor am I protesting either. It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves. Then, too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. or again, you often doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy. It's when you feel like this that, out of resentment, you begin to bump people back. And, let me confess, you feel that way most of the time. You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're a part of the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful...I have been boomeranged across my head so much that I now can see the darkness of lightness. And I love light. ---from the Prologue of Ralph Waldo Ellison's Invisible Man. Hands down, the greatest story ever told of man's plight to survive in a selfish world.

When White Women Go Missing

It seems like the entire world stops when someone white and female goes missing. And nobody is lashing out against this injustice. Countless Black children go missing on a daily basis and the most I'll hear about it is on some lousy email sent out by friends. Why is this so? Isn't Black life as valuable as White life? Well, based on the latest events, apparently not. Black people die everyday in gullies and lakes. Black children go missing on Spring Break all the time. Yet, there is no paper trail, no CNN World News Report, no MSNBC coverage, NOTHING! And then they look at us and say America is not divided...BULLSHIT!

Graduate school and friends

If I ask one in every ten friend or colleague I have what they know about my program, they will probably recite a long convoluted explanation of a paper I wrote or a description of my previous job. Nobody really understands what I do or what I am doing. I was accused the other night of having nothing to do, which is why friends, and family members abuse my time by waking me up at obscene hours of the morning whining about their problems, or just sitting in mere silence, or just to ask questions about nothing. So my status as a full-time graduate student somehow translates to free time. What people do not understand is the high demands that I face on a daily basis. Deadline upon deadline, project upon project. Right now I'm taking on summer course which basically translates to hell. What would have been 13 weeks of work has now been crunched into 4 weeks of work. I am expected to produce a dissertation proposal (something that takes months to prepare) in one month. Yet I am awakened daily with text messages, phone conversations about the weather, squabbles about irrelevant and minute things, instant messenger conversations about things that are beyond my scope at the moment, and a bunch of other things which make it evident that people think I sit around scratching my armpits all day.

So I made a new rule. I am no longer available for counseling or keeping company or for mindless chatter, etc. And the consequences, I'll face head-on with no qualms. I have lost many acquaintances on this quest of higher education: Those who curse me for not calling them back (because I have only free time right?) and those who think I was not there for them in their time of need have all written me off as someone who is inconsiderate or not quite a friend. So where is the support? Somehow my education has translated into worldly knowledge because I'm being asked to help edit this paper and that, formulate this idea and that, give feedback on this idea and that and the list goes on. While I am flattered by the confidence others have in my knowledge, I am overwhelmed by my own work and don't need the extra baggage. The most difficult part of doing doctoral work is being out there alone with nobody to share the joys and struggles with. Friends and family just don't understand.

My nights and days consist of constant reflection on the things I have due and on the things I plan to do to avoid staying in this program for another 10 years. I have met and still know people who have been enrolled in doctoral programs for 10+ years. Life happens, what can I say? But in order to avoid becoming one of them, I am aware that I must seclude myself from my own world of chatter and mindless involvement to focus on a greater goal. When I finally get through (which is what people keep asking...) I will be young enough to concentrate on building friendships that have solid foundations. However, at this time, my work is a full-time commitment which I must face head-on in order to avoid failure.

So I no longer feel guilty for ignoring my phone or turning it off for that matter. If people call me at 8am, I have no problems hanging up on them. When people insist that I hang out or visit them, I have no qualms about ignoring or turning down such invitations, and I feel no guilt for enjoying free time ALONE. Doctoral work is stressful and demanding and clearly those who have not experienced it with someone or on their own will never understand.

Kids go to Planned Parenthood on a trip. What's the big deal?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/13/planned.parenthood.trip.ap/index.html

So a trip took children to Planned Parenthood after school and this made negative national news. This ruffled my feathers a bit because what is the point of this argument in New Hampshire? Promoting safe sex and allowing students to understand the resources available to them in case of certain normal teenager emergencies and this is a problem? In this day and age we must understand the importance of teaching children responsible behaviors and alerting them to the options they have. I think we are starting to place rhyme over reason here. The fact that people were standing outside with placards about abortion has very little to do with the high level of educational activities that are sponsored by Planned Parenthood. In fact, the pamphlets that they create and distribute about women's health and birth control have won numerous awards. Maybe if we would educate our children about birth control methods we would help them avoid the multiple abortions that some have before graduating high school! Have I shocked you? I can't count the many students I had in high school that had multiple (NOT JUST ONE) abortions by 11th grade. Had they known that there was a place where they could get confidential support and preventative methods, they might have been better off. And I won't even discuss the high level of STIs amongst high school children.

We ought not get carried away with old traditions. We must teach chldren responsibility even at the expense of offending those parents who are still in denial about their children having sex. But then again, that's just my two cents...

Genarlow Wilson Released

A 17-year-old young man accused of raping a 15-year-old while having consensual oral sex was released today in Georgia (*EDIT. Upon appeal from the prosecutor, Genarlow must remain behind bars until the appeal has been heard). After spending 27 months, 25 days, 19 hours, and 6 minutes in the old slammer, he has been released. In the 1990s, when the country was cracking down on crime, the Georgia General Assembly passed a law that stated that anybody who has sex with anyone under 16-years-old is automatically a rapist. This was considered one of Georgia's 7 deadly sins. The law was created to protect children from child molesters.

One night in Georgia, Genarlow received oral sex from a 15-year-old girl at a Day's Inn Hotel. Why Day's Inn rented a room to unsupervised teenagers is already beyond me. But that's neither here nor there. Even the Prosecutor admits that he did not consider the sex forced. Genarlow was given the same sentence as a sex-offender who preys on children and weak individuals. This was another unfair case of a teenager being a teenager. Marcus Dixon knows a bit about that.

So today, June 11, 2007, Genarlow is a free man but can the state of Georgia ever repay him for the time he spent behind bars or for the mental anguish he suffered those two years? Imagine the psychological effects of Genarlow ever engaging in sexual activity again; he is indeed traumatized. He suffered this ill fate as a child and in one day his life changed forever. The college scholarships, the 3.2 GPA he boasted, the Homecoming King title he sported, the popularity he had, his entire future, all smeared by one night of irresponsible teenage fun. This all while Paris Hilton is making national news for crying about a few days she has to spend in a cozy prison hotel for DUI charges (careless adult fun). What is justice if justice turns a blind eye to inequity? That's just my two cents.
For more about the Genarlow Wilson case: http://www.wilsonappeal.com/index.php
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/11/teen.sex.case.ap/index.html

Money for grades? Mayor Bloomberg proposes a new plan for NYC children

Cash is cool: Mike

Nothing wrong with it, says mayor, of kids scoring dough for grades

BY MICHAEL SAUL and ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Posted Saturday, June 9th 2007, 4:00 AM


Mayor Bloomberg

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayor Bloomberg defended a controversial proposal to pay kids for high test scores yesterday, but said there are no specific plans to make it happen.

"As one of the new approaches to try to tackle the intractable problem of poverty, we have said that we would raise ... $50 million privately to encourage people, using economic incentives," Bloomberg said. Money for test scores is "one of the possibilities."

The Daily News reported exclusively yesterday on a plan to pay fourth-graders as much as $25 and seventh-graders as much as $50 for high scores on so-called interim assessments, which, beginning in September, will be administered in all city schools. The tests will help teachers determine what kids know and what they still need to learn.

The mayor's Opportunity NYC plan also would give poor families cash rewards for actions like taking their kids to doctors' appointments and attending job training.

The test-score proposal, which education officials say is preliminary and has not yet been approved by the mayor or Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, would be structured differently, with the money going to schools that would then pay it out to kids.

Dozens of principals who attended an information session this week expressed initial interest in the program, including Rose-Marie Mills of Middle School 343 in the South Bronx.

"My kids need incentives to do really well, and they're not privy to some of the finer things that other kids are," she said, noting that poor families can't afford to reward kids for good grades as easily as middle-class families can.

Maryann Manzolillo of Intermediate School 162 in the Bronx said she would put the incentives in school-based bank accounts, then use them to teach kids about managing money.

Now, she said, attendance is low on interim-testing days. "Children say, 'Oh, it's a practice test. It doesn't count,'" she said. "Money makes everything really count."

Some teachers and parents yesterday applauded the idea of motivating kids, but others, including Tina Pack, a mother of eight who lives in public housing on the upper East Side, had reservations.

"In my mind, kids will cram to do better on a test, but what knowledge will they gain?" she said. "I never say if you get an A on a test I'll give you a reward.... What if maybe you're working really hard and you get a B? I'm trying to reward the learning."

msaul@nydailynews.com

With Carrie Melago, Jens Dana, Elaine Chan and Karl Stampf



---Now my parents used to offer $1 for every A I got but this is a new spin on motivation. How can the city afford to pay children for grades? This, to me, is a testimony that NCLB has led the nation to all-new-LOWS as far as education is concerned. High scores, low values, that's the effect of NCLB. And can we truly blame Mikey B? The guy is a billionaire; he thinks in terms of dollars! His iris is the shape of a golden dollar, his pupils are dollar-signs, this guy is the money man! And what better way to motivate poor children to do better than to pay them? Instead of paying the teachers more money to stay after school and assist them, let's pay each child $50...it's so much cheaper to pay 4th graders to pass a test than to give them the books they need to study for the test. Mayor Mike has seen the light but it's so bright that it's clouding his good senses. TRY AGAIN!

Presidential Candidates

I have been listening to the debates by both Republican and Democrats and I have noticed one common theme: War. I believe, however, that they keep discussing the wrong war. They keep looking at the war overseas and talking about world peace and a bunch of things. For the candidates I have a few questions about certain wars that are being fought in America.
What about the war on:
Poverty
Illiteracy
Civil rights
Racism
Ignorance
Police brutality
Affordable Healthcare
Illegal immigration
White-collar crimes
Violence
A.I.D.S
Cancer
Affordable housing
Poor schooling
Bad teachers
HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS
...and the list goes on ?

What say you, Mr. Obama...do the people in Alabama feel that you feel their pain? What about you Mrs. Clinton? How do the people who used to live in what is now Clinton Hills feel about affordable housing? What about Rudy G? What do you say to rude behavior towards teachers in classrooms? John Edwards are we heading forward or falling backwards? Mitt Romney, What would Jesus Do? Better yet, what would he say to you? Would he even know your name?

What the candidates fail to realize is that we are educated voters who care about the things that matter. When will they answer questions about the wars that have been around for too long?