friday fun fact: don't try these at home

my coworker kevin brought some of these nasty things into the office today. because of our proximity to 34th street, people are always bringing nasty free samples into the office- once i brought salt-and-vinegar flavored crickets. yesterday was kevin's turn. i tried one of the "lemon lift" engobi, and not only was it one of the nastiest things i've ever tasted, it actually gave me a headache. also, the fine print notes that children and pregnant/nursing women shouldn't eat engobi. i, of course, missed that until after i ate the nasty thing. note to the entrepreneurial-minded out there: "infusing" drugs into food seems like a really bad idea.

what's anti-western?

i'm in shock after reading this, and really scared. russell k. pearce, republican, is afraid of people of color who dare to question the stories they're told about what it means to be american. and he happens to have the power and the political backing to do something about it. my baby sister goes to school in arizona. :( legislation against "anti-western" education? and by that they mean critics of hegemony, domination and oppression are no longer welcome? i'm deeply concerned.

my favorite quote from the news article? check it:

Rep. John Kavanagh, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said he hopes the measure helps return cultural studies in the state's schools to a "melting pot" model.

"This bill basically says, 'You're here. Adopt American values,' " said Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican. "If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture."

want more? article here. i'm quoting the legislation below, after commentary from a poster on the NAME mailing list...

So basically this amendment which was passed earlier today would do the following remove any sort of Chicano Studies, African American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Women's Studies amongst other programs on from any public campus K-12, Community Colleges, Universities, throughout Arizona. It would also make it illegal for groups that empower students culturally from meeting as they could be considered to not agree with dominant western thought. So basically if you don't think like he does your pretty much ******.


PROPOSED

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AMENDMENTS TO S.B.

1108

(Reference to Senate engrossed bill)

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:

"Section 1.


Title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding sections 15-107 and 15-108, to read:

START_STATUTE15-107.


Declaration of policy

The legislature finds and declares that:

1. A primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship.

2. Public tax dollars used in public schools should not be used to denigrate American values and the teachings of western civilization.

3. Public tax dollars should not be used to promote political, religious, ideological or cultural beliefs or values as truth when such values are in conflict with the values of American citizenship and the teachings of western CIVILIZATION.


START_STATUTE15-108.


Denigration, disparagement or encouragement of dissent from values of American democracy and western civilization; prohibition; enforcement; prohibition of race-based organizations; definition

A. A public school in this state shall not include within the program of instruction any courses, classes or school sponsored activities that promote, assert as truth or feature as an exclusive focus any political, religious, ideological or cultural beliefs or values that denigrate, disparage or overtly ENCOURAGE dissent from the values of American democracy and western civilization, including democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious toleration.

B. This section does not prohibit the inclusion of diverse political, religious, ideological or CULTURAL beliefs or values if the course, CLASS or school sponsored activity as a whole does not denigrate, disparage or overtly ENCOURAGE dissent from the values of American democracy and western civilization.

C. On request of the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee, a public school shall promptly provide copies of curricula, course materials and course syllabi to the superintendent of public INSTRUCTION. the superintendent of public instruction, after providing appropriate notice and conducting an appropriate hearing, may withhold a proportionate share of state monies from any public school that violates subsection A. The superintendent of public instruction may take reasonable and APPROPRIATE regulatory actions to enforce this subsection. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to enlarge the authority of the superintendent of public instruction to regulate the CONTENT of curriculum in public schools.


D. A public school in this state, a university under the JURISDICTION of the arizona board of regents and a community college under the JURISDICTION of a community college DISTRICT in this state shall not allow organizations to operate on the CAMPUS of the school, UNIVERSITY or community college if the organization is based in whole or in part on race-based criteria.

E.

For the purposes of this section, "public school" means any of the
following:

1. A school district.

2. A school in a school district.

3. A charter school.

4. An accommodation school.

5. The arizona state schools for the deaf and the blind.

" END_STATUTE

Amend title to conform

RUSSELL K.

PEARCE

will nas be hanes' newest spokesperson?

h/t to nsekuye's google reader and racewire for giving the heads up on these new hanes ads.

yes, they are disturbing and badly conceived. my biggest question, though, is where the hell do they run? where can you put up that ad? and what does it have to do with underwear? who the hell is your ad firm? why can't you be more like fruit of the loom and feature singing men in fruit costumes? what's wrong with you?

what is wrong with us?

this is a screenshot of the cnn page (shitty emphasis mine) where i watched the video about the two-faced child recently born in india. notice anything strange about the right side of the screen? check the top ten most popular videos. why is it that the news that mary louise parker (um, wait, who the hell is that again?!) is not engaged more popular than, oh, real news? who have we become? who have we always been?

password

random note: i don't know if this is happening to you, but a weird pop-down menu greets me when i come to my own blog, asking if i have a password. i don't know what the fuck that is. i am sorry if you're experiencing it as well. if you're not, i am worried about the state of my sorry computer...

also, this is not turning out to be the best week ever. fuck it all, vh1, why can't you leave a little "best"-ness for the rest of us? having a lot of drama at work, created a little personal drama for myself by pressing the wrong button on my cellphone (numerous times) tonight, and am looking at even more drama presenting itself in the office tomorrow. at least i have good friends (new and old) to help me figure it all out (and/or to listen to me babble nonsensically and offer necessarily nonsensical advice).

it's only tuesday.

bring it on, week! i think i'm ready.

this ain't no normal teaching job

saw these today-- the requirements for being considered for the $125,000 teaching job at the new charter experiment here in new york. crazy!

TEP Charter

Rigorous Qualifications
Meta-analyses of studies of teacher characteristics show that while the effects of some teacher characteristics (e.g. degree level, teacher preparation, teacher certification) on student achievement are inconclusive, other characteristics such as teacher academic proficiency [i], teacher verbal ability [ii], and teacher content-area knowledge [iii] are strongly related to improving student achievement. In addition, a certain threshold of teaching experience has been shown to have important positive effects on student achievement, since teachers tend to improve dramatically in their first few years in the classroom. [iv]

Using this research on highly-effective teachers, TEP has developed 8 requirements that its teachers must meet in order to demonstrate their qualifications in 4 major areas. The 4 areas are:

(1) Expert Subject-Area Knowledge demonstrated through
(a) a 90% or higher standardized test score in relevant subject area*
(b) significant undergraduate and/or graduate coursework and excellent grades in relevant subject area

(2) Outstanding Verbal Ability demonstrated through
(a) a 90% or higher score in the verbal section of the GRE or GMAT or LSAT*
(b) two writing samples, one long-form and one-short form

(3) Teaching Expertise and Experience demonstrated through
(a) a portfolio of achievement of past students, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data
(b) three live teaching auditions
(c) an essay describing personal pedagogical beliefs and approach

(4) Strong Curriculum Development Ability demonstrated through
(a) one originally developed and refined curricular tool of any form (e.g. written materials, instructional methodology, technological innovation).

*Note: You may submit a Preliminary Application even if you have not yet achieved the required standardized exam scores. You will be required to take the required exams at a later stage in the application process.

um have campus newspapers always been hotbeds of racist bullshit?

well, maybe.

this very astute young man apparently is interested in teaching his asian peers a lesson. satire can be funny, sometimes. sarcasm can be funny, sometimes. plain stupidity is never really funny.

"if it's war the asians want..."

good ol' max actually shares his email address at the end of the article. feel free to share your thoughts.

school's response/statement...

tavis smiley who?

okay, okay, i have to admit something. i know it's going to come across as yet another betrayal of my "blackness," but i have to get this off my chest.

i don't give a flying fuck about tavis smiley. :/

i have never seen a "state of the black union" address, nor am i likely to see one at anytime in the near future. i haven't listened to ol' tavis' radio show, and i haven't read any of his books. i'm pretty sure neither of my parents has watched one either, and i would be willing to bet that none of my aunts, uncles or cousins has ever boosted old tavis' t.v. numbers. why, then, can't he get the fuck over himself? why is he making a stink about barack having better things to do with his time? what is the purpose of the show? to whom is it speaking?

these shows are a way for the shortlist of black talking heads to have the same conversation many engaged citizens have already had (more thoughtfully and with more nuance) in the blogosphere/over sunday dinner/at church/over gmail chat. these t.v. spots really just serve to further mask the diversity of thought within the black community for the (mostly white- this is the united states, people) journalists who watch these shows to provide them with soundbites for their articles and opinion pieces. they also serve as a way for the black news machine to further indoctrinate a u.s. black community that, like the rest of this country, has been taught to take its opinions from the media.

tavis. dude. move on.

one thing about this campaign that i really appreciate is the way that it is bringing a huge number of people to the political "table." i am really excited about that. i just wish that our modes of communication and the gathering places for political discussion could find a way to be more appreciative of that engagement. i wish that we could find ways to galvanize this unprecedented level of interest among u.s. citizens into ways to have local discussions that are then shared across the nation in a way that allows us normal people to be heard. i think the new debate formats- mtv, youtube, etc.- are the right start, but they aren't really very accessible for the over-40 crowd. my dad is probably never going to sit down and email a question in to a youtube debate. but he would probably be willing to organize a group of churches to get together and discuss the issues over a potluck dinner. i dunno. i think there must be some way for us, in 2008, to figure out how to bring all of this together.

for someone with a deeper analysis and less snark, check out jimi izrael and/or melissa harris-lacewell (smart lady crush!) at the root.

the roots? at the apollo?!

too bad i don't have $41.50 for much of anything this month :(. and considering that i saw the roots thrice last year, i should probably get over it.

but the apollo?!?

oh, also, if anyone is interested in attending "amateur night at...," holler at me. 11 bucks. wednesday nights. you and (the crazy person who is) me. let's do.

can we talk about intersectionality for a moment?

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Question 1: Are you Black?

Question 2: Where did you get your research? Cuz it sounds like you've just been listening in a Burger King or a McDonald's!
- Questions posed to Prof. Randall Kennedy of Harvard Law School,
author of Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal

Listening to "Sales History," a Brian Lehrer show podcast, tickled me this morning. For one thing, I'm days and days late on the show (originally broadcast on 1.10), which shows you that I have subscribed to far too many podcasts in my love frenzy for "my pretty lady." ("my pretty lady" is my ipod, btw.)

The second thing, though, is that I feel the media is bringing out every Black dude with a degree or some money to share their thoughts on the thoughts of a "community" that is so large and diverse in its constituents that I don't think anyone really knows who they're talking about, or to, for that matter. The idea that a Harvard Law professor, or anyone else for that matter, really knows what "Black America" can or will do, think, or believe is a little crazy, because there isn't one Black America. As someone who grew up in South Florida, has family in the Deep South and the Caribbean, and has now spent a good amount of time in both Southern California and the Northeast, I can tell you that there is no one "blackness" in this country. And a black kid in San Fran is going to have a much different take on this election than one in Marietta, Georgia. No doubt about it. So why can't we just leave the issue well enough alone?

As the commentary around Barack's race continues to intensify, I don't know how I feel about the myriad media sources bringing in people like this Randall Kennedy dude (who is black, by the way, and whose research was, granted, not at all based on conversations overheard in fast food joints) or Shelby Steele (who is on a podcast I have yet to listen to).

I don't want to know what they think, and I definitely don't want them telling "White America" what I think for me. I'll do that with my vote, thanks very much.

JT+Seann William Scott+The Rock+Buffy+John Larroquette+Cheri Oteri+Mandy Moore+Bai Ling+the dude with the lisp from Princess Bride= ?

Southland Tales

weird movie. a vision of an apocalyptic near-future, with a revolution run by porn stars and drug dealers. again, i'm going to note that it was a weird movie.

not without its merits, though. the storyline was interesting, if not quite coherent, and the rock actually approached actor status for me, this time. like i almost believed he wasn't dwayne "the rock" johnson for a minute, and that he was really boxer santaros/jericho kane. that there was really a rift in the time-space continuum that opened up the fourth dimension, and through which he traveled to arrive here on earth again, with the same human soul but a different, identical human body. that he and sarah michelle gellar actually make a plausible loving couple (gag).

sunday night at the movies. heave-ho.