Recently I’ve had a lot of conversations with people in terms of etiquette, morals, culture and the basic social circumstances thus trying to educate, and become more informed of myself, and in total strengthen not just my own awareness, but the awareness of others.  I’m not going to lie, some interactions were strongly [I mean...STRONGLY] informative of my own personal brand of crude interjection into the world; There’s something about having someone literally step on your toes, and not noting that the event occurred.  One, I regret not being informative. Yet, there were a few others (actually, all the others I’m thinking of…)  there came a point, where the conversation became not butting head, not circles, but frustration, not necessarily with the other person or persons involved but with the fact that the only conclusions we came from were that we were pretty powerless because of the system that’s in place, and that we have to live with these systems.  Compound this to the different articles, news stories and blogs that I subscribe to, and well, I don’t know what to do, when I see both sides, make informed choices, listen to my heart, strive, sometimes (most times lately, actually) fail and try to attain some sense of closure while remaining realistic about getting up at some point tomorrow.

The overall hierarchy of my unease stems from feeling some sort of pressure from an omnipresent “system” that is spoken of in hush rumors from the “hood” of Buffalo, NY, mentioned in the hallways of NYC schools, and quite possibly confirmed of in hidden underground chambers below IVY league campuses. The problem I have with this rationalization of “systemic opposition” is that it is the opposition is plausibly amorphous.  Often I’ve felt like just when I think that I’ve figured out how to remove myself out from under its overwhelming weight, it just gets heavier, and if I don’t break (into pieces, or have a breakdown) and even if I do,  the floor under me probably isn’t too happy to have to have their ceiling endangered radically because of my fight.

Being amorphous this “systemic opposition” might be different for someone else.  The system or systems I see influencing me or my cultures isn’t necessarily the same for ever. In a blog written by Chris Norwood, she gives examples of the systemic oppositions that can occur in her experience as a social worker dealing with HIV/AIDS infected women and their families.  The blog speaks to how the allotment or rather dis-allotment of federal funds has (well to cheat my own vocabulary) “screwed” these families and quite possibly left bacteria that possibly could grown into an infection that breeds negative media images, or arkward experiences that we have with some young adults on the subway.  One heartbreaking statement she makes is

“Since 2005, the percentage of Bronx women among New York City women’s HIV/AIDS deaths has risen from 28% to 32%; we don’t know how many AIDS orphans these women have left behind-even with the well known Bloomberg Administration data obsession — that extends to having scooter patrols to count up potholes –”

How many children are out there grieving, acting out or in need of social services that exist somewhere?  I suppose that such is a generic question that can be applied cross culturally, objectively.  I think of an episode of “Law and Order:SVU” in which child protective services misplaced a child in their care.  The social worker in charge of that case was neither altruistic nor stoic and while her actions were the definition of neglectful, she felt remorses but was still obviously overworked even though she probably needn’t be because of a lack of funding.  How many news stories have we read of in the past few months about children under their umbrella that have been abused or have died?  Yet, cases of abused low-income/lower-income children have become altogether too rote after they break and once the initial public outrage (read:interest) in the story, coverage of it or its follow-up often receives byline (if that) mentioning.  Yet, if a middle to white collar child is treated in the same manner, a front page newspaper article and ongoing reports of the search are sent in seemingly hourly.  Hell, I shudder to mention this idea because of its triteness, and how distasteful it feels to compose the sentence;the queasiness continues when thinking of the number of federal laws that are passed that are named after or were inspired because of missing children of higher incoming earning adults.

While Norwood’s examples speak of just one specific population, it still makes me think of the serial unfair situations where I’ve thought to myself that I could feel what was happening, and yet, despite that awareness, something kept urging me down the road.  I mean, I’m here.  However, where exactly is “here?”  It certainly is not Shang-ra-la.

In my own life, I think of the opportunities I’ve had and the ones that just were and aren’t feasible because of decisions made before me.  I wish I were at liberty to share some of the things I think that have negatively influenced me in my life, but that’s not really fair to the other people who were there, and our existence.  I wish I could sum up every experience into a wonderful feeling like Nikki Giovanni does in her poem “Nikki-Rosa”   For instance, take the lines

“because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth and they’ll

probably talk about my hard childhood

and never understand that

all the while I was quite happy”

because love isn’t necessarily the kind of wealth that pays the bills, and the energy I spend trying to dodge my quite realistic fear of a growing a debt……ABRUPT ENDING.  See my working notes.

Repost of links-

“Those Bronx Bad Boys” by  Chris Norwood.  “Huffington Post” “http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-norwood/those-bad-bronx-boys_b_766366.html”

“Nikki-Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni.  Reposted from the Poetry Foundation.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177827

Working Notes – Not finished. I’m still trying to organize parts two and three in relation to this format.  I think that any actual discourse might be too heavy thus weakened by presenting it all at once.  I’m not even sure why I felt the need to lead with Norwood’s blog.  Also I know I didn’t do real MLA citations.  I’m tired.

[Chester Kent]
[Get in the Rye.com]
10..20.10

www.gitr.telldat.net

A 21-year-old poses as middle school football player - Prep Rally - Highschool  - Yahoo! Sports.

According to the Associated Press, Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times, a 21-year-old man named Julious Threatts registered to play for the 13-14-year-old Town N' Country Packers of the Tampa Bay Youth Football League on Aug. 21, and played in a game with the team the same day. Threatts, who had a past burglary conviction on his record, reportedly signed up for a spot on the team under the name "Chad Jordan" with a forged birth certificate. After further investigation, it now appears that Threatts -- an avowed Danielle Steele fan who recorded poetry readings on a personal YouTube channel -

As I watch Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Michael Doyle and Solidad O'Brien play Celebrity Jeopardy (oh, and yes I am kicking their collective ass,)  I happened upon the above article on Yahoo.com.  It's particular well written article but the entire story is a goddamn shame.

Personally, I am completely ambivalent about my high school years, so it really makes me wonder how amazing this guy's years were.  I mean, he's been trying to relive them since he graduated.  Yes, the years afterward suck (bills, feeding yourself, laundry, bills, working, taxes, college, late fees from the public library, and Time Warner) but generally the freedom and ability to shape our own lives supposedly become realized for most of us, and we are giving the chance to rise and face the constraints of our situations.

But what does it take to want to feel like a 14 yr old boy in a 20 something year old man's body.  Even Peter Pan had magic to blame.  It's just a damn criminal shame.  I hope that he gets help.  The kicker  of the article is that it seems to keep happening over and over again lately.  I mean, really, serial pedophiles that don't just stalk and pretend to be kids online, but in actual real life.

[Chester Kent

www.GetintheRye.com]

Original Yahoo article link:  http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/21-year-old-poses-as-middle-school-football-play?urn=highschool-266086

A Brooklyn high-school principal — on the rocks for allowing booze at a boat-cruise prom where a tipsy staffer was caught kissing a student — put in overtime pay for 15 teachers to attend the bash on the taxpayers’ tab, a probe found.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/teachers_party_pay_b0VnRDVvpI4h58OsGAnvkJ?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=#ixzz0wfEbNSSi

I honestly don’t even know what to say about this.  So I’m just going to mumble this which I’m not sure I don’t not mean. I dig it.  Suppose you had this dude as a principal, seems like it would just be free alcohol, entertainment, and teen-aged antics all with overtime pay.  I mean, would you really want to be the teacher that reported these “abuses” to the Board of Ed?  Might as well legally change your name to “Pariah.”

Check it out.

[Chester Kent.]

Ex. of How to Shoot Oneself in the Foot

Every single year we teachers in the upper grade levels do one thing that is the unofficial equivalent of throwing in the white towel.  Take a guess….Realizing that you did not leave enough time to finish that last novel, and realizing that you’re going to have to force feed all the appropriate themes, plots, and vocabulary for one final test that will let Eduardo R, or Tysha J. know whether they should even both showing up for the final exam?  Not what I’m looking for, but it happens to all of us.  Take another shot….What do all upper level teachers do that is the unofficial equivalent to a playing of the extended version of the Fat Lady’s swan song?  Hint…Science/Math  teachers, it’s not switching into full on test prep mode?  That usually signifies that any minute in the hallways, some down on their grade student is going to ask you to reteach the quadratic equation.

No, the unofficial end to the year is that day when we reward the good kids for being good kids all year.  They get to go to Six Flags, Canada’s Wonderland, or some other various accident waiting to happen trip as a sign of our gratitude that they did not shoot at, stab, or curse you out during the school year, all the while maintaining a decent grade point average, and normal human composure.  This trip also has the debatable intentional or unintentional effect of saying to the kids not going “Better Luck,  next year!  (Fuckwad)” as the bus to a great escape leaves them in stranded to a muggy day of educational instruction.

Handsome Reward.

So you see-  This is how we stab ourselves in the foot.  We tell our “good kids”  have fun but “not too much fun.”  No matter what, hijinx (Hijinx, I exclaim) will ensue.  For example, there’s always going to be a few kids who manifest their inner bad ass for a few hours out in public.  Or the girl who loses her wallet, and her ID. There might even be a hint of a stolen cellphone, or lunch.  While the trip is fun for the kids, it’s  definitely more of a Great Adventure for the adults.

Conversely, imagine coming into work wearing your professional dress and passing by your colleagues in shorts and t-shirts, all with grins just as wide on their faces as the day to come is long on yours.  When taking attendance you realize that all of the children you mildly enjoy, the ones that you look out into the classroom, and make eye contact with to remind yourself that there is at least one kid listening, and possibly even sympathetic to your plight.  The kids who come to school come in expecting it to be a blow off day, and it’s true.  In theory, you could forge on with important review work, but really, all that does is make you want to hit your head against your desk because all of your Aces in the holes are gone. The day in so many ways is bullshit, pure and unfiltered.

Ye Olde New York City Publick Schoole

To this I say (and mostly because I am no longer of school age….) let’s schedule these trips after exams. Or maybe on a weekend day so that a day of instruction and/or review isn’t lost.  In such a way, we can all then share the unfortunate blaring discomfort of a poorly planned school without ventilation.

I had originally plotted out to make this posting about  the young charge whom I had dubbed “The Obvious Asshole” because he doesn’t even try to hide his animosity about being educated.  Of this child, his mother has said “Well, he has a problem with authority figures.”  Which means that her action plan for dealing with her son doesn’t actually involve anyone else, or trying to reprogram him to being, amendable with taking orders, especially considering he is only something like 16 or 17.

I realize that “The Obvious Asshole” is such a horrible term to use for a child, but it’s so universal and it fits.  At some point in their career, every educator has met that one kid that is possessed of  impermeable propensity/inclination to being a nuisance.  In Pre-K, this kid probably peed on the carpet, or had issues with taking naps.  In K-3, this child made scenes just because well it could.  This child is loved, and loves attention, and at this point, it even understands the difference between positive and negative attention.  Yet, somewhere in their brain a pitched-forked devil is keeping common sense captive.  This kid becomes the one that teachers worry about taking out in even the most minute public arena, like walking down the hallway.  This type of student is a real life Bart Simpson, albeit the commercial breaks, 30 minute resolution or ability to just turn off the TV.

The funny thing about the “OA” that I dealt with in that particular senior English Class I was covering isn’t even that anything that super infuriating happened in that class; I derive my ultimate chuckle from the conversation with the regular teacher when we next met.  It seems that despite the outreach- calls home, referrals to guidance, meetings with other teachers, “OA” has successfully managed to maintain what can only appear to be his desired English Avg grade of 19.  Apparently, his also was guest starring in that class as I was, since he had not been in attendance when the regular teacher was there for oh say, four months?  And has not been back in there, since I left apparently.  He works hard for his grade.

Just scratch college out and add 11th grade.  I really had to hold back writing this one because I just discovered the “OA’s” equivalent in the faculty and I’m not sure what to call ‘em yet.

Thanks for the comments, and take care of yourselves.  Please do check out the original post at

www.GetintheRye.com

[Chester Kent]

If you can’t see it, in short, this little girl made a fake myspace account that was not quite pro school,pro the principal.

So she is suspended and almost expelled, but the ACLU picks up her case,

Seriously, some people get all the luck.  Will discuss what I mean about this relation to this posting.

[Chester Kent]

Living blogging from inside of Special Education Room/Section 303.  Covering for the Science Teacher while their classroom teacher is in an IEP (Indiviual Education Program) meeting.

Ugh

Having issues with this class.  Trying to avoid the idea of corporal punishment.

The boys in this class lack basic social skills, and the ability to stay focused in anyway.  One kid is rapping and yelling the most inappriopriate lyrics.  Oh, and passing noxious gas.  Another boy who supposedly is not as “special” as the others has proved to me that well he is by being a complete and utter A-hole; it’s the lack of a better word that makes me type A-hole.

The girls?  One subtly is “special.”   She has her powerpoint presentation almost done, but she is completely pulled by the others, which is sad.  The other girl in this section is in the IEP meeting.

Is it the kids fault?  Is it their parent’s fault for drugs, alcohol or bad genetic crossing?  Is it the school’s for not caring?  I mean the room is in fact their section number!  303.  Even though the school starts at 5th grade.  I mean, really?

All I know is that when this double period ends, I will be thoroughly excited!

[Chester Kent]

www.getintherye.com

Asshole

ernard Lawrence “Bernie” Madoff (IPA: /ˈmeɪdɒf/) (born April 29, 1938, in New York City) is an American businessman and former chairmanof the NASDAQ stock exchange, who has admitted^[2] to operating the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pled guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint admitting to defrauding many thousands of investors through a massive Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors estimated client losses which included fabricated gains of almost $65 billion.^[3][4] Although he had been confined to his Manhattan penthouse apartment, Madoff was subsequently incarcerated after his voluntary formal plea was accepted in open court. He faces spending the rest of his life in prison, and could be forced to pay up to $170 billion in restitution.^[5][

From Wikipedia.com

[Chester Kent]

O. O. C. Charater of the Week [3rd Posting]

Michael Rubens Bloomberg

Mayor Bloomberg is considered the 8th richest American, and a wonderful mayor. He inherited New York shortly after 9/11, and the City didn’t fall to ruins. Or rather tourists didn’t get mugged in Times Square, and the street sweepers kept on sweeping. 2 Apple Stores opened in the city. All is great in the powerful land of Oz.

And then suddenly, it all went Out of Control.

While others may point out that other branches of government don’t have set term limits; Congress (the Senators and the House) don’t have term limits- most (if not all) states have term limits for governors and other legislatures. I reckon this is to further the idea that the “little” person can feel as if he actually affects his government. Term limits are both a shield and sword. Supreme Court Justices don’t have term limits to keep their decisions honest and free of potential outside influence. After FDR’s elongated presidency, Congress passed term limits for the President to keep the US President from looking like a monarch or a dictator.

The latin term “Exitus acta proba” means that the “Outcome justifies the Deed”, which in this case is the argument that our legislatures are using to justify the 3rd term vote. To sum things up, basically it’s been suggested that Bloomberg (and others) should have the chance to run again for an extended consecutive term because “the people” should have a steady government during the fragile state of the economy. Which seems myopic in regards to the fact that perhaps we shouldn’t let our officials run again, because well that would be contrary to changing the weak economy that flourished underneath them.
I can think of at least 5 more arguments that follow along the line of “slippery slope” thinking. Most of them end with completely dismantling checks and balances and allowing our nation to run into chaos. The idea that there is a limit on the number of terms is so that new and “fresh” (I use the term lightly though…) voices can come in and use their prospective to shape the cities municipal future. Policies, politics, etc.

In theory this could all be a moot point come election time. Voters have the chance to actually vote someone else into office. However, what I fear is that Bloomberg will be able to take his own independent wealth and crush any local politician that dares to challenge him. It’s very hard to challenge the incumbent when the incumbent has spent the previous years attempting to prove how normal or average like his citizens. I kind of cringed when I watched the news reports of Bloomberg taking the subway to work. I mean, you’re the fucking mayor of NYC, you don’t need to take the subway.

So I guess the moral of the story is “Qui tacet consentit,” or “Silence is not consent.”
[Sidenote: I find it very odd that McCain's age is consistently brought up in the media, but noone has remarked that Bloomberg is pushing 67 this coming year.]

[Chester Kent - Comments greatly appreciated.]

[If worst comes to worst, my muscles are certified to correct dudes.]

Equally, unfunny was the text I sent my friend “Peaceful” as I played Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii. It’s kind of funny if you know the game. Anyway, the text read….

[What a bitch goin' do with a banana, I need a shell or something else to throw.]