Today, I look back

Today, I'm thinking of elections.  There is a recall election in Wisconsin happening today.  There is a presidential election that will take place this year in November.

As I think of this election, I am also thinking back to things I wrote during the last election cycle.

Today, I am really grateful for all of my followers, for all of my commenters.  I love seeing that people actually read what I write.

Most of my posts, lately, are pretty light-hearted.  It wasn't always so.

Today, I remember a post that received some serious negative feedback from commenters.  I am remembering all of the research I put into some of my posts.

I would like to take a trip down memory lane with you today.  I know some people don't like clicking links or reading old posts, but I promise, these are some good ones from my old, more serious, often political days of blogging.

First up, Response To Some Readers.  This post was a response to some negative feedback I got after I wrote about how lack of insurance and lack of adequate healthcare could have led to an event my friend and I encountered.  Even after this response, I still got some negative comments from readers.  It got to the point where I couldn't even respond, but fortunately, KBO responded well for me. (In this post, I was still using the moniker, Stuck In My Head).  WARNING: It is very liberal in my thoughts, don't hate me if we don't share the same ideas about government... we can still get along and hopefully, you will still read my posts in the future that are not political!

I also have posts that I just enjoyed doing research for.  Perhaps my future could include some "serious" journalism.

In Considering Politics & Religion I wrote about different people's desire to make race an issue in the election of 2008.

After the current administration came into office, I still wrote about politics as it ties to education.  Obama - We Need More Than Education To Help Minorities was a post where I addressed the discrepancies in punishments and treatment of students in schools.  I talked about the need for better classroom management and for more organizations like College Summit to get involved in schools.

Not all the posts I reflect on today were tied to politics... well not really.

I did a lot of research for a post on Haiti after the earthquake of 2010 that led to some questionable donating organizations (Haiti Needs Help - Be Careful How You Give It).  I wrote about about the history of the nation and its long-standing debt and the fact that many donor organizations don't actually give money to places they say they give to.  (Seriously!! Look into the organizations you donate to!!)  If there are so many NGOs and groups giving money to Haiti, why does it still look almost the same as the day the quake happened?  Why are there still SO MANY people living in tents to this day?!?!

I've connected with other bloggers doing Bloggers Unite.  For World AIDS Day in 2008 where I supplied a lot of information about the disease and those it impacts.  For Refugees in 2008 since there was a serious discrepancy in the number of refugees allowed into certain nations.

And, finally, there is the post This Always Tickles Me.  Because Vitas Bumac always does just that!!  I love him and the way he sounds.  And I can't help but smile at the way he can hit his notes.

Can you hear the color of my tears?

Excellent poem by my 2nd mother. Reflects so much about the election, the inauguration, the times we are in, being a mother, being a Nigerian American.

Love her and my 2nd set of siblings.

CAN YOU HEAR THE COLOR OF MY TEARS?

A poem
by
Dr. Gloria Bilaye-Benibo

Can you hear my tears?
No, not my cry! But my constant silent tears
The tears of this African woman
Whose children, like you were born
Not on the soil of their father’s native land
But the soil of their father’s educational voyage
Soil brutally scared by the thorns of slavery
Try to hear my tears
As my beautiful young daughters carried on their tiny shoulders
The weight of being the children of African immigrant parents
Aware that their experiences were different from other children’s
They were neither truly African Nor American

Can your hear the color of my tears?
As I proudly welcome my first son
Into a world full of hope and promises
On same day as President Reagan’s birthday
It was a sign: He will some day be the President of America
Filled with joy and happiness I appropriately named him
To reflect the core of my emotions
And so I raised him to be Godly, respectful and smart
But can you hear my tears-silent and deafening!
As his friends made fun of him and called him names
Names like ‘African-booty-scratcher’ and other too awful to pen
As he realized that his heritage was also his biggest barrier

Can you hear the color of these tears?
As years later I welcomed yet another son
Born at such a time perfect time when things were looking up
And once again I named him to reflect the emotions of his birth
Now surely I can better provide for him
His will be much better experience in a different place
Like his siblings, I raised him to be Godly, proud and studious
But can you hear tears?
As I saw the pain on my baby boy’s face
As he came to realize that the dream was just a dream
African American meant a heritage that is so sweet and yet so bitter
A heritage marked by pride and rejection

Can you hear my tears
As my tired feet carried me into my house
As I hear the now familiar CNN election breaking news jingle
I looked up at the TV screen
And saw a smiling face much like my own sons
Barack Obama- Democratic Presidential Nominee
Please say you can hear my loud tears
As I gently touched my kitchen counter and
And stared into the face of my baby boy
And muttered to no one in particular
He did it! He actually did it!
My God! He did it!

Can you hear my tears?
As I fell on the floor of my bedroom
On that memorable November fourth night
Heart-pounding, I read the words on the TV screen
President-Elect Barack Obama!
You couldn’t hear my tears?
As the drops, now familiar with my hurt and fears rolled down my cheeks
As each drop ballooned with my pride
Until the last drop escaped
And was carried into the dark November sky
But quickly came back down to my soil thirsty for hope
And watered the future for my own children

Can you hear my tears?
Like so many mothers of race and voyage
Like so many mothers of daughters and sons
Yes children who look just like you
But children who never dared to dream
Please hear my tears as I mumble your name over and over
Barack Obama! Barack Obama!
Like you, my children’s names were strange
Like you, they were suspected before they were accepted
Like you, they were distrusted before they were trusted
Like you…So much like you….
Can they dare to dream?

Can you hear my very colorful loud tears
And freeze the moment in history
As I watch you place your hand on the mighty word of God
And yet again I read the words on the TV screen
President Barack Obama!
Listen…I am sure you hear my tears
As I stand a little bit taller
As I shout into the quiet street in my beautiful neighborhood
Yes they can! Yes they now can!
Yes they most certainly can!
Yes! They can now call proudly and truly themselves
African.
American.
Can you hear my tears?
-Dr. G. Tamunoibim Bilaye-Benibo

Why I'm thankful - a day late

I am really thankful for so many things this year. Here's a short list of some of those things.

• Facebook - Without Facebook and other internet sites and gadgets and games, I would not be reconnected with people I hadn't talked to in years. And would not be able to talk with my family and friends overseas as often. I also would have less distractions keeping me from procrastinating from doing work I actually need to do.
• My new job - Not only is the job so much better for my stress level, I also have a much longer commute which allows me more time to listen to NPR Morning Edition, and allows me to spend way more money on gas than even makes sense. This extra spending means less spending on the little things I used to blow my money on.
• Political Conservatives - I cannot even explain how grateful I am for this group of people this year. Without them I would never have had some of the readers on this blog that I have had this past year. Most importantly, without the vast number of conservatives out in this country I would not have been able to have the great feelings of accomplishment, of vindication, of success, of CHANGE that I felt the night of 4 November 2008.

• Back problems - Without this incredible back pain, I may never have really known how many movements the body can do that involve the lower portion of my back. I never would have known that how much the act of laughing works your lower back. I may never have experienced sharp pains going through my body that caused me to flinch and almost scream curse words in the classroom. I may never have felt the great sleep that comes with muscle relaxants.
• Black Friday - I am also happy that I am not going shopping on this Black Friday. I am happy (and you should be, too) that I am not out there today because, despite the bad back the people in the stores would, no doubt, drive me to the point where I would be imagining all sorts of thoughts/actions that would not be conducive to me staying out of jail. I can't stand crowded shops because the people there seem as though they have never been in a store and that they don't understand that they should not block the aisle with their shopping carts full of needless things/their children/their bodies as they look at something on the other side of the aisle. They make me so angry. And then the check out lines take forever because not only are the people running them new, seasonal hires, the customers inevitably put way more in their cart than they can afford. Then they must go through each item that is at the bottom of the cart after being pinged through the cashiers machine or at the bottom of the bags and decide what they can take out. This leads to their kiddos screaming and crying and begging and to me being even more angry, though happy that I don't have children, yet. I will try to avoid the shops as much as possible until after the middle of January. I will celebrate Buy Nothing Day.
  

But for real. I am very blessed to have a lot of things -- family, a great man, friends, and most importantly, life. I am alive. I am witnessing the possibility of great things to happen in this nation. I have a roof over my head that is not leaking. And I am less stressed than I have been in 4 years due to the job change. That, above many of the other things, makes my life so much better because I can enjoy all the other great things in my life that much more.

Worldwide impact

I just got off the phone with my mother who said that immediately after the election results were announced, people calling her from Nigeria. They were calling all through the wee hours of the night. That is the middle of the night for them, yet they were awake waiting to hear the results.

It amazes me that so many people worldwide are so into this - but it is also inspiring. I saw a headline today that said something along the line of it might soon be cool again to be an American.

I am still pinching myself

It is 12:24.

I am still in shock!! Just got home from the Chase and a rally and celebration there.

I am still trying to make sure this is all real.

The whole time tonight I have been wondering if this could happen.

I am so amazed at the turn out, at the strength of people, at the achievement of hope, at the strive for change.

Hopefully I can write more later when my senses are full and when I have accepted this as the truth.

For now I must try and sleep since I must be up at 5:30 ready to teach the children all day.

Yes we did!!!

Here's to the system... hopefully

I voted.

I got there at 5:50 and there was already a massive line. (Fortunately the parents were there and when I called them they told me they were right close to the door, so I asked the people around me if they would be offended if I moved up. They said no, so I moved and got to be the 21st one to vote.) As I pulled in a song came on the radio -- Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. I don't know if it was the song, the tiredness, the cold (since I forgot the coat and for some reason was thinking it was already going to be close to 70 degrees), the relief that I don't have to see political ads any more, the sheer joy of seeing so many people coming out to vote, or the fear that all the people (considering where they live) might all be voting for McCain, but a tear came to my eye.

This whole process has been powerful.

So many people are buying into the process, and it is great.

Hopefully the outcome will be good.

If not... I'm going to be getting a tv, a PS3, a toaster oven, some laundry detergent, and a dehumidifier when the riots start.

Cypress Hill on my mind - somethings I can't understand

The past few days I have had that old Cypress Hill song, "How I Could Just Kill A Man", stuck in my head. Not that I am trying to kill anyone, but there are several things that, like they say, I can't understand.

Here are somethings perhaps you can help me understand:

• What kind of a person goes off and just shoots through his door at kids coming to trick or treat? What the hell is wrong with him? And not just shoot, but let out 29 shots at the kids and kill the 12 year old.
• And why does the man have an assault rifle? An AK-47? I guess it's because people are so apt to fight for their 2nd amendment that they forget that they are protecting the crazies from not being able to have a gun as well. Some of them don't want any type of restrictions on who can own a gun.
• What kind of telephone screeners does Palin have that they let through a call by some Canadians who said they were French president Nicolas Sarkozy? And how could she not realize that it was a fake call with the person asking questions/comments about the Larry Flint porno with a Palin look a like? People really want her to be second in command?
• And finally, over the past 3 1/2 weeks, I have watched all four seasons of the ABC show, Lost. I had seen a couple of episodes from the fourth season this spring, and got hooked. I thought by watching the previous seasons I would understand more. I was terribly wrong. I am still in the dark. Honestly, if I hadn't watched the first seasons, I would still know as much about what is going on as I did after having previously seen 4 episodes of the fourth season. That show is wild, confusing... and yet so addictive.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow - if you haven't already.

You can vote however you like

Ron Clark Academy kids made this rap.

Awesome example of how you can get kids to learn with out it being boring.

Trick lo-ove the kids

For some reason this morning I woke up really excited about this election. I still screamed at the bs being spewed on the radio by the conservatives in North Carolina and Joe (the plumber).

But, the call I got from my brother yesterday was kind of nice regarding some hope.

He works for a company that runs a program called College Summit. The program works with a lot of schools around the country to help get high school kids into college. One of the schools here in St. Louis, Wellston, which had 100% of its seniors accepted to college last spring. It has worked with other area high schools, as well. You can watch a video about them as they were featured on PBS, here. The video describes a bit of what they do.

Anyway. I am really proud that he is working for this type of company.

But the reason I got excited about it is because in Obama's infomercial the other day, he mentioned a success story of one of the schools his people work with. Basically giving accolades to them for their successes in getting more students accepted to college. Big ups to my bro and his people!!

The group is looking to spread to more areas and to get some legislation through Congress that would help track student enrollment in colleges from high schools.

There is hope for students. They will get help with learning how to get into college, and they will (if things go well Tuesday) have more ability to get into those colleges, too.

Give money, listen, think

If you haven't given to KWMU for their fund drive -- hurry. I am so tired of them interrupting stuff I am listening to to beg people for money.

If you missed Morning Edition this morning on NPR, they did another part of the story on race and the election. It is really nice to hear someone else who recognizes that "Joe Six-Pack" is just a synonym / nice way of saying that you are talking about white, hardworking men (and women). And that it kind of implies that people of color are not ordinary nor do they work hard enough to fit into the society that some of the candidates believe is the right society for this nation.

Read. Listen. Pay attention to the words people say and what they really are trying to get across.

Words on Wordless Wednesday

Today no pictures. Just a couple thoughts that left me wordless.

A woman on a show on NPR said that she is afraid of Obama and what he would do for the nation. Afraid of him. Afraid of him? As opposed to the man who talks about war like it is going to dinner. As opposed to the man who is part of a party that eagerly helped lead to the deregulation that has us in the situation we are in now.

Another woman on NPR said that she fears that Obama would focus on African-Americans at the expense of poor white people like herself. "It's just the fact that I think that he will represent them, and what they want, and what they need. ... They're his people, his race."

Since when has he even mentioned the brown folks? And what could he possibly do that would ONLY help black people? What would that look like? He tells Congress to lower taxes for people only if they can check the box that says they are of African decent? Get out of here. She must be one of these people that the media is finally admitting exist. (Though I know, and you should know, that they are everywhere.)

White privilege and the 2008 campaigns

This is scary, frightening, almost funny.

Funny until you realize it has to do with the future of the entire nation and the ignorance and lack of a sense of reality for many people who are not really paying attention to what is going on with the selection of the VP candidate and what is going on with the slamming of the Democratic candidate and the people around him.

Funny until you realize that brown people deal with way more than this on the daily.

Funny until you remember that it is not a game -- that the future of this nation and the relations of this nation and the rest of the world are at stake and will be partially decided in a few weeks. That this future is in the hands of some people who don't want to listen, pay attention, or even blink.

Tim Wise wrote an interesting little article "White Privilege, White Entitlement and the 2008 Election."

Here are some excerpts:

• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is… [when] no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
• White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
• White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin’ redneck," like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
• White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

Palin and Gibson

No matter how hard I try to stay away from politics, it keeps coming at me.

Check out this video of Palin with Charlie Gibson on ABC. Long, but listen to it all. Come back later if you need more time.


She is the one that people are completely switching their political views for? She is the one that is revving up the Republican party? She is the one they want to be a heartbeat (literally) from being president?

She doesn't even fully understand what the Bush Doctrine is.

I do have to give her credit for being good at not directly answering questions, though. The McCain campaign has trained her well to bull shit some answers and go around the question to answer it in a way that gets the points she is trained to answer out there.

I am ready for the debates.

WOW! This explains her international experience?

This is how Cindy McCain explains Palin's governmental experience and international experience.



Yes. She believes she will be good because Russia is close to Alaska.

Wow!!!!!!

Impacting and saving lives - one vote/call at a time

That man and that woman will be in O'Fallon, MO Sunday along with some of the other people in the party. It really makes me hurt inside that people support them and their beliefs. Check that. They support the fact that they are anti-abortion. They support the fact that they are anti-gay marriage. They don't think about the implications of many of their other stances on the citizens of this nation. They don't think about what will change/remain horrible for them and others in this nation. They stick with them because their church leaders tell them to vote against abortion (rather than just not having one themselves) and tells them to vote against a constitutional amendment to legalize gay marriage. They want to keep taxes low. But they don't care that the tax system is disproportionate to people's incomes.

They don't recognize their impact and hatred for people of this nation.

On another note, I do. In fact KBO and I saved a man's life yesterday.

We were going to meet some other cool blogger people for dinner. When I got out of her car I noticed a man laying on the sidewalk. I was speechless and just pointing. When she came around the car to start walking down the sidewalk he started to seize uncontrollably. I have seen people have seizures, but never some as long and as convulsive as this one he was having. I immediately called 911 and gave them the location. They asked me a series of questions that I could not answer (does he have a history of seizures, is he diabetic). I interrupted the man a few times to let him know that I did not know the guy and so could not answer his questions and he told me that I still had to tell him "I don't know" when he asked them. KBO talked with and tried to calm the man down and make sure he didn't get up while I was on the phone with the operator. The ambulance came and the paramedics started to try and assist him.

He did not want their help. He said that he did have history of seizures, that he had been taking medicine for them before, but had stopped.

This made me super pissed. Likely, he does not have insurance, and can't pay the exorbitant price for the ambulance let alone the hospital care. He said he wanted them to just take him to his daughter's house. They said they would at least give him some oxygen. Then they sent us away. A few minutes, after we had met up with our company at dinner, we heard an ambulance with sirens pass by -- likely him.

It took me awhile for all the adrenaline to pass through my body and for me to stop shaking, slow my heart beat, and for me to just generally calm down from my anger at the whole situation.

Insurance is another issue people should seriously look at when trying to pick a candidate. Not that some people are really looking to "pick" a candidate -- they will just go with whoever their friends/church/Fox News etc tell them to vote for.

Things that make you go hmmmmm

Palin does not know what a vice president does and seems to have preferred remaining governor.



However as Sojourner's Place discusses, there has been some effort into getting her to be the VP nominee at least as far back as 2007. Check out all the links to the different sites she has on her blog.

Also questionable is how many of the links to her election sites to become governor now link directly to the McCain-Palin sites. A big question is how and why did she get on the radar so early with so little experience? Another question is why does the party seem to want to make it seem like she was just all of a sudden picked and that McCain only just now thought of her and only spoke with her once when she seems to have been being thought of for such a long time?

Unintentional comedy

There is a student teacher at my school who is really the epitome of a nerd. Picture some of the guys from those old 80s Revenge of the Nerds movies. He is nice, but he seems a bit like he just wants to show off his Webster U education - though it comes off more like he is confused and not sure of what he is doing in the process.

Every day for the past two weeks, I see him and I just want to bug up laughing. Not because of the way he looks, but because of the way he showed up for school the other day.

He had on a dress shirt and some slacks and a tie. The problem was the tie.

He had the shirt buttoned up all the way, but the tie was on his neck.

I don't think you understand what I am getting at.

The tie was on his neck and not underneath the collar of his shirt. It was really confusing at first. He walked toward his cooperating teacher's classroom and the teachers I was standing with and I just looked for a moment. It was one of those times when it is hilarious, but you just can't bring yourself to laugh just yet because you are not sure if this is really real.

Fortunately the department head called him out on it and the next time we saw the kid he had adjusted his collar.

He had on the same outfit today, and it really just brought it all back to me. I couldn't help but smile whenever he started to talk.

All this while trying not to puke at the department head's camouflage Crocs, this other woman's dress Crocs, and the other woman's regular black Crocs.

In other news that I'm still not sure is funny, scary, or just stupid, the republican candidate picked a running mate. Yea for picking a woman to try to woo the disgruntled Hilary voters. Boo for picking a person who has been mayor for two years, prior to that was mayor of a town of 9000, she has no Washington experience -- but leave it to her to already have been under investigation for corruption. Her husband is connected with oil companies. She believes in creationism and is a staunch pro-life advocate.

But I guess she shows that he is looking for change and that he is willing to have a woman by his side even if he doesn't respect his wife.

I am almost politically intrigued

I really have been disconnected from politics in this nation for quite some time. Over a decade, really. I am not fully in a go-get-'em mode yet, but I am starting to feel like there might be a large group of people who are coming to their senses about what is really going on and what needs to be done to make this nation change for the good.

The DNC has been good. Speeches have been good. I've heard people complain that there was not a lot of coverage on the regular channels, but I stuck with PBS where they did not talk over any of the speakers, including the regular people who came on to share their personal stories.

Today's speech by Senator Obama was good. He touched on some good issues and really went after the whole putting America and Americans first.

I have often been told that in order to know how to proceed you have to look at what your enemies/opponents are doing. After the speech, I was feeling quite touched. Then I felt like I wanted to see what the enemy would say to twist this positivity into some negative shit.

So I turned to Fox News Channel.

Bret Hume and Juan Williams piss me off all the time and they did not fail today. I was actually shocked that they had some people on their who actually seemed to approve the Senator's speech. But then they went back to the commentators who could spin anything into some way to put down Senator Obama and try to diminish the emotions of the people who were in attendance.

That's why I stick with PBS and NPR's mostly unbiased news reporting.

But they will not hold him down. I'm not by any means saying that he is a perfect candidate. There are some issues that I hope he considers and reconsiders for the sake of this nation. But he is the best viable option. And he is way better than the other main candidate.

And all on the anniversary of the day when 45 years ago the government told its secretaries to stay home so they would not get raped by the African Americans; when they shut down all the liquor stores for fear that they would incite more violence; when they canceled two professional baseball games for fear of attacks on the white attendants -- all so that there would not be any chance for violence. They were worried about severe violence at a non-violent assembly by people who had records of non-violence in their previous gatherings (well not completely non-violent since the cops and others who came to oppose them attacked them and sprayed them with water hoses and put out the dogs). Forty-five years ago today Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech today. Some felt that he should have touched on this more in his speech today, but I feel that was not necessary. It was acknowledged in their picking of today for his acceptance speech. It has been acknowledged by all the news media.

Another historical note: yesterday would have been Lyndon B. Johnson's 100th birthday. He was the president who signed a lot of the civil rights legislation into action.

I am still a bit apprehensive about what will happen in November. There are a lot of people who support what Obama says, but will not vote for him based on his race for the most part because of his race.

Oh, yeah. My buddy KBO posted a great explanation about choosing to be liberal in this day and age on her blog. Check it out. It only makes sense. Being a person who cares about yourself and the people around you does not make you crazy. You do not have to be a super conservative republican to believe in Jesus. But it is also strange to support some of the contradictory beliefs of the party such as being against abortion but not caring about the children who ARE born -- the ones who have families that can't afford to take care of them. I have had numerous students who have been homeless or lived in crazy family situations and it hurts that they are not cared for by the government.

Be accountable for your choices. And care about more than just yourself.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

First off, Sergio Leone movies are really good. I never thought I'd watch a western movie and enjoy it, but all of his that I have seen are pretty freaking good. And the musical scores are so on point with what is going on that it is truly mesmerizing.

Back to business. It's been a while. A lot, and yet, so little has happened in the past few weeks. So I will sum it up simply.

The Good

• School rocks all ass. I know that as the year progresses you will get tired of me mentioning this and tired of me comparing it all to my previous employer, but I cannot help it. I feel so much more at ease with everything. I have a whole office set up to make copies for me so I don't have to sit in the copy room and wait for the Spanish teacher to make 80 copies of a 40 page packet before school on a Monday morning when everyone and their mama is trying to get ready for the day. I also have people who are teaching the same subject so I can borrow ideas from them which means that I have less planning time.
• The big kicker is that I GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 2:13. Despite the school being hella far away (about 22-34 minutes depending on traffic -- can't help but time shit like that, I am a track coach, it's what I do), last Friday I was able to leave school, pick up KBO, and still get my Happy Hour on before the old school bell had even rung to dismiss for the weekend.
• I was appointed head coach of the track team -- boys and girls. Nice. But comes with some problems I will address later.
  
• The weather also has been amazing the past little bit. It has been so nice that I have reverted back to wanting to run in it. It's been about 5 years since I was a regular runner, and I am by no means ready to go out and do a half marathon or repeat intervals at a decent pace. But it feels good. So far I have run about 3 times in the past two weeks. Getting out of school early and having basically a whole day left before I go to bed is definitely aiding in my desire to get moving. I know, nothing stellar, but it is a big step for me. Hopefully soon when people compliment me on my physique I can actually say that, yes, I do still work out.
• They Olympics are over so I can actually get things done now. I don't know what it is about those games. The channels must put crack in them. What else could explain my desperate need to watch whatever sport (besides baseball, softball, and basketball) they were showing even though for the next four years I will never watch said sport again. I even watched the opening and closing ceremonies. Though, the opening one was the day after the first day of school and I was so exhausted that I was falling asleep during the ending of it. I tried so hard to stay up and watch the lighting of the torch. I managed to see a man running in the air and started to think that that must be the beginning of the torch lighting, but then I blinked and when I opened my eyes, it was 45 minutes later. I have yet to see what the lighting of the torch looked like, but I have heard that it was truly amazing.
• Currently watching The Black List an HBO documentary I heard about on News and Notes on Friday. Forgive me for being ignorant, but I had no idea Slash from G n R was part black. Check out the show. Good interviews that aren't really pushing any sort of agenda. Al Sharpton made an excellent comment about how the "thugs" of today are the Uncle Toms of this day and age -- they entertain the stereotypes that whites have developed about the black people of America. Other interviewees: Kareem Abdul Jabar, Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Colin Powell, Mahlon Ducket, Suzan-Lori Parks, Thelma Golden, and many more. Read a review from The Washington Post here.
  

The Bad

• I am still not able to sleep at a decent enough hour for a person who has to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. I am still up until around 11-12 each night. Though I did start taking melatonin, which is the best non-prescription sleep aid I have ever taken.
• It's official. I have become a softy. I am now apt to cry at the slightest thing. I cried in parts of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the first one, the second one was not as touching), I teared up during the first dance at the wedding I attended this weekend in Tennessee, I have been thinking about something in the car on the way home from work (it is such a long ride) and started to tear up a bit. I almost cried when Lolo tripped up in the hurdles during the 100m hurdle finals. It's really annoying. I never wanted to be this way. But, I guess, that's life.
• As the new head coach of the track team, my entire coaching staff is men. Older men. One of which is really pissed that he isn't the head. The two sprint coaches are very stuck in their ways, which based on what they have said they do, are not ways conducive to athletic improvements. I have to find a way to tell them that they are wrong and that I will take over a lot of stuff without making them feel really bad or without making them despise me. I also have another assistant coach who seems to not like the black kids or coaches on the team (at least that's the word in the halls). We'll see how it all plays out.
  
• I seriously wanted to back slap this woman the other day at work. I was in the copy room by the entrance door getting my papers ready to hand over to the copy woman. Minding my own business. Feeling good about not having to copy the stuff myself. This heffa crept up right by my shoulder and then screamed super loud, right in my ear, HEY to the copy woman (who was at that time only about 15 feet away from the screamer. She screamed so loud, so close to my ear, that my first reaction was to hit her dead in the head with either my papers or my hand or both. I decided against either of those.
• Not working with my excellent colleagues any more is still getting me down. It was really great how I just came in with two excellent people who I still consider great friends, and had room and desk neighbors who I feel were not only excellent teachers and worked well with the students, but also were good listeners and friends when needed. I was able to find these people almost immediately at the other place, but with this school being so large, have not found any one up to par.
  
• Last Friday I got an email around noon from some one at the school about a happy hour after school. But it wasn't going to be until 3:30. Excuse me. Were they serious? Who waits until over an hour after school to grab a drink. I guess the good thing is that working here, you don't NEED a drink at the end of the week. You kind of just want one, but not because you are over stressed. But, I did send an email to the writer of the message today asking about that whole scenario. He said the next one would be earlier.
  

The Ugly

• Since I have been home so early, I have been able to watch Oprah. It still annoys me to no end how she interrupts her guests incessantly, but she has some good people on there. A couple weeks ago she had Suze Orman on the show. She was talking with couples about their lack of financial knowledge. It really amazes me how many people there are out in the country who keep trying to live beyond their means. People who constantly feel the need to keep up with the Jones' or the Shaniqua's that are around them. There was a couple on the show who said they were $3000 in debt each month. They had two homes, three cars, and just lived ridiculously. The woman said that her entire monthly salary went to paying for child care. Which made me wonder why she doesn't go ahead and quit her job and take care of the spoiled kids on her own. The real kicker was this: the two shit birds went to buy a car and the dealer convinced them to buy a second car that same day. WHO DOES THAT?! How financially stupid and just plain gullible and easily convinced of shit are you that you can be negotiating the price of a car and the dealer can convince you to buy a second car. And they were all SUVs so you know they were more expensive than they could afford. The man is steadily buying Wii games because he feels they are an activity he can play with his wife. Bitch, talk to each other. Play chess. Go for a walk. Suze told them they needed to sell all their stuff, they probably haven't. They probably are going to buy a third house they cannot afford and hire a gardener that they really cannot afford instead.
• This is in the ugly section not because it is horrible, but because it is truly hilarious and such a great moment for those who despise Fox News the way I do. A great way to end this long post:

Obama-McCain forum with Warren

Watching the forum with Senators Obama and McCain and Pastor Rick Warren. Obama really rocked out with his answers on abortion, teachers' salaries, stem cell research, and "working in concert with the international community" to solve problems and address genocide and the high orphan rates.

The more I see him the more there is something about him that just reminds me of my man. They have similar smiles and teeth and those thick, low brows. Both just really represent that educated, confident, grown-man sexy.

On the other hand, McCain really just irks me. With Bush, I really can't stand listening to him talk and change the channel of the radio or the tv when he is about to do a sound bite or a speech, but if McCain is elected, not only will I not be able to stand listening to him, but I will avoid even just having to look at him. Wow. The lack of lips, the super-duper short arms (No offense, I understand he was tortured in Vietnam while he was in service and they were taken out of the sockets repeatedly, but how does that make them shorter?), the voice, the way he seems to treat/refer to his wife, all the stories of his evil anger problems. I don't know -- I just can't/don't want to see him as a president. It took everything in me to not switch during the questioning back to the Olympics instead of waiting until the commercial break.

On a totally different note, CONGRATS to Christian Cantwell on his Olympic shot put silver medal!! Way to go Mizzou track teammate -- he taught me to not drink before or during a meal so that I could eat more of the wonderful food before me.

McCain made me cringe when he said we need to focus on off-shore oil drilling, but tried to redeem himself by then mentioning the other types of energy we should also use. Then he went on to talk about other issues and judges that I don't support and that don't support the rights and needs of the various majority of people of this nation. He did a lot of joking with the crowd, calling the audience "my friends", and shared a lot of old anecdotes which is a good way to get the basic American public on his side without making them actually listen to his words and ideas.

If you missed the forum, which was run pretty well by Warren, you should definitely read the transcript or find the video. There were questions asked that are not typically asked and it was nice to have a person asking the questions who was not a reporter, though at times, he did seem to prefer McCain's answers and presence, he still did all right as the moderator.