Saturday, October 09, 2010

Me Geeking Over a Student Response

I'm sitting in my kitchen, this beautiful Saturday morning, grading tests. After grading a few and feeling disappointed, I came across one that made me stop and create this post. This 9th grade student had a very good answer to one of the questions.

Here is the short answer question: Pick a symbol to represent Claudia from The Bluest Eye, and explain how she and the object you've chosen are similar.

Here is my student's response: I feel that Claudia is like cheap bleach. I say that because if you ever use cheap bleach on white clothes, which is like giving Claudia that white baby doll, she would destroy the baby doll, just like bleach would destroy your clothes.

After reading so many responses that just missed the mark, this was a breath of fresh air and gave me the energy to grade a few more tests before taking a break.

Monday, August 16, 2010

"Love the Way You Lie"

At first I didn't think I was going to like Eminem and Rhianna's new song "Love the Way You Lie." I had read CNN's article "Eminem and Rihanna's New Video: Is Domestic Violence "The New Normal?", in which Carol Castello criticizes Rihanna for being a part of a video with lyrics that critics say "are violent and offensive to women?" I must admit, at first, I was a lil disappointed in Ri-Ri. But unlike most people, I don't believe everything I read, so I decided to read the lyrics first and then watch the video to make my own judgment.

I got through the first two verses of the song, and I could see how someone could argue that the lyrics promoted domestic violence for both men and women. Maybe "promoted" is the wrong choice of words here. At this point in the song, domestic violence isn't promoted but it's okayed . Take for instance these lines,
"Hi>gh off of love, drunk from my hate,
It's like I'm huffing paint and I love it the more I suffer, I suffocate
And right before I'm about to drown, she resuscitates me
She f***ing hates me and I love it.
Wait! Where you going?
"I'm leaving you"
No you ain't. Come back we're running right back.
Here we go again
It's so insane cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane"


The speaker appears to love the pain that's killing him because his girl always brings him back to life, and he loves that. Yes they have bad times, but they aren't bad enough to make him forget about the good times. These lines were problematic to me because this is the classic argument of some abused women. They don't want to leave because they keep remembering all of the good times shared with this other person. And at some point in the relationship pain becomes a pleasure.

Then comes the chorus which seems to "okay" these fights, as well, between the speaker and his girlfriend as Rihanna sings,

"Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie"

In essence the chorus says it's ok for the speaker to watch the woman suffer from physical and verbal pain because she actually enjoys it. This is not good. The woman condones the violence because she likes it.

And then comes the third verse, which completely changed my whole perspective of the song. In this verse, the speaker apologizes and recognizes that both of them are at fault:
"Now I know we said things, did things that we didn't mean
And we fall back into the same patterns, same routine
But your temper's just as bad as mine is
You're the same as me
But when it comes to love you're just as blinded"

I didn't really like this at first, because this mode of thinking does exactly what the lyrics say, puts this violent relationship back in a pattern of fight, forgive, fight and forgive, without improvement. So again, the speaker is seeming real apologetic, but then something happens. Towards the end of the verse, the speaker stops addressing his girlfriend and starts to speak as if she's not there. He goes from "I told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball" to "I apologize even though I know its lies
I'm tired of the games I just want her back." A mental shift occurs. Then he goes into this crazy rant,
"I know I'm a liar/If she ever tries to fucking leave again/Im'a tie her to the bed/ and set this house on fire/I'm just gonna . .

"

To me, by the end of the song, the speaker shows that he's crazy, a certified lunatic if you will, and that he hasn't changed. At this point, the speaker reiterates that no matter how many times an abusive person apologizes, he or she hasn't changed. The bad behaviors are still there.

When the chorus comes back in, it becomes evident to me that Rihanna's voice represents how women lie to themselves to help them believe the lies of an abusive man. And if you keep reading into what is being said, the woman sounds crazy saying "I love the way you lie." Who, in their right mind, loves the way a person lies to them? Nobody, but when a person is in an abusive relationship, that's kinda what they tell themselves. For example, when a man says, "Honey, I'm sorry and I'll never do it again," and a woman believes this, in essence she is saying, "I love the way you lie to me," completely blind to what she's accepting.

Whew! I did all of this off of the lyrics, before I even saw the video. I love this song, but unfortunately, I don't think people are going to listen to the lyrics to understand how deep it is and to understand that neither Eminem nor Rihanna are glorifying domestic violence. And the hook is so catchy that you can sing it without even thinking about what you're saying and convince yourself that lies are good. I mean, it's not the artists' fault that most people don't think, so I don't feel that they should've made their song easier to understand or dumbed it down. Hopefully this song will open up opportunities for people to discuss domestic violence and maybe save someone's life.

It's interesting to see this collaboration between Eminem with his violent past, both lyrically and actually, and Rihanna as a victim of a recent violent relationship.

SN: I like the video. Especially the symbolism of the female playing with fire, but I don't like how the video ends. I like the idea of ending with the house burning and then possibly fade to black versus the couple cuddling. Maybe the video comes full circle, closing the way it opens, to show the cycle perpetuated in these types of relationships. I dunno, but I still appreciate it.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

On Second Thought . . .



Earlier I published a post titled "Wake County Protesters, You Picked the Wrong Battle." I criticized the NAACP and other community leaders for protesting against the end of the diversity policy in Wake County schools. It was hard for me to be up in arms about what's going on in Wake when I've taught in a racially segregated school for the past 5 years. I found it to be a little hypocritical for me to be upset.

But on second thought, what's going on in Wake is a tragedy. Anytime you blatantly say you want to end a diversity policy--not make revisions, adjustments, nor improvements--but end it, it looks really bad and racist. If the diversity policy is taken away, it will create schools for the haves and the have nots. It will create difficult learning environments for the have nots because more complex social issues will be overly represented, teacher turn-over rates will probably be higher, and the current academic progress will probably take a turn for the worse.

However, I do think changes need to be made to the diversity policy; some of the opposers' arguments are valid. The hour long bus rides and the constant switching of schools to balance the population are two of the biggest issues that I hear the most. I live in Southeast Raleigh, and the students who live in my neighborhood are supposed to attend Apex High School. They have to ride past Southeast East Raleigh HS, which is walking distance from us, everyday to head to Apex. I guess diversity comes with a cost.

All in all, taking away the integration plan is going backwards rather than forwards. The benefits of the policy do outweigh the costs. C'mon Wake County. I really need you to get it together.

Monday, June 28, 2010

As Easy As Riding a Bike!?!


When's the last time you rode a bike? Was it easy? OMG I rode my bike one day last summer, trying to get my Lance Armstrong on, and my buttocks was sore for a week. It felt like I had bruised something. It hurt so bad I had to wait a week to ride again.

I figured I needed a new bike seat, but I didn't want to buy one. So I rigged my seat with a hand towel and scotch tape (I couldn't find the electrical tape). This worked temporarily; however, it was very uncomfortable.

I did a lil research and invested in this wide gel cushioned seat. It made a huge difference! But--there was still some soreness.

Just this past weekend, KB and I went to ride bikes and while I was riding, I was very comfortable, but the next day, I had mild soreness. Riding a bike isn't supposed to hurt. I don't remember pain in my childhood memories of riding up and down my dirt road.

On my way home today, I stopped by REI, an outdoor sports store, and looked for padded biker shorts. I had heard about them from somebody. These shorts have gel cushioned pads in the seat of the shorts. When I tried them on, they felt extremely awkward, but I was determined to ride my bike pain free.

Well, I just got in from a two mile ride and it was great!! Zero discomfort and I don't anticipate being sore tomorrow.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

One New Post Once a Week

My goal, starting today, is to write at least one new post per week. Every year I slack off once school gets started and then pick up over the summer. But, if I start a once-a-week routine, maybe I can keep it during the school year--we'll see.

Wake County Protesters-You've Picked the Wrong Battle





Two days ago, a member of the NAACP and 3 community supporters were arrested at a school board meeting in Wake County for taking more than their allotted time during a peaceful protest. While I appreciate their efforts, I believe there's something bigger that they need to be protesting!

I'm not sure if you've been paying attention, but the Wake County Board of Education is making national headlines. For those that don't know, the Wake school board has voted to end its busing policy which attempts to integrate and diversify schools using income. No school should have more than 40% with free or reduced lunch (even though there are a few schools which are out of compliance).

I believe in the need for diversity (even though I’m not a fan of Brown vs. Board or its implementation): economic, political, racial, religious, etc. But in reference to our current educational status, I feel the most pressing issue is quality of education, not diversity. Regardless of where the students attend school and who is sitting next to them, the students deserve an equal opportunity to receive a sound basic education.

For the record, look at Wake’s high schools’ current EOC scores (click on a high school, look to the right hand column, click on 2008-2009 NC School Report Cards, click on High Student Performance tab, and scroll down to Performance of Each Student Group on the ABCs End-of-Course Tests). There is a huge gap in performance between white students and minorities at almost every high school. Now, there has been growth over the past few years, but there is still a sizeable difference in performance (I don’t believe that test scores are the end-all-be-all to student performance, but I’ll use this data for the sake of making my argument). These numbers come after 10 years of this busing policy.

With the current busing system, something I’d like to know is what percentage of minority students are enrolled in the honors, AP/IB courses? Once students enter these somewhat diverse schools, how diverse are the classrooms? How diverse is the selection of authors and books chosen to be read? How diverse are the teaching methods used to deliver instruction?

While voting to end the diversity policy in favor of having community based, racially homogenized schools is blatantly racist to me (which is why I believe we didn’t get the race to the top funding), the bigger issue is this: Are our students learning regardless of where they attend?

So, I challenge the NAACP president, William Barber, along with all of the community supporters, to turn their attention to the numbers, to the curriculum, to the quality of education our students are receiving. Get arrested because the minority students aren’t learning like their white counterparts.