I have to start off by saying that I write this blog as much to vent as to get comments from you guys. So you'll probably understand that I've been lonely going back out to my blog and seeing that I have "0" comments. I know some of you are still reading, but now you have to respond. This is an interactive blog!!!
So a lot of my students are comfortable enough with me now to start making fun of my accent...you know the one; the one I thought I didn't have! So I'd thought I'd take advantage of them making fun of me. Not so much of my accent cuz you can't hear it as you read this blog, but moreso about things that i say, or i've heard other southerner say. So, how southern am I? I'll give you guys a "few" southern sayings and let you attempt to translate. Warning: you may have to say some of these aloud to make some sense of them.
1. Kno um tom bout?
2. coke
3a. icebox
3b. fall papah
4. balled cone
5. ernge
6. washateria
7. strawberss
8. her (hint: "dallas" word - multiple translations)
9. stoe, floe, doe, foe, mo
10. fuh
11. sofamoe
12. southmore
13. play sister
14. showl
15. fuh show
16. fixin
17. finna
18. get down
19. use ta coulda
20. ri cheeah
21. chile
22. cheerin
23. sleep
24. hongry
25. i'se
26. tuda
27. ima
28. bahta
29. yalldun
30. nawh
31. akin
32. therdy, fody, fiddy, and fideen
33. dinnah
34. um
35. luhta
Alright, I think that's it. I live nice even numbers, so I couldn't stop at 31...and yes i'm aware that 35 is not an "even" number, but you know what I mean. After you guys make attempts to translate these words/phrases, I'll provide the actual translations with sentences, so you can see how we use 'em down souf!! :0
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
I'm a Video Ho
So in a previous blog I've said that I was not a slut, but a ho...now I have to make that term a little more specific. I am now a video ho. I've been in this city for almost a year and a half, and somehow in the process of moving here I forgot to pack a radio, so I've been without music for this entire time. It never dawned on me that I have cable, and there are several channels reserved for music entertainment only...and not MTV, or BET, or VH1...all of those channels have more reality shows than music. If you want music, you have to scroll up into the 100's. So about a week ago I discovered VH1Soul, and I'm hooked. Anytime a commerical comes on a show I'm watching I find myself hitting the "last" button on my remote so that I can quickly get back to channel 144. So I think I've caught up with the music of the times. I've seen so much Amerie, Ciara, Mariah, Bobby Valentino, John Legend, K-0s, Jill Scott, Joss Stone, etc., etc., that a sane person would think I had enough...but not me. I find myself in a trance as I watch people "sing" their hearts off, and dance their asses into oblivion. Again...I am hooked. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen the same videos over and over again, but I continue to watch. I have to say it's kinda nice to see some oldies come on...just finished watching Black Sheep's "This or That" and couldn't keep myself in my chair. I found myself traveling back in time when Maxwell, 702, Destiny's child before all of the changes, Toni Braxton, and others appeared on my screen. Just a few minutes ago I realized why so many of my students watch videos instead of doing their homework...this shit is addictive. I don't know how "good" it really is,but it is definitely entertaining.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
A "Motha" of a Day
Ahhhhh. I'm sooo glad the weekend is here. Finally, a little time for some R&R before I have to get back to work. I was so looking forward to this weekend after spending last weekend held captive in my apartment with three essays and a 26 page fieldwork report that was due on Monday, but after the day I had yesterday, I found myself needing this weekend even more.
First period...Kwame (remember him from the previous blog) came to class and sat in his chair with a hood on his head. I went over to him to say good morning and got no response from him. He almost looked comatose. I walked over to him to say good morning and got nothing in return. I moved in a little closer and started asking him if he was alright, but it was like he was in a trance. I backed away and watched him for what seemed like an hour, but it was really only a minute. Then he did this wierd sort of twitch, and I immediately found someone to cover my class while I went for help. When I got back with his guidance counselor, he was being more responsive...he was doing his work. I tried to get him to come into the hall with me, but he wouldn't, and I didn't want to make a scene. So for the next two periods I was keeping a close watch on him hoping he was going to be okay.
Fourth period...I hear Raina in the hall saying something about calling an ambulance, so I ran to the hall and saw a girl doubled over. I went to talk to her in the bathroom to try to find out what was wrong with her, but she wouldn't tell me anything other than she was having bad cramps. I knew she wasn't telling me the truth because she was very relunctant in telling me anything about her so-called "cramps." Later that period she came into the office where I was trying to work a little. I guess her friend had convinced her to talk to someone. She told me that she had a miscarriage earlier that morning. I asked her if she had been to the emergency room, and she had not. I tried to convince her that she needed to go right away when her friend said the same thing happened to her last month and the nurse told her she didn't need to go to the emergency room. Now either she didn't tell the nurse the whole story, or we need a new clinic staff. I ended up calling planned parenthood to ask about the potential risks involved with not seeking medical attention after a miscarriage. They told me that a miscarriage could lead to infertility if a girl/woman did not seek medical attention immediately. This was almost seven hours after theg girl miscarried. I finally convinced her to go to the emergency room, but she didn't go until after school.
First period...Kwame (remember him from the previous blog) came to class and sat in his chair with a hood on his head. I went over to him to say good morning and got no response from him. He almost looked comatose. I walked over to him to say good morning and got nothing in return. I moved in a little closer and started asking him if he was alright, but it was like he was in a trance. I backed away and watched him for what seemed like an hour, but it was really only a minute. Then he did this wierd sort of twitch, and I immediately found someone to cover my class while I went for help. When I got back with his guidance counselor, he was being more responsive...he was doing his work. I tried to get him to come into the hall with me, but he wouldn't, and I didn't want to make a scene. So for the next two periods I was keeping a close watch on him hoping he was going to be okay.
Fourth period...I hear Raina in the hall saying something about calling an ambulance, so I ran to the hall and saw a girl doubled over. I went to talk to her in the bathroom to try to find out what was wrong with her, but she wouldn't tell me anything other than she was having bad cramps. I knew she wasn't telling me the truth because she was very relunctant in telling me anything about her so-called "cramps." Later that period she came into the office where I was trying to work a little. I guess her friend had convinced her to talk to someone. She told me that she had a miscarriage earlier that morning. I asked her if she had been to the emergency room, and she had not. I tried to convince her that she needed to go right away when her friend said the same thing happened to her last month and the nurse told her she didn't need to go to the emergency room. Now either she didn't tell the nurse the whole story, or we need a new clinic staff. I ended up calling planned parenthood to ask about the potential risks involved with not seeking medical attention after a miscarriage. They told me that a miscarriage could lead to infertility if a girl/woman did not seek medical attention immediately. This was almost seven hours after theg girl miscarried. I finally convinced her to go to the emergency room, but she didn't go until after school.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
What the %@!*#
Underage wet showers. Public Masterbation. Bus Riding Nose Pickers. That's how my day was.
My juniors were working on an assignment today. As they were working I was walking around checking on what they were doing. There is a boyfriend-girlfriend couple in my class; the girlfriend left to go to the bathroom, and the boyfriend was talking to a few other females. All I heard was "No, she didn't pee in my mouth, I peed on her." I...WAS...IN...SHOCK. They totally caught me off guard. What do you say to that other than "I don't want to hear that kind of talk in this school." But as I walked off I was a little scarred. These are my students, my kids. I know they're doing all kinda stuff, but I DO NOT want to know about it.
After a coworker and I had dinner we were on an overcrowded train, and she mentions that she doesn't like to sit too close to people on the train. When I asked her why she proceeded to tell me about sitting next to a man who masterbated on the train from 125th to 23rd. This is not the first time I've heard about this type of lewd behavior. Why do people masterbate on the train? She said one time she saw a guy do it on the bus...and when it all came to fruition (if you know what I mean), the bus had to be evacuated for sanitary purposes.
While back in Jersey riding the bus home I saw TWO different people digging in their noses. And they were DIGGING. I was so disgusted.
People, do we have no shame?
My juniors were working on an assignment today. As they were working I was walking around checking on what they were doing. There is a boyfriend-girlfriend couple in my class; the girlfriend left to go to the bathroom, and the boyfriend was talking to a few other females. All I heard was "No, she didn't pee in my mouth, I peed on her." I...WAS...IN...SHOCK. They totally caught me off guard. What do you say to that other than "I don't want to hear that kind of talk in this school." But as I walked off I was a little scarred. These are my students, my kids. I know they're doing all kinda stuff, but I DO NOT want to know about it.
After a coworker and I had dinner we were on an overcrowded train, and she mentions that she doesn't like to sit too close to people on the train. When I asked her why she proceeded to tell me about sitting next to a man who masterbated on the train from 125th to 23rd. This is not the first time I've heard about this type of lewd behavior. Why do people masterbate on the train? She said one time she saw a guy do it on the bus...and when it all came to fruition (if you know what I mean), the bus had to be evacuated for sanitary purposes.
While back in Jersey riding the bus home I saw TWO different people digging in their noses. And they were DIGGING. I was so disgusted.
People, do we have no shame?
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Got the Po' Woman Blues
Got th po' woman blues,
And I can't be satisfied.
Said I got the po' woman blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got a full-time job
and still need daddy to get by.
For the past few weeks Raina and I have been looking for an apartment...preferably an apartment that doesn't have a broker's fee. I have a degree, and a fairly decent job as a public school teacher; I shouldn't need to have a roommate, but I do. The cost of living up here is so ridiculous that all I have enough money for is rent, bills, and a few drinks here and there. Now it's bad enough that I'm26 years old and I need a roommate in order to save some of the change that I make on a monthly basis, but today a little more shit was dumped on my impoverished state. We found the perfect apartment on 145th...right outside of Harlem. The rent is only$1300, so that's $650 each. We had an appointment to meet with the realtor today. We had to bring in 3 consecutive paystubs, tax returns for the last two years, our last 6 bank statements (yes i said 6), 3 phone bills, 3 electric bills, a copy of our current lease, and a letter verifying employment (i guess the paystubs weren't enough to prove that we were fulltime teachers). All of that to pay $650 in rent. So everything is going smoothly. The realtor even tells us that we make more than enough to secure the apartment. Then she started going through all our other shit and tells us that we will need a guarantor that makes 70 times the monthly rent, because our bank statement showed that we did not have an average of two months rent saved over the past 6 months!!!!!! What the motherfuckin fuck?? We are not trying to live on the lower east side; we're not trying to live anywhere where a person with "real" money would even want to live. We're not even trying to live alone. We just want to live in the neighborhood where we teach so that we can cut back on some expenses, and enjoy a little company. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. It's bad enough that we are educating the youth of America for basically no pay, and now we find out that we can't even secure an apartment on our own. Where the fuck are teachers suppose to live? In a cardboard box in front of the school or would they prefer that we lived in our lockers? And if we (and when i say we, i mean college educated professionals) can't even afford to live here, I can imagine how hard it is for people who are from the community to live there. I recently did a demographic survey of the kids at our school for a class I was taking. I was shocked to see that some of the students were living in an apartment with 8, 9, 10, and even 11 other people. But now it's not so shocking. You need to live with that many people just to get approved to live in a small ass apartment in this city. What if I didn't have any parents? What if my parents were just as poor as I am (which they are, but at least they have a little savings). Am I missing something, or is it too much to ask that I can afford to have a place to live on my own? I can't afford to live here much longer...literally. I'm not trying to buy a home...I just want to share an apartment with another college educated professional. I would think that wouldn't be asking too much, but I guess I'm wrong. How do people live up here?
And I can't be satisfied.
Said I got the po' woman blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got a full-time job
and still need daddy to get by.
For the past few weeks Raina and I have been looking for an apartment...preferably an apartment that doesn't have a broker's fee. I have a degree, and a fairly decent job as a public school teacher; I shouldn't need to have a roommate, but I do. The cost of living up here is so ridiculous that all I have enough money for is rent, bills, and a few drinks here and there. Now it's bad enough that I'm26 years old and I need a roommate in order to save some of the change that I make on a monthly basis, but today a little more shit was dumped on my impoverished state. We found the perfect apartment on 145th...right outside of Harlem. The rent is only$1300, so that's $650 each. We had an appointment to meet with the realtor today. We had to bring in 3 consecutive paystubs, tax returns for the last two years, our last 6 bank statements (yes i said 6), 3 phone bills, 3 electric bills, a copy of our current lease, and a letter verifying employment (i guess the paystubs weren't enough to prove that we were fulltime teachers). All of that to pay $650 in rent. So everything is going smoothly. The realtor even tells us that we make more than enough to secure the apartment. Then she started going through all our other shit and tells us that we will need a guarantor that makes 70 times the monthly rent, because our bank statement showed that we did not have an average of two months rent saved over the past 6 months!!!!!! What the motherfuckin fuck?? We are not trying to live on the lower east side; we're not trying to live anywhere where a person with "real" money would even want to live. We're not even trying to live alone. We just want to live in the neighborhood where we teach so that we can cut back on some expenses, and enjoy a little company. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. It's bad enough that we are educating the youth of America for basically no pay, and now we find out that we can't even secure an apartment on our own. Where the fuck are teachers suppose to live? In a cardboard box in front of the school or would they prefer that we lived in our lockers? And if we (and when i say we, i mean college educated professionals) can't even afford to live here, I can imagine how hard it is for people who are from the community to live there. I recently did a demographic survey of the kids at our school for a class I was taking. I was shocked to see that some of the students were living in an apartment with 8, 9, 10, and even 11 other people. But now it's not so shocking. You need to live with that many people just to get approved to live in a small ass apartment in this city. What if I didn't have any parents? What if my parents were just as poor as I am (which they are, but at least they have a little savings). Am I missing something, or is it too much to ask that I can afford to have a place to live on my own? I can't afford to live here much longer...literally. I'm not trying to buy a home...I just want to share an apartment with another college educated professional. I would think that wouldn't be asking too much, but I guess I'm wrong. How do people live up here?
Monday, May 16, 2005
What's really in a name?
I haven't written in a while because the pressures of graduating school have been weighing on me lately, but today was my final class, and I won't get back to it for another few weeks. So now I have time to think about more important things...blog topics for example. I do have a few blogs that are "in draft" mode, and I may publish them shortly...maybe.
With my juniors we are reading Assata. For those of you that aren't familiar, Assata was a black panther who served time for alledgedly killing a NJ police officers. She escaped in 1986 and has been in Cuba since. A few weeks ago, the US raised her bounty to$1 million. Not sure why they would do this now, well I'm a little sure, but won't get into that now. Anyway, her autobiography is really good and the kids are really into it. Last week we discussed a chapter about self-identity, and we started talking about different things that create our identities. We had some very good discussions about education, class, the clothes we wear, hair, and NAMES. Assata changed her name from JoAnne Chesimard to Assata Shakur, which has significant meaning. Assata means "she who struggles" and I can't recall what Shakur means right now. Anyway, her name shaped a discussion about how names may or may not say something about who we are as individuals. We talked about how names sometimes are the representation of the complete opposite of the people who have those names, and how some people "live up" to their names. It was a really interesing discussion. Today I received an email from a friend that contained an article that is titled "Exotic Names Don't Make Grade for Black Students." The article basically says that black kids with "exotic" or "unusual" names don't do as well in school as black students with more "common" names. David Figlio, economist and the University of Florida says "This study suggests that the names parents give their children play an important role in explaining why African-American families on average do worse because African Americans are more inclined that whites or Hispanics to give their children names that are associated with low soci0-economic status." WTF??? It goes on to say that children with exotic names are less likely to get into gifted and talented programs, because many teachers associate "exotic" names with poor academic performance. So what are these names you may ask??? Names that begin with certain prefixes like "lo" (i think that was a typo...i think they meant la..don't know any names that start with "lo"), "ta," and "qua." The study also shows that names are partly to explain the gap between black and white standardized test scores. Now I have an "unusual" or "exotic" name by these standards, and know a lot of black intellectuals with these names, and I have to say this is bullshit. So how do I feel about this? Can't say I'm thrilled about it at all, and that has nothing to do with the fact that my name would be deemed "exotic" according to these standards. I wonder what my kids will have to say about this. And who defines what is "exotic" and "common?" I guess those will be questions I pose to my class tomorrow. And by faithful blog readers, I wonder how you feel about this? Are any of you just as disturbed as I am???
With my juniors we are reading Assata. For those of you that aren't familiar, Assata was a black panther who served time for alledgedly killing a NJ police officers. She escaped in 1986 and has been in Cuba since. A few weeks ago, the US raised her bounty to$1 million. Not sure why they would do this now, well I'm a little sure, but won't get into that now. Anyway, her autobiography is really good and the kids are really into it. Last week we discussed a chapter about self-identity, and we started talking about different things that create our identities. We had some very good discussions about education, class, the clothes we wear, hair, and NAMES. Assata changed her name from JoAnne Chesimard to Assata Shakur, which has significant meaning. Assata means "she who struggles" and I can't recall what Shakur means right now. Anyway, her name shaped a discussion about how names may or may not say something about who we are as individuals. We talked about how names sometimes are the representation of the complete opposite of the people who have those names, and how some people "live up" to their names. It was a really interesing discussion. Today I received an email from a friend that contained an article that is titled "Exotic Names Don't Make Grade for Black Students." The article basically says that black kids with "exotic" or "unusual" names don't do as well in school as black students with more "common" names. David Figlio, economist and the University of Florida says "This study suggests that the names parents give their children play an important role in explaining why African-American families on average do worse because African Americans are more inclined that whites or Hispanics to give their children names that are associated with low soci0-economic status." WTF??? It goes on to say that children with exotic names are less likely to get into gifted and talented programs, because many teachers associate "exotic" names with poor academic performance. So what are these names you may ask??? Names that begin with certain prefixes like "lo" (i think that was a typo...i think they meant la..don't know any names that start with "lo"), "ta," and "qua." The study also shows that names are partly to explain the gap between black and white standardized test scores. Now I have an "unusual" or "exotic" name by these standards, and know a lot of black intellectuals with these names, and I have to say this is bullshit. So how do I feel about this? Can't say I'm thrilled about it at all, and that has nothing to do with the fact that my name would be deemed "exotic" according to these standards. I wonder what my kids will have to say about this. And who defines what is "exotic" and "common?" I guess those will be questions I pose to my class tomorrow. And by faithful blog readers, I wonder how you feel about this? Are any of you just as disturbed as I am???
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Another Day in the Life of a NYC Teacher
It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting at home, reading three books and visiting the brooklyn museum to see the basquiat exhibit. feels like just yesterday, but i've been back to work for a week now. and with work comes the many challenges that many of us teachers face on a regular basis. I get back to school with not a lot planned, and learn that i have to give midterms this week. so, midterms began today. i really don't like giving kids tests, but those are the rules, and i guess i have to follow them. anytime i give a test, i give a long speech ahead of time. and it goes a little something like this "there should be no talking during the test...and that means that no one should talk even after they've finished the test. the test is not over until i let everyone know that it's over. if you talk, i have to give you a zero. if you 'appear' to be cheating you will get a zero...so that means don't turn around and look at your friends, or anything else that may seem like you're cheating." so i've been with these kids for 8 months now...they should know the routine...right???? WRONG. either kids think i'm just a moron, or they really have no idea that they are not slick. i'm pretty tough, but i always give my kids a second chance. i'm really not into writing kids up and suspending them. we always start with a clean slate...i don't hold grudges with them. but i've noticed that by giving them more opportunities to fuck up, they seem to think i'm a pushover and take advantage of my style. i gave 7 kids zeros on their midterms today. despite what i told them before we began this test (and all of our other tests), i had kids passing notes to each other while they were taking the test, silently communicating (talking, rather mouthing to each other), and some just decided to talk to others out loud. i couldn't believe it. so i gave them zeros and then wrote them up. i forwarded my referrals to the dean, and he decided to talk to some of the kids. despite the fact that i wrote on the referral that the kids "appeared" to be cheating, when he spoke to them he asked "why were you cheating?" he's so incompetent sometimes, well not just some of the time. discipline them yes, but confront them properly. don't say i said something that i did not.
then i had a kid tell me (after i pulled it out of him) that he didn't have any money, and can't get any from either of his parents b/c they don't have it to give. it makes no sense to me that so many people go without eating...absolutely NO SENSE. he was so distraught. i'm glad i was able to contain myself. another kid bascially lied on me today about the recent elections we had. he told his mom that i kept the election open longer than i really did, and he told her i told him that he won the election before i let the bilingual students vote. that was just a blatant lie! he's being a sore loser, and i guess i'm the easiest one to blame for his defeat! KIDS!!! what a fucking day.
then i had a kid tell me (after i pulled it out of him) that he didn't have any money, and can't get any from either of his parents b/c they don't have it to give. it makes no sense to me that so many people go without eating...absolutely NO SENSE. he was so distraught. i'm glad i was able to contain myself. another kid bascially lied on me today about the recent elections we had. he told his mom that i kept the election open longer than i really did, and he told her i told him that he won the election before i let the bilingual students vote. that was just a blatant lie! he's being a sore loser, and i guess i'm the easiest one to blame for his defeat! KIDS!!! what a fucking day.
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