This weekend, just like every other weekend this year, I have been busy working on assignments for a couple of courses I’m taking. When I finished today, I sat down and watched CNN and HLN news. I couldn’t help but notice two news posts that seemed like a strange juxtaposition to be next to each other. One showcased Oscar opulence and the other a scene from the state house at Madison, Wisconsin where protesters are camped out and being asked to leave. http://www.wkow.com/global/category.asp?c=123753
Tonight belongs to Oscar but I, for one, could care less who or what gets an Oscar. Watching the news where Wolfgang Puck showed off little Oscar chocolates coated with 24K gold just kind of repulsed me as I thought about what is happening in Wisconsin. The heat and pressure is really being put on the teachers. The next move is layoff notices which are now being sent out to teachers by many school boards across the state. http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_4f6825c2-4160-11e0-afd8-001cc4c002e0.html
It is kind of scary the tale of these two cities. One full of opulence and one filled with normal people doing normal jobs just asking for the right to negotiate. It’s even scarier when a simple gift bag for the 1600 or so Oscar elite is worth more than what most teachers received in a year’s salary and benefits. Winners’ swag bags are worth twice as much. Imagine a gift worth $150,000! It’s hard to fathom how the rich, powerful and famous live. I’m just a teacher. I drive a 2001 Ford Taurus and I live a simple life but now the government has put a target on my back because I’m paid too well. I have to “share” the sacrifice. I don’t have a problem with sharing a sacrifice as long as everyone has to give their fair share. What I want to know is what sacrifices are the wealthy facing? What will they be missing in their opulent lifestyles? Will the Koch brothers have a few less billion to throw around? Will the Hollywood elite have to give up a few thousand from their swag bag?
Educating our children should be the top priority in our country. Our children are our most precious resource. The best thing you can give your child is a good education from dedicated professionals. I know what I put into my teaching and I see my colleagues doing the same. I’m sure Wisconsin teachers are dedicated as well. There may be a few bad apples as every profession has those people that might be considered “lazy”. However, the truth is teaching is a profession that has come a long way. Teachers used to be able to teach with an 8th grade education. Those days are long gone as most teachers have earned the equivalent of their Masters and beyond. Teachers want to be paid for being the professionals they have become. Teachers have had a lot of pressure to keep up with the times. For years teachers have been the first to learn about the new technologies when they come out and they have worked hard to get that technology installed in school districts. There is much more to the profession of teaching today than has been in the past. Teachers have to learn new strategies for teaching the 21st century student who has been raised with an appetite for TV, video games and computer gadgets. Teachers attend conferences, take more college courses and get involved in professional development to improve their teaching ability. This effort is on going and lasts for the lifetime of the teacher. Many people have no idea what is really going on in schools today. They hear something about a test score and think they know the whole story. Much of what a teacher does on any given day could never show up on a test. I’ve listened to children tell me how their parent died and why their sad to letting me know they’re hungry, to even showing me their excitement at learning something new in my class. These are precious moments. Sometimes I’m teaching and sometimes I’m listening and sometimes I’m just someone showing a young soul that I care about them. You may see me as someone that needs to share a sacrifice. I see myself as someone that puts her hand out every day and lifts up children that need a helping hand!
Those right wing pundits must not have been coddled enough by their school teachers. Let’s take Rush Limbaugh who couldn’t seemingly tackle college and dropped out after two semesters. Glenn Beck’s post high school education consisted of taking a theology class at Yale that he ended up dropping. Were they worried about mind control or were they just not that good at schooling? Why am I bothering with this? I’m bothering with this because these are the two big guys that push the right wing media agenda. I even have family members that listen to their bullshit and truthfully these two guys don’t know much about anything!
Even Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker couldn’t quite “cut” getting that little old college degree. He dropped out! My sister loves the statement, “To know something is to know nothing, and to know nothing is to know something.” It really says a lot. These guys don’t know much about anything, but they all know how to manipulate their audiences and make tons of money doing it. These guys have nothing in common with the average working “Joe” but many of those average working “Joes” think these guys know what’s going on with everything from politics to religion. I include Governor Walker in on all of this because he is so over the top with the right wing agenda, that he supports pharmacist not filling prescriptions for contraceptives because of religious or moral grounds.
Well, Rush and Glenn both have come from troubled personal lives. They both wrap themselves in religious metaphors and both have been married more than once, Rush too many times to bother counting!
In my opinion, Glenn Beck is simply dishonest as this video shows:
Rush always tends to add “fuel to the fire” with his outrageous “OxyCotin” laced tirades. Here is Rush saying teachers feel entitled to be “freeloaders”.
Here again is Glenn Beck feeding his special form of “hatred” to his fellow countrymen.
From my point of view, there are bad guys all around that have done much to destroy private sector unions and the right for people to belong to any union. Now the right ring of the Republican Party is going after the public sector unions. Even President Obama has done much damage to the teacher’s unions. Here in Michigan we have signed onto legislation that ties evaluations to student test scores that really is rather senseless. This opinion piece is well worth reading and basically says what I’ve been thinking about.
So what can you do? I think everyone needs to get educated about the subject matter as eventually the bargaining rights of all Americans could be in jeopardy. We, the working people of America, need to stand together or everyone will lose all bargaining rights.
So, stand together or FALL together!
If you do nothing else today, read this bit and definitely watch the Jon Stewart video placed here from last night! By the way the “liberal’ pundit, Jon Stewart, has a college degree! Imagine that!
I will leave you with this last bit from Paul Krugman:
You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.
And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.
There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.
So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.
I just had to come back in here and post Rachel Maddow’s video. It is long but so thorough. It is a “must see” video!You must watch the whole thing and by the way Rachel is a Standford grad.
The Citizen United decision has changed and corrupted the election process. Most of us thought the election process was bad before this ruling. However, what is bad can obviously get worse. We should all be alarmed to discover the close ties of Justice Clarence Thomas, his wife, and Justice Antonin Scalia have with the Koch brothers. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, you might not know who these powerful brothers are and why their relationship with these justices on the Supreme Court should cause alarm and concern for normal American citizens. From the archives here is the case:
You all should remember Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington D.C. or the Tea Party movement. Well, the Koch brothers, in the words of Frank Rich are the “Sugar Daddies” that help fund these “noble” causes. So, how does this all matter this past week in Wisconsin? The Koch brothers are funding, once again, the efforts to destroy and take down public unions. http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/18/koch-brothers-behind-wisconsin-effort-to-kill-public-unions/
Not only that, but within the legislation that the governor wants pass is some writing that allows for “no bid” contracts. Many believe this is set up to pay back people like the Koch brothers that have been funding the campaigns of people like Governor Walker.
This all gets more and more interesting as the days go by. Governor Walker, trying to appear all noble, is just looking out for payback for his buddies. That payback is about killing unions, not just public sector unions but private as well.
I found this hilarious video that pretty much says it all. It’s created by some person named Luscious the Cat on Youtube. It seems that Luscious is trying to educate the American public in what I think is a very creative manner! I figured why should I keep writing when Luscious can dramatically educate the public for me. Thanks Luscious!
I’ve been watching the protesting going on in Madison, Wisconsin with great concern. Many believe, just as I do, that Madison is a test case for the rest of us. I believe there has been a constant push to divide workers in our country and around the world. All people that work for someone else need to pay attention to what is happening in Madison.
Unions have become the target of business and we, the American people, have been duped by the corporate propaganda machine. Unions have been blamed for everything from the current economic condition to why businesses are choosing to manufacture goods in other countries. However, what most people should be thinking about is how workers are being treated around the globe. We were lead to believe that NAFTA and opening up normal trade relations with China would help raise the standard of living around the world. http://articles.cnn.com/2000-10-10/politics/clinton.pntr_1_wto-membership-china-global-trade-regime?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS
What is really happening is a growing divide between the very wealthy and the rest of us. We, the American people, the real laborers of our country, have not understood how we should all be banding together in solidarity. We should be insisting on good and fair working conditions and benefits for everyone from the person that sweeps the floor in the factory to teachers, doctors, waitresses and anyone else that is an employee in this country. Instead we sit back thinking only of ourselves and our particular circumstance.
Some look at teachers and think they deserve this. Part of this is because this whole past year there has been systematic propaganda put out by the corporate media about how bad teachers are because the American student is so poorly educated. We have heard the drumbeat from the president on down through Michele Rhea in Washington D.C. and the video, “Waiting for Superman.” If you are to believe the corporate media, then you would have to think that your own child is getting a poor education. I’m not saying that all students are getting a great education. What I am saying is that the corporate run media has been pushing hard for the demise of the teacher’s unions for the past several years. This should come as no surprise for anyone that can think back over the last few years and especially this past year. The corporate run media wants people to think this group in Madison is just a bunch of cry baby teachers that don’t care about anything but their cushy jobs with summers off. The corporate run Republicans have been taking our government from the federal level on down to the state level and privatizing anything they can get their hands on. This is another area that we have been lead to believe is a better choice. Private companies can do a better job than the government, or so we have been told. This is just another way that politicians have been rewarding those companies that have been giving charitably to their campaign coffers.
Looking around the world this year there have been protests all over the globe.While the banks have been rewarded because they were too big to fail, the citizens of the world have been taken down a notch through the decimation of benefits, pensions, health care, and college education.I remember distinctly this video of students protesting in England and some of them shouting, “Off with their heads.” This video doesn’t play the sound but it did happen.This was in reference to Prince Phillip and his wife.Unions have been protesting around Europe as well.
As a country we need to stop pitting the old with pensions against the young, the union employees against those non union workers, as well as government workers pitted against private employed workers. The workers of the world need to unite in solidarity or they will continue to lose benefits and wages while the wealthy will continue to rake in the money, get all the tax breaks and the CEO of these big corporations will continue to receive unbelievable bonuses. The truth is what is happening in Madison, Wisconsin is the destruction of bargaining. If unions across this county cannot have true bargaining rights, you won’t have them either. If they lose benefits, you will surely lose benefits as well. If they have no strength, neither will you!
If you are my age or older you will remember the saying, “As the Dow Goes, so Goes the Country.” Today as a worker and a teacher I can honestly say I believe as Madison goes, so goes the country. If they lose, so will we! There is a concerted effort by the Republican governors across this country to destroy union’s rights to collectively bargain. Here is a piece from Ohio. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/overhaul_of_states_collective.html
I want to play a video from last week that really explains what is going on in Madison. It really is about busting the union and nothing else. It’s a longer video but you should watch the whole thing and listen to John Nichols at the end when he talks about what is happening around the world.
Ed Schultz has done a great job of covering Madison this whole past week. His show is on at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time on MSNBC and he has been spending time there. I found this video of Ed talking to the teachers just before his show the other night. It really is good. Ed understands what’s really going on. It is as he says about what is morally right and fair.
As a teacher I want to add some information that most people don’t realize. Young teachers here in Michigan have to take classes for the rest of their lives. The cost of this comes out of their pockets. I’m currently taking courses and it’s not cheap. The teacher qualifications and licensing has changed drastically over the last twenty years. Teachers used to get a life certificate. I have a continuing certificate. I don’t have to renew my certificate any more. I’m taking my courses to reach a higher level of pay and expertise, not because I have to do so. Younger teachers have to take courses in order to keep their license updated. They also have to pay for renewing that license. I’ve been taking courses throughout the school year, so I don’t have a lot of “free” time. Many teachers take courses in the summer time as well. Curriculum planning is also done in the summer time. I think some people just don’t have a clue how much planning goes into creating a good classroom atmosphere and education for the children of our country. I know what my commitment is as a teacher. I give my all to my students. I know other teachers that do the same. We are dedicated professionals that care about the well being of our students. We go out of our way to do our best to help students reach their full potential. We even buy things to bring into our classrooms and donate for good causes that will likely benefit some of our students and their families. We are not the enemy. We, the American workers, should all stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Madison, Wisconsin.
Yesterday I got an email from my brother Jim. Jim and I can agree on some things and disagree on others. I found his email really interesting and I decided I would share it with you because it will make everyone “think” and we all know the mind is a terrible thing to waste. Also, earlier in the week someone had posted a George Carlin video on the Confluence in a comment and it got me thinking. All of this to me is tied together and this is my unique way of putting it together for people who might read my blog. All I can say is “God Bless George” he was a brilliant comedian. It’s amazing how he is gone but what he has said is still remarkably relevant today. If you really can’t handle his “language” then don’t watch it, but really are you that sheltered?
This is my brother’s email in its entirety:
Katie
The Challenge for President Obama
President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech, stated “but to win the future, we’ll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making”. The challenge that needs addressing is correcting our flawed financial system. We need a monetary system that works for all the American people.
Since the on-set of this very deep recession, the Federal Reserve has granted loans to the banks and associated financial institutions totaling over nine trillion dollars and purchased over two trillion dollars of toxic assets; and the Federal government has passed another seven hundred billion dollars directly to these entities with a similar amount to the states, much of which also has found its way to these institutions. And in the process of doing these things, the government has incurred an additional debt of five trillion dollars.
The President inferred in his speech last night that it was worth it as he now tells us this recession is over, in his words: “…broken the back of the recession”. But we now have an official unemployment number of near ten percent and possibly fifteen to twenty percent more under-employed or discouraged from actively seeking work. We also have during this time home foreclosures in the millions. These numbers are not so different from those at the depths of the Great Depression.
Had this debt increase of five trillion dollars been disbursed directly to the people, each would have received about Twenty two thousand five hundred dollars ($22,500). That would be Forty five thousand dollars ($45,000) for most every American family, much of which would have gone to buying down personal debt. This transfer of money directly to the people would have incurred no debt to the government, as the Federal government has the power to create its own money, as Abraham Lincoln did during our Civil War with the famous greenbacks.
But instead of passing this debt free money directly to the American people, this government Lincoln told us was of the people, by the people, and for the people, passed this money to the banks and received it back as debt. This surely will assure the people’s perpetual indebtedness to the banks and their associate elites, both in retiring personal debt and in paying higher taxes to meet the interest payments on the government’s debt.
As a people we could accept nothing stupider than to allow our government to assign this the most important part of our economic life: the control of our monetary system; to this privileged private group. But to talk about our government creating our money is verboten in the mainstream media. The reason seems rather obvious but until we correct this component of our economic life we will continue to digress with our way of life progressively worsening until we truly are a slave state.
And until we get help at least from some of the mainstream media, the greenbacks Lincoln used to free the slaves that have now been given fully to the banking system will continue to be used to enslave us all.
Jim
You are probably thinking about those Lincoln greenbacks, so here is a link. From my perspective the politicians should be listening more to the American people and less to the corporations.
If you are interested in more of what my brother has to say and his thoughts, here is a link to a book he has written. http://www.aplanforamerica.org/
Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t posted on what is happening in Wisconsin. I’m working on a post about that and hope to have it up in a day or two. We have to do more than just play around with Facebook and social network websites. We all need to do our due diligence to become better informed citizens of the world. Otherwise, we will continue to get the type of corporate government we seem to have in power right now.
Today has been one heck of a day. I was selected for jury duty along with many, many other people for a big murder case here in Michigan. I have to say it was not a pleasant experience. After going through the metal detector and signing in with the clerk I received a piece of paper to give to my employer saying I would be compensated $12.50 for a half a day of work. Okay, everyone can stop laughing now. Then, like cattle I was herded up some back stairway where furnace filters and other things were stored to finally reach a large room, not a typical courtroom though. This one was not set up for a jury and wasn’t as ornate in décor as a normal courtroom. The room had stenciled designs on the wall and a painted backdrop of marble behind the judge’s chair as well as a painted eagle on the ceiling. The seats we sat on were wood that flipped down and these had iron leg castings that were anchored to the floor. They were very low seats and after two hours of sitting on them, very uncomfortable. The set up for the case was very strange but it may have been done the way it was because the case is high profile. The reason I say we were treated like cattle is there was no sense of urgency or concern for us for at least two hours or for that matter much of the day.
We all arrived at the designated time of 8:30, really earlier than that because we didn’t want to be late. We sat there for two hours waiting for something to happen. Nobody really wanted to be there, but we knew that someone had to be picked for the jury. When the judge and lawyers finally came in the judge gave us the basic speech about what case this was for and so and so on. Then he said if anyone had a hardship like a medical reason or had already purchased tickets for a trip, to get in line. This was after he told us that whoever was chosen for the jury would be committed to 3-4 weeks. Needless to say half of the people in the room got in line. The judge and the lawyers went to another room. I think it was called the “History” conference room. The rest of us sat in disbelief because we were stuck once again with nothing to do. We were told that we couldn’t get up or leave or talk. Well, I must say after a time many of us stood up to stretch and we did talk. I went over to see if I could use the bathroom again, anything to get a chance to move out of that room and stretch my legs. We had to get in line and go one at a time. I think it was now around 11:30 that they came back in because they were finished dealing with those people. Now the judge asked us if anyone had ever heard anything about the case from the media to get in line. Truthfully, if you hadn’t heard anything about this case and didn’t get in line you are either, pretending and want to be on the jury, or you are woefully under informed.
After waiting in line for what seemed like forever I was finally the second one from the DOOR, otherwise known as the door of freedom, when they told us all to go back and sit down as the judge wanted to make an announcement. It was now around 12:30. Several minutes after sitting down, he finally arrived. He told us we were breaking for lunch. Since it was now 12:45 we would have to be back at 1:45. So I went outside to discover what a beautiful day it was, went to McDonalds and drove over to a park in town to enjoy the outdoors.
After getting back on time like everyone else, well, except the judge and lawyers, we went through the same screening process. However, I was able to get my spot back in line and I finally reached my destination. I have to say I am not normally a nervous person, but I found myself picking my tongue up and wondering what gibberish was coming out of my mouth. The judge asked how I knew about the case and I told him the Sturgis Journal and Channels 3 and 8. He wanted to know if I could put the media stuff aside and would be able to sit on a jury. I told him that I thought I could but I felt in fairness they needed to know by background and that a psychologist might disagree. I told them I was divorced and had been threatened by my ex-husband. I also told them that I had sat on a jury before. The judge was curious about that and the outcome. I told him the prosecuting attorney had not proven his case. The prosecuting attorney decided to let me off the hook and the defense lawyer agreed. I found my freedom.
Truthfully, I would not want to sit on a murder case. That’s a heavy burden. I have not mentioned the case in name because there may be more potential jurors out there and I don’t want to pollute the pool. Strangely, I felt sorry for the accused simply because I’m a mom and he is somebody’s kid. This is a case where no one wins much of anything. I was finally able to leave about 2:15. During one of our long, tiring wait times I joked that this was like “Survivor”. Those people that could withstand the long uncomfortable hours on hard wooden chairs and who could survive the boredom were the ones they figured could sit on the jury. I commend anyone that has ever had to sit on a lengthy trial. There seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes that we weren’t privy to. I’m sure there was more going on in that two hour wait period in the morning than a group of bored potential jurors sitting and waiting.
President Obama and the Republicans are putting their collective brains together to figure out the best way to stick it to the American people on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. All the whining about Social Security is making me just a little bit angry. There is a constant hum of information that is being pushed at the American people through the many propaganda machines to get us ready for the big changes to come in Social Security. It’s an entitlement program which basically means that you have paid into it for many, many years and you are entitled to receive benefits from that money when you retire. You faithfully did your part and now they want to change the game!
In December there was no worry about Social Security when the politicians put through the tax cut bill that included a 2% reduction in what you and I pay into Social Security. Now if there’s a real problem with Social Security, why would anyone undercut that program even more? That just doesn’t make sense to me, but of course I’m just a middle school art teacher!
This morning on “Morning Joe” Joe Scarborough said the American people get it. In Florida Marco Rubio was voted into the Senate and he wants to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70. So what might be going on with Florida? From my perspective, it sounds more like the old people that live in Florida that already have Social Security don’t much care what the young people are going to do about Social Security in the future. As long as those old folks, that do tend to vote, get their cake, they will be happy!
More and more it seems like the young people in our country are really getting the short end of the deal. We dump everything on them. These two unfunded wars have been dumped on the future. We have a big deficit that will have to be dealt with by our future generation. The unions are dead or dying so young people have to depend on business to have a sense of honor in paying them. If you are a young person and you want to be a teacher today, expect to jump through many hoops, continue your schooling until you die, and end up with a reduced retirement package when you retire. It’s probably like this in most other areas as well.
What really troubles me with the Social Security debate is the lack of real understanding of the American people and their circumstance. President Bill Clinton used to say, “I feel your pain.” However, most politicians don’t really have a clue what the American people are feeling today because they don’t live anything like you and me.
If you look at President and Mrs. Obama’s tax returns for 2010, they really are not anything like the average American people. When you have an income in the 5-6 million dollar ranges, you really have lost touch with people making anything under $100,000 let alone someone making $30,000 or less! Now let’s check out the Congressmen and see what kind of money they’re sporting. I apologize as these are 2009 figures but you will get the point. http://www.rollcall.com/features/Guide-to-Congress_2009/guide/-38181-1.html Please note that our Representative Fred Upton is number 31 on the list. He may sound like one of us but really is he like you? If you want to check out another of the key player’s salary, Speaker of the House, Representative John Boehner’s net worth go here. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/otherdata.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00003675&type=I
You might be thinking this isn’t relevant but really it is. We have heard for years how wonderful our government it. You know all that, by the people, for the people, stuff. We supposedly have gone beyond having to be property owners to vote and have a say in our elections. However, the truth is those that have money run this country. The rest of us just take care of those that have money. We serve them. They don’t serve us. We always hear about their years of devoted service to our country. All of us have devoted years of service to our country as well. I teach the children of the future. You may be a nurse, doctor, scientist, policeman, maid, waitress, soldier, or perform some other noble job, you serve your country. You pay your taxes, you give to charity and you pay your bills. You suck it up every time “they” want your children for war and trust me; they want your children as they sure don’t want to give their children for war!
Now they want all of us to just suck it up one more time. Take those cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid like a man. Do it for your country! We all have to pitch in you know? Many months ago I wrote a post that is worth linking back to. http://www.ksvoboda.com/?p=317
In it I asked the wealthy to step up for our country. It didn’t happen because the wealthy are doing the legislating! They aren’t going to step up. The best thing we could do is to have a revolution like Egypt and get rid of Congress and start over! The young people really should be marching because much of what is happening and will happen will be put on them for an even bigger burden. If you are a young college kid or just out of college a couple of years, you probably have a mountain of school loan debt already. Do you really need to take on the debt of the clowns working in Washington D.C. too? Every time one of them opens their mouth and moves their lips, rest assured they’re probably lying to us. I don’t trust any of them. At this rate we will continue to spend more money on the Defense Department and Homeland Security and less and less on education, or any of the “ENTITLEMENT” programs! I hope I’ve given you something to think about.
I’ve been busy lately, but I’ve read a few things tonight and I just cannot get them out of my mind. These are the three things that disgust me tonight.
Heating assistance for the poor? Oh, don’t worry, you can always curl up with a good book under the covers and pray to God you don’t freeze to death when you can’t pay that fuel bill. I would like all the “sane” people in Washington D.C. to please stand up and make sure this bright idea doesn’t happen. As cold as it is today, you would have to be one insane son of a bitch to even consider cutting these people off. It’s not like you’re cutting them off crack cocaine. This is life or death. In December President Obama and his new found Republican cronies had no problem giving tax cuts to the wealthy. Now they’re in “cut” mode and who are they going to pick on? They’ll pick on some poor family that has all they can do to keep their homes heated and their heads above water. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hznktd75KGKaGAlE7Q3nj3YoWvXA?docId=25660854102642308608e00b98043cf7
To me this is unconscionable. We can spend boat loads of money in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, when it comes to the least among us here in the United States, we cannot seem to find two nickels to throw to the poor.
The sad part is people voted for this joker. Now they will have to spend more money on another election simply because he was more interested in playing these games than doing his job.
In other education news here in Michigan there may be changes to the MEAP and MME. This is from the Detroit News;
The State Board of Education will consider a plan today to raise the passing scores on state standardized tests, a move that could mean thousands more students and hundreds more schools won’t meet proficiency levels.
Now if more schools don’t pass proficiency levels than maybe they could be either taken over by the state or privatized. Some lucky businessman could determine what’s best for your child based on his bottom line. What’s the bottom line you say? It’s his profit margin!
Google has partnered with some great art museums to create an online website where anyone can take a trip or tour around the world’s great art museums. It’s called the “GAP” for short. http://www.googleartproject.com/ It’s a wonderful site and I encourage everyone to check it out.
When I came across this website today I was taken back to my beginnings as an art student at Michigan State University. It really is amazing that I even ended up remotely connected to the art world. I never had an art class in all of my K-12 education experience. This is one reason I so fervently believe in art education. I feel like in many ways my young life was deprived because I missed out on the creative playfulness and unique perspective the arts provide in a world ruled by math and science. The most interesting and intelligent people I have ever met are “creative” people.
I remember thinking I was going to college from around seventh grade on. It seemed to be a “given” that I was planning on attending college, even though I came from such a large family. My older sisters did not have that “given” in their minds but they were ten and twelve years older than me and times were tough. I, being the youngest, had more opportunities than they did. I think I probably knew I was going to college because many of my older brothers had gone to school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. However, for a few years I wanted to be a veterinarian like my brother Joe. I really looked up to him and I wanted to be like him I think. Well, until I saw him go down to Ed and Jessie’s place up north and do something unspeakable to a cow. That sure put a kibosh on the idea of becoming a veterinarian. I never even thought about anything in the art world because I never even knew what it was. Nobody in my family was connected to the arts. You might be wondering how in the world I ended up involved in art.
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus
I liked to draw. I didn’t obviously have any training and I simply used a pencil and whatever paper was around. When I was a senior in high school I can remember not sleeping all that well and staying up late and drawing. I remember drawing a picture of President John F. Kennedy from our “World Book” encyclopedia. Of course I sort of left my pictures out for my parents to notice like any kid might do. I remember them thinking they were nice. There was no real encouragement to pursue art at any time in my life from anyone when I was young. I took all college prep classes peppered with a lot of math and science. I didn’t have any room in my course schedule for art until my senior year. I had one free hour. I chose choir because I like to sing and because I was afraid to take an art class. I would have to take the beginning art class and be put in with freshman students which I didn’t want to do but really I was afraid that my secret would be out. The secret was that I had never had an art course and felt inept! Heaven forbid that I could take a course that I knew nothing about! Isn’t that the point of an education? To learn about things we don’t know? Oh, well, I digress.
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus Detail
I moved on to college not knowing what I wanted to do. I was an “undeclared major” college student. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do possibly because I hadn’t been exposed to what my true passion would become. Back in the seventies the first two years of most college education was liberal arts anyway, so I took a lot of different courses. I took quite a few philosophy courses which is amazing because I don’t consider myself to be very logical in many ways. You know the old “If, then phrases”? They never made a lot of sense to me. However, as time went on I continued to draw. I remember putting up my drawings on my bulletin board in my dorm room. One drawing I did I really remember well. I don’t know how I was exposed to the picture, maybe it was through a humanities class. However, I fell in love with the painting by Botticelli, the Birth of Venus. I loved the face on Venus so I drew it on typing paper and put it up on my bulletin board. That one drawing probably created a turning point in my mind to consider taking an art class. Other students kept asking me why I wasn’t taking any art classes. I started thinking maybe I should. I still didn’t have the confidence to take an art course but it kept nagging at me.
During my sophomore year I finally got up enough nerve to take a beginning drawing class. The first day of class I can remember sitting in the art room waiting for our instructor and listening to the other students. Most of them were bemoaning the fact that they had to take this “dip shit” beginning drawing course before they could take anything good. I was petrified. I thought what have I got myself into. I was looking for an exit. The first class was just an introduction. After class I went up and talked to the instructor and told him my dilemma and how the other students were obviously much more experienced and how maybe I thought I should drop the class. He asked me if I was willing to do all the assignments and come to class. I told him of course I would do that. He encouraged me to stay in the class and he offered that some of those students would end up dropping out because they wouldn’t be willing to do the work. His “pep talk” worked. I stayed in the class and never looked back. I went on to take many art courses, much more than I needed for my B.A. so I earned a B.F.A.
Most people that I know today in education don’t realize how precious I feel a well rounded education is to the development of the whole person. I think art is crucial in my life and opened up my imagination in ways that never would have happened otherwise. As a teacher I have high expectations and hopes for my students. I want to share with them my love of art and creativity. The feeling I get when I create something with my hands, brain and heart connected cannot be measured on a test. The push to create something new and original is always in the back of my mind. As a teacher, I try to help my students reach their full potential and hopefully see that there is more to life than just looking at things through the eyes of some test that they won’t remember thirty years later anyway. I see the value of creativity. In our world today people must be creative just to survive in the high stakes of unemployment. The world of the future will depend on the innovation and creativity of our youth.
Technology today is a wonderful tool for art education. There are so many resources online that it is amazing what can be learned about art. Many people even openly share their knowledge on sites like YouTube. You may have to watch a few bad videos to get to the good ones but it is all worth it. Here is a man creating a Greek/Roman style vase on Youtube. It really is exciting and educational to watch him work.
Art touches everyone. Even people that profess to not care about art carefully pick out their car, clothes, jewelry and furniture. We all live in a society where we want to be surrounded by some element of what we think is beautiful. When I watch those “Hoarding” shows, I even see people collecting items that they think are beautiful. The items may get lost in all the surrounding trash, but they are there.
I encourage everyone to get involved in the beauty of the world of art. If you cannot leave your home, travel online all over the world and view art from your own private perspective. If you have always wanted to take an art class but were afraid, go ahead and face that fear. You might be surprised at how wonderful you catch yourself feeling when you create something with your own brain, hands and heart! If you don’t have access to an art class, make your own class up. Go on Youtube and learn something new. Many people are sharing all of their wonderful artistic talents online. You can learn about everything from drawing and painting to basket weaving. The world we live in is amazing and shrinking in many ways. FDR said the only thing to fear is fear itself. Don’t be afraid to discover your creative side. Your brain is more than willing to create new connections to learning as you discover the beauty of pushing your creativity beyond the scope of what you thought possible. We are all creative beings even those people that profess to not be very creative. Push yourself to discover all the beauty art has to offer. You might be surprised to discover your hidden talents and when you do, it will be a wonderful feeling of mental self satisfaction and fulfillment.
