We are the problem

I haven't posted in a while.  As always, the end of the school year adds pressure and stress to all of us; student and teacher alike.  However, something just happened that I felt I needed to talk about.

I have a former student, a competitor on my speech team, named Amina.  She has operated on a consistent message of trying to raise awareness of the tenets of the Islamic faith as one of tolerance and love rather than the terror of extremists.  It was the content of her Original Oratory, and the topic of much of her slam poetry.  She is, in all relevant ways, a typical American teenager with one exception; she has the courage to publicly speak out about her beliefs.

At least twice now she has been published in the local paper's opinion section with her explanation and defense of Islam as a religion of peace.  She placed herself; including her name, image, and school out in the public eye to attempt to be an agent of change.  This takes incredible courage and I admire her for it.

Feb 11, 2017

April 15, 2017

In both cases the comment section is filled predominantly with hate in response.  Statements such as:

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• Joey Russio
 
• Rank 0

FULL OF ****! You are picking and choosing to support your writing, and pretending like evil is not part of Islam. ISLAM = EVIL = ISIS = Mohammand = Quran

@Jay Larson She is lying. 
 Islam is a fascist ideology. 
 It commands islamo-supremacy, discrimination of non-muslims, misogyny, homophobia, execution of homosexuals, apostates, infidels, conquest of the world and the establishment of caliphate and implementation of sharia law, etc.

 The some cowardly individual (he didn't even have the guts to include a return address or name) had the audacity to mail to her school these texts:

Well, lets see who these "experts" are:

1) Drs. Jack and Rexelle Van Impe - televangelists who use biblical passages to suggest we are living in the "end times"  Nothing like claiming the end is near to get some cash from the flock.

2) Robert Spencer  leads an organization devoted to stopping Islamic expansion in the US and was banned by the UK govt from entering the country for his "making statements that may foster hatred that might lead to inter-community violence"

Neither of these experts are Muslim.  They were not raised in the faith to be able to really understand.  Anyone can cherry pick passages from text to support a cause.  In a soundbite generation that is generally good enough to sway public opinion, sadly.

However, rather than delve into religious issues and pretend to be an expert that I am not like these knuckleheads, I'm going to apply the plain and clear logic of rational thought to this specific issue.

We (meaning American society as a whole) are at least part of the problem.  Here we have a young girl who was raised to believe her faith is about tolerance and love and uses that faith to preach and live by those very values and we have the AUDACITY to tell her she's wrong!  This means, if those idiots are successful in their argument, they will convince a young girl that she needs to be a terrorist to be faithful.  In being "right" they will have created that which they fear.  Why?  Why do they want to take a young, impressionable girl and turn her into a killer just to be "right"?  It makes no sense!

Until we stop placing people into categories to define them, we will only create the very creatures we declare are the enemy.  We are making terrorists out of teenagers.

I, for one, will not be a part of that hate.  I am proud of Amina and hope she will continue to be an advocate for peace in a world with too much hate.

No one should be proud to be gay

Time for another one of those posts about word choice and meaning.  Again, it would be best to read until the end before making a judgement.  The concept of Gay Pride is one that I believe is completely counter to what those who express such pride actually know.  Follow me on this...

Are you "proud" that you have two feet?  Are you going to join a "BiFooted Pride Parade"?  Are you going to wear shirts that are two feet long with a pair of feet on them?  No.  Of course not.  OK, so you might just to spite me and try to prove me wrong, but that's not how this works.  Well, why not?  Isn't having the two feet you were genetically determined to have a reason for pride?  No.  It isn't.  Did you choose to have two feet?  No again.

Pride is great!  Having pride in accomplishments is something to be admired.  But you can't feel proud that the sky is blue.  You had no control over that.  You see, pride is something you feel because you succeeded at something.  You can only succeed in doing things that have the possibility of failure.  Pride is what you feel when you make a choice and it resolves in a positive way.

Therefore, to suggest that you are proud of being gay (or white, or male, or a dog) also suggests that you had a choice in becoming that.  I have yet to meet the gay man or woman who said to me, "You know, I could have been straight but I really wanted to be gay.  So I tried my hardest, worked on it, and finally managed to become gay."  This is because gay isn't a choice.  This is a central tenet of the entire idea; you don't CHOOSE to be gay, you just are.  Yet, by declaring it "Gay Pride" then you are telling the world that you had a choice.  This is the exact opposite statement that you are trying to make.

You can, and should, be proud of being open and accepting of alternative lifestyles.  You should be proud to be actively supportive of your movement and working for change.  But, being gay?  That's not a choice.  Just be gay.  Nothing to be proud of.  After all, you didn't really have a choice...

Casual Racism

Man, there is no way for me to know what direction my mind will go sometimes.  This morning, while drinking my morning cup of coffee, I overheard someone on the TV say, "I thought they'd be darker."  This triggered a twenty year old memory that has been plaguing my thoughts ever since.  I figured it would make good fodder for the blog, so here goes...

First, for any that come across this blog who have not met me, I'm white.  Descended from Scottish ancestry, with a little German thrown in for good measure, I'm about as white and white gets.  I grew up in a firmly middle-class suburban family and never had to personally struggle through any sort of economic or racial hardship as a child.  Still, my parents never showed any hint of racism, and I feel raised me right to judge people based on their actions, not their genetics.

In addition, as a teacher in a 30/30/30 school I have never consciously evaluated a student based upon racial, religious, or orientation.  I believe my students would agree that they didn't feel that I was a person who they would consider racist, and I actively work AGAINST such prejudices in my classroom.

That said, recalling an incident from decades ago has reminded me there is more than "active" racism I must work against.  About twenty years ago, I was an assistant manager at McDonalds.  One day, I swear someone exploded in the men's bathroom.  There was feces everywhere, including the walls and ceiling!  As I was one of those who felt he had to lead by example, I assigned this "shit job" (English teacher pun!) to myself.  It wasn't fun.

Later I was talking about it to one of my co-workers, a shift manager named Beverly.  Beverly was a classy lady; a hard worker and pleasant personality.  She also happened to be black.  I clearly remember describing the scene in that bathroom and saying to her, trying to not say the actual word and be funny, "the walls were covered in something the same color as you."  Even today I can remember the look on her face.  I just described a woman as the color of shit.  Why would I do that?

As I've grown older, I begin to understand more.  I'm not racist, but society remains so.  I didn't say that horrible thing because I was trying to belittle her because of her race.  I said it because I had no idea that such a statement might be wrong as I was the definition of white privilege.  I didn't think of how it would make her feel because I was completely oblivious to her situation.  It never occurred to me that calling a proud (and rightly so) black woman the color of shit was harmful.  Even today, it fills me with disgust at myself for having done that.

I need to do better.  We all need to do better.  It isn't enough not to be actively racist.  Every joke that makes use of color, sexual orientation, religion, or any other stereotype as a punchline reinforces perceptions that I know I believe shouldn't be maintained.  It isn't enough to just not be racist.  I must make sure I also actively work against the social acceptance of such "casual racism" so as to make future generations not even consider doing so.  And Beverly, wherever you are, I'm sorry.

Affirmation

Being a teacher is tough.  Oh, I'm sure you've all heard the standard whines; grading papers, taking classes, long hours during the school year, etc...  Summers off, you say?  I haven't had one completely duty free yet.  Those are all true, but misleading.  That's not really the toughest part of being a teacher.  It is the emotional toil and toll.

You see, a teacher comes to view their students as their own children.  Their successes and failures MATTER to us.  Every stumble, every poor choice, affects us on a personal, emotional level.  More than many occupations being a teacher defines not only what do, but who we ARE.  We can't help it.

Lately it has been especially tough for me.  This year's students seem especially apathetic and I see so many self-destructive behaviors that I worry daily about their futures.  I think I've more "sit down and cry" moments this year than any other.  (Yes, I cry about my students, at least once a year to be honest) So few seem to understand that education is important; that isn't about the "facts".  Education - the process - sets you up for the rest of your life.  Finding the positive behaviors in school leads you to the positive behaviors in life.  All this has made me feel like a failure this year.  I don't seem to making the dent I feel I should be making in their lives.

Last night, though...  Last night I got one of those moments teachers live for.  A moment where I got to see something positive.  Eight of my kids took to the stage for Poetry Out Loud.  Most of them had never recited poetry on stage.  Hell, most of them had never done ANYTHING on stage.  While I am proud of those who won (we swept the top three spots), I think I am a little prouder of those that didn't.  They stumbled, they struggled, but they finished.  Not a single one quit, no matter how rough it got.  THAT is a behavior that they will need in life.  Too many see difficulty and quit.  They didn't.  They persevered, climbed that mountain, and stood at the top.

My students sometimes joke that my class should be called "Life Lessons with McArthur" instead of English.  I like to think they learn those life lessons from the literature, but so long as they learn them I can wake up in the morning and stand in front of them every day.  Last night recharged the batteries again for a while.  This morning I can once again say, I love what I do - and by extension - who I am.

BLM

So, this one has been bouncing around in my head for months now.  I ask that you try to read the entire post prior to passing judgement, but I understand that it is highly unlikely given the inflammatory nature of these issues.  Nothing like trying to anger everyone who might follow a new blog, huh?

"Black Lives Matter" is stupid.  I don't mean the concept, but is a terrible name for a political movement.  First, let me explain that is about the name, not the ideas.  Those who know me know I am not a racist person, and this isn't about anything other than the poor choice to let a hashtag name a movement.

The goal of any political movement isn't to reaffirm its values to those who already follow it; it is to change the minds of those either in opposition, or at least undecided, to those values.  I am fully aware that "Black Lives Matter" does NOT mean ONLY "Black Lives Matter" (hereafter referred to as BLM).  But the problem is, I fit into the list of those who's values already align to the movement.  I do believe that systemic racism still exists and there are many who see the value of an African American as less than another race.  However, whoever decided to latch onto the BLM name did far more harm than good in doing so.

You see, to those who are either racist or uninformed, the language of BLM "feels" exclusionary.  Just as a large section of the population of Chicago would get upset over "Cubs Fans Matter" or "Sox Fans Matter" because they innately perceive an us vs. them relationship and by declared that the opposition matters they perceive that they, by default, do not.

These are the people that need to be persuaded to look closer at issues they haven't cared about in the past, or worse, actively opposed.  The people that need to understand the basic fact of the value of human life ... all life ... are automatically dissuaded from learning due to the fact that they feel excluded by the BLM title.  I know they aren't.  I know that BLM supporters do not feel that way.  But THEY will never learn that because they do not feel there is anything to learn, that they don't matter.  All this because of a poor name choice.

Hashtags are fine for Twitter, but let's leave them there.  It's too late to change this one, but let's be more careful in the future.

Because, why not?

I have decided to start my own blog.  Why?  Well ... why not?

I realize that blogging isn't cool anymore, and maybe that's part of it.  I have never held a desire to be "cool" anyway.

It isn't an ego thing either.  I'm pretty sure no one will ever actually read any of these.

I suppose it is simply a primal need to let the random thoughts that get trapped in my brain out to get some fresh air.  There is so much going on up in my noggin on a daily basis that it all runs together after a while.  Perhaps if I let them out then I can get a semblance of order back in my brain and stop herding the metaphorical cats running loose in the jungle gym of consciousness.

I have no idea what I'm going to actually talk about.  I imagine it will be as eclectic as I am.  Stuff about games, movies, and music of course.  Probably some about books and poetry too I bet.  90% sure a rant or two will show up about things I perceive as idiotic around me.  Some carefully edited and redacted commentary on things that happen (or happened) in my classroom are sure to show up.  I dare say that nothing is off the table.

Now, studies have shown blogs need to be specific to be successful, so it looks like this one won't be.  But as I mentioned that I doubt many will read it anyway, who cares?

So ... sit back and prepare to be moderately amused.  You might even smirk.