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Name: Val
Home: Rochester, NY, United States
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| Tuesday, March 9, 2010 |
| Looking Back on Bloody Sunday |
A crowded bridge. People ask if they might kneel down and prat before the turn back . The Alabama state troopers will hear none of it. They launch an attack on the crowd, beating them with nightsticks, releasing tear gas, savagely attacking the gather individuals. This is a snapshot of what occurred on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday. A group of people attempted to march from Montgomery from to Selma Alabama, to secure civil rights for African- Americans only 45 years ago. Peacable prostesters brutally beaten over the most basic of human rights. Horrific.
We have come a long since that day. We have an African-American president, African-Americans are represented in each branch of federal government. That being said, the numbers are still skewed. People ought and died for the rote to vote, the right for equality and the opportunity to represent their nation in government. People face horrific beating for basic civil rights and secure for future generations rights that the previous did not have. We should honor their memory with not only remembrance, but progress. Racism is still existent in our society and I can think of no better way to salute the work they have done than to continue on their message and work to stamp t out for good. |
posted by Val @ 10:10 AM  |
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| Friday, March 5, 2010 |
| This is our Mission |
"Our mission is student success... Academic, Artistic, and Humanistic." Words worthy of a classroom motivational poster. However, what do they really mean? How is success measured? On an individual basis? Collectively? Putting aside the puffery, what does this really mean to say?
To me, the message is idealistic but honorable. The idea that a school can have this sort of impact on the entire student body is far-fetched. However our school seems to be doing a good job, with a higher graduation rate that the rest of the district and the better part of out students graduate high school, and move on to some form of higher education. Success, however, I feel is better measured on a case by case basis to see how each person grows and changes.
Academic success is is different for every student. Students that always get solid A's and success from the start is different that the success of a failing student that brings up their grade to a passing one. Even if they are skirting the edge, I feel this is a greater success for struggling students and the school. As inspiring are these cases are, sometimes the school drops the ball on these struggling students, who continue to struggle through their school career. Overall however it seems that our school is succeeding in the academic portion of its mission, at least from my perspective.
Artistically are school seems to be doing fine. Dedicated arts teachers force feed students two hours of instruction a day. Our school turns out some incredibly talented individuals. We have amazing stage productions and students who receive scholarships. We are an arts school and it shows.
When it comes to the humanistic portion of our mission, we seem to be failing. Students walk the hallways brimming with brazen disrespect, acting entirely rude and obnoxious. Our school is failing to help old these individuals into the bar minimum of what is expected of them. Obliviously this is something we need to work on. |
| posted by Val @ 9:48 AM |
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| This Site is Blocked...Maybe it shouldn't be |
The following scenario is pretty common place. A student logs onto a school computer and attempts to check one of countless internet account, but what is this? *Gasp* Trully the site is not blocked?Unfortunately for the student it is, indeed. Probably not without good reason.
However, despite the possibility it will be abused, social media offers a widely untapped resource to teachers. Some tech-savvy profs. may be running a class blog, but there not even scratching the glass ceiling. Schools are squandering a valuable teaching medium buy banning social networking. Most students will admit to spending quite a bit of time on Facebook, and some frequent other sites like Twitter. A Facebook group could be the online home of a class, facilitating discussions and allowing access to past assignments. Struggling students could tweet questions to their teacher and get immediate responses. Social media even offers practical application in art class, with sites such as Dailybooth being used to showcase photography, with its photo a day platform making it easy for the teacher to turn into an assignment. A teacher could even potentially teach a class remotely by offering lectures via the video hosting juggernaut coughyoutubecough.
If students are worried about school using these sites to monitor them, the need only adjust their privacy settings. The internet is where students ARE. Schools would be wise to join them. The web offers a way to share media content, ideas, and could even play host to online lectures. |
| posted by Val @ 9:46 AM |
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| Wednesday, March 3, 2010 |
| Six Guilty Pleasures |
Guilty Pleasures. We all all have them. Something we feel shame for loving. Secret obsessions that we keep secret form the world that we keep secret from the world, because society might not accept that file of Daniel Radcliffe picture on your computer filed "Family Vacation '08." These are a few of mine, brought to light for the first time in history.
1.) Listening to Gary Busey speak. The man is so far gone that everything he says is brilliant. I once laughed for ten minutes after hearing him scream in anger, "I'm going to rip out your endocrine system."
2.) Raw cookie dough. Never in my life have I come across a food more delicious or alluring. Never have I felt such shame as when I polish of a lump straight from the tub.
3.) Youtube. I'm not talking about the wonderful and intelligent user generated content. Nor do I speak of music videos or movies or other media content. Nay I speak of videos about cats, videos that last for ten minutes. Videos of people injuring themselves, making hilarious blunders, all rich in schadenfruede. So much of my time has been sucked into the black hole that is web videos.
4.) Red lipstick. It gets a bad reputation. Girls who wear it are considered "sexually indiscriminate" however the terms used are less kind. Red lipstick is a stigma in the makeup world hiding in the bottom of makeup bags waiting for special occasions. It never gets used. Only furtively can I bring myself to wear it, and its normally off before I leave the house, but those few minutes its on I relish it.
5.)My itunes playlist. The every other song is one that I have to hide under my coat and turn the volume down low, lest anyone catch a line from a defunct boy band. Gracing my playlist are country songs, swedish sugar pop, teen pop groups, DIsney songs, and yes boy bands. Embarressing as these songs may be I dare you to not sing along.
6.) Cartoons. As old as I get I cannot shake the habit of sitting down to watch a good cartoon. I will be forty years old sitting down to watch re-runs of X-men cartoons or Avatar:The Last Airbender. I consider the prospect of having children just so I have excuse to sit down as an adult and rewatch "The Lion King, " and other disney gems. |
| posted by Val @ 9:20 AM |
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