Brownie's Revenge

It's clear Michael Brown, former FEMA director and expert in Arabian horses, has adopted some of the Bush administration's attitudes about responsibility. Last week, during the hearings about Katrina, he was diffident, hostile and unrepentant, shifting blame while claiming to not be pointing fingers. His only error?? Not realizing how dumb everyone else was! Since this attitude has worked before for the Republicans, I'm sure he was well coached in standing up to the cross examination. We saw this again yesterday with Tom Delay. Is there some secret school they all go to to learn how to be simultaneously hypocritical and morally outraged? The Rush Limbaugh Academy of Conservatism? I long for the days when the president was only hiding a couple of blow jobs and an intelligent and ambitious wife.

A Million Readers?

I just read that a blogger from a local suburb enjoys so many hits on his blog that he's going to make his entire living off of it. He used to teach. That says it all! His blog concerns the antics of such superstars as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, et. al. People are so caught up in the vicarious thrill of the lives of super skinny airheads, that a former teacher can retire. Perhaps if I launched a Nicole Richie for President website, I could pay my heating bill this winter.

What's Goin' On?

Over the weekend, I heard a story on the local TV news about a shooting at an after-hours club on the east side of the city. During an argument, someone pulled out an AK-47. The hair on the back of neck stood up, and an involuntary shiver went down my spine when the announcer said a 21-year old young woman had been fatally wounded. I thought to myself, "she could be one of my students."

The next day, I received an email confirming that, indeed, a former student of mine had been shot and died subsequently at a local hospital. I wish I could say that I was shocked and surprised by this, but I was not. She was a smart girl who made really stupid decisions.

She graduated in 2002, I believe, but at any other school, she would have dropped out or been kicked out first. Our little school embraced her quirky sense of humor, her wild "coming apart at the seams" appearance; and we all recognized that underneath the "street-wise" veneer lay a certain innate and gentle intelligence. When she came to class, she could perform like any top student--she was engaged; nothing was too difficult for her, and she asked the right questions. At other times, she slept in the back, came late or didn't come to class at all.

She leaves a 10-month old son--I don't know about the father--but I can guess. What becomes of a baby whose mother is shot and killed in this way? I don't need much imagination, knowing what I know of his mother's life.

Someday in the future, during an after-hours party fueled by drugs and booze and attended by thugs with street names like "D-Man" and "Double C,"an AK-47 will appear. Here we go again.

Back That Thang Up

We went to a wonderful wedding celebration just last weekend, and it was a joy to participate in an event that is such a damn leap of faith! Just when I think we're at the gates of hell climbing out of our collective handbasket, someone or something reminds me that life just goes on. People meet, fall in love, believe it will be forever, and decide to celebrate in grand style. The church was breathtaking--a hexagonal cathedral in perhaps the worst part of Detroit--but just the right place. The bride looked like Grace Kelly and my daughter, the rogue bridesmaid, wore a stunning black Vera Wang gown and cleared the dance floor with her handsome escort. When they announced the hustle, I was proud to hear her say--"don't worry, watch my Mom, she knows how to do it." Those years of teaching in the city paid off when it came to shaking that money maker.

Refugees from Third World USA

Someone in the media mistakenly called the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina "refugees," and they were very quickly reprimanded by the language police. But after some consideration, I've determined that many of these folks are indeed refugees--from third world USA--a place many other, more successful Americans, have not had much contact with before this tragic event.

The human and material costs emerging here are astronomical--and should remind us how expensive it is to ignore the problems of poverty and discrimination in our country. If a baby is unlucky enough to be born into a poor family in this century, he can expect to live in unsafe housing, to be exposed to all manner of environmental pollutants, to enjoy little if any medical attention, let alone basic coverage, and then to receive a substandard education. He can also be expected to be blamed for all of this once he's old enough.

America needs to wake up -- we can and should be a better country. Authentic patriotism stems from the unshakable belief that we can and shall live up to all our ideals and that they will be made manifest in our citizens and our communities. (cue John Phillip Souza!)

Compassionate Conservatives on Vacation or Give a Man a Fish???

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

Read It and Weep!

Yesterday, after a reading class I teach at a local university, I found one of my newest students waiting for me in the parking lot. She asked if I could help her find a way to teach a 16-year-old high school boy how to read. I was almost speechless! Apparently, he found out she was going to college, even though she had scored so low on reading that my course is required. He revealed to her that he does not know how to read and asked for her help. Indicating that she is the first person he has told, he said he was very embarrassed and didn't want any of his friends to know.

I had no idea what to tell her! Local literacy programs exist for adults, but this student is surrounded by teachers -- they just don't know his secret. I told her to give me a week to do a little checking around, but meanwhile, I suggested, "tell him that if he's fooled everyone around him, he must not be too stupid!"

After teaching English here for so long, it is difficult for me to imagine how a teacher couldn't know if one of his or her students could not read. Shameful! Yet, I know how impossible it can be to manage six classes a day of forty kids each, day after day. The cracks are too big--and we are often too tired to keep putting our fingers in the dike.

I'm going to try to find out if there are materials she could use to help him. Maybe someday, she'll look back and tell the story of how she decided to become a teacher. Wouldn't that be something?

"Storms Don't Kill People--Public Policy Kills People!"

It's interesting that the very same politicians who offer "personal responsibility" as the answer to all societal problems are spinning around this issue and trying to avoid the "blame game." Well, the last time I checked, the game was over and New Orleans lost, and there are bodies lying bloated on the field.

So, I'm not going to "blame" anyone--I'll just say that "Storms Don't Kill People--Public Policy Kills People!" Anyone want to buy a t-shirt?

Katrina, as a natural disaster, is being blamed for all the devastation, but it looks like much of her destruction could have been mitigated if public policy had been informed by unbiased scientific analysis (meaning not forced into shape by corporate and self-interest) . Two larger issues loom in the background here beneath all the spinning--environmental policy, specifically wetlands) and federal funding of critical infrastructure projects to address homeland security issues.

Let's see if the media chooses to examine those issues rather than the compelling and emotional family reunions. I'm guessing a three-hour special on the wetlands is NOT in the works at CNN right now.

Masters of War

Bob Dylan's lyrics from the 1960's are more relevant today than ever--but so what? While searching for an original way to engage my students in the task of raising their reading comprehension scores to the college level, I did a lyric search and found songs from Tupac and Kayne West. I also copied lyrics from Sinatra's Birth of the Blues and, of course, the lyrics from Masters of War. Profound ideas come a wide variety of packages--diverse voices converge into uncomfortable truths. "Kept my history of mystery but now I see/The American Dream wasn't meant for me." To the Masters of War Dylan says: "You fasten the triggers/For the others to fire/Then you set back and watch/When the death count gets higher/You hide in your mansion/As young people's blood/Flows out of their bodies/And is buried in the mud."

In the wake of Katrina, I hope we can all reexamine the sometimes empty promises of our democracy and begin the address the dangerous, widening gap between rich and poor in our country. The citizens of New Orleans reverted to "looting" because they had nothing to lose! I don't make false distinctions between "good" and "bad" looting--(oh how the inadequacies of moral absolutism are revealed in the face of such a staggering disaster!) A VCR or microwave? "Oh, how decadent and opportunistic!" Well, anything that can be turned into cash is fair game when you are trying to survive.

I can't get this disturbing dream out of my head--I'm in a lifeboat that is sinking and I am given orders to make sure no one else boards--We solemnly peel off the fingers of the drowning and release their bodies into the vast black water surrounding us.

Our Collective Conscience

When I look at the images of the suffering, death and complete devastation of hurricane Katrina, I'm compelled to ask what role, if any, public policy played in the massive suffering of New Orleans victims. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots from energy policy which favors global corporations while ignoring global warming and the need to protect wetlands, foreign policy driven by the "need" to control the natural resources of others, federal budget deficits driven by an ill-conceived war and a huge tax give away. Democracy's got no clothes!

What is the role of the government? Fox News pundit, Bill O'Reilly is already spinning the ..."see what happens when you trust the government...?" as if citizens have no right to expect anything from their government. Compassionate conservatism, indeed! We should be better than that. In America, our government should be our collective conscience. The federal budget should reflect our concern with equality and social justice--and not simply pork barrel projects designed to keep the powerful in power. We could be the greatest country on earth if we could stop the flag-waving and the posing and get down to the business of building a better society. But the people in power "hate" government--they want to privitize everything--that way you can pick and choose who you think is really "worthy" of your charity--and write it all off while you're at it.

How do you like smaller government, now?

Since our government has been taken over by those who "hate" government and want it to shrink, we now see a complete erosion of any commitment to infrastructure, community or the public good. The rich live in gated communities with private security forces, private pools, privatized power (generators), bottled water and endless food supplies, while the poor are floating on broken doors down the sewered streets of New Orleans. Why? Follow the money . . . money that should have been spent shoring up the levees. Who cut it off and why? Just guess!

It is clear that many of our leaders can't imagine people without the resources to evacuate. Where have they been? For many of the homeless and poor people who survive Katrina, this storm could actually be the best thing that ever happened to them. They might actually be able to gain some ground. As long as they slept in alleys and pushed shopping carts, no one cared.

The outpouring of sympathy for the "suddenly" impoverished always confuses me. When people lose everything all at once, we turn on the cameras and can't get enough of the images of suffering. However, when people are regularly victimized by systemic poverty, we quickly look away and change the subject.

I hope people begin to realize that it is a priviledge to be able to ignore politics--it means you have the resources to sheild yourself from injustice. Maybe $5.00 a gallon gas will wake you up.