While my feelings are not necessarily new, over the last year I have begun to accept the possibility of self-identifying as a feminist. This has come from a lot of reading of academic feminist thought as performed in the human geography studies. And I have come to realize: once your eyes have been opened to the patriarchy, it cannot be unseen.
The reason I am writing this is related to the recent excommunication of Kate Kelly, the whole Ordain Women movement and the discussion that has been raging in the Mormon bloggosphere for the past 6 months, yesterday's SCOTUS ruling on the hobby lobby v Sebelius case, and finally having reached a tipping point in my personal experiences with a 'conversation' I had today with a worker doing a job at my house. Let me start with that.
The man is the owner of a paving company, has a family, and at least an undergrad college education. He asked what I was studying, I responded, and his next comment was "How 'bout that pussy'?" When I didn't immediately give a manly grunt and chest bump him, he clarified his meaning that I can summarize as 'the best part of IU campus is all the hook-up opportunities, amirite'. I still didn't really respond, not because I was 'uncomfortable', but because there was just no reconciling his world-view and mine. I said I was married, which luckily changed the subject, but came across as some sort of excuse. Like if I wasn't, I would be out there 'hittin' that!' So why didn't I just shut him down, and tell him how disgusting that kind of comment and mindset are? 'It was neither the time nor place', but really, its just not in my nature to stir up conflict. So here's the question - what's a guy to do? Breaking the patriarchy is also about men standing up to other men when they degrade women, but what's the playbook for doing it in everyday, casual conversation with people with whom you hold no rapport? My confession: I feel ashamed for not doing more. I feel more ashamed for not knowing what to do to do more.
Interlude rant: carl's jr./hardee's: I know that 'sex sells', but you do not have to be a 'man' to eat a burger, dripping barbecue sauce on women in bikinis in a 'cat fight' is... I can't even..., and when you imply that a chicken breast sandwich 'brings all the roosters to the yard', you sound like a middle schooler saying 'bewbs, heh heh heh, boobies, heh heh heh'. And PS (not food related) shampoo is not orgasmic!
I see a lot of my conservative friends/family celebrating (on social media) the hobby lobby decision. I believe, or at least what I'd like to believe, is that in the rush to vilify obamacare and to celebrate any political defeat of the current 'regime' they cheer the ruling. Even if that is true, it's still wrong-headed, but that's a discussion for a different day. It is not a victory for religious freedom. It's not. Under the guise of religion, a certain class of corporation just got the green light to nickle and dime on healthcare costs that would cut into their profits. I immediately thought about B Corporations (http://www.bcorporation.net/) that publicly state, and certify, that their purpose is to benefit society as much as, or more than, making a profit. It's like that, but the opposite. I'm not going to add to the commentary on women's health issues, and the political crusade against providing adequate care. There are already enough voices doing that, and I'm just saying that I agree. If my view is unclear given the context of the post...
On the issue of Kate Kelly's excommunication and the Ordain Women issue. I'm not including any links for background, so educate yourself if you're interested. I first heard about the movement earlier this year before the push for admittance to the priesthood session. A lot of the issues they brought up were valid, and I was totally in agreement. Why can't Sunday school presidencies have women? Why should welfare focused bishopric meetings exclude the Relief Society president? Why don't young women have opening exercises with the RS and serve as companions to adult visiting teachers? I even incorporated a lot of the ideas into discussions I was leading in elders' quorum trying to encourage a more open dialogue and welcoming atmosphere for people that think differently than the Mormon norm. I''ve started emphasizing that church policy/procedure ≠ church doctrine in all cases, and that Mormon cultural practice is another thing entirely. So there is plenty that the church can do to change culture and policy that would be more equitable toward women without any questions of doctrine. I do think that the way OW has gone about some things, including the appearance at the priesthood session of conference, have not been the right way to do it. I also think that Elder Oaks' talk in conference made long strides to answering some of the essential questions posed by OW, but left others utterly unaddressed.
As for excommunication, I will not say whether I agree or disagree with the decision, but that from what I have read, I do believe the local leaders went about the whole thing inappropriately. But in moving on, I hope we have learned that there absolutely has to be room to ask questions, and that simply 'closing ranks' will not bridge the divide.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
01 July 2014
03 July 2011
Thoughts on America
Today in church we sang America the Beautiful. The first verse came on autopilot, but then the second verse hit me a little bit. I thought of the pilgrims beating 'freedom' across the 'wilderness', and how grossly skewed that view is. But then came the line pleading "God mend thy every flaw." This is not a perfect country, and we do NOT have a spotless history, so we require God's forgiveness - as a nation.
America, confirm thy soul in self-control. In light of recent months, self-control, one of the lost American values, is direly needed. Not just regular citizens driving aggressively, or maxing out their credit cards on cheap consumer 'goods', but politicians and public figures acting selfishly, and them and us expecting them to get away with it.
America, confirm thy liberty in law. I won't go into it, but I have been severely disappointed with some of the Supreme Court rulings. There have been rulings that I wished had gone another way, or that I disagreed with. But there have been at least three rulings I can think of that I believe to be both morally and legally bad decisions. Law is about good governance, not politics and on-upping the next guy.
Our true heroes are those who more than self, their country love, and mercy more than life.
Will we see the day where all success is nobleness? Where we honor the people who are striving to be good people? I think that's what it means by God refining our gold. The success is not the gold, but nobleness, and every gain, divine. And that's why a true patriot will see beyond the years, and his dream will not be for political gain, fame, or fortune, but for the future and his posterity.
And in the end, as in the beginning, the blessing of God's grace on the land is brotherhood. Not elitism. Not partisanship. Not class division. Fellowship. E pluribus unum. One.
America, confirm thy soul in self-control. In light of recent months, self-control, one of the lost American values, is direly needed. Not just regular citizens driving aggressively, or maxing out their credit cards on cheap consumer 'goods', but politicians and public figures acting selfishly, and them and us expecting them to get away with it.
America, confirm thy liberty in law. I won't go into it, but I have been severely disappointed with some of the Supreme Court rulings. There have been rulings that I wished had gone another way, or that I disagreed with. But there have been at least three rulings I can think of that I believe to be both morally and legally bad decisions. Law is about good governance, not politics and on-upping the next guy.
Our true heroes are those who more than self, their country love, and mercy more than life.
Will we see the day where all success is nobleness? Where we honor the people who are striving to be good people? I think that's what it means by God refining our gold. The success is not the gold, but nobleness, and every gain, divine. And that's why a true patriot will see beyond the years, and his dream will not be for political gain, fame, or fortune, but for the future and his posterity.
And in the end, as in the beginning, the blessing of God's grace on the land is brotherhood. Not elitism. Not partisanship. Not class division. Fellowship. E pluribus unum. One.
America, the Beautiful - Katharine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
17 April 2011
Vexillology
Cool title, right? It is the scholarly study of flags. Just thought I'd share that.
Living in Albuquerque is cool. We are experiencing the city newly every day, since we're still in our first year. There are four seasons here: luminarias, wind, monsoon, and balloons. Many people know about the Balloon Fiesta and that Albuquerque is the hot air balloon capital of the world, in fact, I mentioned it here before. Apparently there is some kind of rare atmospheric condition referred to as the Albuquerque Box which creates a circular pattern of air currents that is ideal for ballooning. But it's not just once a year that you see balloons. We have seen balloons in every month but December and January. It is a simple joy, but it starts your day off right to see them flying along nearly every morning.
Not all is blissful, but sometimes the city is a little bizarre. This is the notorious pre-tax day weekend and I'm sure that you will see the people dancing on the corners in their statue of liberty costumes. In the brief time we were out and about on Saturday we saw a guy with gauges big enough to fit your hand through, a guy who looked like Jerry Garcia, and another guy who kept whacking a little inflatable person with his arrow sign. All dressed up like Lady Liberty. I'm glad I do my taxes at home!
If you are not new to my blog, then you will see a new addition. There is an "I'm a mormon" button. I have a confession: I am a mormon. I mentioned before how I had started a personal profile on mormon.org. I didn't actually finish doing that, but previous to this month's General Conference I was seriously considering it. What finally inspired me to finish was seeing a friend's blog. I followed the link from his mormon button to his personal profile, and remembered some really good times from BYU and sharing faith among almost everyone who surrounded me. Eventually the button will lead to my profile, but each of them has to be approved (thank goodness!). They probably are backed up from in increased traffic after Conference.
I was able to share my faith today also. I was subbing in the Gospel Doctrine class again, and the lesson was "Who is my Neighbour?". I started the class with having everyone stand and greet one another like in Catholic Mass and the exchanging of the kiss of peace. During my preparations I came across Mark 9:83-41 and thought that it would be appropriate to share. A big part of being a neighbor is reaching out to others of the Christian faith. We all believe in Christ, and though I made sure to emphasize my testimony of the Church and the Restoration, I think we need to take a step toward opening our minds and our hearts to those that share in a majority of what we believe. I almost didn't mention the scripture in the lesson since it didn't exactly fit, and we were short on time. But I did, and little did I know there was a Methodist man visiting with a friend sitting in the front row, and he mentioned to me afterward how welcoming it was to feel that. I really love being able to teach, and all the little old ladies make sure to grab me and thank me for the lesson. They also ask me if I'm Canadian, since I spelled neighbor with a '-our' on the board, and to mention that I remind them of the tailor from Fiddler on the Roof.
Living in Albuquerque is cool. We are experiencing the city newly every day, since we're still in our first year. There are four seasons here: luminarias, wind, monsoon, and balloons. Many people know about the Balloon Fiesta and that Albuquerque is the hot air balloon capital of the world, in fact, I mentioned it here before. Apparently there is some kind of rare atmospheric condition referred to as the Albuquerque Box which creates a circular pattern of air currents that is ideal for ballooning. But it's not just once a year that you see balloons. We have seen balloons in every month but December and January. It is a simple joy, but it starts your day off right to see them flying along nearly every morning.
Not all is blissful, but sometimes the city is a little bizarre. This is the notorious pre-tax day weekend and I'm sure that you will see the people dancing on the corners in their statue of liberty costumes. In the brief time we were out and about on Saturday we saw a guy with gauges big enough to fit your hand through, a guy who looked like Jerry Garcia, and another guy who kept whacking a little inflatable person with his arrow sign. All dressed up like Lady Liberty. I'm glad I do my taxes at home!
If you are not new to my blog, then you will see a new addition. There is an "I'm a mormon" button. I have a confession: I am a mormon. I mentioned before how I had started a personal profile on mormon.org. I didn't actually finish doing that, but previous to this month's General Conference I was seriously considering it. What finally inspired me to finish was seeing a friend's blog. I followed the link from his mormon button to his personal profile, and remembered some really good times from BYU and sharing faith among almost everyone who surrounded me. Eventually the button will lead to my profile, but each of them has to be approved (thank goodness!). They probably are backed up from in increased traffic after Conference.
I was able to share my faith today also. I was subbing in the Gospel Doctrine class again, and the lesson was "Who is my Neighbour?". I started the class with having everyone stand and greet one another like in Catholic Mass and the exchanging of the kiss of peace. During my preparations I came across Mark 9:83-41 and thought that it would be appropriate to share. A big part of being a neighbor is reaching out to others of the Christian faith. We all believe in Christ, and though I made sure to emphasize my testimony of the Church and the Restoration, I think we need to take a step toward opening our minds and our hearts to those that share in a majority of what we believe. I almost didn't mention the scripture in the lesson since it didn't exactly fit, and we were short on time. But I did, and little did I know there was a Methodist man visiting with a friend sitting in the front row, and he mentioned to me afterward how welcoming it was to feel that. I really love being able to teach, and all the little old ladies make sure to grab me and thank me for the lesson. They also ask me if I'm Canadian, since I spelled neighbor with a '-our' on the board, and to mention that I remind them of the tailor from Fiddler on the Roof.
30 January 2011
Thoughts of the day
I don't post regularly. I imagine that leads my readers to not read regularly. Or if you do, this will be a surprise. I suppose that there is also a notable trend that I often title my posts, in one form or another, saying that these are random thoughts. The following contents then prove to be paragraphical ramblings on disconnected topics that have been brewing for the previous weeks. Here's the thing, if I posted regularly, these would be just normal blog posts characteristic of most non-themed blogs, and not be 'random thoughts' strung to each other in the one post I am able to throw together when I have time. Therefore, if you do read my blog, consider my posts actually to be a number of entries that have been collected into one spot, and I will try not to always refer to my thoughts as random.
I have jury duty. For three weeks. One week down, two to go. I have to call in every day to see if I have to go in. Now, I am a very civic minded person. I teach kids about the virtues of our system, and I'm actually a little excited to serve. But seriously! I haven't had to go in yet, but I'm all stressed about it. I have to have two lesson plans in my head for each day, just in case I'm gone. I mean, I could just have them watch movies, but I feel uneasy about running my classroom that way.
I love having my students complain that something is hard. Most of the things aren't that hard, but do require thinking. I have the reputation at school as having a hard class. The reason that I love it when they complain is that it means that they are actually attempting, to some small degree, the task at hand. They are pushing their mental limits. And that's what I care about.
I like taking pictures. I also like the think that I'm good at it. But I am an amateur photographer and if I don't even have enough time to blog regularly, I don't get around to posting pictures online, geotagging, writing descriptions, and forget about recording light aperture or anything else. If I got more time, I would probably try to enhance some of the pictures with cropping, experimenting with b&w, boosting color tones or the drama of the shadows, etc. But since I never get around to that, I have developed in my mind that I am producing photographs just as they are captured by the camera, and that there's some kind of integrity in that. I suppose there is, but I also want the pictures to reflect the vibrance of the scene that is possible to my eye when I shot it.
There has got to be a very powerful rbST lobby out there. Consider this, on all dairy products that I can remember seeing in the past year they proclaim that they do not use milk from cows treated with rbST (some growth hormone). But then they also have to legally (I assume) disclaim that rbST has not been proven to be in any way negative. So, though no one is using it, the company is still making sure that everyone knows that even if they were, no one has proved that you'll start growing an extra set of ears.
A while ago I had some dreams that I wanted to share. One had a part where Glenn Beck and two other men had set themselves up as 'holy men' and were all dressed in white suites. He was actually an evil sorcerer, and was trying to capture my family (in the dream, I was not myself) and destroy us and the good that we had worked for. In another dream we were preparing for Mark's wedding. Mark had long (to just below the chin), white hair. It was pretty tight. The preparations included all of us being fitted for Victorian style clothes. The swords seemed fit the style.
My birthday was in November, and then there was Christmas. I really feel that I have not been grateful enough for the things that I received. And I was about to go through some of the things I've been given and thank the people that gave them to me, but I won't. That's tacky. So I will thank you more appropriately the next time we talk. But, in the meantime, know that I am very grateful and appreciate you very much.
I've been Sunday School President in the ward for about two months now. It's the first time I've been in leadership (besides the mission) since I was a youth. Today I taught a teacher improvement lesson, and I wanted to share a thought that I made central to my message. We are preparing for a testimony, not a test.
I have jury duty. For three weeks. One week down, two to go. I have to call in every day to see if I have to go in. Now, I am a very civic minded person. I teach kids about the virtues of our system, and I'm actually a little excited to serve. But seriously! I haven't had to go in yet, but I'm all stressed about it. I have to have two lesson plans in my head for each day, just in case I'm gone. I mean, I could just have them watch movies, but I feel uneasy about running my classroom that way.
I love having my students complain that something is hard. Most of the things aren't that hard, but do require thinking. I have the reputation at school as having a hard class. The reason that I love it when they complain is that it means that they are actually attempting, to some small degree, the task at hand. They are pushing their mental limits. And that's what I care about.
I like taking pictures. I also like the think that I'm good at it. But I am an amateur photographer and if I don't even have enough time to blog regularly, I don't get around to posting pictures online, geotagging, writing descriptions, and forget about recording light aperture or anything else. If I got more time, I would probably try to enhance some of the pictures with cropping, experimenting with b&w, boosting color tones or the drama of the shadows, etc. But since I never get around to that, I have developed in my mind that I am producing photographs just as they are captured by the camera, and that there's some kind of integrity in that. I suppose there is, but I also want the pictures to reflect the vibrance of the scene that is possible to my eye when I shot it.
There has got to be a very powerful rbST lobby out there. Consider this, on all dairy products that I can remember seeing in the past year they proclaim that they do not use milk from cows treated with rbST (some growth hormone). But then they also have to legally (I assume) disclaim that rbST has not been proven to be in any way negative. So, though no one is using it, the company is still making sure that everyone knows that even if they were, no one has proved that you'll start growing an extra set of ears.
A while ago I had some dreams that I wanted to share. One had a part where Glenn Beck and two other men had set themselves up as 'holy men' and were all dressed in white suites. He was actually an evil sorcerer, and was trying to capture my family (in the dream, I was not myself) and destroy us and the good that we had worked for. In another dream we were preparing for Mark's wedding. Mark had long (to just below the chin), white hair. It was pretty tight. The preparations included all of us being fitted for Victorian style clothes. The swords seemed fit the style.
My birthday was in November, and then there was Christmas. I really feel that I have not been grateful enough for the things that I received. And I was about to go through some of the things I've been given and thank the people that gave them to me, but I won't. That's tacky. So I will thank you more appropriately the next time we talk. But, in the meantime, know that I am very grateful and appreciate you very much.
I've been Sunday School President in the ward for about two months now. It's the first time I've been in leadership (besides the mission) since I was a youth. Today I taught a teacher improvement lesson, and I wanted to share a thought that I made central to my message. We are preparing for a testimony, not a test.
10 October 2010
3 things
First item up for discussion: social media and the gospel.
A few years back Elder Ballard invited us to use social media sources to share our testimonies. I thought, cool! The church has since started a YouTube channel, updated its site again with new directory profiles, created facebook pages, etc. And I was ok with it since I have often carried on gospel related chats with some friends who aren't members. But I felt pretty off when people started facebook fan pages of Christ. It's not that I'm not a fan, but it just seemed that "out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being" we should "avoid the too frequent use of his name". I am also a staunch supporter of only supporting official sources. As a missionary I campaigned against the use of the official church logo on t-shirts, and avoided commercial sources for materials such as Deseret Book. I am not a huge fan of facebook either, and I choose not to display a lot of personal information on there anyway. Broadcasting myself is not what I do, especially when it concerns something so sacred. I have, though, always been a supporter of mormon.org and the Church's banner ads that I've seen pop up on the web.
This led me to avoid things like the Mormon Channel or 'liking' many religiously themed messages of any of my friends online. But the week before Conference in Priesthood meeting we watched a couple of the Mormon Messages put out by the Church. I really, really liked them. They were not trite tidbits of Utah-Mormon culture, but genuine, Spirit-filled media spots. That prepared me to be receptive of the message given by Elder Nelson at the General Priesthood Meeting. So, I went on the web and started following the LDS Newsroom, and I am in the process of creating a public profile on mormon.org. When in discussions with students of an evangelical tradition from BIOLA a couple years ago, I admired how they talked so easily of their faith. I do have a testimony, and I don't want to over-bushel my light.
Second item: school
I started my first real teaching job in August. Last year I worked as an intern. I cannot say enough how much that has helped me. If I had only done regular student teaching I would have tanked. I'm not sure I would still be alive right now.
My school, La Academia de Esperanza is a charter school focused on helping students that have moderate to severe social and learning disabilities as well as serving a population that cannot successfully function in regular schools. Many of my students have parents who are or have been in jail, have been in jail themselves, have absentee parents, have a number of substance abuse issues, etc. I have a few students who were very concerned about being convicted of crimes as juveniles. I have another who has been pulled out from class a couple times to meet with her parole officer. I have a kid who wears a hoodie in class and hardly speaks. He's smart, but supremely unmotivated and uncooperative. I think I have about 5 kids who AREN"T pierced, most in some bizarre manner.
When leaving Orem JH, I told the principal that the most important thing I learned was that I could do it. I could teach. I could wrangle teenagers into some half-hazard submission. I could deal with self-centered coworkers that didn't support me. And it turns out that's mostly all I could have learned that would have served me here. I teach US and World History and Government and Economics. That's only two different classes. Apparently our goal is to graduate as many students as possible, which means that they need to fulfill credits. There is no end-of-course exam for social studies like there is for math, science, or reading. So they lump the students into US/World and US/NM history classes. I had a student that transferred from a US to a World history class, but she stayed in the same period. It's only dependent on what credit she needs to graduate. When I tried to wrap my head around it, I couldn't. What do I teach? There's no way I can teach the state core for both classes. I can't teach one half of the class one thing, and the other something else. It would be pure chaos. My Government/Economics class has 15 taking government and 3 taking econ. So, I just teach them history and civics. And as one of the other teachers told me, if they get repeated information, so be it. They need to know it. If they miss something, they won't know and it will be filed along with all the things that they forget even day to day, regardless of long-term retention.
I have issues with this. I know that colleges are have more and more trouble with incoming freshman that have to spend time remediating because they didn't learn it in high school. Getting an A with me is far easier than an A at a regular institution because I'm shooting at the median. How do I maintain higher standards? How do I maintain regular standards? I have some brilliant students, and some who are very motivated to learn. But so many of them have been gone more in the last month than I was through all of high school. And because the situations that have led them to be at our school are still affecting them, we must support them. Because that's what we do. We have to be the ones that care.
Third: Albuquerque
We live by the zoo. Like, not close enough that we can smell it, but at night you can hear the seals barking and the exotic birds having a go at each other. Every day we cross the Rio Grande. During the day the water looks like mud, and it's mostly all that's there. But in the mornings, the light hits the water so that it shimmers white. Kamila's grandma told me in a moment of clarity that her favorite part of Albuquerque was the river. I can see why.
I like the cold more than the heat. I was surprised when I lived in Arizona during a summer that the feat was even possible. But I love fall the most. All during the summer i could not get over the weirdness of the sun. It cannot possibly be 9:30, the sun is still up! And the winter is just as bad. It just doesn't seem natural for it to be so dark so much. But the fall just grooves with you. It's cool at night! The day ends when your activities are ending. As a teacher its when you've got things in order and the kids are finally used to being in school again. I love the fall.
This weekend we went to see the morning Balloon Launch at the International Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was one of the most spectacular sights ever. I don't think I enjoyed the experience of it as much as I could have since I was madly taking pictures, but I enjoyed it tremendously! If anyone visits Albuquerque only once it should be during the Balloon Fiesta. Every morning this last week there were balloons in the air. There's just a special wimzy in the air.
A few years back Elder Ballard invited us to use social media sources to share our testimonies. I thought, cool! The church has since started a YouTube channel, updated its site again with new directory profiles, created facebook pages, etc. And I was ok with it since I have often carried on gospel related chats with some friends who aren't members. But I felt pretty off when people started facebook fan pages of Christ. It's not that I'm not a fan, but it just seemed that "out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being" we should "avoid the too frequent use of his name". I am also a staunch supporter of only supporting official sources. As a missionary I campaigned against the use of the official church logo on t-shirts, and avoided commercial sources for materials such as Deseret Book. I am not a huge fan of facebook either, and I choose not to display a lot of personal information on there anyway. Broadcasting myself is not what I do, especially when it concerns something so sacred. I have, though, always been a supporter of mormon.org and the Church's banner ads that I've seen pop up on the web.
This led me to avoid things like the Mormon Channel or 'liking' many religiously themed messages of any of my friends online. But the week before Conference in Priesthood meeting we watched a couple of the Mormon Messages put out by the Church. I really, really liked them. They were not trite tidbits of Utah-Mormon culture, but genuine, Spirit-filled media spots. That prepared me to be receptive of the message given by Elder Nelson at the General Priesthood Meeting. So, I went on the web and started following the LDS Newsroom, and I am in the process of creating a public profile on mormon.org. When in discussions with students of an evangelical tradition from BIOLA a couple years ago, I admired how they talked so easily of their faith. I do have a testimony, and I don't want to over-bushel my light.
Second item: school
I started my first real teaching job in August. Last year I worked as an intern. I cannot say enough how much that has helped me. If I had only done regular student teaching I would have tanked. I'm not sure I would still be alive right now.
My school, La Academia de Esperanza is a charter school focused on helping students that have moderate to severe social and learning disabilities as well as serving a population that cannot successfully function in regular schools. Many of my students have parents who are or have been in jail, have been in jail themselves, have absentee parents, have a number of substance abuse issues, etc. I have a few students who were very concerned about being convicted of crimes as juveniles. I have another who has been pulled out from class a couple times to meet with her parole officer. I have a kid who wears a hoodie in class and hardly speaks. He's smart, but supremely unmotivated and uncooperative. I think I have about 5 kids who AREN"T pierced, most in some bizarre manner.
When leaving Orem JH, I told the principal that the most important thing I learned was that I could do it. I could teach. I could wrangle teenagers into some half-hazard submission. I could deal with self-centered coworkers that didn't support me. And it turns out that's mostly all I could have learned that would have served me here. I teach US and World History and Government and Economics. That's only two different classes. Apparently our goal is to graduate as many students as possible, which means that they need to fulfill credits. There is no end-of-course exam for social studies like there is for math, science, or reading. So they lump the students into US/World and US/NM history classes. I had a student that transferred from a US to a World history class, but she stayed in the same period. It's only dependent on what credit she needs to graduate. When I tried to wrap my head around it, I couldn't. What do I teach? There's no way I can teach the state core for both classes. I can't teach one half of the class one thing, and the other something else. It would be pure chaos. My Government/Economics class has 15 taking government and 3 taking econ. So, I just teach them history and civics. And as one of the other teachers told me, if they get repeated information, so be it. They need to know it. If they miss something, they won't know and it will be filed along with all the things that they forget even day to day, regardless of long-term retention.
I have issues with this. I know that colleges are have more and more trouble with incoming freshman that have to spend time remediating because they didn't learn it in high school. Getting an A with me is far easier than an A at a regular institution because I'm shooting at the median. How do I maintain higher standards? How do I maintain regular standards? I have some brilliant students, and some who are very motivated to learn. But so many of them have been gone more in the last month than I was through all of high school. And because the situations that have led them to be at our school are still affecting them, we must support them. Because that's what we do. We have to be the ones that care.
Third: Albuquerque
We live by the zoo. Like, not close enough that we can smell it, but at night you can hear the seals barking and the exotic birds having a go at each other. Every day we cross the Rio Grande. During the day the water looks like mud, and it's mostly all that's there. But in the mornings, the light hits the water so that it shimmers white. Kamila's grandma told me in a moment of clarity that her favorite part of Albuquerque was the river. I can see why.
I like the cold more than the heat. I was surprised when I lived in Arizona during a summer that the feat was even possible. But I love fall the most. All during the summer i could not get over the weirdness of the sun. It cannot possibly be 9:30, the sun is still up! And the winter is just as bad. It just doesn't seem natural for it to be so dark so much. But the fall just grooves with you. It's cool at night! The day ends when your activities are ending. As a teacher its when you've got things in order and the kids are finally used to being in school again. I love the fall.
This weekend we went to see the morning Balloon Launch at the International Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was one of the most spectacular sights ever. I don't think I enjoyed the experience of it as much as I could have since I was madly taking pictures, but I enjoyed it tremendously! If anyone visits Albuquerque only once it should be during the Balloon Fiesta. Every morning this last week there were balloons in the air. There's just a special wimzy in the air.
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