She Keeps On, Keeping On

Back in February I mentioned an adored friend started her battle against breast cancer. Last week she finished her final session of chemotherapy.

In between chemo sessions there were moments that she was herself, and a couple of days after she took to bed, which was soooo not herself.

She shared how the chemo triggered her senses. She tasted metal in her mouth and her pee smelled chemically. She also talked about the pain, and that she hated pain killers, because it robbed her of a day from being out and about. If you know her, you would know she likes to be out and about. Many a brunches with her were cancelled

I gagged. I then got over myself. I gave love, humor, tempered the sharing of my own drama, and always left her with encouraging words.

She gave me back her love, humor and tempered it with an honesty about what she was going through. Most women know how to do that because, as Renee said once, they have vaginas and are not scared of the details. A lot of men shut down and become boys when facing drama.

My dear friend rocked some fab wigs while experiencing chemo. My favorite was this asymetrical bob with purple highlights on the tips. She gave you Latina Jem and I hope I was her hologram. She is truly outrageous.

I kinda battled with past, present and future tense in writing this post. Perhaps my confusion is connected to my thoughts about whether her fight is finally won. She will win. She is winning. She has won.

She is here!

So, fuck the tenses, because I know you knew that I meant we are in the knowing while in the now.

The Ying and Yang of Teaching: 4

Okay, so everyone is in an uproar about the state of Texas voting to alter the content of what is taught in the social studies and history courses in primary schools. The changes lean towards a conservative view and "emphasizes the roles of capitalist enterprise, the military, Christianity and modern Republican political figures." It will also diminish content regarding slavery, the historical role of unions in labor, etc. etc.

Let me share this, about that:

- Curriculum content and how it is taught is always changing. The dynamic that influences these changes is political, and a reflection of the attitudes of the times people are living in and the holders of power in their community.

- It is often just a handful of folks that are holding the final say in their hands when it comes to making curriculum content decisions. Therefore, if you care, find out what your local and state boards of education are doing and get involved.

- Every state provides the curriculum for public schools online. Google your state's curriculum standards and take a look at what is being taught. Hey, as a tax payer you are paying for it, see if it meets your standards.

- I'm glad people are making a stink about all of this, because, we all need to be mindful about what is being taught to children in school, regardless if we are parenting school-age children. Are we creating cogs for the machine, or compassionate human beings?

- I have found most social studies and history books to always be somewhat biased and flawed. I have looked at many of the textbooks we use in these courses. The content of many textbooks render the history and contributions of the Latino and the GLBT communities invisible, marginalized, or summarized into paragraphs.

- Most teachers are very aware of the shortcomings of curriculum and textbook content and will often supplement their lessons with additional materials. Also, many teachers will incorporate lessons and activities that engage students in critical thinking, and further inquiry. I know I do.

- This attitude about either - or, Us vs. Them, has no place in education. What is suppose to occur is that all sides and views are presented, and you engage a young mind with the task of sorting it all out, so that they can find their own evolving truths.

Meditate on this:

“the subject-matter of education consists of bodies of information and of skills that have been worked out in the past; therefore, the chief business of the school is to transmit them to the new generation...in essence, one of imposition.” — John Dewey

"Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their own decision making is to change them into objects."
— Paulo Freire

Big People vs. Little People (Revised)

The little 8-9 year-old girls in that viral video of them dancing to Beyonce's "Put A Ring On It" are the victims of their parents' neglect. It was child pornography, with a beat that can distract you from the fact that some adults made a bad call. Little girls should not gyrate on stage. Period!

This was my teacher/colonialized voice talking. As a child I recall the adults around us loving to see us dance Salsa and Disco. They loved to see the yungins replicate the adult world in terms of physical and verbal expression.

I remember a female cousin and I were very Dance Fever. I would swoop her up and she would do the pique ballet position as I spun her around. Ya know the move, one leg fully extended out while the other bent to the knee of the extended leg. I have pictures to prove it. I was eight-years old and she was five-years old.

The difference between our performance and that of the girls in the video is that it occurred in the safe-space consisting of our relatives. Also, we were both fully dressed. However, I'm sure the songs we danced to where lyrically meant for the adults.

I recall Donna Summer moaning a lot. I'm pretty certain that my cousin and I had no idea what the song was about, but we knew it had a good beat and we could work it.

The parents of the girls in the video make the case that people are reading too much into it. I don't doubt that. However, I do believe that for some of the girls it was just dancing, and for others it was a message about how grown women are suppose to "move" in the world.

It's all very complex, often confusing how and what we teach the yungins, therefore, thoughtfullness is the key. Let's give the children what they can handle emotionally. Don't ask Tootie to make love to the camera, when she has never been kissed by a boy.

It is important to protect children while still letting them figure out their way in the world.

At the end of the day, you plan for what doesn't hit you, and get hit with what you don't plan for.

May I get an amen!?

Happy Mother's Day

Guerrero Rojo To The Rescue

So, as I am walking to the store today, I see a stray dog roaming the streets. It is a hefty pit bull mix. I stop in my tracks to access the situation. The dog comes up to me wagging his tail. I put my hand out and he is friendly.

He then walks up to a house and starts to whimper. I put him in the backyard and knock on the door. A woman comes out startled and I say "I just let a dog into your yard. Does he belong to you?" She tells me no and looks afraid, and asks me to let him out. I then call the cops and keep the dog by my side to keep him from running into the a two lane street.

The cop pulls up a few minutes later and I tell him what is going on. At this point a few folks in the neighborhood gather around. The cops gets on the radio and speaks to his Sergent and is told, I'm not making this up, "Let the dog roam around." I say to the cop, "That is not a solution. What if this dog gets hit by a car, or causes a car accident, or attacks someone walking their dog, etc. etc." The cop says "I understand, but our K-9 unit doesn't work on weekends and we don't have a kennel at the station." He then drives off!

So, I put the dog into a fenced off yard and call the animal shelter, and the police again to say where the dog is at. I leave disgusted with humanity.

I head to the store to buy the dog some food and water, and as I walk back, two guys that were at the scene are talking to a third guy. We begin talking about the absurd non-solution offered by the cops, and the new guy in the picture says, I'm not making this up, "Hey, I know the guy who runs the K-9 unit, let me call him and get him to pick up the dog." I head back to the dog happy.

As I approach the house, I see two guys out front with a car parked. They and the car were not there before. I ask them "Do you live here?" They say, "Yes." I then head over and explain the situation. They were very cool about it, and I offer them the bag of food and water for the dog, and one of the guys says, "My mother lives up the road, and she has a dog. She'll come over later and give the dog some food and water." My faith in humanity is restored.

I then come home and stand tall with my feet apart, chest high and clenched hands at my waist, while my cape billows in the wind. Guerro Rojo saves the day yet again!

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

A. What possessed me to get cozy with a pit bull mix! It could've been ugly.
B. I wonder if some of the folks thought it was my dog and I was abandoning it.
C. Yup, this is how my mind works.

A Worker Bee-Weekend

I've been a busy bee this weekend. I was able to summon the energy to get a couple of important things done. Among the task accomplished included:

- Submitting the image above to the NYT's photojournalism project called A Moment in Time. The concept is for thousands of people to send in an image they captured on camera on the same day, at the same time. The Times will then create an "international mosaic" of all of the images.

I felt it was my duty to make sure Gino was going to be included. So, there he is on the back porch getting ready to head out and explore the world one sniff at a time.

- Gino kept watch over me as I hanged the laundry. I did all of the intimate apparel and my work drag. I love it when I go into the work week with fresh clean clothes and downy soft delicates.

- I finally tamed the beast. My kitchen was a hot mess for far too long. I summoned my inner-Alice, and you can now eat off the floor. However, that won't be necessary, I also scrubbed down the mountain of dishes in the sink. It took longer then it needed to, because I kept admiring my reflection on the squeaky clean dinner plates.

- I bought journal books for my boys at school. When I'm through with them they are going to be writers! The books are cool. They have Spiderman on the cover, with a lock and key. You gotta have a gimmick to reel them in.

The Ying and Yang of Teaching: 3

Good people, the universe has placed me in a new school. I am now working in a K-8 school, and will be there the rest of the year, and the following school year. I am back among the K-8 crowd. It looks like my high school teaching days are on pause; for now. As a special ed teacher you are sent where you are needed.

So, after a few weeks of working with the the younger-yungins, this is what my new journey is providing me:

- I'm the new toy in the school, therefore, the students are fascinated with me. I get curious looks and smiles. Moreover, the friends of students assigned to me, want to come to accompany my students to the resource room and/or have lunch with me.

- Occasionally I accommodate my students' requests to bring a friend to resource room, because building a relationship with my students, will be key in getting them to do their work. Just today when my group was a bit rowdy, my student said to the group "Hey! Listen to Mr. S. He's nice!"

- I decided to call my resource room The Dragon's Lair. I had one of my eight-graders draw a dragon, to serve as mascot for the room. She turned it out! I'll explain the dragon concept in a future post.

- In high school I gave many pats on the back for a job well done. Today I find myself giving many pats on the head for a job well done, due to the fact that I am surrounded by students that are rib-cage high. For the girls I bow and say "Well done little mama." Both acts of praise renders a smile. How adorable!

- Many of my students live in a housing project that is known as The Jungle. I kid you not. This community is living with many social ills. Therefore, our students come into school with all kinds of needs, strengths, insights, and emotions, that are shaped by their experiences of living within poverty. Their reality is very much like the one I grew up in. I am them and they are me.

So, I continue to teach my students and learn from them. Good people, I'm living within my purpose.

I'm Just A Jazz Baby

I done messed up on you good people. When I recently posted about the film Thoroughly Modern Millie I should have done my homework and provided you a clip from the movie via youtube. Here I am making amends.

Rent the film and enjoy the kiki. BTW, I so want to host a party and wear Ms. Channing's outfit and act out as she did so brilliantly. Moreover, Isaac Mizrahi mentioned her bejeweled wrists as a fashion option during one of his shows. Take note locas!

A Boy, A Horse and A Monkey

I wonder if I can still get tickets to Leslie Jordan's show. Here is one of the gems of a story he shared:

Thank you Musto for the post.

Pixieish Leslie Jordan (who was Beverly Leslie on Will & Grace) has a one-man off-Broadway show in which he talks about the horror of doing a sake commercial with Boy George in the Mojave desert.

Jordan says he was outfitted with all kinds of suffocating prosthetics, lenses, and wigs in order to play a monkey who accompanies the pop singer (riding on a white horse) through the desert.

Jordan grew tired of waiting for George to emerge out of his air conditoned trailer, from which all kinds of interesting snorting sounds were coming.

The singer finally came out and ended up getting into a snit fight with the director because he didn't want to get on the horse.

The director advised the '80s star to be a good fairy.

"I AM a good fairy," countered George. "Poof. You're a pile of shit!"

Jordan, meanwhile, was going nuts from the sand blowing at him and landing under his lenses and prosthetics.

He told George he could only do one more take, so the singer instructed him of the Japanese phrase to shout at the crew to inform them of that.

Jordan obediently did so, and it turned out he had shouted "How big is your dick?"

Not sure how big Boy George's is, but the balls are definitely large.

Source: Michael Musto's Daily Blog

OMG Austin Has Become A Dandy Andy

Yah remember Austin Scarlett from season one of Project Runway? Good people, I would often see this queen strutting about The Village when I worked at NYU a few years back.

She was rail thin and bouncy. I enjoyed watching Miss Scarlett, enjoy being watched, while she savored her new life in NYC.

Lo and behold, here is Miss. Scarlett doing her thing today. I wonder if she is still designing, or has she settled into a kept life provided by a sugar daddy she met at The Townhouse.

As God as my witness may she never go hungry again.

BTW the kiki of this post is the link to The Townhouse.



Source: Blogging Project Runway

They Better Bring It! - Update

I am so ready for the season finale of Project Runway tonight! I'm torn between Emilio and Seth Aaron. I think they are both very talented and mad cute. I even enjoy Emilio's lisp.

BTW, as we all know Jay and Anthony were chopped, however, they did show at Fashion Week!

Click here for Jay.

Click here for Anthony.

I think they both turned it out and could have easily been contenders at Fashion Week.

UPDATE: I'm cool with the outcome. I totally agree with the reasoning. I also have to say what Jay said in the reunion show about one of the models was totally tacky. Eww!

Helvetica

I just saw a very interesting episode of Independent Lens on PBS about the font Helvetica. Look for it.

Who knew a font had such a history. Moreover, how this font has had such an impact, possibly, on how we think about things.

BTW, head over to Aaron's blog for a kiki about the use of fonts. I suggest you click on the image on his blog to get the full picture.

To Get You Going On Monday

This is Off-Time written by the legendary Fats Waller and Harry Link. This version is from the amazing production of Ain't Misbehavin' that starred the late great Nell Carter.

There is a full video of the entire show that you must look for. It was a great show. I actually listen to this soundtrack to put me in a good mood, and it never fails.

The Ying and Yang of Teaching: 2

Recently, Renee (the blogger formerly known as Miss Kitty), posted about the pending graduations of two of her nephews. I offered my congratulations. However, I also shared that far too often young men of color don't make it to graduation.

There many reasons why so many young people disengage from their K-12 education. Here is my first attempt at shedding some light on what I think ails the public education system.:

- First and foremost it starts with the attitude the family has about education. If doing your best in school does not hold value within a student's parents, chances are that child will not engage and/or give up when content becomes challenging. I can't stress enough how important it is for a parent to check to see if homework was completed, and offer assistance the best way they know how. Sadly, this rarely happens with many of my students at home. The message sent by this lack of involvement from the parents is not a good one.

- As a special education teacher, I customize my lessons around the interests of my students. If you engage a child in reading content that matters to them it makes a big difference. If you structure a math lesson around real-world applications, you have a fighting chance. While I know there will be some courses and content that won't resonate with students, we should make attempts to offer something that will motivate students, because it matters to them.

So, consistent parental involvement and engaging content that is reflective of a student's interests is a step in the right direction. Mind you I know many educators that have been fighting the good fight to support these ideas for quite sometime. Along with them I stay committed to using this approach to improving my students formal education experience.

A Queen Waves And Touches Pearls

I so enjoy Leslie Jordan (aka Beverly Leslie from Will & Grace). This queen is a scene stealer and has a very interesting story to tell.

Michael Musto interviewed Lesile, and I enjoyed every line of text.

She is quick witted, had her shares of trials and tribulations, while keeping the lovely sex worker boys in business through her philanthropy. Click here for the kiki of it all.

Just A Thought

Isn't it awesome to have an appreciation for life's lessons learned? It especially rocks when you see how using wisdom enables you to truly shine and love the skin you are in.

Now, I need to summon this good feeling into motivation to get this house in order. It's a mess up in here!

Gandhi's Seven Deadly Sins

Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in modern social and political activism, considered these traits to be the most spiritually perilous to humanity.

- Wealth without Work
- Pleasure without Conscience
- Science without Humanity
- Knowledge without Character
- Politics without Principle
- Commerce without Morality
- Worship without Sacrifice

Source: Gandhi's Seven Deadly Sins

Forty-Deuce

I turned 42 today! I was rather low-key about this milestone. My 40th birthday was more of a celebration. I'll save the next extravaganza when I embark on my 45th year on this earth. As I reflect on moving further into mid-life, here are some thoughts:

- I actually truly feel cute! I made peace with my lips, my tits, my body and my hips. I am grateful to accept myself in a way that allows me to navigate, with self-love, the moments of feeling the ups and downs of seeing yourself.

- I am extremely grateful that I have developed a relationships with my nearest and dearest where I brave being honest about myself . I show them the madness and they have returned love with no judgement. In this honesty we have found many moments when we say to each other "you too!"

- I'm still excited about experiencing that loving someone allows learning from seeing that person raw and real and smiling about the gift you are given. The gift of seeing realness gives me a connection to that person, and the ability to understand my own life-journey.

The Ying and Yang of Teaching: 1

For the past several weeks, I've been working at a new high school. It's a very different environment from the high school I've been at during the past four years. This school is very small, and has a rather relaxed attitude towards managing the student body.

What remains the same is that I still get immediately invested in seeing my students do well. There is also a wide-range of academic ability and interest among the students.

There are four students that I absolutely enjoy working with, because they are in a headspace that makes them available for learning.

Today, I had to spend the entire school day with one student that has written off the whole learning thing. In fact, when we first met in January, and I brought class assignments, he looked at me with a smirk and said, "Didn't they tell you that I don't do work?" To which I said, "Oh really, well that's not going to work with me."

He has been fighting me all along, and it's been a struggle. Today, while he was confined to one room, due to an in-school suspension, I made that boy work. He showed a level of ability and potential. I acknowledged this to him and encouraged him to keep trying to get back into his studies.

The fantasy in my head is that our day together will become a turning point for him. Then, I snapped myself out of Oprah mode, and realized I need to be ready to see him roaming the hallways and cutting class on Monday.

What I do know for sure, is that when I see him I will urge him to go to class, and I will always have a stack of class assignments ready to engage his mind. I will not be another adult that threw their hands up in surrender when it came to him.

A Snow Day with Millie

Okay, so I am going to reveal, yet once again, my inner-nerd. I was fortunate to have yet another Snow Day. So I took care of some minor plumbing issues with the help of a handy-dandy man, ordered Chinese food, and getting ready to watch one of my favorite films on TCM.

Believe it or not folks, I really get a kick out of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Here is why:

-It's silly
-Has classic songs such as Baby Face
-I love Carol Channing as Muzzy. Raaaspberry!
-An elevator that you have to dance in so it can move.

It's not a pc film, the plot involves Asians selling white women into slavery. I am also aware of the fact there is corn all over the place. However, it makes this bitch happy. Damn! Too bad I didn't get some Tapioca pudding to finish my dinner