My Laundry. Seriously. This Is About My Laundry. But It's Huge!

So, its 11:20pm and I just put the boys to bed (the frustrated son has a frustrated friend over) after agreeing that I am not sure all animals require sleep (I swear I heard they do), but I am confident human children in middle school require shitloads of sleep. They agreed to go to sleep because I used the word "shitloads".

I was then able to deal with the laundry. I had to empty the dryer to get the stuff from washer into the dryer. The dryer was full of white stuff; there were socks, t-shirts, dish towels, a couple rags, you know, little stuff that you have to get piece by piece requiring you bend over, with your bad back, 10 maybe 20 times to get it all out. WELL NOT THIS TIME BABY!

I reached in and did the typical gathering motion in an attempt to achieve the greatest mass of clothing in one grab. I. Did. It. One fucking well done, finessed, practiced maneuver. It was film worthy.

Sorry. No film. You're just gonna have to take my word for it.

She's brilliant, and we dismiss her at our peril








Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.











(Visual note: Mount Rushmore. Stony. Severe.)



(Close up of the Liberty Bell.)

Thanks but no thanks on the Bridge to Nowhere.

Well, like Nixon, she lies.







She's brilliant, and we dismiss her at our peril.

What Can You Get For $300,000?

$300,000 buys ...







... enough money for three Troopergate investigations.

h/t vanity fair

They Look Pretty (rich)!

Laura Bush
Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
Stuart Weitzman heels: $325

Pearl stud earrings: $600–$1,500

Total: Between $3,425 and $4,325

Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500

Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000

Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000

Shoes, designer unknown: $600

Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

So, who's elite now, bitches?!

She Was Born In A Small Town Not Far From The Russian Border

There's an interesting article at The Washington Independent about conservative populism you ought to check out. Michael Kazin points to a nerve-wracking potential end to this election. Here is my favorite (the worst?) part:

The populist hero was born on a small farm not far from the Canadian border. As a boy, he scraped together money by raising chickens and managing a grocery store. He then worked his way through an unprestigious law school, and enlisted in the Marines to fight for his country.

My doctrine, the young Republican senator liked to say, “is Americanism with its sleeves rolled up.” Given his background, he said he identified with “real people” from rural areas and small towns “who are the heart and soul and soil of America.” He vowed to defend them against “the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouth” who were “selling this nation out.”

The senator regularly presented himself as a man of strong faith. “Today,” he declared in 1950, “we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between Communistic atheism and Christianity…the chips are down – they are truly down.” His name was Joseph R. McCarthy.

Debunking Palin

Let's do some debunking.

1. As Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin sold on eBay, for a profit, the Governor's jet. No, she listed it on eBay, and then someone else sold it for her, at a loss.

2. As Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin was against the Bridge to Nowhere. No, she was for it, took the money, and was then against it.

3. Sarah Palin is a mainstream Christian. No, she is a right-wingnut, believes the bible is literally true, and thinks her duty as Governor of Alaska is to do God's will.

4. Sarah Palin is a corrupt, smalltime, ignorant, smarmy, self-important, holier-than-thou, 44-year old grandmother-to-be who thinks living near Russia gives her foreign policy credentials. Yes. All true.

5. Sarah Palin was completely vetted. No, she wasn't.

Back To School Night

We had Back to School night Thursday. This is the night when I get to tell the parents of my students how I plan on running my classroom, what my expectations for their children--and them--will be, and answer questions.

My favorite part of my half-hour presentation (off the cuff, of course) is when I tell the parents I do not need them to volunteer in my classroom. I get some strange looks. Then I tell them it's because I was hired to do a job, and if I need their help, I should probably be fired so they can get a competent teacher in the classroom. Then I get even stranger looks. Then I remind them that they do not need me hanging out in their workplace, giving suggestions or volunteering. Then the looks turn to smiles, and the heads start to nod in agreement. It's my classroom (for now) and unless they have a problem with me, they should just let me run it the way I want (go ahead and tell me I'm wrong. But I'm not.)

I am serious about volunteers. The notion of volunteering has morphed into some meme that says "teachers can't do it alone. They need partners, and who better than the parents!", which is false. The partnership between families and schools is like the partnership between patients and doctors. Students (patients) follow the prescriptions of the teacher (doctor) in order to reach a desired goal. Yes, students (patients) must be actively engaged, but not engaged in doing my (or the doctor's) work; they need to be engaged in doing their work, like I am engaged in doing mine.

I find it insulting as a teacher, and scary as a parent, to think that teachers need parents to help. The only thing I need parents to do is raise their kids up right. If you want to donate a plant, or a refrigerator, or some field trip funds, great. Do it. You want to plan a Christmas party, no. This is a school, not your Christian living room.

So, I guess I tricked myself by posting the I Got Nuthin, cuz then I got the preceding!

I Got Nuthin

I am useless today (as opposed to other days). Got nothing but disgust for the election (go obama), rage against NCLB and how they are making my teaching less effective, and it is hot.

It's not that I have nothing to say, it' just that I got nuthin!


Republicans Don't Know What Walter Reed Hospital Even Looks Like!

Its true. That big mansion on the screen behind McCain last night? Walter Reed Jr. High in SoCal (I almost went there!).

Yep. The Republicans apparently wanted a picture of the hospital of the same name, but they left it to an intern, and they got the jr. high. You can't make this stuff up!

thanks c&l


Are you reading Mudflats? Well, if not, you should be. Go there now!

Republican National Convention: We Apologize

As far as I can tell from the speeches, the Republican Convention has been a self-repudiation of the last 8 years, an apology of sorts. And they want a do-over.


Sarah Palin's Hair

Just Google "Sarah Palin Pentecostal Hair"

Palin's Speech

She delivered her speech well. she did not write it. She barely understood it (phonetic spelling like "new-clear"). She put-down Obama and Biden (pompous bitch) who she's never met.

Oh, and the ovation she got before she started speaking? Did the audience know something about her we did not? What the hell was the ovation for? We were just meeting her!

Her pick is an insult. McCain is not a serious candidate. Yuck!

Gotta go teach. Lunch is over!

The DOW and Palin?

I am sure it is down 300 pts. because of something Obama did (not that Sarah Palin may become president).


Republicans Look Worried!!

By Alex Wong/Getty

Sam Harris Responds

Sam Harris sent me an email (you too?) yesterday telling me what I already knew about Palin. I appreciate the email from Sam because I agree with most of what he has written on religion, and he cracks me up. Well, he got some negative responses from this article.

So, here is his response:
Sam Harris: Sexist Pig and Liberal Shill

I've received more than the usual amount of criticism for my recent opinion piece on Sarah Palin, most of it alleging sexism and/or an unseemly infatuation with Barack Obama. For those who care, I'd like to briefly respond:

My alleged sexism: It is true that I used some hackneyed, gender-slanted language in the piece ("get sassy," "girl-next-door," etc.). This was deliberate. Clearly, I played this game at my peril. I can say that if Sarah Palin were a man of similar qualifications, I would have used equally slanted language to describe him. I might have called Mr. Palin a "frat-boy" or a "lumberjack." I would have invoked some silly macho phrasing like,"Watch Cousin Jim flip Putin the bird." My concern is not that Mrs. Palin is a woman. My concern is that she is a totally unqualified and poorly educated woman who was added to the Republican ticket as a token woman (and Creationist wacko). For what it's worth, the article was vetted by the two women closest to me (wife and mother) and by two female editors at the LA Times. If anything, the editing at the Times made the piece even more "sexist."

My alleged Obamamania: Many McCain supporters have written to say that (1) Obama is also unqualified (or even less qualified than Palin) and (2) I have shown myself to be a hypocrite by not objecting to Obama's religiosity. Briefly: My criticism of Palin should not be construed as uncritical acceptance of Obama. Needless to say, I find Obama's religious pandering repulsive. The suspicion that he is pandering, out of obvious necessity, and not quite as religious as he makes out, is somewhat comforting, however. But even if Obama were precisely as religious as he appears, he is not a Creationist, Rapture-Ready blockhead. Palin, by all appearances, seems to be one. This is a difference worth noting. Whatever you may think of his politics, Obama is very intelligent and reasonably well educated. Palin thinks the universe is 6000 years old. Unfortunately, I wrote my article before some of the most disturbing signs of her religious extremism came to light.

So, let me simply declare that I would be overjoyed to have a qualified woman in the White House. I would, likewise, be overjoyed to have a qualified African American in the White House. In fact, I would be overjoyed to have a qualified WASP man in the White House. I will be guardedly optimistic to have a very smart (and somewhat qualified) Barack Obama in the White House. And I would be frankly terrified to have a religious bumpkin like Sarah Palin in the White House. I think you should share this last conviction. Hence my latest opinion piece.


Alaska: A Different Country Altogether

Over at Lawyers, Guns and Money Davenoon has a great post about Alaska's self-identification. They are NOT America! Money quote:
But Alaska's unique geography and history have nourished a political culture that's clearly incomprehensible to most of the rest of the country, in part because it's premised on the deeply conflicted view that the rest of the country is a predatory force to whom we must, however, appeal for our own economic survival. The Alaskan Independence Party, obviously, tries to resolve the contradiction through the science fiction fantasy of Alaskan self-sufficiency -- a gesture that would make sense to your bog-standard adolescent or to men who sustain the market for inflatable fuck dolls, but should be laughable to everyone else.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Someday this will stop...
Paul's excellent piece on the President of Alaska hits on a few things that are worth keeping in mind, regardless of Palin's affiliation or non-affiliation with the AIP.

Culturally- and ideologically-speaking, there is a certain type of Anglo-Alaskan who regards the rest of the United States -- conventionally known, with a mixture of disdain and fear, as "Outside" or simply "South" -- as a foreign land to be held at arm's length. For social conservatives, Outside is a dangerous place, bloated with unwholesomeness; for libertarians, Outside is infested with bureaucrats and brownshirts who will confiscate your guns and fishing reels, tattoo your necks with barcodes, and swab your cheeks for DNA to be loaded into a database administered by the Federal Reserve, Illuminati, and the ZOG; and to populists (left and right), Outside is the Great Expropriator, the colonial overlord who permits non-Alaskan corporations to strip the mineral, timber, and piscine frontiers without fairly compensating those who live here.

It's a bizarre stew, and its not altogether unlike the right-leaning counter-cultural chafing we might find anywhere in the trans-Mississippi West. But Alaska's unique geography and history have nourished a political culture that's clearly incomprehensible to most of the rest of the country, in part because it's premised on the deeply conflicted view that the rest of the country is a predatory force to whom we must, however, appeal for our own economic survival. The Alaskan Independence Party, obviously, tries to resolve the contradiction through the science fiction fantasy of Alaskan self-sufficiency -- a gesture that would make sense to your bog-standard adolescent or to men who sustain the market for inflatable fuck dolls, but should be laughable to everyone else.

Other political figures -- Ted Stevens and Don Young being the most emblematic -- recognize and revel in the arrangement, justifying our dependence on federal largesse by insisting that Alaska's politically youthful status entitles us to virtually endless developmental aid. Never having been in a state whose favorite son or daughter has been recruited onto the presidential ticket, I obviously have no basis for comparison. But since Palin's nomination last week, her Alaskan supporters have been positively obsessed with the question of "How will this benefit Alaska?" Some have offered the inane rationale that an Alaskan in the White House will bring "respect" to the state. Others, realizing that both Don Young and Ted Stevens face possible defeat in November, are simply expecting that Vice President Palin would be able to keep the budgetary arteries open. No one, however, is making the case that a Palin Vice Presidency would be good for the United States, because that's an argument that would be more or less alien to mainstream Alaskan politics. Even advocates of accelerated drilling know that it's a ruse. More oil from Alaska will do nothing to drive down gas prices for the rest of the country, nor will it provide the United State with "energy independence." It would, however, amount to a massive public works program for Alaska and will provide new sources of revenue for state government. And as an added bonus, it will remind the polar bears who is the boss of whom.

Now obviously, local and state institutions are provincial by their very nature; and obviously, local and state politics are interdependent with larger governmental structures, national and international in scope. But it's safe to say that the circumstances of Alaskan politics are not conducive to the emergence of a broader national vision -- the sort of thing you'd expect from, say, a person nominated as the vice presidential candidate of a major party. Truth be told, I actually don't believe that Sarah Palin identifies with the extreme views of the Alaskan Independence Party, for the simple reason that her political career indicates that, all maverick pretensions aside, she seems perfectly comfortable with Alaska's permanent, remoral attachment to the rest of the nation. In this way, she's a pretty conventional Alaska Republican; if you happen to think this makes her an acceptable candidate for vice president, you're being played for a sucker.

Posted by davenoon at 12:02 PM


Vetting, By Robert Reich








Academic Language: Good Idea.

I've gone off on Lucy Calkins, and for good reasons, not the least of which was the use of euphemisms instead of real academic language. I was taught (a shout out to my Teacher Education Program, whatever the hell it was) to use academic language with kids. I use it for a simple reason: If I must teach them a term for something, why not the accepted term? It has always seemed to me that we users of language ought to say what we mean, and use the most precise language we can to get our meaning across. We (I) may not always be successful, but we ought to shoot for precision and simplicity. Agreed? Good.

So, today the 2nd grade had a literacy meeting.

We were introduced to a new, comprehensive, state of the art (copyright 2002) spelling curriculum. The main goal was to use.....wait for it......here.......it........comes.........academic language! Yes, be explicit and use correct terminology, and you should start with the short vowels, moving towards the harder stuff like silent "e"s and stuff.

Can you believe it? I don't make this stuff up, and I am not dumbing it down. People spend hours, days, probably weeks and months thinking up evaluations teachers can do with students to see where their "weak" spot is. Is it dipthongs? Blends? Letter combinations (?)? Of course! It's all of those things. They don't even start to teach kids to read until 7 years old in Finland! Because kids, humans, are wired for language, and are ready to recieve it at about 7.

We can teach kindergartners to decode, and I say we should, since we can. But up until 2nd grade, these fundamentals are really all we need to focus on, and most kids start to get them right around 2nd grade.

If taught the fundamentals, and with practice, most kids get it, just at different rates, and with different degrees of success. Degrees of success are begun, affected, and influenced after the fundamentals are sound. If the fundamentals are the problem, then I say, you start to heavily anylize what kinds of mistakes the student is making; because only then--and I am talking about 2nd grade--is there a problem.

This overanalysis of student progress does not inform my instruction. Indeed, it impairs it. If I must now use a method and system that replicates what I already do, I will be forced to divert my attention from teaching to learning the new system. To what end? To the end that the district will have more data on MY TEACHING! It is not for the kids. Trust me. It is for me. Is that what you want? Or would you rather i do what I have been doing, which is what they are now advocating, like I said they always do (in that Lucy Calkins link above).








John McCain = Caligula

Richard Cohen puts it very nicely in this money quote:
Republicans Rush In
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, September 2, 2008; A15











Be Judgmental! It's Human!




Palin, Pregnancy, and......WHAT?

So the ugly rumors surrounding the birth of her son seem to be settled with these photos:

But now we find out that Ms. Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant, and mom's stance on abortion would not allow her daughter to get an abortion even if she was raped!


Kinsley On The Whole Palin Thing

As usual, Mike Kinsley nails it. Palin's inexperience says an awful lot about McCain. Money quote:
No Experience NecessaryHow Sarah Palin made the GOP change its mind about presidential qualifications.
By Michael Kinsley
Posted Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008, at 10:36 AM ET



It seems like just yesterday that the Republican Party was complaining about Barack Obama's lack of foreign-policy "experience." As a matter of fact, as I write (on Friday, Aug. 29) it actually was just yesterday. Even now, the Republican National Committee's main anti-Obama website has the witty address www.notready08.com. The contrast in experience, especially foreign-policy experience, between McCain and Obama was supposed to be the central focus of McCain's campaign.

But that's so five minutes ago, before Sarah Palin. Already, conservative pundits are coming up with creative explanations for McCain's choice of a vice presidential running mate with essentially no foreign policy experience. First prize so far goes to Michael Barone, who notes on the U.S. News & World Report blog that, "Alaska is the only state with a border with Russia. And it is the only state with territory, in the Aleutian Islands, occupied by the enemy in World War II." I think we need to know what Sarah Palin has done, in her year and change as governor of Alaska, to protect the freedom of the Aleutian Islands, before deciding how many foreign policy experience credits she deserves on their account.

The official response to the question of experience emerged within hours and is only slightly more plausible: She may not have foreign policy experience, but -unlike Obama, Joe Biden or even John McCain-she has had executive experience. Why, before her stint as governor of Alaska, population 670,000, she was mayor of a town of 9,000. Remember when the Republicans mocked Bill Clinton for being governor of a "small state"? That would be Arkansas, population 2.8 million. As it happens, 670,000 is the population of metropolitan Little Rock.





Another Prediction: This One About Palin

Mark my words: Sarah Palin will not make it to the convention, and will be off the ticket. Too many controversies surrounding her. The Republican convention could end up looking like what everyone thought the Democratic convention was gonna end up looking like!

Got Hope?

Update: Looks like this prediction is going down in flames.

The Faster You Go, The Slower You Get

It's long (1 hour), but, as the title of this post suggests, you ought to slow down, and watch it. David Levy talks at the Google campus about "No Time To Think".

I think this notion of slowing down so we can think has serious implications in education. I'm going to have to revisit this. I am posting as I watch it.

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