Review of "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Michael Shaara won the Pulitzer for this book and justifiably so. This book examines the battle of Gettysburg from several points of view including General Lee, Longstreet, Armistead and Buford. Of most interest to me were the sections that focused on the character and actions of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the university professor turned citizen-soldier, whose heroic actions during the fight for Little Round Top saved the Union army and, quite possibly, the war itself.

Shaara's prose is highly imagistic. Pickett's charge, which was the final act in the Southern defeat, gets this description. "And then the first shell struck near him, percussion, killing a mass of men to his right rear, his own men, and from then on the shells came down increasingly, as the first fat drops of an advancing storm, but it was not truly bad. Close it up, close it up. Gaps in front, the newly dead, pile of red meant. One man down holding his stomach, blood pouring out of him like a butchered pig, young face, only a boy, a man beding over him trying to help, a sergeant screaming, 'Damn it, I said close it up.'"

What I also got from this historical novel were the various attitudes towards war in general and the Civil War in particular. Longstreet knew that the tactics were wrong and the final charge hopeless. Lee simply wanted to do right by his men and his "country" meaning Virginia. Chamberlain believed that the war was something new, people willing to fight and die for an idea, that all people should be free. Of all the characters he comes through with his ideals entact. Though he recognizes the tragedy of what is happening to the nation he loves.

Shaara's title reflects the paradox that was the Civil War. He ends the book with a quote from Winston Churchill's "A History of the English Speaking People" that calls the war the "least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts. . . ." The irrepressible conflict settled the great unsettled question of the American Revolution: do we truly mean it when we say that all humans are by nature equal and therefore equally deserving of liberty and dignity. Men like Chamberlain helped to insure that the answer was "yes".



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My Review of "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fascinating and balanced account of America's greatest chess master.

Two things are undeniable about Bobby Fischer: 1) He is the greatest American chess player of all time, perhaps the greatest anywhere, though I cannot state that categorically. 2) He was a deeply self-centered man who believe that his genius gave him entitlement to say and do whatever he pleased. This book explores both aspects of Fischer. And while it becomes at times too apologetic for his egotistical, paranoid, self-destructive behavior, Frank Brady pulls no punches in describing Fischer's dark side while acknowledging Fischer's genius.

What to make of Bobby Fischer? As some have pointed out, we regularly overlook the negative sides of many fellow geniuses to enjoy what they have produced. I enjoy the music of imperfect me like Beethoven and Wagner. I appreciate the art of Paul Gaughan knowing how he exploited women. I enjoy the movies Eliz Kazan while deploring his betrayals before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Do I put Fischer in this group of people who were great artists, but flawed humans? Yes and no.

Yes, I do believe that Fischer was a genius who produced the type of beauty Marcel Duchamp saw in chess, but I believe that Fischer's ability to play a game does not entitle him to anything but condemnation for his insenstivity to other people, his persecution complex, and his ungracious behavior to any who displeased him in the slightest.

I read one time that, "while gratitude may be the humblest of virtues, ingratitude is certainly one of the worst of all vices." I believe that Fischer's worst vice was that he could not see past his own, largely imagined hurts and attacks.

For me, this taints Fischer's remarkable accomplishments on the board.

And even though he was a great genius at it, he still was playing a board game. Would I seek to mitigate this behavior in someone who played checkers, parcheesi, or mahjong? I would not, and I cannot forgive Fischer for believing that his ability to play a game played by young children made him any better or any more entilted that the rest of us.



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Schools Matter: Michelle Rhee Is Now Lying About Other People's Te...

Michelle Rhee, late of the Washington, DC school district, has every right to her own opinion; however, she has no right to her own facts.

Schools Matter: Michelle Rhee Is Now Lying About Other People's Te...: "The corporate education reporters have been working overtime to downplay Rhee's big lie that she has been repeating for years about the mira..."

Reading The Last Stand

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn by Nathaniel Philbrick




Very complete account of the major players in the diaster of the Little Big Horn fight and the tragic events that followed Custer's defeat. My wife and I visted the battle site on the anniversary of the battle and witnessed a Native American ceremony dedicating a new memorial to the Indians who fought in the battle.



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Camp Meeting

In English class today, we read "Salvation" by Langston Hughes. I gave the students the assignment of writing a short account of a time when someone had expectations of them, and how they responded to those expectations. One of my students challenged me to write a similar account of my own. Here is my effort.

I remember Camp Arrowhead as being one of the hottest places on earth. Located on the banks of the Brazos River in North Texas, the camp always seemed to feature 100 degree temperatures with 100 percent humidity during the months of June, July and August when I went to summer camp with my friends and camp meeting with my family during my father's pastorates in Texas. It was during one such camp meeting, in either in the summer of 67 or 68 that my life began to take a definite slow turn much like the turns taken by the lazy Brazos.

"Camp Meeting" in those days was a combination of camping and twice daily evangelical church services. Our family would pile into the family Chevy station wagon and drive over the camp site where we would sit up the big cloth tent. During the day there would be morning worship and Bible study. In the evening there was a revival service in the camp's large, screened-in tabernacle. This might not seem like much fun to most, but I remember it all quite fondly as a time to enjoy some family time and the chance to run around with the kids who were there.

This particular camp meeting featured two evangelists whose style of preaching could not have contrasted more. Since both are still with us, as of this writing, I will call one Rev. City and the other Rev. Country.

Rev. City's background came from the urban streets of Chicago. He had been "saved" from a life of crime and grime, and his manner and speech reflected his tough background. Rev. City always seemed to be in your face, challenging you to dare deny his message. In my memory, he boxed during his sermon as if he and the devil were fighting it out all during the sermon.

Rev. Country was a prime example of the grand Southern tradition. His eyes seemed to be continually cast heavenward. His gestures were broad and open, arms flung out as if he was trying either to fly to heaven or grab it down for our sake. His accent dripped honey, his round phrases called forth magnolia scented nights and Spanish moss accented days.

The two men were clearly in competition with each other. Night after night each sought to outdo the other through the reaction that he got from those attending the camp and those who drove in from the surrounding community. Rev. City told tales of lives saved from drugs and gangs. Rev. County countered with lives saved from bootlegging and juke joints. Rev. City scorned churches that "watered down the one true gospel." Rev. Country mocked university professors who "might acknowledge Jesus was a good man", but did not accept the blood atonement. Each night, the crowds attending went away marveling and praising God, and God's anointed minister.

Everything came to a head Saturday night. It was Rev. Country's turn to preach. The day's heat had hardly abated that night. Sweat hung on me like a wet second skin. The only air movement came from the hundreds of paper fans and programs the congregation waved back and forth in front of their faces. The choir sang a stirring rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", emphasizing that God's truth would on the march that night. Earlier that week, Rev. Country had made a joke referring to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression", but on the platform, his face did not show that he recognized the irony of the selected anthem.

I don't remember much about his sermon, but I will never forget the crowd's reaction to it. Men and women ran down the aisles, raising their hands and waving their handkerchiefs and fans. Shouts of "Glory!", "Praise Jesus!", and “Hallelujah!" punctuated Rev. Country's every sentence. Surely God in all his presence was in that place at that moment.

I was completely unmoved. Nothing was happening inside me.

I tried to participate in everything going on, but the more I tried to join in, the further I retreated away. I began to look about me. I had heard these types of sermons before, seemed like hundreds of times. I couldn't see the point, somehow, of going over this ground again. It felt like someone; the preacher, the service, the crowd, the camp; was trying to sell me something, a feeling or something, that I wasn't buying. I began to feel manipulated, resentful, and, yes, guilty, but upset for having to feel guilty. Instead of being moved, I was strangely removed from everything.

I couldn't tell anyone how I felt. I adored my mother and father, and I was afraid that I would somehow be a disappointment to them if my reaction to Rev. Country and Rev. City did not match that of the others who were there. I can't recall how they felt about what was going on. I was too ashamed to find out because I would have to admit to withdrawing from the presence of God.

But something in my turned that night. I began to take stock of all the ways people try to move me through words and images and emotions. I became a little more skeptical. And little more willing to try to understand how we are manipulated. I think this is why I became an English teacher, so that I could pierce through the devices used by Revs. City and Country, and be in some measure a free man. And that is what I want for my students, also

WWJD

What Would Justice Demand?
One time, a minister preached a sermon entitled "Who Switched the Price Tags?" It was based on an incident where some teenagers broke into a department store and switched price tags on merchandise so that a toaster cost $500 and a new stove cost $10. His point was that we value things that are temporary and devalue things that are permanent and/or eternal. I think that is a good metaphor for our time, perhaps for all time.

We live in a time of fast food, constant stimulation, "what's trending now", people famous for being famous, and we ignore problems like the growing gap between haves and have nots in the US, education curriculums that strip all of the arts out of schools, the growing number of our fellow countrymen who lack basic health care, and the fact that our planet is being depleted of everything that sustains us.

Of course, I am tempted to say, it has ever been thus. Brother Thoreau criticized his countrymen in his time for having busy lives without really living.

Just so hollow and ineffectual, for the most part, is our ordinary conversation. Surface meets surface. When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip.

I have a little motto that I think I'm going to turn into a poster or plaque. It will read WWJD? What it will mean for me is "What Will Justice Demand?" For me, this is the true meaning of my existence, to see that my life has in some way advance the progress of creating a just world. So I hope that all my actions will be judged in this light. That does not mean that I will not make time for innocent pleasures: the company of friends, the enjoyment of play, the time to appreciate art and nature. But I hope that at the end of it all, the thing I am best remembered for is that I tried to bring a little more justice into the world. If that is what is said of me, then I will have been successful in the art of living.

Oklahoma County Medallion Dinner

My wife, Cat, and our granddaughter Skylar, attended the Oklahoma County Medallion Dinner. During my time as an Oklahoma County officer, first secretary and then chair, I was involved in several Medallions, which are the main fundraiser for the county party. I enjoyed myself as always. It's great to see old friends and meet new people. The dinner was great, and the fellowship even better. Those who make fun of people in politics don't know what they are missing when it comes to associating with some of the finest people in our community.

The party took a beating in the last election because the Republican party managed to make the state elections a referendum on President Obama, who has never been popular in Oklahoma. Many people are asking what can we do to turn the party around. So far, the Republicans have so far been doing a good job of making us look very good by comparison. But we just can't sit back and "hope they will fail."

I think that we need to keep speaking our truths, but do so in terms that average voters understand: jobs, security, services, and rights. Whenever we propose something, we must keep in mind these goods. How will what we propose help our citizens enjoy better quality lives? If we keep doing this, and showing that we mean what we say, the voters will elect our candidates to office.

The Brennan Society

I have added The Brennan Society to my "Blogs of Note" column. This group has recently formed in Central Oklahoma to promote progressive politics and the election of progressive leaders in my state. Tom Guild, Garry Atkinson, Gene and LaDonna Hunt, and other like-minded progressives have met together to form this new group, which I hope will become a real political presence in the community.

Their next meeting is this Sunday, February 6 at 2 p.m. at Garry Atkinson's house, 3600 Burning Wood Rd. in Edmond. Tom promises that the meeting will be over in time for you to see the entire Super Bowl. The directions to Garry's house starting at Broadway Extension are as follows--go east on 33rd St--between Coltrane and I-35 (aka Shannon Miller Dr.) you will see Burning Wood Rd.--turn south (right)--pass Barberry Court and Carriage Way (both on the west side and go~ 1/2 block) and you will see Garry's home on the east side (left) of Burning Wood Rd. Garry's cell phone number is 580-977-7192 if you need additional assistance.

If you need more information about The Brennan Society, or you would like to discuss items concerning the society, you can call Tom Guild at 359-7920, home phone, or 921-3811, cell phone, or to e-mail Tom at tomguild@sbcglobal.net.

A List of Education Legislation Filed So Far in in Oklahoma

A list of proposed legislation to be considered in the 2011 Oklahoma state legislature that will directly affect public education in Oklahoma:

Oklahomans for Great Public Schools
The names following the bill number are the last names of the bills' authors.
HB 1654

Enns

Directs each school district board of education to adopt a grading policy for all students requiring a teacher to assign a grade that reflects the relative mastery of assignment; allows for makeup work; EMERGENCY.

HB 1731

Hall

Requires the district board of education to implement the options requested by at least 1/2 of the parents or legal guardians of students attending the school if the school has identified a need for school improvement for 4 years.

HB 1817

Hardin

Requires schools that recieve a petition from fifty percent of parents to submit an empowerment plan to the board of education; EMERGENCY

HB 1724

Fourkiller

Extends the current teachers in the public schools of Oklahoma salaries through the 2010-2011 school years; modifies new amounts beginning with the 2011-2012 school years; EMERGENCY.

HB 1378

Holland

Prohibits the recognition of a labor organization as a bargaining agent for a group of school district employees; prohibits school employees from engaging in strike.

HB 1651

Enns

Prohibits schools from making payroll deductions for either professional organization dues or political contributions on behalf of a school district employee.

HB 1269

Coody

Requires teachers of reading for kindergarten through third grade to incorporate the five elements of reading instruction into lesson plans; EMERGENCY.

HB 1551

Kern

Creates the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act; disallows the penalization of a student because the student may subscribe to a particular position on scientific theories; EMERGENCY.

HB 1587

Thomsen

Requires the State Board of Education to develop and construct each criterion-referenced test to be completed in no more than 60 minutes; focuses on mathematics and reading; EMERGENCY.

HB 1714

Kern

Removes requirement for the State Board of Education to adopt the K-12 Common Core State Standards; EMERGENCY.



SB 537

Shortey

Establishes the "Quality of Education for Oklahoma Citizens Act of 2011"; requires schools to examine the birth certificate of enrolling students to determine residency status to better identify the costs incurred educating students who are

HB 1457

Denney

Redifines "career teacher pretermination hearing"; Provides protocol for the recommendation for the dismissal or non-remployment of a career or probationary teacher; Provides the rights for career and probationary teachers; EMERGENCY.

SB 1

Ford

Removes "career teacher pretermination hearing" requirements related to the "Teacher Due Process Act of 1990"; strikes the term "probationary", making all teachers subject to the same disciplinary process; EMERGENCY.

SB 534

Ford

Modifies the grounds for which a career teacher can be dismissed; removes the two month minimum for a time of improvement in response to a poor evaluation score.

I want to thank my friend, Claudia Swisher, teacher extraordinaire, from Norman, Oklahoma for providing me this list.

Tulsa Workers Win the Right to Organize

Congratulations are in order to AFSCME Tulsa local 1180. They pulled it off. The local has worked very hard since late September to get an ordinance that recognizes all Tulsa City Employees currently recognized through OMECBA’s right to have a union and requires the City to collectively bargain with employees. On January 12th, 2011, “the City Council voted “unanimously” to pass the new ordinance” according to Mike Rider, AFSCME local 1180 president.

Previously, language existed in the City Ordinance recognizing employees including LT (Labor-Trades) and EC (Emergency Communications). This language has been in the ordinance since the 80’s.

The new ordinance language adds employees classified as AT (Administrative and Technical), OT (Office and Technical), AO (Airport Safety Officers), IT (Information Technician), IS (Information Systems). Paul Woodard pointed out, “the new ordinance covers everyone that was covered by OMECBA, and no one is being left out.”

The 9 – 0 vote was a surprise to everyone. “We knew going into the council meeting that there were had enough votes to pass the ordinance, but the 9-0 vote was a wonderful surprise”, said local 1180’s political chair John Vaughn. One of the surprise votes came from councilor G.T. Bynum who had been opposed to the ordinance until that night of the council meeting. Bynum queried Interim City Attorney, David Pauling as to the legitimacy of the ordinance. Pauling said that the ordinance “merely complies with the Municipal Employee Collective Bargaining Act (MECBA). Bynum changed his vote to yes.

Vaughn further pointed out, that “we have been in constant contact with City Council members most of the last three months” as they worked to achieve this victory.

Mike Rider was quick to share credit for the victory with everyone in the local saying, “Everyone helped. This has been an across the board effort.”

GREAT JOB TULSA.

Matthew E Jordan
Labor Omnia Vincit
AFSCME Field Staff/Western Region
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Bill Text for HB 1378-Abolishing Collective Bargaining for Teachers

Bill Text For HB1378 - Introduced
1| STATE OF OKLAHOMA |
| |
2| 1st Session of the 53rd Legislature (2011) |
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3|HOUSE BILL 1378 By: Holland |
| |
4| |
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5| |
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6| AS INTRODUCED |
| |
7| An Act relating to schools; defining term; |
| prohibiting collective bargaining contracts; |
8| prohibiting the recognition of labor organization as |
| bargaining agent for school employees; prohibiting |
9| school employees from engaging in strike; providing |
| individual not be denied employment due to certain |
10| membership; repealing 70 O.S. 2001, Sections 509.1, |
| 509.2, as amended by Section 7, Chapter 439, O.S.L. |
11| 2008, 509.2a, 509.3, 509.6, 509.7, 509.8, 509.9, |
| 509.10 and Section 12, Chapter 432, O.S.L. 2005 (70 |
12| O.S. Supp. 2010, Sections 509.2 and 509.11), which |
| relate to negotiations between school employees and |
13| districts; providing for codification; and providing |
| and effective date. |
14| |
| |
15| |
| |
16| |
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17|BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: |
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18| SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified |
| |
19|in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 509.1A of Title 70, unless there |
| |
20|is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: |
| |
21| A. For purposes of this section, "labor organization" means any |
| |
22|organization in which employees participate and that exists in whole |
| |
23|or in part to deal with one or more employers concerning grievances, |
| |
24|labor disputes, wages, hours of employment, or working conditions. |
| |
Req. No. 6410 Page 1
___________________________________________________________________________

1| B. A board of education or an administrator of a local school |
| |
2|district shall not enter into a collective bargaining contract with |
| |
3|a labor organization regarding wages, hours, or conditions of |
| |
4|employment of school district employees. This prohibition shall |
| |
5|also apply to renewals or extensions of any existing contracts. |
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6| C. A contract entered into, extended or renewed in violation of |
| |
7|subsection B of this section shall be void and unenforceable. |
| |
8| D. A board of education or an administrator of a local school |
| |
9|district shall not recognize a labor organization as the bargaining |
| |
10|agent for a group of school district employees. |
| |
11| E. School district employees shall not strike nor engage in an |
| |
12|organized work stoppage against a school district. |
| |
13| F. A school district employee who violates subsection E of this |
| |
14|section shall forfeit all rights, benefits and privileges of school |
| |
15|district employment. |
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16| G. The right of a school district employee to cease work shall |
| |
17|not be abridged if the employee is not acting in concert with others |
| |
18|in an organized work stoppage. |
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19| H. A individual shall not be denied employment with a school |
| |
20|district because of the individual's membership or nonmembership in |
| |
21|a labor organization. |
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22| I. This section shall not impair the right of school district |
| |
23|employees to present grievances concerning their wages, hours of |
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24| |
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Req. No. 6410 Page 2
___________________________________________________________________________

1|employment, or conditions of work either individually or through a |
| |
2|representative that does not claim the right to strike. |
| |
3| SECTION 2. REPEALER 70 O.S. 2001, Sections 509.1, 509.2, |
| |
4|as amended by Section 7, Chapter 439, O.S.L. 2008, 509.2a, 509.3, |
| |
5|509.6, 509.7, 509.8, 509.9, 509.10 and Section 12, Chapter 432, |
| |
6|O.S.L. 2005 (70 O.S. Supp. 2010, Sections 509.2 and 509.11), are |
| |
7|hereby repealed. |
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8| SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2011. |
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9| |
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10| 53-1-6410 AM 01/03/11 |
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11|

Creating a Word Cloud

My good friend, Claudia Swisher, showed me where to create word clouds. I plan to use this with my students.Word Cloud I Made About Teaching

Trying a Reading Program

I'm going to try keeping a regular reading program, something like an hour a day minimum or 100 pages a day. I would like to increase the amount of reading I do, and I've always done better if I set goals. Right now I am reading Johnathan Franzen's novel Freedom
In one hour, I read 31 pages. I don't know if that if particularly slow, but it seems like it is. I have been reading the novel off and on for a while, so part of my reason for setting a reading goal is that I might be able to read the novel before my 60th birthday, which is a year and 2 months away right now.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Supported Public Employees Right to Unionize

Memphis sanitation workers strike of 1968
Today is the national holiday honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All across our nation, elected officials will be participating in various activities to mark the occassion. They will seek to honor King's memory. But many will be dishonoring his work by their attack on public employee unions.ll

Dr. King was in Memphis, Tennessee when he was assasinated on April 4, 1968. King was in Memphis supporting a strike by the city's sanitation workers. Many of the politicians who will be praising Dr. King today, are trying to eliminate public workers right to unionize and collectively bargain for good wages and safe working conditions. In other words, they seek to destroy the very thing King gave his life to defend.

If these officials want to truly honor the life of Dr. King, they should support public employees' right to organize rather than simply ring a bell or march in a parade.Dr. King marching with striking Memphis sanitation workers

Highlights from Mayflower Early Service 1-9-2011

Highlights from Mayflower Early Service 1-9-2011

Chris Moore, preaching

The Prayer of Confession:
Gracious God, as we enter a new year, we confess that for too long we have let the nature of our faith be dictated to us. And by rejecting religion the way that it has been presented to us, we end up leading an empty revolution that leaves us still wanting. We end up rejecting all tradition, all ritual and all experience in the name of rejecting the religion that we feel pulls us away from you instead of to you. Help us to find some balance. Help restore in us a sense of tradition and experience that calls us more deeply to you. Help us to find new ways to be baptized into your new life. Help us to be ready for a revolution that leads us to doors and arms being flung open, justice restored and life renewed. Amen.

Scripture Lesson Matthew 3:13-17 (Jesus' baptism by John)

Sermon Title: Ready for the Revolution

In the ancient world, few could swim. Bodies of water were places of death and chaos. When people were baptized by John, it probably was the first time that they had been under water, so it must have felt as though they were literally dying and being reborn.

When one becomes a minister, one takes on a new identity that may seem like a new life. Jesus' baptism signified his new life of ministry announcing the presence of the kingdom of God. It was the beginning of a new world based on repenting our old way of relating to one another and the way we lived and acted in God's creation. We are to live now as God has wanted us to live all along.

If we consider salvation merely an individual act of repentance that appeases a wrathful God saving us from his eternal damnation, then we have yet to undergo the baptism of Jesus. Only by repenting what we have done to exploit the earth and each other can we save ourselves and the world of which we are a part.

That is the revolution to which Jesus called us, which his life is the example.

It's Time to "Listen As We Speak"

Today a gunman, perhaps more than one opened fire on a gathering sponsored by Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Rep. Giffords was severely wounded, 18 others were shot, 6 are dead (at this writing) including a federal judge and a 9 year old child.

The gunman who has been apprehended, Jared Loughner, seems to have been a deeply disturbed man, but who seems to have been at least influenced by all the political rhetoric that has been irresponsibly thrown around since the election of Pres. Barrack Obama. Among other things he has posted on his social network page, "I can't trust the current government." He also has expressed hatred towards immigrants and those who "do not speak English."

No one supports our First Amendment rights more than I do, but we need to recognize that words have consequences. And when I see political rallies where people carry signs threatening a "2nd Amendment Solution" to problems they see in our goverment or carry guns to political rallies, I realize that it is pratically only a matter of time when someone who lacks judgement and restraint acts on those threats.

Such seems to be the case today.

We need to recognize the fact that all citizens, regardless of their political views, are fellow human beings worthy of the same respect that each of us would want for ourselves, in possession of the same right to dignity that each of us has.

It's time to tone it down. We do not know who may be listening, and even though we have a right to our opinion, how we express that opinion matters. We have a responsibility to honor one anothers basic humanity, even though we may disagree on our respective visions of justice.

Whether we are socialist, social democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, libertarian, left or right, we are all American, all citizens, all humans.

My good friend,Laura Boyd posted on her blog some principles I think would be good for all us to follow:

#1- Vow to speak to and about each other with respectful language and images. We are ALL God’s children regardless of color, politics, geography, faith, gender, or sexual orientation. Each life is precious.

#2- Listen as well as speak.

#3- Know that ultimately we are all dependent on something else for our joy, purpose, and well-being.

#4- Look out for one another: we do not need to confront those with differing opinions who cannot hear us; we should not turn a deaf ear to those who would threaten us; we must be watchful and respectful of one another, both allowing for our differences and taking action to protect others when we have reason to be concerned about the judgment and actions of those who would not allow for peaceful existence and differences.

Public Employee Unions are not the Problem: The Super Rich getting tax cuts is.

Great blog by Robert Reich. Republicans are trying to use the recession they created to attack public employee unions.
Among the best passages:

It’s far more convenient to go after people who are doing the public’s work - sanitation workers, police officers, fire fighters, teachers, social workers, federal employees – to call them “faceless bureaucrats” and portray them as hooligans who are making off with your money and crippling federal and state budgets. The story fits better with the Republican’s Big Lie that our problems are due to a government that’s too big.

Above all, Republicans don’t want to have to justify continued tax cuts for the rich. As quietly as possible, they want to make them permanent.

Wal-Mart High?

Will our students be going to Wal-Mart High?
Tomorrow, Winter Break ends, and Cat and I go back to our respective schools for "Records Day", a day to finish up last semester's grading and prepare for the spring semester, which starts on Tuesday.

At my school, we will be facing even more pressure than we did in the fall semester since this will be the semester that we do our "End of Instruction" (EOI) testing. This testing is the biggest factor in determing our school's performance under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. The feeling is that if our school does not show significant improvement in this year's EOIs over last year, when we were the lowest scoring school in the OKC school district, the school will be placed under one of the programs NCLB has mandated for failing schools, likely the so-called "transformative" model where by the administration is replaced and all of the school certified instructors have to reapply for their jobs. No more than 50% or fewer of the former instructors of a transformative school may be rehired. A third option, making the school a charter school, is also an option, but not considered likely.

We have been closely watched by the district and by the state department of education. Administrators and other facilitators constantly monitor teachers' instructional techniques. We must show that we are following "best practices" including having "word walls", "exemplary work displays", "data walls", "artifacts" and other displays of learning. Students are quizzed as to whether they have "mastered" necessary skills. Students are also constantly tested, and their test results thoroughly analyzed.

Some will say that this is only an effort to produce the type of pedagogy our school should have been doing all along. There is truth to that, but I am beginning to feel as though our school and those like us are becoming educational Wal-Marts or MacDonalds, a place where every class resembles every other class. Educational specialists, who seem to be running the show in public schools now, argue that students need this type of uniformity to keep instruction at a high level and help students master their subjects through uniformity and repetition. But teaching is as much art as it is science, many would argue more art than science. And it seems tht we are in danger of driving out the art of teaching in favor of "research based, best practice" science.

I am willing to do whatever I am asked as a teacher, so I have done what I have been told to do to the best of my abilities. I know, though, that teachers alone cannot transform schools whose students live in poverty. When we compare our American schools to those of other industrialized countries like Finland, Germany or Japan, what is left out of the comparison is this rather disturbing statistic, on average only about 5% of school-age children in other industrialized countries live in poverty, In Finland, the percentage is 3%. In the United States, however, 23% of our nation's school-age children live in poverty. And poverty is the number one factor that determines a child's success or failure in school.

That factor will not be overcome by having our children go to "Wal-Mart High".

Happy New Year!

2010 will not live on in my memory as a particularly good year. We struggled to get out of the recession, and voters rewarded the party whose economic policies brought on the recession.

Education "reform" took on the theme, "We need to fire bad teachers." But no one said much about the fact that poverty is the number one indicator of a child's success or failure in school. High stakes testing became more and more important, and our students have been tested nearly to death.

Still there were some rays of hope here and there. "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" is dead, for good. We signed a new treaty with Russia that will reduce our nuclear stockpile. With the Cold War hopefully behind us, my prayer is that we will realize the strategic irrelevancy of our nuclear stockpiles as well as the danger they pose for us should they get into the hands of terrorists and/or rogue nations. People seem at last to be paying attention to the warning signs that the planet is sending us, also.

I am also optimistic when I look at the generation following us. They seem, as a whole, to be more tolerant, more socially involved, more committed to developing sustainable lifestyles than we have been. We talked the talk during the 60s but failed to walk the walk during the subsequent decades, particularly the 80s. I hope their present enthusiasm for a more just and sustainable world remains with them as they come to make their life choices.

I have some resolutions for the coming year:

1. To become the teacher I know I am capable of being.
2. To finish my National Board for Teacher Certification work successfully.
3. To continue working for a just and sustainable year.
4. To learn a new language, probably Spanish.
5. To live more healthy, get more exercise, and develop better dietary habits.

I hope you have the best New Year.

I wish you wealth.
I wish you health,
And happiness galore.
I wish you heaven when you die.
How can I wish you more?
May your joys be as deep as the ocean.
Your troubles as light as its foam.
And may you find sweet peace of mind
Wherever you may roam.
--Irish Blessing

Could Lewis's Science Fiction be turned into a film?

Perelandra, the second of C. S. Lewis' Science Fiction trilogy.
My wife and I went to see the film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's 3rd installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I enjoyed the film, which, with a few changes, followed Lewis's plot quite well. The film has underperformed at the box office, but I hope this will not end hopes of a production of the next book in the Narnia series: The Silver Chair.

Narnia, of course, is not the only fantasy fiction written by Lewis. He also wrote The Screwtape Letters, a brillant satire in which a "senior devil" named Screwtape gives advice to his nephew "Worwood" who has been given the responsibility of leading a human "patient" to the man's damnation. (Wormwood fails.)

Lewis also wrote a science fiction triology prior to Narnia, and I am tempted to wonder in this day when science fiction works like Star Wars, Startek and many other titles appear annually, whether some producer might be tempted to have a go at Lewis's contribution to the SF genre.

The three book titles are Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. I believe the last book is greatly inferior to the first two for reasons I'll discuss later, but the first two involve themes popular in SF movies: space travel, new species, alternative worlds, evil scientists, even devils. Silent Planet and Perelandra also have something rather unique to their credit: they are both examples post World War I utopian fiction, a genre not often seen in our time.

In the first book ,Out of the Silent Planet a linguist, or philologist in British terminology, named Elwin Ransom is kidnapped by two men, one a former school mate ironically named Devine and the other a professor of physics named Weston, and taken to Mars, named Malacandra by its inhabitants. There Ransom escapes his captors and flees them meeting in his flight the various creatures who inhabit the planet. He uses his language skills to learn their langauge and discovers that they live a near perfect existence free from war, hatred, greed, adultery, and other sins that exist on Earth, which is known on Malacandra as "The Silent Planet." Ransom discovers that the reason for the Malacandran's utopic existence is that the Fall experienced by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden never happend on Malacandra. Ransom eventually is reunited with Devine and Weston who reveal the worst of human qualities to the Malacandrians. Because their prescence is deemed harmful to the Malancandrian world, all three are sent back to earth.

In Perelandra, Ransom is summonded to Perelandra, aka the planet Venus, to help the inhabitants of a new creation. There he discovers a world made up largely of floating islands with some "Fixed Land". He meets one of the two human inhabitants of the planet, a female named Tinidril. Her mate is nowhere to be found. Both Tinidril, who is green skinned, and Ransom are naked, but the is no hint of lust between the two. Soon they are joined by another earth man, Prof. Weston of the previous novel. Weston soon becomes the vehicle by which Satan is able to enter Perelandra for the purpose of tempting Tinidril to do the one act God has forbidden: remain overnight on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes that his job is to prevent another Fall. He does so, at first, through argument and debate with Weston. Finally, he physically fights Weston, defeats and kills him. Tinidril is then reunited with her mate, and Ransom is returned to Earth.


Both of these novels create utopic worlds based on Christian theology. Because the creatures of Malacandra never fell, they are naturally good, chaste, peaceful and just. We can assume that the same will happen for the descendents of the first couple of Perelandra. All will be born free of original sin and obedience to God and righteous living will be natural for them.

The third work of Lewis's trilogy That Hideous Strength, set on Earth, has a much darker tone than the previous his two books. The work is also an unfortunate mishmash of science and fantasy with everyone trying to discover the secret chamber where Merlin the magician sleeps.

Once utopias were fairly common starting with Sir Thomas Moore's novel Utopia. Works like Erewhon by Thomas Butler, News from Nowhere by the English Socialist William Morris, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, an Ameican Socialist, and even Herland by the American feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. All of the books outlined the writers' vision of beneficial futures created through sound political and philosophical principles.

Utopias are fairly rare in our time. Two world wars, paricularly World War I, seems to have ended the writing of utopias in favor of dystopias. Lead by works like 1984 by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley'sBrave New World the future was seen as a dark and scary place to be. Most visions of the future now are dystopic nightmares like Mad Max, Blade Runner, the Maxtrix franchise and so forth.


While I think it unlikely that any of Lewis's SF will make it to the big screen, I think it would be an interesting challenge to try to recreate them in some form on the small one. They couldn't be set on Mars or Venus. Space exploration has forced us to place our other worlds in "galaxies far, far away." However, the idea of encountering an unfallen species does have interesting opportunities for us to do the sort of self-examination that is the hallmark of good science fiction. The idea is not without precedent. H. G. Wells did something similar to this in his work The Time Machine, a work that may have influenced Silent Planet. Humans who are a bad influence on other species has figured in many a Star Trek episode.

Perhaps someone or some group may wish to bring Lewis's science fiction to a wider audience through television. They might make an interesting cable series made to show that we can aspire to live up to higher ideals. Who knows? One day the utopic vision may be back in fashion.

What do you think?