Peace in a Time of COVID-19

Wish this were mine

I, for one, am enjoying this time of "Shelter-in-Place." This simplifies life to a rather nice time of reading, writing and resting. I have read several books, written in my journal (and just now my long neglected blog), and sleeping in. I have been out occasionally, but not for long and only for essentials.  I have always thought that I could be a hermit given sufficient food, drink and books. So this stretch of semi-solitude has been a god-send. 

Harris/Warren? Warren/Harris?

Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have risen in the polls due to their strong debate performances. I am fine with either candidate. Warren has my support in some part because she was born and grew up in Oklahoma City though she is mainly associated with Massachusetts these days.

Kamala has the advantage of youth and charisma. Warren is more intellectual, and she has a plan, a good plan for nearly everything.  Would putting the two of them together on the same ticket be an advantage?  I don't know. Balancing the nominees for president and vice president has been the strategy in the past, but it would be great to have two progressive, female Democrats running together. 

I am going to dismay several progressives by stating that Sen. Bernie Sanders is a fading star.  In 2016 he was a different kind of candidate and a clear alternative to Hillary Clinton. It is not so now. His ideas have been absorbed by other progressives, including Warren and Harris. 

Joe Biden's main strength is his name recognition, but this is an advantage that has already started to fade as the others become more well known.

The Politics of Dinner: Mayflower Service June 30, 2019

The Prophet Elijah in the Wilderness

by Daniele de Volterra c. 1545

Hymns: Let Me Enter God's Own Dwelling, You are the Salt of the Earth, O People

Prayer of Confession: 

Gracious God, sometimes the journey feels too long. The road is unfamiliar and we are tired. We confess to letting the shadows crowd out the light. When our strength is gone and we are ready to give up, may we know your presence and be renewed. We pray in the tradition of all who have found themselves in the desert, including of teacher Jesus. Amen

Scripture: I Kings 19: 1-8 (Relevant Section) 4 But he himself [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. . . . 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Sermon by Rev. Lori Walke

Elijah, the prophet, is fleeing from the wrath of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Jezebel in particular has vowed to have Elijah killed. Elijah flees for his life into the desert. 

His situation is similar to the migrants who are fleeing for their lives in the southwestern desert. Like them, Elijah's survival turns on receiving help. Elijah credits an angel for his help, but  dehydration and hunger can bring about hallucinations. The help of a cooked loaf of bread and ajar of water seems very human very similar to the help being provided by groups like "No More Death" to migrants in the desert.

Their help has been targeted for interdiction and prosecution by the Justice Department and ICE officials. The Trump administration would prefer that asylum seekers follow the suggestion of conservative commentator Laura Ingram who said the these asylum seekers should apply for asylum in the "safety" of their their own country. In other words, they would like to have them hidden away from us, not being crowded into concentration camps or drowning on our river banks.

We cannot do nothing. We know how to change the course of things. We know how to work to help those who will not survive without it.  

[Personal thought: We have had waves of immigrants before including those fleeing war and death, as was true with the Vietnamese who came and settled in Oklahoma City.] 

Is Ruth in the Caravan?

Sermon Title: Is Ruth in the Caravan?

by Robin Meyers

 Sermon for Sunday, November 4, 2018

Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:1-8

[My personal notes appear in brackets.]

The book of Ruth is a about immigration. It comes after the book of Judges during which anarchy reigned over the Israelites. It was a lawless time during which the powerful ruled over the weak and vulnerable. [This is the same situation faced by those in Central & South America.]

In addition to this there was famine in the land. In our own time famine is something that happens far away. But it happens now, and when it does then as now, those who face it become refugees. The book of Ruth begins with the family of Elimelek and Naomi, who flee Judea into the country of Moab. The Moabites were hated by the Israelites who believed that they were populated by Lot’s daughter through incest with her father. The Moabites also worshiped a different god than Yahweh. But when you are starving or in peril of your life, you go somewhere.

Naomi’s husband died, and widows in the ancient world are destitute. However, she still had two sons who took Moabite wives, Oprah and Ruth. Each of their husbands also die meaning that all 3 were facing a life of poverty and starvation. Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother’s home and to their gods feeling that Yahweh has abandoned her.

Oprah does leave Naomi, but Ruth decides to stay with her making her famous statement so often used in wedding songs and ceremonies. Naomi reacts by ceasing to speak to Ruth for a while. However, Naomi hears about a relative named Boas, and she teaches Ruth how to get him for a husband which involves getting pregnant by him. Her child, named Obed, becomes Ruth’s “anchor baby. Obed is the grandfather of King David.

Famine and tragedy come one way or another into everyone’s life. Here come our refugees traveling in a caravan because of the tragedy they face in their home country. Here comes our president turning their tragedy into a political ad. Ruth and Naomi were refugees needing a way to eat. Their story is one of leaving their country to try to get into another country. We celebrate Ruth at wedding and demonize her at the borders. We have no right to pass judgement on their lives of which we know very little. We worry more about the possibility of criminals in their caravan than we do the reality of criminals running our country. 

Ruth, or someone very like her, is in the caravan trying to get away from anarchy and starvation. [Our decision is whether we will heed the lesson of Scriptures or heed those whose words bring only suffering and death.]

Here We Go Again

Today the Winter holiday ended, as all holiday's do. We had a meeting at school to go over some new procedures for creating and submitting lesson plans. In reality, there is not much new about what we will be expected to submit.  We start with objectives. Come up with resources. Decide on the methods. Assess how well the students are mastering the objectives. Adjust our teaching to help those having trouble with mastering the objectives and repeat as needed. 

We will be reporting our lessons in a slightly different manner. We send them to our instructional leader. Who will pass them on to our department chair who will give us their observations about how well we constructed the lesson plan. 

I will be blogging on how things go this year because I want to have a record of what my teaching has been like at the end of my career.

Not My America

I am not one of those who say of Trump, "He's not my president."  Of course, he is by definition of having won the Electoral College vote (though not the vote of the people) and by definition of me being an American.  

However, what he symbolizes is an alien spirit in this country I love. Therefore, I can truly say that Trump's America is not my America.

My America starts with the idea that justice is for all people, not just those who look, pray, think, and believe the way I do. 

My America believes in the principle that by helping all we help ourselves.  I call this the "Lincoln Principle" taken from Abraham Lincoln's December 1, 1862 address to Congress (given 1 month before the Emancipation Proclamation) when he stated:

In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free. . . .

 For me this means that whenever we seek the good of others in America regardless of who they are, we do good for ourselves. Whenever we seek to exclude others from the benefits of our community, we do harm to ourselves.

My America is a land of tolerance, a land that celebrates diversity and draws strength from the contributions of many cultures.

My America believes our greatest weakness is not a lack of military might, but a lack of empathy for the plight of the marginalized and dispossessed in our world.

My America rejects fear and accepts openness towards others.

My America is not Trump's America.

History Rhymes

Some have called this the Best Book of 2016

Some weeks ago, I read the above novel, which uses a conceit by making the historical Underground Railroad an actual railroad line with various stations that transport runaway slaves to the North. Whitehead's alternative history novel is at times heartbreaking, at times inspiring, and even at time horrific. I highly recommend it.

I feel very strongly that this book has lessons for our own situation as we face the Trump presidency. 

In our present time, I feel there are parallels between the 19th Century Fugitive Slave Laws and the "seize and deport" actions by federal immigration officials.In both cases, American citizens have been asked to act as some sort of posse comitatus to inform on neighbors and co-workers whom they believe are wanted by the law. In both cases, we are told that these people are not, well, fully people; they are property, or they are illegal.

Now the knee-jerk reactions to that statement will run thusly:

They ARE illegal! What part of "illegal" do you not understand? 

Answer: The slaves were "illegal" once they tried escape their bondage. The law called them property. Their attempt to escape was theft for which the property owner could administer any punishment he saw fit including torture and death.  The law makes the undocumented "illegal." Perhaps the above response begs the question. The question should be, is the law just? Does it do good or harm? My answer is the law is harmfully unjust.

Illegal immigrants are NOT slaves! They came here on their own and can, and must, leave either on their own or by force if needed.

Answer: True, in so far as that goes; in fact, the two examples are nearly mirror opposite images. Slaves were forced here against their will and tried to escape their forced labor. Undocumented workers came here by their own free will and wish to remain so they can labor for a better life for themselves and their families. 

However, what unites these two groups is the question of justice and human dignity. Slaves tried to regain their dignity by fleeing the owners' attempt to degrade them to the level of animals. Undocumented workers try to regain their dignity by escaping poverty, oppression, violence, and the real possibility of forced slavery at the hands of dictators or gangs. 

This brings me to the historic Underground Railroad and the present day Sanctuary Movement about which I wrote in yesterday's post. 

In both cases, citizens have taken upon themselves the burden of protecting vulnerable people from unjust laws.

In both cases, law enforcement officials and some politicians wish to punish those operating the sanctuaries for aiding and abetting "law breakers," slaves and undocumented workers.

In both cases, the officials have no qualms about breaking up families, subjecting citizens to arbitrary search, seizures and arrests.

In both cases, these "hunters and catchers" do not care that those they arrest may be subject to abject poverty, assault (often including rape), danger and death.

Again, there are differences, but enough similarities that those of us calling for sanctuaries in cities, churches and now colleges should feel that we have precedents that show that we are fighting on the side of justice. 

Make the Oklahoma City Public School District a Sanctuary

Thousands have signed petitions urging their campuses to protect undocumented students, who will likely be at increased risk of deportation under President-elect Donald Trump. (Photo: AP taken from the web site Common Dreams commondreams.org)

Since the election of Donald Trump with his message of deportation and exclusion, several colleges, particularly in New York state, have become "Sanctuary Campuses" to offer protection to undocumented students facing deportation. These sanctuary campuses refuse cooperation with federal authorities by denying them access to student records, barring immigration enforcement officers permission to come on campus to apprehend suspected undocumented students, and affirming that all their students have a right to an education free from harassment and intimidation. (Adapted from an article by Kate Aronoff in the social justice journal In These Times.)

I propose that the Oklahoma City Public School District with it large immigrant student body, which includes Hispanics, Asiatic, and African children, join this movement by declaring that our district is a sanctuary district, not only for its students but also for its staff, and that all of its campuses, workplaces, and offices are sanctuary sites.  As Claudia Carvajal, an NYU law student whose family emigrated to the US in 2012, stated at a rally in New York City:

In our current political climate, the rhetoric used by politicians and institutions is critical. . . . Anything short of a declaration that explicitly sends a message to the incoming [Trump] administration . . . falls short. (Kate Aronoff "Campuses Without Borders" In These Times, January 2017: 9)

I am in the process of contacting various administrators, board members, and community leaders to gain their support. Could my friends in the Central Oklahoma area, particularly those in the OKC school district help in this resistance? 

  

School in the good old days.

Sometimes, actually most of the time, I get weary of those who say, "American education isn't as good or rigorous as it was back in my day." I present to you a textbook I rescued from old John Marshall High School. "Cavalcade of American Writing" Copyright 1961, edited by Gunnar Horn.xon Americans except for a couple of "Negro Spirituals" made up, according to the author, by "humble and uneducated slaves." Marion Anderson's picture is on the introductory page making hers the only named black person in the book. The song "Dixie" is in the anthology next to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Henry W. Grady's "New South," a praise for the South written in a time when Jim Crow was firmly established as the law of the old Confederacy, is included in the anthology.

I think I might have used this text when I was in high school in the 60s. There are about 111 selections in this by around 70 authors, 9 are women. There are no selections from any non-Anglo-Sa

Nearly all the questions following the selection are what we in the education biz would classify as DOK1 responses to the text. Typical is this one about Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address": "What explanation does Lincoln give for making his address short?"

My point is this. We teach much more to our students today. We teach many more authors, a larger variety of authors, and we ask much more of our students in their responses.

We are doing a better job of teaching today to a far more difficult environment than those who went before us. We owe them much, but we have nothing to be ashamed of in comparing ourselves to them.

Review of "Water to Wine"

Water to Wine: Some of My Story by Brian Zahnd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Water to Wine: Some of My Story is Brian Zahnd's memoir of his spiritual journey from "Americanized Christianity" to a deeper level of Christian living. Zahnd first encountered the Christian faith during the "Jesus Movement" of the early 1970s. He began a non-denominational Pentecostal church named "Word of Life Church" in St. Joseph, Missouri that grew into a highly successful fellowship.

Despite his success as a pastor and much in demand speaker, Zahnd began to feel a his faith was lacking depth, and so he began a study and walk of faith that led him to discover more a deeper theology and prayer life than he had experienced in more formulaic Christian worship and belief.

He developed an appreciation for Christian thinkers like St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, G. K. Chesterton, and St. Francis of Assisi. He read Karl Barth's Dogmatics, no easy chore I can affirm, as well as other theologians. He also developed a deeper prayer life through spiritual mystics like Julian of Norwich along with a host of other poets and singers, including Bob Dylan.

I found his story interesting in that he rejects the typical conservatism of most evangelical Christianity. He calls his uncritical viewing of the American air attacks on Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War his "worst sin." He says that his changing perspective have cost him many former friends and church members. He also is critical of the evangelical churches uncritical endorsement of capitalism. His criticism reminds me of something I encountered a long time ago and affected my attitude toward conservative evangelicalism.

Several decades ago I was in a Christian book store and saw some "biblical action figures" for sale. This was during the "golden age" of action figures, if such an age exists, featuring "He-Man," "Skeletor," "She-Rah," and others. These articulated dolls were heroes like "Samson," "David," "Moses," "Joshua," and "Gideon." There were even villains like "Goliath" or "Pharoah." It seemed to me that someone had taken a consumer product and had poured "Christian sauce" over it to make it acceptable and also to make a buck.

I find his spiritual journey similar to my own in many ways. I was raised evangelical, in the holiness tradition, but have since joined a church involved in the social gospel. My own passion is for social justice. This is one area of lack I see in Zahnd's story. He hints that he may be open to working for "justice of all," but he does not detail any concrete steps he has taken in this direction.


View all my reviews

Notes from Mayflower UCC 3/6/16

Here are some notes I took while attending Mayflower this morning along with Cat. My comments are in [brackets].

Sermon by Rev. Lori Walke

Rev. Lori Walke

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 [The Parable of the Prodigal Son]
Sermon Title: THE WORST PARABLE

Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees [think-Club for Growth & other such groups] and the scribes [think any group of religious fundamentalists]

We all like to imagine ourselves as the Prodigal Son in this story because we like the idea that no matter how badly we mess things up, we can still be redeemed.

We often find ourselves acting like the older brother who is critical of the way that the father treats the wastefully extravagant son (which is what the word "prodigal" means. We want to see consequences for bad choices.

We don't want to play the part of the "prodigal" father who is wastefully extravagant not only with his welcome and forgiveness of the son.

We need to learn how to say 3 things: "We Love You. You Are Forgiven. Welcome Homes."

[My question, "So when does love and forgiveness become enabling?"]

What Happened When Our Juniors Were Required to Take the SAT on Wednesday

Actually, this was not exactly high-stakes, but the attitude the kids had towards it was about the same.

On Wednesday, all juniors in the Oklahoma City Public School district were required to take the SAT exam.  This is the brainchild of someone brought into the district by the new administration. Here's how our kids responded.

A large number of juniors were absent from the test on Wednesday.  I was the proctor for what was supposed to be a group of 20 but only 15 bothered to show up.  So about a quarter of the students or more elected not to take the test with their feet.

It was very warm in the testing room. The temperature on the room thermostat, which the teachers do not control, rose to about 81 degrees. We managed to find a couple of room fans, one of which is my own, to attempt to cool the kids down.  Bottled water was provided, but it was not refrigerated. 

Heads began to go down rather early in the test. TB put his head down at the start. IM complained about the heat and then decided to nap. 

A few seemed to look upon the test as an opportunity for them to show how well they can perform on the test and/or get into college. Most, though, saw this as something they had to endure.'

I wonder if this is because we educators do not demand enough of these students, and so they are not prepared. Or has the culture of poverty, the hopelessness of these children so stunted their ambitions that they do not think this test is worth the effort it takes to perform well since they do not see that they can reap any rewards from it.

Despite all the problems I see, it did appear that most of the 15 students were making an effort to do well. 

Then they begin to get restless. We started at 8:00am and ended at around 1 pm.  We are doing the version of the test that has an essay component.  Many students leave the essay blank, which is something they do when I give them a combination multiple choice/essay test. The essay portion has an extended bit of reading along with it. Many looked at the reading in the essay booklet and exclaimed, "Hell No!"

IM awakens from her nap and begin talking, in whispers, to her friend TT.  I wanted them separated in class, but they were pretty good for most of the test.  In the back, 3 boys start teasing each other. 

Finally, we are through, and we go down to Media Center for lunch.  The lunch crew provides a  sack lunch for the students consisting of some lunch meat, a slice of cheese, white bread, and an apple. Fortunately, someone sprang for some pizza for the crew.  

We will see what the results of the test are sometime in the future.  We are about 20 days or so from the End Of Instruction Tests.

Tomorrow--Another Day, Another Test

Tomorrow all juniors in our school will take the SAT. I suppose that this has something to do with getting our students "college and career ready," the new mantra of education gurus. 

Pretty much the way all teachers feel these days

I am expecting that some students will seize the opportunity given to them to qualify for college; however, for the most part, several will blow off the test and be finished in 5 minutes of what is going to be a 4 hour test.

I just hope they remember to bring their No. 2 pencils!

Benchmark Testing Day 2

2nd Hour: 5 students with their heads on the desk during the test at one point. Many students finish their portion of the test in less than 5 minutes.

3rd Hour: 3 students with their heads on the desk despite all my efforts to get them up.  All 3, DC, TB and ML, did the same thing yesterday. They obviously are not taking this test as seriously as the powers that be in the district administration expect them to. Another student, JB, also puts her head down. Normally, JB is a good student, but the test has tired her out or bored her to sleep. I don't know what I can do.

4th Hour: This is the AP class, yet even here, I have to go to a couple of students and get them going on this test.

6th Hour: The problem here is mainly students talking and carrying on. It's the female students this time.  But there are a couple of napping students: CB and AH.

It is nearly impossible for teens to remain silent and/or alert as they need to do during high stakes testing.  This type of testing goes against nearly every characteristic of adolescents. 

Giving Benchmarks

Today I gave the school district "benchmark" tests in English III. These are designed to find out how much the students have learned so far this year.

Good luck with that.

Students dislike taking these tests as much as I dislike giving them. The first thing they want to know is if these tests will count for a grade. (Yes) Then they want to know how many questions there are on it. (63) Then they want to know why they have to take them along with the other tests we make them take. (Hard one to answer, but it comes down to knowing what we still need to learn.)  Then they go about trying to sabotage the process.

This is what happens during 2nd hour.

Some, not all, just try to rush through as fast as they can.  Some, like SR, just sit and groush. Of course, SR sits and kvetches about almost everything.  I often wonder why she can't be more like SM who is continually bright and sunny most all of the time. (See, I told you that I'd put you in the blog.)

F keeps her phone out although she has been told that she has to put it away for the test.  She acts as if she can't hear me, so I have to call for an administrator to takes her out of class. He brings her back about 5 minutes later. She is now contrite and will do what I say.  She is one of the best at playing the Passive/Aggressive game.

FM comes in about 30 minutes late without a pass. When he finds out that I will assign him detention, he goes back and gets a pass marked "Excused."  I think that he should be counted absent, but when I ask an administrator about it, he says that the excused pass excuses everything. He is not able to start the test, so he will have to start from the beginning tomorrow. 

None of the students finish today, so we will have to do this again tomorrow. 

3rd hour.

DC and ML keep their head on their desk all during the test despite all my efforts to get them to at least try and get started.  The rest do pretty well because I let them know if they get at least 25 of the 63 questions done, they can get their beloved phones out and do whatever it is so vital for them to do for the rest of the hour.  

I have had to resort to bribery.

4th hour goes well. That's the AP Language class

6th hour

This is very small class, and I would think I would have few problems with them. However, this is the class of my comedians. Particularly 3 boys who seem to go everywhere together.  I call them, among other things, the 3 Amigoes, and sometimes Moe, Larry and Curly. (I have other trio names that I pull out from time to time.)

They more or less feed off of each other along with some of the girls in the class.  Usually I just go with the flow, and we make it through the period in good spirits. However, when we need to buckle down and take things a bit more seriously, the hijinks get in the way.

Example, (from one of the girls), "Mr. Green, do boys get bloated?"

"Huh?"

"Do boys get bloated?"

"Mr. Green, she is asking if boys get gas."

"You need to do this test. It's important."

"Mr. Green, I am about to pass gas."

"Just go out into the hall, then."

"Okay."

Of course, by this time flatulence has become the topic of the day.

I get them through the exam okay, but I wonder how much "useful data" has been generated through all this.