Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Saturday Share from Cyndi’s Google Reader

 

Cathleen Falsani: Anam Cara: Praying for Our Kids and Their ‘Soul Friends’ via Religion on HuffingtonPost.com by Cathleen Falsani on 9/13/10

An Anam Cara is someone with whom you share your deepest loves, fears, dreams, doubts, joys and sorrows. That soul friend will know him and love him for exactly who he is. He or she is a friend who will uplift him, reflect God’s love for him, and draw him toward his Creator, not away or astray. 

I prayed that, in the words of William Shakespeare, my son would take his soul friends into his heart and “grapple them to [his] soul with hoops of steel.” 

Cathleen Falsani is journalist, blogger and author of several nonfiction books, including the memoir Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, and the forthcoming The Thread: Faith, Friendship and Facebook. 

 Sounds From Mexico’s Bicentennial via NPR Programs: Tell Me More on 9/16/10 

Alfonso Andre, drummer for the Mexican band Jaugares, talks about the band’s remake of the song La Martiniana for a new album that commemorates the Mexican Bicentennial. Andre also talks about his conflicted feelings about celebrating Mexico’s history. 

What is the purpose of (sex) education via Adolescent Sexuality by Dr. Karen Rayne on 9/15/10 

A good sex education might delay sexual activity.  In fact, a good sex education will ideally delay sexual activity.  But that’s not the main purpose of good sex education.  The main purpose of sex education is to support lifelong healthy sexuality.  We must take the long view here.  Sex education should not be designed to keep a student from having sex in high school – that is far too short sighted. 

Sex education must be designed to address individuals across their lifespans – to give them tools, skills, knowledge, and strength to understand their bodies, to be both introspective and appropriately communicative about their own desires, respectful about other people’s desires, and both safer and reverent about the entire process. 

White Feminists and Me: a Fable of Solidarity via Womanist Musings by Renee on 9/14/10 

I’m a 23 year old Sinhalese woman in Minnesota by way of Dubai by way of Sri Lanka. I am a Womanist, and part of my womanism is figuring out how to be in solidarity with my transnational sisters worldwide. I’m a daughter, a sister, a partner and a writer. I’m a brown girl who knows Shakespeare by heart and devours anything Toni Morrison. I believe in radical, revolutionary 

A Bleak Picture For Young Black Male Students via NPR Programs: Talk of the Nation on 9/13/10 

A report from the Massachusetts-based Schott Foundation paints a bleak picture of how young black men fare in school: fewer than half graduate from high school. And in some states, like New York, the graduation rate is as low as one in four. The foundation’s John Jackson and David Sciarra of the Education Law Center discuss what’s needed to improve educational attainment among African American children. 

Middle Schools Are Disciplining Kids by Throwing Them Away via Colorlines by Michelle Chen on 9/14/10 

Talk all you want about improving our nation’s schools, but the fact is, students can’t close the “achievement gap” when they’re not allowed into the classroom. Yet school suspension rates are climbing and potentially stifling educational opportunity for disadvantaged middle-schoolers, according to a study by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

 

Activists have long warned of the school-to-prison pipeline–sort of the opposite of the honors track, steering poor kids of color into troubled adolescence and eventually the criminal justice system. The SPLC explains, “Disciplinary tactics that respond to typical adolescent behavior by removing students from school do not better prepare students for adulthood. Instead, they increase their risk of educational failure and dropout.” 

Conflating “Ethnic” and “Curvy” via Sociological Images by gwen on 9/15/10 

We’ve noted the fetishization of Black women’s butts before, and the conflation of non-White and curvy (also here). Yes, some non-White women have large butts and cleavage. So do lots of White women. And lots of women in all groups don’t have either, or have just one or the other, or have them but don’t still somehow manage to be very thin and toned overall. But having this body type is, in this case and many others, so identified as “ethnic” that White women who have boobs and hips become examples of “ethnic” beauty, not simply a version of female beauty. Notice that Scarlett Johansson’s body isn’t described as having “European curves” or, I don’t know, “British-American curves” or whatever her ethnic background might be in the way that Jennifer Lopez’s curves are perceived as an ethnic marker. It’s a great example of selective perception: women of all racial/ethnic backgrounds share body shapes, but certain physical features, such as hips, are seen as a group characteristic only for some women. 

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages) 

‘Values Voter Summit’ Will Likely Be Missing Jewish Voters: Conservative Conference Coincides With Yom Kippur via Religion on HuffingtonPost.com by Amanda Terkel on 9/15/10 

Yet it’s unlikely observant Jews will be able to attend the event, since it’s being held on Yom Kippur — the holiest Jewish holiday — which begins at sundown on Friday, Sept. 17 and ends at sundown on Saturday, Sept. 18 — right when the majority of the action at the conference is happening (including the Israel panel). In 2009, the Values Voter Summit took place during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. “Does the FRC think Jews don’t have values?” wondered Salon’s Washington Correspondent Mike Madden last year. “Or was this just the only fall weekend they could get into the Omni Shoreham hotel?” 

Anti-Defamation League spokesman Todd Gutnick said his organization didn’t see much of a problem with the conflict in timing. “Since these are all Christian groups involved, Jews wouldn’t be attending anyway,” he told the Huffington Post. Some conservative groups, however, are trying to make inroads with the Jewish community, recognizing that although some on the right consistently accuse progressives of being anti-Israel or even “anti-Jew”, Jews still overwhelmingly vote Democratic. On Monday, FreedomWorks, which helps organize many of the Tea Party gatherings around the country, told reporters that it was launching “a new initiative to reach out to racial, ethnic and religious minorities” — beginning with Jews, to coincide with the High Holidays. 

The Huffington Post contacted FRC Action for comment but did not receive a response. 

This Week in Blackness: White People and Black People Are So Different via Womanist Musings by Renee on 9/17/10 

Elon James has come up with a new This Week in Blackness, and of course I absolutely had to share it with you.  This week, Elon talked about the fact that Blacks and Whites experience the same event differently because of racism.   Whiteness has been taught to ignore this because it has been normalized therefore; it is quite easy to believe in a universal perspective.  There is a large difference 

Angela Himsel: Excuse Me, Are You…? via Religion on HuffingtonPost.com by Angela Himsel on 9/17/10 

On Yom Kippur, when I stand in synagogue for hours and recite the prayers, striking my fist against my chest to atone for my sins, and as I become more and more tired with the lack of food, water and more importantly, caffeine, it’s then that I feel a kind of certainty that God sees and loves each one of us in all of our totality, even the parts that we hide from one another and from ourselves. Wherever we are, whoever we’re with, God recognizes us and never needs to ask, on Yom Kippur or any other day, “Excuse me, are you Angela?” 

Off and Running Toward My Own Identity [Racialigious] via Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture on 9/7/10 

by Guest Contributor Collier Meyerson, originally published at Be’Chol Lashon 

 At 13 years old, in the planning stages of my Bat Mitzvah, my Hebrew School teacher called a meeting at his home to discuss details. He opened his door to see me, my father who is an Ashkenazi Jew and my black mother. Upon seeing my family, without asking, he regrettably informed us that the synagogue, would not allow me to perform the right of passage in their temple because my mother wasn’t a Jew. My wily mother, coyly and smarmily responded “oh, but her mother is Jewish.” 

Yes, it turns out my biological mother is a white Ashkenazi Jew. 

And with these words, my Hebrew school teacher, as though I was caught in the Woody Allen version of my own life as a film, threw his hands into the air and exclaimed “it’s Bashert [it’s destiny] then! You’ll have your Bat Mitzvah in the Temple!” In that moment I felt a definitive rage. I wanted desperately to be a part of the Upper West Side’s most exclusive and popular clique, Judaism, but felt what would prove to be an indelible stake in this idea of blackness, something pitted against Jewishness. And so there it was, in the home of my Hebrew School teacher that the two were separated, like oil and water. 

I was Black and Jewish but I couldn’t be both, I couldn’t be a Black Jew. 

Preparing My Kids To Be Able To Run Through Walls via Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture on 9/7/10 

by Guest Contributor Paula, originally published at Heart, Mind, and Seoul 

I think about the walls that threatened to thwart my growth when I was younger and how completely ill-prepared I was to handle them. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I realize that perhaps I’ve been far too generous in assessing how well equipped I was to deal with the very real walls of racism, prejudice and discrimination throughout my life. I have no doubt that my parents love and concern imparted upon me the knowledge that they were always there for me – and yes, that is huge in it’s own right – but as an Asian girl/adolescent/young adult, I recognize now just how unprepared I was in terms of not having the right language or effective strategies to be my own best advocate in my racially isolated world. 

 

Bloggers Unite – International Literacy Day: Reducing Illiteracy in the Prison Population Benefits ALL of Us! via THE INTERSECTION | MADNESS & REALITY by Joanna on 9/8/10 

An estimated 20 percent of the adult population in the US is functionally illiterate. That figure SKYROCKETS to over 60 percent when you examine the literacy rates of the inmate population in jails and prisons across the country. And even more appalling is the fact that over 85 percent of juvenile offenders have literacy issues.

Considering that illiteracy commonly leads to lengthy and repeated bouts of unemployment (over 75 percent of unemployed adults have some problems with reading and writing) the low rate of literacy among the inmate population is a recipe for explosive recidivism rates. After all, if an ex-prisoner is unable to find or keep a job due to literacy issues, where else can he turn but back to the behaviors that landed him in jail in the first place?

Although a lot of people take the “lock them up and throw away the key” attitude toward prisoners, and would rather REDUCE the services available to prisoners, there is PROOF that literacy programs in prison CAN and DO help reduce the rates of recidivism, and can lead to an overall reduction in incarceration rates. 

 Us (Moms) vs. Them (Teens) via I am the Glue by Laura on 9/11/10 

This will be an 18 year round/fight.
Keep it clean…your language…your room…etc.
At the end of the match, the winner will be decided by who is left standing, or not in jail, or rehab.
I am taking bets now.
I got some insider information…shhh…this is on the down low.
Us moms are the best bet because we have been there and done that.
Got a teenager to show for it. 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation…or Why Water Communion Makes Me Uncomfortable via East Of Midnight by Kim on 9/14/10 

Can anybody explain Water Communion to me in a way that doesn’t make it seem like it’s a glorified Show-and-Tell and another example of how classist UUism can be?  

Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.: Overturning the Texas School Board Madness? It’s Possible via Religion on HuffingtonPost.com by Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. on 9/14/10 

Voters in Texas’s 5th District have the opportunity to put an end to the embarrassing and anti-intellectual actions that have diminished education across the state, and that’s an opportunity that will likely impact text book choices around the rest of the United States. I, for one, hope that they opt to do just that by replacing Ken Mercer’s madness with Rebecca Bell-Metereau’s thoughtfulness. 

Charges That a Civil Rights Hero Was an FBI Spy Shouldn’t Shock Us via Colorlines by Barbara Ransby on 9/17/10 

 These stories remind us not only that our government has routinely violated the basic civil liberties of so many black activists over several generations, but it reminds us of the complexities and limitations of presumed racial loyalty. The Black Press was given access to movement events and meetings in the 1960s that white reporters were not. Why? It was assumed that a level of racial solidarity and loyalty existed. Maybe that was true. But maybe it wasn’t. We continue to project false expectations onto politicians and self-appointed race leaders because of phenotype rather than politics, ideas and other more tangible markers of “loyalty” to oppressed people. Everyone who looks like “us” is not a friend, and everyone who looks different is not automatically the enemy. This is a simple lesson that some of us still have to learn. 

Promise of a better life leads to the nightmare of sexual slavery – CNN via articles.cnn.com on 9/18/10

Many people associate prostitution with women walking the streets in shady areas and being picked up by johns. But Claudia says the prostitution ring for which she was forced to work had a long list of clients who knew the price they had to pay, who to call and where to go. It’s a well-organized and lucrative underground industry. Luis CdeBaca monitors human trafficking at the U.S. State Department. He says there are no reliable figures on the scale of the problem, but forced prostitution from Mexico and Central America is a big part of it.

Related Articles

• Teens report high exposure to sex education (washingtontimes.com)
• Most Teens Receive Formal Sex Ed (webmd.com)
• A Bleak Picture For Young Black Male Students (npr.org)
• CDC: One-third of sex ed omits birth control (msnbc.msn.com)

Gratitude Sunday

Well, seeing as Becky has dusted off the gratitude button, I think I will too 🙂 I realized it’s been way too long since I counted my blessings, and as challenging as the last few years have been, there is still much I am thankful for.

1. High School – Tyler didn’t seem to handle moving between classes well, and I worried that struggle would continue or perhaps get worse in high school. I worried that if he’d been teased for his size in middle school, high school would be worse. But we are four weeks into the school year so far, and he absolutely loves it. All his teachers spoke well of him, with the highest praise coming from his Language Arts teacher… an area where he’s tended to struggle. He isn’t missing too many assignments.  He says he gets a lot of questions, and that once or twice the first week he’d seen some kids laughing at a distance, but not in a mean or unkind way… it’s the way you laugh when you’re shocked or surprised.I mentioned that he’s been attending meetings for the Civil Air Patrol cadet program, which he loves. He’s also being recruited for the high school wrestling team. I’m still trying to get a handle on what level of time commitment the CAP program will be, but if Tyler can keep up his grades and the schedules work out, he’ll be on the Freshman/JV team this year.
2. Middle School – while middle school was not always a joy for Tyler, Halle is loving it and I’m hoping that continues. She’ll be eleven tomorrow and is blossoming before my eyes. This morning Daija and I are sneaking out to go do some birthday shopping for her.
3. Grooves & Bigs: My Daija had a rough first couple of weeks at school, is getting into hers, which makes life so much easier for mama! She’s also, after years of waiting to be old enough, been matched with a mentor through Big Brothers/Big Sisters… with an artsy craftsy big, no less!
4. Villages – I’m so blessed to have good friends who check in on me and make themselves available at the drop of a hat. We’re crisis prone, and don’t know what we’d do without y’all.

CNN Student News

August 25 - Today, CNN Student News examines some stories of cause and effect. Home sales took a big dip in July; what might it mean for the future of the U.S. economy? The yen is doing well against the dollar; how does that impact Americans in Japan? Plus, take a tour of the most expensive school in America, and then visit our blog to share students' thoughts on what makes a school good.

 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it in my blog, though it’s come up on Facebook from time to time, but  I quit TV in January.  

For REALS this time.  

When we moved at the first of the year, I didn’t transfer the cable or go buy one of those special thingamabob’s you need to get a TV signal nowadays.  I’d just had enough. I was sick of seeing Tiger Woods, Jon, Kate, and their eight kids, and I was sick of seeing Joe Arpaio‘s pasty face on my television. Especially given the impact that Sheriff Joe’s criminalization of the Latino community was having on my children, I wouldn’t even watch the news if they were in the room. I figured I could read the news, and just about everything else we watch is either a movie, or can be found on the internet, especially since we can watch instantly on Netflix.      

But this also ties me to the computer… it takes a REALLY REALLY LONG TIME to read all the news! And when I sat down to talk to my children about my recent protest activity, I found a gap in current events. I wasn’t very good at keeping them informed about what was going on in our local, national, and global community. I downloaded the Blackberry Podcast App, and over the last couple of weeks I’ve subscribed to various audio and video podcasts so that we can listen to the news as we go about our business. One of my favorites, for the children and myself, is CNN Student News. At ten minutes, it’s the perfect length for a car ride. It’s commercial free, upbeat and manages to hold the attention not only of my 14yo ADHDer and my 10yo who’s only interest of late is lip gloss and jelly bracelets, but also my 7yo. It doesn’t address local news, but so far this week these podcasts have given us an opportunity to discuss the housing market, flooding in Pakistan, the egg recall, the Islamic Center, Iranian predator drones & the potential for nuclear weapons, and more. Monday night when I drove Tyler to his Civil Air Patrol Cadet meeting (only five minutes away), he said, “awww, man… can I listen to the rest of this on the way home?” So whether you’re a home schooler or just want your kids to be informed about current events without as much sensationalism as they’ll see on the local evening news, this is a fantastic resource.    

What is CNN Student News?

CNN Student News is a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program for middle and high school students produced by the journalists and educators at CNN. This award-winning show and its companion Web site are available free of charge throughout the school year.     

CNN Student News – Special Coverage on CNN.com.  

Related Articles

• CNN Student News Transcript: August 25, 2010 (cnn.com)
• CNN Student News – August 24, 2010 (cnn.com)

What? Already? Nuh uh!

I don’t know that we are ready to go back to school, but as I type here comes the sun to announce that the day is here whether I like it or not.

No more “sleepovers” in the living room or mommies bedroom… the girls barely spent a night in their bedroom all summer.  But last night it was back to business as usual, because school starts today.

It’s Halle’s first day of middle school… and she’ll be reunited with all her besties that have already started middle school… God help the teachers and administration, as they will surely need it with those four jockeying for the “Real Housewives” Tween Drama Queen title.

Daija starts third grade at elementary school by herself this year, but luckily her bestie from volleyball practice has enrolled there and will be riding the same bus. The after school program the kids have always gone to was cut so things will be a little different this year…

Tyler has been back in school for a week… an event that almost created an anxiety attack for me, but that he seems to be taking in stride. He’s been reunited with friends from way back in his days at MLK’s gifted magnate; one of the members from that terror squad is also in the Aerospace magnate. He seems to love his classes, we’re just going through the usual “trying to get back on track” adjustments the new school year always brings. This week I’ll be sending my usual “Hi, I’m Tyler’s mom” email to see how things are going and whether each teacher has his 504, and then providing them with a copy when (as usual) they do not.

LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN!

Scopes trial anniversary occasion to analyze recent Arizona law

Because Mexican Americans and others wouldn’t know they were being discriminated against unless they learned about it in school. Oh, shit… I can’t see… my eyes just rolled out m head…

As in Tennessee, the real issue in Arizona is power. The new law prohibits classes that “promote the overthrow of the United States government,” “promote resentment towards a race or class,” “are designed for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

The law, which is intended to eliminate a particular Mexican-American studies program in the Tucson Unified School District, misrepresents ethnic studies through a now-familiar ruse that claims that any attention to race or racism, even as a topic of study, is in itself racist.

via Scopes trial anniversary occasion to analyze recent Arizona law | The Progressive.

a tale of two (or more) cities (updated)

So it’s probably not a surprise to any of my readers (if there are any left out there, that is) that I am not a fan of SB1070. I could go on about that, but right now I am going to attempt to focus my attention (this is a struggle for me) on a thought that occurred to me earlier, while I was reading Program gives Chicago Public Schools teachers a lesson in history, culture. It sounds like a pretty cool program, and I figure that the chances of our schools implementing a program like this are slim. If I sound cynical, well… between SB1070 and our more recent Ethnic Studies Law, well… nuff said.

So as it is prone to do, my mind started wandering & I started a comparison & contrast of Phoenix & Chicago, a city I recently visited & fell in love with. Now, it’s not easy to follow my train of thought on a lot of things… sometimes I can’t even do it. But humor me today… just sit down, shut up, and hang on.

Pink, Blue, or racist?

So in case this hasn’t come up… I have ADHD. You may be wondering why I’m bringing this to your attention in a blog that you probably thought had something to do with race. Well, my ADHD doesn’t really have anything to do with race, but it has a whole lot to do with the face that this blog entry from February and is being published in July. Needless to say, I have a tendency to start something, get distracted, and then forget that I didn’t finish it. The number of blogs I have in draft is obscene.

But back to the point… (and I’ll probably expand on the story later but right now I just need to publish so I can link back to it)… on this day in February my son refused to take a social studies quiz, alleging that the quiz was racist and that he was boycotting it. The teacher asked what he was going to do, and he held it up as if to tear it in half. She responded, “It’s your grade.”

And my boy let it rip.

It turns out that this was a segregation activity and the purpose was to see if the students would rebel against the unfair treatment of some of the class, as well as for them to experience how it felt to be treated that way and how difficult it was to stand up for themselves.  As they were entering the classroom, some students were given a quiz on pink paper and others received a blue paper. One was a portion of the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test that was given to Blacks during voter registration and the other was a much shorter and easier test that was given to Whites.

Apparently she’s had many students voice objection or refuse to take the quiz once they caught on that all things weren’t equal, but she’s never had a student actually rip up his test before. He was also the first student from that class that voiced an objection.

That’s my boy!

Q1 Report Cards & Halloween Costumes

Tyler has C’s in Albegra & Language Arts and B’s in Science, Social Studies, PE & Electronics Band. Overall I’m happy with his report card; his average GPA is better than it’s been for a while. I’m not happy about the C’s, obviously, but I’m most concerned about his grade in Algebra. He has tests each semester that he has to pass with a 70% in order to get high school credit for the class. I’m having a hard time figuring out how much of his grade is effort (or lack thereof) or subject content. I guess the district has a new policy where kids have to be re evaluated for 504’s every three years. This gets on my nerves for several reasons, one of which is that on the paperwork I have to fill out, they ask me to provide copies of report cards. ?!?!?!?!

Halle has a C in math (what’s UP with math this quarter?) and has herself convinced that it’s soooo hard. I watch her try and use strategies to solve problems that I swear to God add like, three or four extra steps. So we’re working on that, and she’s got A’s in every other subject.  She says she wants to run for Student Congress this year instead of Conflict Manager, which is a relief to me. Iasked her if she was going to join Buddy Club this year, and she said no… if she does Student Congress and Buddy Club it’s just too much running around (all these activities happen during lunch recess). I thought that was pretty impressive… hopefully she’ll be able to maintain that awareness of what she can handle & what’s going to just stress her out, unlike those of us who “should” ourselves to death.

Daija is coming along… she’s got self control & taking esponsibility as areas of concern, and everything else is developing or proficient (she doesn’t get letter grades yet). We’re working on that as well… Mommy needs to be more consistent! We spoiled the baby, and now I’m paying for it (and sadly, so is her teacher).

We went and got costumes last night, and somehow, not one of the kids is a vampire. Tyler is an “underworld outcast” and Daija is a US Diva. Halle said over the weekend she wanted to use last year’s costume (she was cleopatra). So I may be dressing up as cleopatra’s mother again… and we’ll be doing our usual Halloween tradition of trick or treating around the neighborhood for a minute and then heading to Doomtown at Rawhide.

A conversation with my son about the Obama Speech

So at bedtime I chatted with the girls about their days, and asked about the Obama speech. Afterwards, I asked my son about it, and before he really got started, I got what I decided was a flash of inspired brilliance and grabbed my crackberry and recorded our conversation. I wish I’d done that with the girls… sometimes with Tyler, you ask a question and when he’s finally done talking, it’s been an hour and you’re asking yourself…

Who put a quarter in you?

… and sometimes, he has a hard time figuring out how to express his thoughts verbally.

He’s like his mama like that…

 a 13yo’s take on the Obama Speech

When I was listening to this afterwards, I cringed a little bit. Something I said with the best of intentions doesn’t sit too well with me.

Obama advises caution in what kids put on Facebook

and other great advice…

By JULIE PACE
Associated Press Writer
ARLINGTON, Va.

President Barack Obama went forward with a controversial speech to students nationwide Tuesday, preceding it by advising young people at a suburban Virginia school to “be careful what you post on Facebook.” “Whatever you do,” he told them, “it will be pulled up later in your life.”

Obama’s Speech to Kids: A different angle on the uproar

 I agree with this article WHOLE HEARTEDLY. I have a rule at my house… unless there was a death in the family, you are running a fever, or you puke before you get on the bus… you are going to school. I can’t imagine letting my kids cut school just because I didn’t agree with something that might happen in the classroom. 

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH SCHOOL MY KIDS WOULD MISS?

Obama Challenges Nation’s Students to Work Hard

Thank you, Mr. President…

And as parents, let’s ask ourselves… what problems are we going to solve?  Or are we just creating problems where none exist, rather than address the problems already present?

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

via Media Resources Prepared School Remarks.

via Thank you, Mr. President….

The President Can’t Talk to School Children Because?

utter foolishness… pure and simple.

And because responsible parents must protect their children. The White House has even been forced to release the text of the speech in advance so it can be scrutinized for…what exactly? Four letter words? Extreme left-wing utterances? “I wouldn’t let my next-door neighbor talk to my kids alone; I’m sure as hell not letting Barack Obama talk to him alone,” the New York Times quotes Chris Stigall, who it identifies as a Kansas City talk show host. There are two points here, the first is the suggestion that the president might be a sexual predator, the second is that the Times is quoting a shock jock as though he’s a man on the street. This isn’t a real objection, in other words, it’s symbolic and theatrical—it’s sending a message.

The President Can’t Talk to School Children Because…?

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