The Weekly Geography of my Life

What a hectic week! As the school year comes to its irrevocable end, every day seems to fly by. Graduation the Class of 2008 is right around the corner and so are End of Course Test and dreaded AP exams. While I am confident that I have done a solid job teaching curriculum in each of my classes (with a few life lessons sprinkled along the way, I am still not confident that every learner will score high on the aforementioned high-stakes test. Oh well. There is always next year.

The Mountain: Luckily, the end of spring break coinciding with the wedding of one of my closest high school classmates. Getting to see Matthew and Kylea get hitched, attending the bachelor party (good job, Anzari), and seeing dear, old friends from high school (miss you Marcus; love you, Tot and Vonne) was a great experience. Also, I was able to go back to my alma matter (Go MSU, Go State!) and have dinner with two of my best former students (Allison, I am so proud of you and your courage! Bahhiyah, stay focused!). These two events definitely rank high on my list of things that made this week great.

The Valley: Whenever a vacation from work ends, my body and sleep schedule gets all out of whack. I have not been getting the sleep I need and consequently, I have been tired and grumpy. Blah.

I am reading: Only the best book of the damn year!!!! The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is fucking amazing! And I know teachers are not supposed to swear, but damn, this I my blog and damn, this book is WONDROUS! Buy it and let me know what you think.

I have been watching: America’s Next Top Model and it sucks. This is an awful “cycle.”

I am listening to: e=mc2. Aren’t you? Mariah Carey will surely top the Beatles #1 record with this great album. She’s back and better with age (even if she is a slore.)

Barack is more bitter than small town Pennsylvania voters...

It seems as if Barack Obama has not only fangled some words, but has also fangled his chances of getting the majority of electoral votes in Pennsylvania. To make a long comment short, Obama said Pennsylvania's small town voters were bitter about losing jobs and that to explain their frustrations, they "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." For a more in on the story, consult http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080415.htm .

The comments were ignorant and insensitive and indefensible. I don’t think many people are willing to call out the white elephant in Obama’s room. The comments were direct attacks against working class, white people in Pennsylvania who are not receptive to Obama’s message. Some of these people may be unreceptive due to Obama’s race, but that is their right. No one has to vote for someone because they are the best man or woman for a specific task. We elected George W. Bush not once, but twice and he is not good for anything of which I can think.

Race should not be an issue in this or any election, but that fact that it is an issue is a constant and ever present reality. As a black man, Obama should not consider himself immune from the racial thinking of others, but as a candidate for public office, he should strive to make himself immune from thinking racially himself.

Obama has repeatedly attempted to undo the damage done by his poor wording, and I am sure many Americans are willing to forgive his ill-thought comments. After all, people forgave Michael Richards for his Laugh Factory breakdown and Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic slurs at a stop-light.

As a result of Obama’s comments, Hillary Clinton has a fresh round of ammunition at her disposal as she attempts to slowly tear down the solid democratic nomination Obama has built in the past three months. It was shrewd and clever politics for Clinton, who has finally realized that in order to win an election, you have to be able to relate to the common man. Showing empathy for the struggling economy and using anecdotes from her childhood, Clinton makes it appear as though she understands what the average Pennsylvanian is going through. Obama attempted to fight back, asking, repeatedly, who Clinton thought she was, Annie Oakley- seems as if Annie had her gun and hit her target where it hurts.

Catching Up with Me...

Where are you going?

Where do you go?

Are you looking for answers

For reasons under the stars?
-Lyrics from “Where are you going?” By Dave Matthews


A needed rest has come. I have no idea how to categorize this break from work. I realize now that I have no idea how to categorize this break from writing. I don’t know if most people feel the need to be so far away from things, but I have felt the need to detach. Disconnectedness is dangerous. I have always known this and fought the impulse, but lately, I find myself too tired to fight it.

This break from work has provided an opportunity to read and catch up on news. I read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and then watched the film. I also watched Atonement. Neither film was as good as the novels upon which they were based.

This week I have also been catching up on my health concerns. I have hit the track and the gym hard, and god only knows how much I needed to work out. My body is a wreck. I feel like I am wrapped in pounds and pounds of excess fat. Being at home has provided me with a chance to eat healthier and to eat less.

Grief Daybook II by Carol Ann Davis (A Memory Poem for You)

There are panels of sky

as good as forgotten,

Evans' gelatin folds of Florida

circa 1934. The line of sky is dark at first

where the gulf lifts it,

then comes to me like a halo

around the palm tree with its neck bent,

its spray of branches leaning out of frame

as if to flee. Its roots pull

at sand, as if to say,

this is what it takes.

I'd believe, if not for the way

my breath catches,

if not for the wild faint

sleep's become. The palm's branches

are spears left

where they've fallen

in the dirty sand, too heavy

for the tide to take them. Where the neck bends,

cut branches—like stubble on a chin

as seen from below—seem to ask

something of the photographer,

something not washed away

in the chemical bath. The shadow of the trunk

just underlines—means to prove the existence

of the world. It's three o'clock

and the latticework of 1934
is pulling around me in this light

as if to say my god, my god,

a hymn sung by infidels to believers

as a way to ask for water.

Carol Ann Davis

The Weekly Geography of my Life

After a brief hiatus, my weekly (ok, um… bi-monthly) blog about the events of my week is back. Hopefully, it will become a more frequent part of the blogosphere.

The Mountain: The highlight of my week has been collecting money for our school’s annual Christmas community service project. The project, sometimes called Christmas Kids, or Project Christmas Kids or Operation Christmas Kids, or the Christmas Kids Initiative (I REALLY wish someone would just give the project a real name), is when classrooms throughout my school adopt underprivileged youth from the community and provide them with the various items on their Christmas wish list. Each year, I strive to adopt five children (one kid per class). This year, however, I accepted responsibility for seven kids (two families). The deadline to collect money is Friday, December 7 and I already have almost $700. Hopefully we will reach my target goal of $1400.

The Valley: The low point of the week is my ongoing cold. Just when I thought it was gone, surprise- sniffles was back in full effect. It’s me, sniffles! I am actually going to the doctor on Thursday and will hopefully be given something to stop this awful post-nasal drip.

This week:

I am reading: We Were the Mulvaneys

I am listening to: Christmas CDs! As much as I hate to admit it, I am a fan of Christmas music. Christina Aguilera, John Legend, and Mariah Carey all have Christmas CDs that are in heavy rotation. My favorite Christmas song:

I am watching: The television screen collect dust! There is nothing on television that’s worth watching!

The Exploitation of Pretty

I first heard about the participation of former MSU alumni, Juan McCullum, in the reality television series, I Love New York 2, this past summer. Initially, I was surprised that Juan would participate in such a program, but I quickly saw the shrewdness of this decision. A current student at Mississippi College’s School of Law, Juan has big dreams and starring on I Love New York 2 is a step in making those dreams a reality.

Since starring in the program, numerous bloggers and myspacers and facebookers have made comments about Juan. I feel as though I would be remiss if I did not comment on the man I knew while attending MSU.

Juan McCullum is a power-house of ambition and determination—pure and simple. He’s a fellow Scorpio, so in many ways, it is expected. Juan is also a fierce and savvy competitor. Former Vice-President of the MSU Student Association, and MSU Resident Assistant, Juan was involved at MSU and laid a great foundation for future students of color. Attached in a link from the MSU Reflector that details Juan’s platform while running for school office in 2004: http://media.www.reflector-online.com/media/storage/paper938/news/2004/03/26/News/Juan-Mccullum.Profile-2538036.shtml

From an honest perspective, the thing that riles me most about the numerous attacks on Juan’s character is I personally know how difficult it was for him to successfully navigate life at Mississippi State. Juan did what only four other students of color were able to do in my time as a bulldog and that is win a school-wide election.

While Mississippi State (and Mississippi in general) is nothing like the stereotypical portrayals perpetuated in films like Mississippi Burning, self-segregation and both classist and racial (not racist) thinking still dominate the social decisions of some. All students at MSU may bleed maroon and white (I do, too) but some still see things in black and white.

A former president of the Black Student Association and former Opinion editor of the school newspaper, I made the identification of these racial issues a primary focus and was overjoyed the day Juan, another African American made student, won VP of SA. I supported Juan then and I support Juan now.

From what I understand Juan may have desires to be a model or act. With his fierce determination and tenacity, I am sure he will achieve this goal and I will be supporting him still.

Resting

The start of the holiday season is finally here. While many of my fellow bloggers are hitting the road to be with family and friends, I always take the Thanksgiving holiday as a time to catch up on my self.

Thanksgiving always comes at the perfect time. I am exhausted: physically, emotionally, and mentally. I needed this break desperately.

Over my week, I watched Oprah and Project Runway. I overdosed on news and magazines and Fruity Peebles. I saw American Gangster.
I finished reading American Pastoral.

I am now reading We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates.

I plan to sleep in (as I have done each day). Grade something (I have stacks and stacks of essays to plow through). Watch the Green Bay Packers whip up on the Lions and jump from house to house, eating whatever looks most delicious.

My friends Jason and Maria are hosting game night at their house after dinner and I plan to end the day there. I am bringing “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” and a bottle of Riesling.

This thanksgiving, I am very thankful for many things, but I can honestly say I most thankful for a moment to simply lie down and rest.