Are you comfortable on the floor? Or have you forgotten that we create the doors that we walk through?
Category: General Topics
Uncommon Core
Yea, 2 + 2 used to equal 4. But thanks to uncommon core, it can equal 5 if that will make the children feel better. What I don’t understand though is all the drawing stuff. Like, if there’s a math problem of: 9 + 7 =? why does the student have to draw circles to figure that out? If you never teach them how to compute in their heads they’ll never truly learn. What is a reasonable answer? What’s the purpose of learning about reasonable answers when the only thing that matters in the real world is the right answer? Why go through all of this to get the answer.
Let’s not talk about Look-See reading though. I was tutoring this one kid who brought in a list of words she was to pronounce, except they weren’t real words. They were a conjunction of letters that actually made no word at all, yet these were the “words” the child was supposed to use to learn to read. For example: “bgu” < words like that instead of words like “cat”. I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen anything like it in my life and had I not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe this post if I was you either.
But I’m not that surprised. The truth is this isn’t something new, but they are finally openly admitting that they’re dumbing kids down. Common Core is not a new phenomenon, but it actually has many names, some of which are: Outcome Based Education or OBE, Schools without Failure, Mastery Learning, etc. All of these same programs, going all the way back to the 20s, is the same system of education that has been used in the U.S. since it’s inception. Interestingly enough, with all these different name changes, Common Core is just the right title for this program…. there is truly nothing uncommon about it.
The Beautiful Sky
Have you ever walked outside at dusk and noticed all the colors in the sky? The way the moon just bleeds crimson bright; splashes of daylight prophesying hints of yellow like screaming oracles, and burnt orange autumns that cements itself inside the belly of the sky. The way that birds defy the darkness to find refuge in the path of light, soaring on the backs of indigo clouds or beige highlights swinging low like sweet chariots. Even the wind rejoices in the shadows of the moonlight bouncing off the concrete. As for me, I can’t take my eyes off the sky. I wish only to pull up a chair, dip my hands into a bowl of moon; sip it slow like a glass of Sauvignon on Saturday night when my resting has come to an end; let it fill my empty; turn my distress into dancing.
Being “Grown”
I was in the Dollar Store today and the cashier was an excited 21 year old. “I’m grown“, she boasted. “I pay my own bills and don’t need for nothing.” That sparked a thought:
Don’t be in such a hurry to talk about how “grown” you are because there’s a difference between “being grown” and being an adult. Grown people are those who have reached an age level that gives them permission to buy liquor, finally get into the clubs (legally), and buy cigarettes. Grown people usually boast about paying their own bills, driving their own cars, and not having to overall depend on anyone else financially. They just moved out the house yesterday and already they’re ready for the world. Adults however are those who do not have to keep reminding everyone how grown they are. They may or may not depend on someone else financially, may or may not pay their own bills. That’s because the level of their maturity is not based on such futility, but adults are people whose mentality is beyond the mind of a child. If you are well off financially that’s great, but it is not what defines adulthood. Not throwing stones, just something to think about the next time you have to tell someone how grown you are, which in the case you have to say it, you probably aren’t.
In Minds Reach
For strength you must first know your weaknesses. And you must know them more than anyone else. Only then can you train your mind to think differently, and to improve on those weaknesses. To train is to continually practice something over a period of time. So this is not a one day affair to which you will be granted the fruits of this one night stand of sorts. You will not burst through with instant gratification of having remained still when the world is moving too fast. When the buildings and the trees and the people all crumble around you, persistence will not lay it’s hand on your chest, does not care for the thrashing hailstones crashing onto the ground. Do not court with strength. It is not something that falls off of trees. Do not leave it lingering on the edges of your breaths like when lips beg to be suckled, and swallowed whole by the thought of love; a drop of oil waiting modestly in the hallowed hallways of her breast. Do not fool yourself, for strength has never happened upon us the way that romanticized love does inside the pages of Hollywood. But to wake up and know that you are beauty made manifest; to know that you’ve got diamonds in-between your toes and underneath your fingernails; that you are princess and prince to a wealth of possibilities all in reach of your mind, this is a daily striving. A striving so beyond the flesh that you can taste it in your dreams and dance with it in your thoughts. It is tangible and intangible, symbolic, and literal, physical, and mental all wrapped up in one great trial of bewildered circumstance; waiting for the moment where it may envelop you with its glory. All neatly wrapped into a beautiful face too precious to ignore, and yet too glowing to stare into. Indeed, strength awaits you.
No Thank You
In case you’re wondering where the Christmas lights are, why I did not decorate my blog with carved Turkeys this weekend or why I have yet to regurgitate from the bowels of Neo Paganism some exciting holiday cheer, I just thought I’d warn you not to send me a holiday greeting or to send your cute little devil friends, I’m sorry elves, to come beating down my door with laughing hatred…no thank you to it all. I actually don’t celebrate holidays. There I said it. You may now refer to me as your crazy blogger friend who hates Jesus, I’m used to it.
Don’t Regret the Rain
No, this is not symbolism; I’m actually really talking about rain here. We’re always taught, directly or indirectly, to regret the rain. To mentally throw our fist into the air and shout invisible slurs into the ears of angels; to curse the very nutrients coming down from the heavens. I may be one of the few people to actually like the rain. There is something very calming about the atmosphere when fresh rain is poured onto the ground, very soothing. Whether you’re cuddling with a spouse, enjoying a warm cup of coffee / tea, or reading a good book, you can always depend on the rain to inspire much needed meditation. Not that it’s raining now though, it’s actually nice and warm out here in Shreveport. So your probably wondering why I’d even bring up rain, just call it a random thought.
Here are some benefits of rain for the next time you find yourself wallowing in self-pity and regret because it rained on your parade—literally.
1) It puts moisture in the air
2) It helps with droughts
3) It fills streams
4) It washes away dirt from plants
5) It provides a drink for every living thing
6) It cools the temperature if it’s hot
7) It washes cars for free
8) It continues with the beneficial water cycle
9) It aids the poor in collecting water
10) It saves money from buying bottled water
11) It causes a rainbow to show up
12) It cleans roads with oil marks
13) It assists worms to move around the soil which aerates the ground
14) It can erode soil to form mountains
15) It can make certain insects and animals come out of hiding, like a snail which provides food for birds
The PBS Blog 