Living Your Moral Obligation, Mandate...
I haven't written in awhile. It is therapeutic & that & meditation will be part of my new life journey/ growth mindset!
I became very passionate about K-12 education; woo, I am so sorry to all my K-12 teachers... I was an idiot ;) #teacherlife I now sympathize! My kids are anything but idiots, but wow being a K-12 teacher is challenging. I taught based on a curriculum when I taught college, but it was far more casual & lenient. Standards based planning & data analysis is no joke. If every kid doesn't master something or do well on it, I feel as if I have personally failed. I want them all to soak things in and be passionate adults as engineers, scientists, doctors, singers, lawyers, non-profit workers, civil servants, politicians (culturally aware ones), etc... but many are not emotionally ready to focus, stop talking, handle their emotions (anger/ sadness). They have horrid situations at times that are not fair for kids to have to deal with: (parents incarcerated, fathers or mothers have left them with a single parent or an often out of touch or busy guardian, true poverty, etc...) The longer I work in a low-income neighborhood, the more patience I have developed. I never wanted kids & STILL DON'T; however, my patience levels have gotten much better. Children are (as my former NTF coach would have said- "tiny humans"); therefore, we should not baby them & talk to them as if they are just catching lightning bugs, raking leaves, and playing with toys nightly. They may have to change their siblings' diapers; they may have to hide under the bed while their parents are taken away by the police for drugs; they may have to cry themselves to sleep because they think their surrounding peers do not like them. Some of my co-workers in the past two years have truly inspired me & motivated me to be better & do better for future generations!
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| 2015-2016 Purpose Prep School Year |
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| Some Major Anchors! |
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| Strong Women Who Serve Others 👐 |
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| Neely's Bend Family (2016 School Year, Thus Far)! |
I have also become more aware of my political beliefs; ironically this goes hand in hand with education for me. When a Presidential candidate wins an election & 75% of your 10-12 year old students are crying the next day but adults in the nation seem oblivious, you have to realize our nation is broken. It is heartbreaking; however, you can't just sink into a hole of disgust & do nothing. You must fight back with your vote! Go out in the primaries too (2018 is going to be just as important as this election was/ could be, etc...-don't think anything is over until inauguration day in January)! If you don't speak up for the disenfranchised in our society, who will? Children whose parents weren't born here but they were are fearful they will be deported; youths are killing one another in the streets; police brutality is still an issue; society acts as if climate change is not that important while nature is melting, rotting away from pollution & human destruction. We must do better as a society. Don't dig up sacred land for oil/ money! Don't tear families apart! Don't be apathetic if issues don't directly effect you! Do speak out! Do have an opinion! Do have healthy debates! Do speak your truth! You might inspire someone else to do amazing things. This is been a contentious year. It appears to be far more full of unwavering opinionated & hate based vs. logic. Black vs. Blue lives; candidates at each other's throat; those are our leaders in society citizens are supposed to be able to look up to. Concerning...
One week & 4 days ago I could not sleep, was angered & feeling that our nation was full of racists & sexists; however, I am going to be optimistic & hope this horrendous election year will spurn on our nation to validate multiple political parties to eliminate so few options (i.e. green & independent votes "not counting" :/ ). I was full on passionate about #FeeltheBern ...
& was utterly heart-broken someone I'd cracked up about due to his tactlessness on a reality show I used to watch is now our President-elect. He's made so many generalizations of racism & sexism it scared me on behalf of the future generations I teach. I thought we had really turned into true Idiocracy.
I am attempting to get rid of some of these biases & am going to hope for checks & balances from government; many from history have thought that before though and have been disappointed by feeling unsupported by their country. We just need to truly unite for the better!
This past Tuesday I went to a national day of action protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. I started researching that environmental/ human rights issue last year when I was passionately following Bernie Sanders & "the attorney and ICTMN contributing columnist Tara Houska...[who was] appointed as Native American advisor [during his campaign]" (ICTMN). I want to continue speaking up for the disenfranchised natives whose lands (few which remain sacred) continue to be raped for political power & financial profit. #youcantdrinkoil #waterislife #westandwithStandingRock #executiveordertomakeitstop I made up chants with a teacher/friend I'd asked to come with me (check us out)!
+ I met an awesome person ✊ who continues to inspire me with their insight & passion about environmental rights 🌿 & getting to know/accept yourself.
Yesterday, (as you'll see later) I got to not only hear an amazing orator speak at a lecture in Nashville, but I got to shake the hand & get a book signed by a Civil Rights icon, John Lewis. John Lewis' National Book Award-Winning Graphic Memoir on the Civil Rights Movement is called March! It is the first in a trilogy. I hope to add it to the curriculum for my 5th graders soon or at least will use it in some way, shape, or form!
He perfectly painted images in all the audiences' minds about how he did not get into Troy University in Alabama (near Montgomery) after he graduated from high school; therefore, without telling his family or teachers, he wrote a letter to MLK Jr.! He answered & sent him a bus ticket! From then on he marched, spoke up, said uncomfortable but poignant speeches all the way up to now where he serves in Congress, representing Georgia! He noted that he doesn't regret being arrested ~45 times for being beaten...no one wanted to be hurt, bloody, beaten but sometimes that is the price we have to pay to help society help move people to another level!"
He told a poignant anecdote about a former Klansman that brought his son to see him in his office in 2009 (in Congress); he asked for Lewis' forgiveness, which he gave; they hugged & cried together. He wants us all to know that there is power in the way of love & peace. We must come together..."not just in the American house but the world house...we all came on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now. We can build a beloved community, tear down walls, build bridges...not just for ourselves but for future." He even talked about the planet & how we must leave it cleaner: "This planet...little piece of real estate is not ours to horde & to waste!"
He also spoke to students from MLK Magnet (where the lecture was held) & answered their questions about (1) his inspirations to act for Civil Rights (he cited murder of Emmett Till); (2) how it was to attend an HBCU then: hard...he washed dishes (giant pots to get through school & as a janitor- stole a ream of paper to print dos & don't for protests) ;) (3) how it felt to be the youngest of the Freedom Riders (he felt supported by King & other leaders- even when they edited his speeches-he was never nervous- it came out "alright" (4) Has social media helped or hurt Civil Rights (he feels it has definitely helped- vs. sharing a party line, barely any fax machines, no Internet, etc...) (5) would he have changed anything? (no political decisions...just speaking & learning more from MLK Jr., President Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Pope. Can learn so much & should take advantage of how they influence people/ history; + should have spent more time learning with teachers; praised teachers)!
At the end of the lecture, he was presented with his mug shots by our mayor Megan Barry. It is a very different city than where he learned about human rights through the teachings of Gandhi.
He said, "The first time I got arrested in this city I felt free...liberated and I have not looked back since!" He communicated to us that we must speak up for teachers proper compensation, for a path to citizenship for immigrants, for stronger gun/ violence controlled laws. He said it is our "...moral obligation, mandate to speak up. When you see something that is not right..." that the younger generation's energy is needed! We need to be committed & dedicated. He said we are needed like in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. He encouraged us that we can do it: "If we get it right in our country, maybe we can serve as a model for the rest of the world!" The mayor told him he'd been "...on the right side of justice & encouraged Nashville to make sure that all of us are on the right side of history when this time is written about and reflected upon."
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| Here I was getting my copy of March signed by Congressman John Lewis after listening to his amazing lecture! He shook my hand & as I thanked him for what he said about teachers, immigration reform for a path to citizenship, & his Civil Rights service, he asked if I was a teacher & thanked me for mine= a history lover, advocate, & activist's dream come true! #inspired #goforth #getingoodtrouble #liveyourmoralobligation #mandate #speakup #speakout So be a human! Don't try to be sure of everything in your life! You can't control it all anyway! Make mistakes; you won't have to plan for it; life will occur! These four females from classic television shows I reward myself with (when I'm not staying up far too late lesson planning/ grading), are sometimes dramatic, and often make horrid decisions [Mindy is quite shallow even], but their saving graces are that they are good at heart. Their family/ friends realize they will be there for them if they need to vent on someone else's shoulder. Plus, they never lose their sense of wonder, dreams, and their moral obligation, mandate, or need to truly serve others. That is the reason Jess becomes a successful administrator, Mindy opens her own fertility clinic, Leslie it is implied becomes President of the United States, & Olivia has her own firm to fix problems for others; she tries to wear the white hat-she just is so flawed (give her a break- she can only handle other people's problems, not her own #itshandled). So be human, but don't lose your sense of humanism & emotional intelligence that can inspire you to follow your dreams & change the world! |
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| Jess is a teacher. |
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| Leslie is a mid-level beuracrat. |
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| Mindy is a gynecologist |
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| Olivia is the best "fixer" in D.C. |
As a caveat, always remember, your life could be vastly different from a 21st century woman/ human with the ability to choose the "right side of history." You could have to kill a man who tries to rape you because you have no human rights (Rosalee-slave in Underground). You could have to let a man manipulate you for sexual favors so he won't tell that you are hiding a slave child & aiding in the Underground Railroad (Elizabeth- abolitionist in Underground).
Live your truth & be vulnerable. Make mistakes, but always be willing to stand up when others are degraded &/or not receiving human rights. Remember, this is your moral obligation & mandate (Lewis, John). And... others have gone & are daily going before you to ensure you have the freedom to choose whether or not you will act upon this moral obligation & mandate!
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| Fearless looks different to us all! |
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| #MarshaJohnson #RuthBaderGinsburg #FeeltheBern #Obama |
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| Civil Rights Beasts! |
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| Women on Fire: Malala Y. & Tara H. -If you didn't know... #getintheknow Malala defied the Taliban in Pakistan & demanded girls be allowed to receive an education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman (2012) but went on to be the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Indigenous Activist Tara Houskanwas zip ties and locked in a dog kennel for 6 hours for protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline! #femaleempowerment #standforsomethingorfallforanything |
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| Speak Up! Make a Choice! |
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