_posted in dayedayerocks | 20 January 2008

2004 Astronaut Candidate Jose Hernandez    photo credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center

Remember when I said I was going to be more consistent? Well, I have been. The blog has definitely talking a back seat to my classes and work. I'm taking two short session English courses. The short session is fucking short! Each week is equal to two weeks. In total the six weeks for short session equals thirteen weeks, the regular session time. So yea, I've been consistent and extremely organized. I've written more in the last three weeks than I have in the last two years.

I get out of the house one day a week to socialize with humans. I have a gang of movie passes but no time to go see a movie. So on my scheduled escape from behind my computer or a book was this past Friday. While having dinner with Antero he told me about a fellow teacher's class discussion about hegemony in the context of the Holocaust and Elie Wiesel's Night.

Travis asked his students, "What would happen if all white people were killed or put in jail?" (Travis is white, so he's including himself in the question.) One of his students raised his hand and said, "But who would invent everything and do all the science?"

Wow! Antero was blown away, as was I during the retelling of this incident. For a second my heart broke. Antero asked his own class why the kid's comment bothered him. It took the students a few moments to think about it. Then one kid raised his hand and sheepishly said, "Because it makes it seem like we can't do it."

ABSOLUTELY. Can you imagine thinking that your place in the world does not include that level of success? Fuck me, these kids are getting shafted. This wasn't some elementary school, rather high school students who will soon be out in the real world. With that type of thinking how far from the stereotype are they going get?

This is the kind of stuff I should be filming and putting online. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. To drive the point home that LAUSD is just a factory for housing a bunch of kids until they are 18 or so needs to be made clear. There are just too many stories there for me to sit on my ass.