Friday, September 02, 2005
Lord knows, I try

Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some sh*t
To bang in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight
Lord knows I try...

-Talib Kweli "I Try" (f/Mary J. Blige)


Help yourself to a taste right here. (right click + save as)

Having the events of Katrina and New Orleans as a backdrop to my first week of grad school has been pretty crazy. It's easy to feel helpless watching the suffering of the people down there, and even though I've been keeping up with all the news via the internet (no time for TV), I still feel gripped by the nature of the disaster (no pun intended). As my friend Dave has noted, now more than ever is the time to exercise some human compassion.

Please donate to Mercy Corps and the American Red Cross.

One thing that's caught my attention has been the mainstream media treatment of the victims, especially in how it portrays the desperation of white victims versus black victims of Katrina. Check this out:

'Black people loot, but white people find?' Definitely some subtle racism going on there.

What's also been bothering me a lot is how mis-managed everything has been... what exactly was the government and FEMA doing, just watching Katrina move in on the radar and crossing their fingers that it'd pass by? And our El Presidente and his administration was doing what? Chillin' at his ranch? Sheesh.

At a recent benefit concert for the victims of Katrina, Kanye West made some critical, unscripted comments about President Bush and the government's handling of the situation. He was able make his comments before being censored by the networks, despite not cursing. For a full video, click here. Whether or not you agree with what he has to say, I find it a unny how quickly he was censored... especially how quickly he's cut out when he says "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Oh man.


.:.


On a more personal note, while I was sitting in class today thinking about this things when one of my classmates stood up to share similar feelings of empathy for the victims, especially the children who've been evacuated. She suggested the idea that as a group of future teachers, we should do something, and after a short discussion, someone mentioned they were already in contact with aid agencies in Houston. Everybody decided that we'd work together as a cohort to do a childrens' book / blanket / clothes drive, to send to all kids from New Orleans there in Houston. My respect for my classmates grew immensely at that moment.

Next week should be interesting, as it will be the first week that we'll be sent out to schools to talk to teachers and do field observations. I lucked out and got placed at a school that meets some of characteristics I wanted:

1. it's an elementary school
2. it's located in an urban setting
3. it's racially diverse
4. it's on Capitol Hill (yay, no driving to a crazy location).

Since we're being sent out to the schools in small groups, my group was nice enough to offer a carpool from Seattle U, which means thankfully I can still carpool with my mom from her work in Chinatown. I just hope my car gets fixed sometime soon, because the next time I get placed at a school, I might not be so lucky in terms of location. I'm also trying to hold out hope I can find a reasonably priced place to live in the city. O_o

On a happier note, my mom nicely treated me and Shiv to dinner at Takohachi to celebrate the end of our first week of grad school.

Saba shioyaki taberu toki, ore wa ureshiku naru. Mmm, saba.

  |


Comments:
Props on the Kweli link. How can he constantly write such wisdom? I wish I could approach that.

Are you getting certified? Good luck--your environment sounds great. I taught in a diverse, urban, poor Chicago neighborhood for my student teaching. It was so wonderful. I look forward to reading about more of your experiences.

And if you want to chat about the experience, drop an email or AIM at xianb8.

Peace.
 
Xian-

Welcome! Yep, certification is part of the program... feel free to reply anytime here and I'll be following your site too.
 
Post a Comment

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33

the facts.
name. Gar AKA "that Chinese guy" "Sleepy.McSleeping"
ethnicity/nationality. Chinese/American, 4th gen.
location. Sea-Town, WA, USA Kawanishi, JAPAN
occupation. less-cynical poor grad student
age. younger than you think, older than you know

 



 

[contact]
UnseenGC @ AIM
(myname) @ gmail.com

 

 

[ARCHIVES]
main listing

[memories]
i - ii - iii - iv - v

  This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Creative Commons License