Bush's State of the Union speech

Anybody see/hear Bush's State of the Union speech tonight?

Compare it to these "highlights" from his 2004 address:

http://www.prez2012.com/stateoftheunion.mov

Despairity

Yes, that's a play on "disparity."

I think I may have blogged once on this before - it figures prominently in my novel - and that is the obvious and glaring disparities caused by economic and ethnic and linguistic segregation here in Redwood City.

Normally, you probably wouldn't take much notice of it. When you're on the Latino side of town, everything's Latino. When you're on the white and Asian side of town, well, everything's white and Asian, with a few Latinos mixed in here and there. Being separate isn't that bad, is it? But when you bring the two sides together, create an opportunity to look at them together, side by side, which is what happens when teams from west side schools play against teams from east side schools in the local recreational youth sports leagues, the disparities between the two are just staggering. It's embarrassing. You almost can't bear to watch.

Today I was a witness rather than a direct participant. While waiting for my 5:00 basketball game with my 4th and 5th grade boys, the previous game was still going on. The score was something like 23 to 6 with about 7 minutes to go. On the one side sat the Fair Oaks squad. Fair Oaks is a school nearly identical demographically to us. 89% of their families are in poverty, 93% of their students are Latinos. 83% of their students are English Language Learners. All but 2 kids on the team were Latino - the other two were Pacific Islander.

On the other side sat the North Star Academy squad, nearly all white kids with a couple of Asian kids. North Star Academy is in the exact same district as Garfield and Fair Oaks. They are a GATE magnet - in other words, they take all the "gifted and talented" kids in the district and send them there. 14% of their families are in poverty. 64% of their students are white, 23% Latino, 10% Asian. 4% of their students are English Language Learners.

(all these stats come from the state of California for the 2004-2005 school year)

The stands were filled, a lively crowd - of white parents. North Star supporters.

With a 17 point lead, the North Star coach kept his best players in. A steal, and 2 more points. A picked off pass, and two more points. Soon the lead was up to 25. And did the coach call off the dogs? Did he make them take extra passes? Did he put in his least experienced players to get some playing time? No. He kept his top guys in until there were 3 minutes left and they had a 28 point lead - 36 to 8.

You can explain the skill differential in many ways. Many of the North Star players have played before in leagues like NJB. Our kids can't afford to participate in NJB. They have dads who know how to play basketball, and who play with them. Many of our kids don't have dads, and if they do, they're probably busy working (and, basketball isn't exactly the most popular sport in rural Michoacan, a state in Mexico where nearly all of our families are from). They have houses with basketball hoops over the garage. Our kids have apartment buildings with gangsters loitering outside. They have nice new basketball shoes and basketball shorts. Our kids slide around the court on worn out sneakers in their school uniform pants.

What lessons do these 9, 10, and 11 year olds learn?

I've been coaching for nearly 8 years now. I don't think it's coincidence that every season there are instances before games when, upon first seeing our nearly all white opponents on the other side of the court, I've had players instinctively mutter, "I think we're going to lose."

Am I living it right?

To answer the question from my previous blog, I would say yes.

In The Alchemist, a book Mar, my teaching partner, gave me for my birthday in December, the shepherd boy realizes it's taken him a couple of years to move just a measly few hours towards his goal of getting to the pyramids of Egypt. But rather than lament the fact, he rejoices in the fact that he is, after all, closer than he was previously, and he learned a lot of things along the way that he wouldn't have learned otherwise. And, he figured, those lessons would probably come in handy.

I'm in the middle of my sixth year of teaching. And while most of that time has had nothing directly to do with my political goals, I don't feel like I'm off track. What I've learned through my teaching experiences will be useful in my political career - I'm sure of it.

For a random closing, here's a couple of things you don't hear about anymore:
* VCR plus
* The Club

And, I think this may be true about teaching:
An indicator of whether or not your colleagues think you're a good teacher is if they feel comfortable telling you how bad they think some of your colleagues are.

Happy New Year!

Not so new anymore, actually. Already the 17th?!?! Shame on me.

For my first blog of 2006, I thought these song lyrics from John Mayer's "Why Georgia" were appropriate. I heard them for the first time on the plane to D.C., listening to my iPod shuffle. I wasn't even aware I had this song - Pam had downloaded it onto my computer when she first got her iPod (don't sue me, RIAA!). And it came on as I'm uncomfortably sitting between my two sleeping companions, and its central question struck me as very appropriate for the beginning of a new year:

I am driving up 85
in the kind of morning
that lasts all afternoon
I'm just stuck inside the gloom

four more exits to my apartment
but I am tempted to keep the car in drive
and leave it all behind

cuz I wonder sometimes
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

am I living it right
am I living it right
am I living it right

everybody's just a stranger
but that's the danger in
going my own way
I guess it's a price I have to pay
still "everything happens
for a reason"
is no reason not to ask myself

if I'm living it right
am I living it right
am I living it right