Cesar E. Chavez

Robert L Stevens Elementary Rant

It is 1 month until the end of my stint at R.L. as an after school mentor for sixth grade. The kids are crazy, I'm crazy and we all can't wait to get out of there and move on. But move on to what really?

THE BEGGINING OF THE YEAR REACTION: Ahh yes, the "At Risk Youth". Those that will probably drop out of high school, do drugs, waste their potential, get pregnant at 14, get arrested, and pretty much run a muck for the rest of their lives to the disappointment of every adult they have ever met......Right? They are at risk of defiling themselves into the deep dark recesses of failure.
Not that they are at risk of being beaten when they come home from school. Not that they are at risk of poverty and headaches that start at 1 pm and last all day because the parents can't afford a school lunch. Not that they are risk of failing classes because the only statements that they receive in relationship to studies are, "You are stupid." , "What's wrong with you?" "When are you ever going to get it right?" and on and on and on.......

Good thing we put these kids with the uneducated inexperienced young adults of this nation. Why would we wish to place the experienced PHD veterans of our time on the front lines? They are to be held away for those who can have need and can afford to have that need satisfied.

AND NOW: Okay, I still agree that the students need to be support, I still agree that they should get more than just a novice like myself, but perhaps if all they get is novices~~ at least they get someone. In a perfect world education would be non homogeneous and people would be taught how to self educate as opposed to being handed what they should and should not be interested in. In a perfect system, there would be less compartmentalize and age isolation so that students could learn from each other instead of encouraging intense competing with the same age groups. How do we encourage the whole child to come to fruition in a public school system? I don't know. I don't know the balance between fluffy hippy stuff, boundaries, physiological analyses, public school systems, Waldorf school systems, charter school systems, and home school systems. I wonder what the solution should be for a problem that I'm not sure can be solved.

Tagged By Lisa

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Science Educator~Sonoma County Parks
2. Food Server, Bev. Server, Hostess~River Rock Casino
3. Hip Hop Instructor~S.P.A.C.E.
4. Myatt's Grocery Cashier~Purvis MS

Four places I have lived:
1. Ukiah, Hopland
2. Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol
3. My Parents' houses, MS~CA
4. The Mississippi flop house

Four TV shows I have watched:
1. Sesame Street
2. Reading Rainbow
3. 24
4. Pimp My Ride

Four places I have vacationed:
1. Denmark, UK, Germany, Czek Republic, Ireland, France, Austria, Italy, and Poland
(all in the same trip)
2. Michigan
3. (I wish I could put Oregon and Washington)
4. Mississippi (weird place to vacation)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. My MySpace
2. The Blog
3. The Email
4. The Weather

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Paris
2. The Beach
3. In The Snow
4. Swimming

Four (or two) people I tag:
1. Dad
2. Brett
3.
4.

Brilliant Brain Blogging

The interesting thing about this whole blogging idea, is that I have the ability to read other peoples' blogs. This, in turn, makes me self conscious about my own blog and creates this whole dialog of dribble that will now pour out of my finger tips.

I do not blog in a notebook, with a pen. (For those of you that are living unaware, this previous sentence refers to an archaic form of personal reflection called: journaling.) Why do I think blogging on a screen with a key board will be any different?

I don't know what there is to say of day to day life. Much less do I know what to write about in a public forum where people I have never met will come on and try to learn something about me..... Even worse, people I already know will enter into this place and read my thoughts and goings on without ever contacting me......Odd to think that someone is reading something about me, but I will never know that they are.

alright.....The dribble has now gotten to me even, so I will cease and desist.

And So

And so the truth of the matter, is that the blog is now to replace all journal writing that has ever occurred. It's cool, I don't need to write in a private diary each night and I have no need to make sure it is secure with a lock and key, as a 6th grader informed me she does with her private writing. No, instead I lie here in my bed and with out any qualms, I type as I have never typed before, I fill up the heads of children with the moment's whim, and I procrastinate the real depths of soul exploration in order to type some blog that only I and my close friends will read...Awesome...

Here it is

Here it is. The first post in a long line of peer pressure posts to show up in a public forum online, so that all the ex's and freaks of the world that have been looking for me can find me and stalk me with out me knowing...Awesome, for the creepy internet stalkers of the world! Unite! Unite!!!!!!

Happy?? Are we all happy now??? I hope so :)