For My Kids.

My Dear Children:

There are no words I can say that will make any of this better, make sense of it, or make you forget what has happened.  My heart aches for you in ways I hope you never have to feel for people you love.  But, I know you do.  And in times like these, I tend to seek out words from others that may help me cope with whatever I feel.  These are a few of my favorites.  Perhaps, this week, if you are feeling up to it, you can post some of your favorites, or even some of your own. This space is for whatever you need.  I am always around, never far that I won't hear if you call.  For now, though, read on and I hope you find some small measure of comfort, at least for a few minutes.

Love always,

Bunj

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there.  I do not die.

--Mary Frye

For a second you were flying
Like you always wanted to
Now you’ll fly forever
In skies of azure blue
We’ll see your smile in every ray
Of sunshine after rain
And hear the echo of your laughter
Over all the pain
The world’s a little quieter now
The colours have lost their hue
The birds are singing softly
And our hearts are missing you
Each time we see a little cloud
Or a rainbow soaring high
We’ll think of you and gently
Wipe a tear from our eye

--Victoria Bruce

10 things

Every once in a while, I like to "take stock" of who I am, and whether or not my actions and ambitions are remaining true to whoever that is. I have many days where I just feel "off" and reflecting on what I am doing helps.
 And when this happens, in order to get myself  back on track, I make a list.
 The "lists" always have a title--"10 things I've always wanted to do but couldn't afford," or "10 things I love about Oak," etc.
It helps.  Every time, it always helps.

So, in the spirit of that, let's give it a try.

Your 10 things category is:

Ten Things I (meaning you, not me) Know to Be True.  (yes, this is a pre-write of sorts for your THIS I BELIEVE essay)

Part 2 of Being Informed and Entering the Conversation

This is the second part of a blog that you either love or hate at this point.  This part will be due on SUNDAY, March 24th, 2019.

Go back and read some of the posts from Part 1.

 Pick 2-3--you agree AND disagree with to begin a conversation.  Copy and paste the part of the comment you want to respond to, set it off with italics, and respond respectfully.

Part 1 of Being Informed and Entering the Conversation

A long time ago, before you guys were born, people would watch or listen to broadcast news to get information about the world, the country, their hometowns, etc.

Each night, around 6ish, families would gather around whatever medium--tv or radio depending on wealth--and listen to folks tell them exactly what was happening that day, that week, etc.
They would talk about it, form opinions, maybe argue, and then, when it was over, go back to their lives.  But, they were informed.

 For about an hour a day, without any thought to politics or sides or personal interests (which was only possible because there were no paying commercials back then to influence what anyone heard), people just listened to the facts as they happened, and somehow, some way, they were intelligent enough all on their own to make decisions about what they heard, and act accordingly.
What a time to be alive.

Alas,
this is not the case any longer (unless you listen exclusively to NPR which can get tedious after a while), and when we read about things--especially politically divisive things like BLM, or #metoo, or the Thin Blue Line--we are usually getting the facts from a slant.
 This means that whichever network is delivering information is doing so from a selfish perspective--they have more at stake to show you this story rather than that story because that story will make advertisers not want to pay for a lot of commercials during the time slot. Switch channels and the opposite will be true.

Most of you get your news from media (social or news) sites.  That is not a criticism--I do, too--probably just different ones.  But they fall into the same trap I described above.  And that is bad because in order to have a truly informed, truly intellectual conversation, we need ALL the facts.  This is hyperbole and kind of a pipe dream--nobody really ever has ALL THE FACTS.  Please remember that.
So, the best we can do is read vastly different perspectives on the same subject and see where we fall.  So, for this week's blog we are going to do two things--which means there will be 2 due dates.  Skkkkkkkkkkrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.
Really, Bunj?
Yes. Sorry.

In addition to being informed and entering the conversation, this should also show us how different mediums present the same information.
So, I have copied a documents with several links related to 2 different topics.  You choose which one you want to learn more about and read or view some of the links about that topic.  Then, answer the following:
What did you learn that you didn't know before?
What did you find valuable enough to want to share with someone else?
What issues did you have with anything you read?  What did you disagree with or feel passionately about?
Did anything make you uncomfortable?
Were there things you read that you feel you wouldn't want to talk about in a public forum?  Why?
Any other comments or ideas or thoughts or opinions or questions you want to share?

THIS PART IS DUE WEDNESDAY, AS PER USUAL.

Learn More about Media Representations of Fatal Police Shooting of African Americans

OpEd: How the media smears black victims

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-johnson-black-victim-20170330-story.html

When a police shooting victim is a white woman

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/7/24/16019440/justine-damond-police-shooting-race

The conversation we need on police shootings

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/opinions/law-enforcement-racism-opinion-gagliano/index.html

Learning more about double consciousness, codeswitching, and negotiating multiple identities

Double consciousness from DuBoisopedia

http://scua.library.umass.edu/duboisopedia/doku.php?id=about:double_consciousness

Learning How To Code-Switch: Humbling, But Necessary

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/04/10/176234171/learning-how-to-code-switch-humbling-but-necessary

American Promise: Idris Codeswitches

http://www.pbs.org/pov/americanpromise/video/idris-code-switches/

Being Black—but Not Too Black—in the Workplace

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/being-black-work/409990/

There is No Success Without Hardship

So, I'm at BAM this weekend, and as usual, I become spellbound by all of the collective knowledge that is, literally, at my fingertips as I walk up and down the aisles.
 I find it absolutely mind-boggling that you can be in a single edifice, and hold the keys to the entire known universe- ( I was, coincidentally, in the space-exploration aisle). I suppose the same could be said if you are standing in a library, but there is something about those clear plastic wrappings they put on library books that makes what is contained within seem less accessible. But, as usual, I digress.

So, there I am, walking among the aisles of knowledge and I find myself in the self-help section looking at all the titles: The Success Book, How to Succeed in Business, Politics and Love (seems a bit broad to me), 7 Secrets of Successful Teens (almost picked that one up for our 204 library but I figure--one day one of you will write a way better one. PS--my money's on Vivek) etc.
 All of these books, all dedicated to the notion of success.
And I started thinking about how many of them there were.
And the next thought was--how do these books ever sell? Aren't all individual ideas of what success is dramatically different?

And now, here we are.

So, tell me--what is YOUR definition of success?
What are the hallmarks, again, to YOU, of a successful person?
How do you judge whether or not you are successful?
Are there different levels, different measures of importance tied to levels?
What do you need to have, to own, to acquire in order to feel successful?
What types of things need to happen in order for you to see yourself as a success?

What's In a Name? A lot, actually.

I was thinking about names the other day, because it is something I tend to think about every so often.   I went to school with twin girls named Misty and Summer.
Their last name? Weathers. True Story.  Names are fun.
Shakespeare, through the voice of Juliet, asked us to consider: "What's in a name?" Well, what is?

How many of you were named for other people, specifically, family members?
Does being named after a beloved relative heap unfair pressure on you to be a certain way--act a certain way--love certain things--just because the person you're named after did?

What about those of you who were named for favorite actors or actresses, literary characters or anything that your parents thought was cool at the time?

Do you love your name? Does it suit you? Would you change it if you could? To what?

Do you ever think you might be a different person if you were named something else?

Do you know the origin of your name? How did you come to be a Gabe or a Mason or a Ronique or a Lyanni, Anshruta or a Trey?

For example, my name is Cassandra, which comes from Greek Tragedy, Agamemmnon by Aeschylus, but my mother and father didn't know that. So, I have no idea really, where they got it from, but I often wonder if I would be a completely different person if my name was something simple like Lisa or Diane or something like that. My personality seems suitable for my name, but what if it weren't my name, ya know?

When other people shorten your name does it make you angry? What about when people mispronounce it?

There are a lot of questions here--make sure you hit all of them.

Pride and Glory

Passion. Courage. Conviction (not the word that means convicted of a crime).
These words are largely subjective--which means everybody's definition will be based on their own experiences and personalities.
That said,  I would like you to look them up before you answer this week's blog question. Once you do that, consider the following:

1) What is it in your own life, this life that you have been given, that you would die for?  Is it different than what you live for?

2)  What is your passion; what gives you courage; about what do you hold an unshakable conviction?


After you have considered these two crucial questions it is then time to ask yourself where these notions came from, and when you first noticed them enough to have the awareness to answer this question--and of course, write about that as well.

Self-Reflection

We were supposed to start commenting this week, but the nature of this blog won't really allow for that UNLESS you have some helpful advice for your peers.  So, we will start the list for comments next week.

OK, ladies and gentlemen. You have done it. Well, almost.
 The year is 3/4 over-and even more than that for AP folks because your year ends sooner than everyone else's.
So, now is the time for some introspective reflection.  And, while this is not the original blog idea (the words for the other idea I have aren't arranging themselves in my brain so I need more time with them), it is equally if not more important.

As you answer the questions, I want you to keep you in mind: how you learn, what shuts down your learning, and what you can do or I can that will improve upon, and remedy those things.

What do you know now that you didn't know on September 4?
What kinds of things still give you fits because you can't seem to grasp the concept?
What would you like to focus on moving forward?
What would you like to see more of? (might be the same as the last question--might not)
Do you feel like your getting the most out of the class?
Are you living up to your own expectations?
What can you do better, differently?
And, most importantly--are you learning?

Take your time, think about your answers and tell me how you feel.  I will use your responses as a means to plan out the rest of our year.  If there are other things you would like to say, tell me, vent about (respectfully) etc feel free.  If you feel you cannot do this in a public forum, you know what to do.

PS--this is still a blog--it's not a worksheet--please don't answer the questions one by one.

Scenic Vistas (views) from the Only Perspective that Matters (yours)

Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights. ~Georg Hegel

The other day, I had a conversation with an old friend from college. It was more of a spirited debate, actually, about the nature of good and evil, right and wrong etc. My world view, will, I'm quite sure, be of no surprise to you--I believe "good" is a matter of perspective and convenience,
 and that "right" is determined by whoever has "the bigger gun" so to speak.
(This is not a political world-view--meaning, regardless of the politics of the times, I always think this way).

I don't know if I am right about this, but it seems to me that the good people of the world outweigh the bad. My perspective on this rarely shifts, and is also reinforced when tragedies such as the one in Parkland, FL, or Aurora, CO, or Newtown, Connecticut, or Ferguson, MO, or San Bernardino, CA, or Berlin Germany, Boston MA, Nice, France (I could go on but why depress us all further) occur.  I believe it is an objectively unfair universe we inhabit, although I have a hunch it has a way of righting its ownself from time to time.
So the debate between my friend and I ensued.

My friend's world view was quite a bit different than mine--much more idealistic and much more indicative of his personality. In his eyes, my friend (his name is Ahmed) is certain that good always conquers evil, the meek shall inherit the Earth, all you need is love etc etc etc. He goes on to posit that good things come to good people and eventually, all the pieces will fall into place if you live a good life.  Seriously, that's really what he believes.  He's a really sweet guy--it boggles me.
(I keep him around, this college buddy, because he gives me hope, and when I am feeling way too misanthropic and cynical for my own good, he gives me balance. All of the other times I mock him shamelessly for his "dreamy" and (what I consider to be) unrealistic view of the world).

So, my question(s) for you this week is--where in our spectrum does your world view fall?

Do you think people are mostly bad or mostly good?
What determines that?
 Do you think that the person who does the right thing always wins?
If so, what's the prize?
Are there clear-cut answers about what's right and what's wrong?
How is it all measured? Let's get a little Lang-y and tell a story (real or metaphorical--no matter) to illustrate/exemplify your points.
 Try to think of an example about which you feel passionately. It is usually passion that dictates what your true beliefs are.  However, when we use passion to describe or talk about them, we run the risk of sounding like we can't be taken seriously.  So, try to temper your passion (your pathos) with your logic (your logos).

"Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest..." --Goethe

 I have never been called "beautiful," so that word has always held for me a foundation of non-attainability, and therefore, mystery.  What makes something--or someone--full of beauty?

The great and powerful Sophia Loren once said, "True beauty is a mirage." True beauty? What IS that, anyway?  In your mind, what is "true beauty?"

Myself, I am awed by things of beauty, no matter what--or who--they might be (Idris Elba.sunsets...butterflies...puppies...cannolis).

This week, I would like you to muse with me about this concept.
Over time, across cultures, the mystery of beauty has both vexed and captivated all walks of life. The animal kingdom even has its own notion of what makes them attractive—peacocks fluff their plumage, ducks wiggle their butts, all in the name of beauty.  They do it to attract mates--is that why we do?

Do we chase beauty?  Do we worship it?  Are beautiful people treated differently that those considered less so?

Men and women have been frustrated and fascinated by beauty, have been rendered powerless in their attempts to capture it, bottle it, enhance it, ignore it, use it and celebrate it. WHY?? 
Why do you think human beings are so enthralled with the idea of trying to capture "beauty?" (this is kinda the same question as the one earlier, but as you can see, I feel strongly about this.)

Why? Its importance and its role in our lives will be the subject of this blog discussion, and I would like you to seriously consider what your definition of “true beauty” is.
Why is beauty the object of both admiration and envy?
Why does the pursuit of beauty bring us pain as well as pleasure?
Consider both sexes when you ask yourself these questions—think about the pursuit, the pain, the pleasure from all angles.
Do you see yourself as beautiful? 
How do you measure it? 
Who is the most beautiful person you know? 
Why?

Lao Tzu Says: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

Many of you already know the concept of the hero's journey; that is, the idea that all literature--and for that matter, all of life in general--follows that pattern of the journey.

There is "the call," which is, ostensibly, the beginning of the journey--the reason you start in the first place;

there is the threshold--literally, crossing over from the "known" into the "unknown" (literally or figuratively);

the "challenges or trials," a.k.a. life's little problems, big problems, annoyances, tragedies or inconveniences--in literature--dragons to be slain;

 "the abyss"--when you think the whole world is against you and nothing will ever be right again.

Once you get past all of that you move on to "the transformation," or in other words, the "What have you learned, Dorothy?" moment--that moment when all of the suffering and the waiting finally give way to acceptance or riches;

"the atonement"--how have you made peace with what you've learned or become (nobody is ever the same after a journey--the trick is to figure out why and how you changed)

and finally, "the return" (with a gift), where you come back to the only place you've ever known a changed person with a host of knowledge/skills or wealth to aid in all future endeavors.

Basically, all of literature revolves around some schematic of this journey, and if you think about it, all of your lives do too.

 Especially at this stage of your high school careers. Some of you have lived lives and seen things you never should have, never wanted to or never thought you would, for better or worse. All of you have been through problems and overcome obstacles and persevered.

My question this week is--how?  Your answer is to trace the various moments of your life that you consider a journey--physical, spiritual, emotional, mental--whatever.

How did you do it?
What type of mental, spiritual, physical, or intestinal fortitude did you need to have in order to emerge victorious from your journey?
What was the journey?
Did you embark upon it willingly or were you pushed?
What did you learn? Did it change you? For the better? Or worse?
Did you have help, or "guardians" as they say in Journey jargon?
Tell me about it.

Tabula Rasa

Whew.  So, it's over.  2018--the year of...well, there are really too many adjectives, verbs and hyperbolic phrases that could be inserted there, so that's where I think we should start.

I am a huge fan of moving forward--I don't even like to put my car in reverse if I can help it--true story--but I also recognize the value of taking a backward glance from time to time. I mean, how else can you see:

1) how far you've gone
2) how much you've left to go
3) where the twists, turns and pot holes in the roads were

Now, for me, of all of those, #3 means the most.  Like I said, I am a fan of moving forward, but most of the time, the natural enemy to forward thinking or really any kind of positive progression, is repetition.  The repetition of a mistake is the most obvious deterrant to progression because it usually means going backward, but even repeating things that worked out for you can be detrimental to progress because it could mean that you are comfortable and not taking any more risks, and then, consequently, you can't "really" progress. Personally, I like to see where things went bananas for me, or where I made a wrong turn, or how taking the shortcut would've helped me had I only listened to someone else.

So, usually right around now, I allow me the time I need to take stock of my personal and professional situations.
I should do this more often than just the start of a new year, I know this, but something about the symbolism of starting at 1 just speaks to me, so here I am.

What I noticed I did way too much last year was to let things that were either out of my control, or not really fixable in the first place, define who I was.  As a result, I spent too much of 2018 feeling like a colossal failure. Thus, for 2019, I have decided to form BOTH an interpretation and a life plan from something I read by accident over break.
It was a quote from a long-dead German author named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (that G name is actually pronounced "Gert-A), and it states:
 "Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least."
I am trying to find a sign that says that, but so far, no luck.

Now, its your turn.
First--I want you to fill in that sentence I started at the beginning: "2018--the year of ____________". Explain your choice.

Second, of the three reasons I listed for why looking back is good, which one do you see the most value in and why? Explain in detail.

Finally, moving forward in whatever area of life you want to focus on, how would you like to proceed that is AT LEAST marginally different then whatever you did last year?