No Time to Blog ...

I'm writing my novel! However, I would just like to say that MEGATRON thinks the Obama's should get a Jug!

Reality Check

One of the reasons I haven't posted in over a month is the extremely hectic pace back to school time brings to a household where both spouses are teachers. I guess it's equal to two accountants in the first week of April. The idyllic pace of summer is gone in an eye-blinking minute. Nature gears into her most beautiful season, and you try to enjoy it, not get stressed out as the barrage of meetings, parent conferences,and back-to-school whatevers sweep over you.

This year has been different. My husband, who taught in the same county as I for 17 years, accepted a position in a Baltimore City school. An inner-city, alternative high school. He was hired to start a music program there. So now we have the oxymoronic household - a microcosm of sameness yet disparity. I teach at one of the "best" high schools in the county, actually in the country, in terms of test scores/# of students taking AP/IB courses,according to Newsweek. My school is nirvana for blue-eyed lacrosse players, preppy peppy Hollister-clad vixens, and helicopter parents who micromanage every aspect of their kid's existence. The other side of the coin: the underachievers, the kids with tattoos, anybody with "flava"...not so much nirvana, more like a swirly vortex of confusion ... how to carve out a place in Wonderbreadland and/or how soon can I get out?

John's students show him their gunshot scars. One kid is missing an arm -- shot off in a drug deal gone bad at 14. His bulletin board is filled with pictures of kids -- his students' kids. A typical exchange with a student in his class contains the word "fuck". ( from the mouth of student). Or goes something like this:

Student: "I was in this bar..."
Teacher: "What, you were in a bar! You're only 16"
Student: (slightly exasperated) "I wasn't drinking! I was just buyin' weed!"

The kids are there because they have, for whatever reason, bombed out of their home school. Excessive absences, discipline, fights, are the obvious ones. Many attend school because it is required by their probation. Not all, though. For example, one kid, new the other day, told John that he was there because he had missed a year of school taking care of his father, who had a stroke.

The school itself, in a somewhat - renovated old elementary school, has a metal detector and two cops there daily. When John looks out his classroom window, he sees the boarded-up buildings, street people, and MTA buses racing by. (I look out onto a million dollar some-kind-of-super-turf football field. John has metal detector duty. I have parking-sticker check duty. I complain when the departmental copy machine (well, actually shared by two departments) is broken. (This is pretty often, by the way). In John's school, there is one copy machine for the whole teaching staff. My grade book and attendance are on the network. The computer in John's class is not networked to a printer. If he wants to create a lesson, if he doesn't do it at home the night before, he has to go the media center and use the computer there, or take his document on a flash drive. If you're saying "so what?" right now, you try this: every time you need to print a document for your job, download it to a flash drive, and walk to another floor to print it. Trust me, you will be pissed after a while. A very short while.

Did I mention that he teaches music? There is none. Nor instruments, except for xylophones. He finally got textbooks, but the CD's with the music for the listening activities were not included. So, every night, he downloads music for his lessons. The kids' schedules, arranged in a labyrinthine system which fast-tracks them on some courses so that they can actually graduate by 21, change constantly...he gets new class rosters every 30 days. His first block class contains, at the moment, 45 students. However on most days, barely half show up. (If the day comes when all attend, there will not be enough room or desks in the class).

He is, for obvious reasons, a little discouraged.But there are small victories/laughs every day: the jazz combo he has formed with two students, the girl that told him she missed him the day he was out, the kids telling him that he is "cool, but, well, you're white, you're bald, you live in the county... talking to you is like talking to an alien...."

Not that some of the things he is dealing with are not a factor in my job. Of course we have drug and alcohol abuse in our community. I have kids with parents who are on crack or have died from drug abuse. An ever-increasing non-English speaking population. Racial tensions between Black and White, Black and Hispanic, White and Hispanic. Kids being sexually abused. Suffering the fallout from a bitter divorce. Etc etc etc. It's just on a much smaller scale, and when it does occur, more hidden. The kids that are trouble and in trouble are not the face my High School presents to the community. Don't get me wrong. I like where I teach, and most of the kids there. As it happens, most of the kids I teach are not the highest level kids, and I find them infinitely more interesting(albeit more work) then the over-achievers. And, to further clarify, there are plenty of really nice, hardworking kids that happen to shop at Abercrombie. It's not their "fault" their parents are wealthy. Many of those kids are excellent too. Unfortunately, some of them have an air of entitlement that probably goes hand in hand with driving a better car then your teacher. Or having parents that challenge that teacher when you come home with a "B".

So every morning we get up; don't talk much at 5:00. I take the dog out, make coffee, jump in the shower, wake up my daughter. (She goes to the school where I teach and is most definitely one of the "swirling vortex" kids). By now John is up and getting in the shower. We're off to our respective worlds. A tale of two cities. (Well, city and suburbia). Twenty five minutes away from each other. Twenty five million light years away from each other.

Bumper Sticker

This is the story of my political evolution. My progression to the point where I am actually going to do something I have never, ever, considered doing: I am going to put a bumper sticker on my car. For a formerly uninvolved, apolitical, cynical, "they are all the same", kind of person, this is a big deal.

I usually vote Democratic, the party I am registered under. There is no candidate in recent history, on either ticket that has impressed me, in recent years, it has been a "lesser of two evils" kind of thing. I consider myself a progressive/sort of liberal Dem. I do realize that my lens is biased. I know how angry the right wing makes me feel. To me, it is difficult to withstand their rhetoric, to try to be open-minded to perspectives that are not mine. However, I know that tolerance works both ways... I want them to be tolerant, so I must respect their worldview. Do I want them running things? No more than they want "us" running things. I get that. Would I ever vote Republican? Yes, if they presented the right candidate.

I started paying attention during the primaries. I was still evaluating McCain. He seemed unlike the super-frightening Huckabee, or the rigid Romney. I respected his history as a POW, he seemed pretty middle-of-the-road, I liked that he wasn't bowing to uber-conservative pressure to align himself with a religious ideology. His past? Well, I didn't really care about his ex-wife etc etc, yes, I think Cindy McCain is a scary Barbie Doll, but I am could get past that. If Barack Obama had married a 20-year old heiress/beauty queen Michelle less than a year after his divorce was final, he would never have made it past the first round. But, double-standards notwithstanding, I was willing to let that go.

In talking to my son, who will be voting in his first election this year, I was surprised to find out that he was actually interested in the election. At the time Hillary was still in the running, and my son told me that he supported Obama, because, "all my life, it's been a Clinton or a Bush in the White House."

That got me thinking, and I started to try to follow the primaries more...learn a little about the candidates. Obama certainly had the oratory down...what was he all about? I was a little skeptical of the whole Oprah canonization thing...what was going on here? I started listening, reading up on him, starting to like what I was hearing.

Then, came Reverend Wright and all the ensuing hoo-hah. We were driving down to North Carolina, a 7 hour trip, and we were listening to NPR and other talk radio. It was dissected from every possible angle. Then, came Obama's rebuttal speech. I thought it was brilliant, and really addressed the core issue of this election, which I keep coming back to in my head: are we going to focus on stupid stuff, or what is really important? Yes, change sounds idealistic, but are we going to keep going on the path we are on? Rev. Wright, to me, is that scary relative, the one that monopolizes the conversation during Thanksgiving dinner, he is your racist boss, your politically incorrect friend who makes awkward remarks, but would be there for you no matter what. You battle your conscience over these people, but you don't kick them out of your life. And I think, after hearing Obama's speech, alot of people got that. Yes, he lost some voters over it, but I thought he made the best of a bad situation.

I wanted to know more about Obama's policies. I knew his story, but I still didn't know what his positions were. I read The Audacity of Hope, and while I found it somewhat idealistic, I agree with his message that we have to get beyond party partisanship if we are ever going to change anything, I also felt like, this is someone who understands where real people are coming from. This is not someone that has that disconnect from normal society. Alot of people say, "well, if Obama is elected, he will do everything for poor people." Well, haven't the last 8 years be about "rich" people? Being neither, rather,firmly entrenched in the middle class, I am willing to take a shot with someone not connected to big oil, who doesn't have a "vacation compound", who was raised by a single mom, whose wife frankly admits that when her husband entered politics after spending alot of years and money on law school, she wondered, "what are you doing this for?"
As I watched the primaries, I knew I couldn't support Hillary, as much as I would like to see a woman President, she just doesn't ring sincere. She never has, to me, and the final decision in my mind came during one of her state victories...I think it was New Mexico. She paraded a young Latino boy (in full ethnic dress, including sombrero) on stage. She was clapping woodenly, out of time with the victory music. The whole moment was so staged and ridiculous; it crystallized my feelings for and about her: I respect her intelligence, but I have always trusted her integrity.

McCain evoked a different response. I have nothing against him, I don't think he is an evil person. I believe he wants the best for this country. I think he is sincere in his belief that the Iraq war has to be continued, and given his background I understand that. His campaign tactics, his outright confusion when asked basic questions about his voting record, his wooden persona (that chopping motion he makes during his speeches drives me crazy),the Miss Buffalo Chip (aw c'mon, did you really expect us to believe you didn't know what kind of a beauty contest that is?), were all marks against him. But, trying to look beyond and stick to the big issues, I hadn't ruled him out entirely. I was still a tiny bit on the fence; maybe Obama had brainwashed me, maybe he doesn't know what he is doing etc etc.
I watched the Democratic convention with interest, and Obama's speech was impressive. Is he really as sincere as he presents himself? Am I being manipulated? Could it actually be true that someone really wants things to be different? Is he sincere, yet incapable of leading a country? Or is it all just smooth rhetoric packaging a same old tax and spend philosophy? What about experience? When he choose Biden as his running mate, I was kind of relieved...although Biden is not the most PC guy in the world, he kind of balances the lack-of-experience thing. I like his working class background, and the fact that he, like McCain has dealt with true personal adversity and come out on top. I also like Biden's wife. I've been to Del-Tech community college, it is a community college in every sense of the word, and the fact that she is a professor there shows me that she knows what the real world is about.

What truly sewed it up for me, though, is McCain's choice of running mate. I had never heard of her, but as soon as the talking points emerged, I knew I could never, ever vote for McCain. Yes, she is a woman, but that alone will not get my vote. It didn't get Hillary my vote, and she, despite my reservations, is far closer to a person that I would consider fair and capable of leadership should a 72-something year old president die. Then there is the whole NRA, ultra conservative, global warming isn't real, thing. I respect her decision to have has many kids as she wants, and to choose not to abort her child with Down's syndrome. But if you are going to use this as a selling point, I must ask the question, as a governor, and ultimately, a Vice-President, how much time is she realistically able to spend with any of her kids? I imagine a great deal of the down and dirty motherhood jobs are being done by others. Is it her husband? Well, then great. I am not saying a woman can't have five kids and be a good governor or VP. I am just kind of curious, since you are trotting out the whole issue ...how does it work? As for her experience... I read this blog, written by an Alaska resident, that pretty much sums up the whole thing: This is not someone, woman or not, that is even remotely qualified to lead our country, should she need to. If McCain wanted a woman running mate so badly, there are so many more qualified. It is patently obvious that he is trying to sew up as many demographics as possible with this choice. Will he be successful? I don't know.

So, here we are on a Sunday morning, labor day weekend. If you had told me this time last year that I would care so much about an election I would have told you that you are crazy. I still consider myself far from educated, but I am trying to learn something every day, trying to filter all this through the media kaleidascope of CNN, FOXNews, etc. Whoever wins, I will probably be disappointed, but I am hoping to be surprised. So, I'm doing it, I'm going to put the bumper sticker on the car. I hope I am not peeling it off with a heavy heart this time next year.

Bestbuy saga--continum and resolution, for those few who care!

The BestBuy situation is finally resolved. After two more weeks and a million more phone calls (see my earlier posting), I was finally told that the part was on its way, and that, no we did not qualify for a new television since the official rule was that a repairman had to come to your house three times for the "lemon law" to take effect.
By now, I had given up. School was starting, I had to go back to work, I no longer had three hours a day to sit on my deck, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes while listening to bad hold music. "Fine", I told them when they said the part would be in on Friday or Saturday, the 15th or 16th, of August (This was 29 days from when the TV broke) and that the third party repair company would be contacting me.
I didn't hear from them Friday. Saturday I got a call from Victor, the manager. He told me that the shipment had come in but that the part was the wrong part, and since so much time had gone by, he was putting in a request for a replacement TV and we would hear from BestBuy on Monday.
On Monday, I recevied an email from BestBuy customer relations apologizing for all the hoo-hah and informing us that they were sending us a $100 gift card for our troubles. Okay.
On Wednesday, the warranty department called and gave me a confirmation number; we needed to take this and our old TV to our local store, they would give us a credit for the TV,to be applied to a replacement, as that TV is no longer being sold.
Here's where it gets kind of funny:
I have a really big mouth. And, when I think something is unfair, I don't hesitate to make the biggest stink possible. Well, I didn't go to BestBuy with John because I had had a long day, and knowing how guys are about TV's, I just didn't want to deal with the selection process. I told John, "you pick one out, I don't care."
Well, our original TV was $900. When he got to the store, the electronics manger told him that because it was two years old, technically it was really only worth $650 and that we would have to pay the difference. Now, if I were there I would have been making a big deal of this, since nobody told us that the warranty was pro rated, and it never said that on the agreement, and in fact, in retrospect, this guy came to this decision after he had gone to the back and had a discussion with his manager. Were they going to split the difference?
Well, John, who, by now is as sick of this whole thing as a human can be, decides that he will pay the difference for a much bigger, better TV, a 42" HD. With the credit they are offering, this will be around $250.00 The electronics guy walks John and the TV up to the front and tells the cashier that she should credit him for $650! The line is so long that by the time John gets up there, the electronics guy has walked away and the cashier scans John's original receipt and he gets a credit of $900. So, he pays his $90 difference and gets the new TV.
I don't know what the moral of this whole story is, I guess there is none. I will say that we haven't decided whether to get a warranty on our new TV, we will probably use the $100 gift card when it comes and apply it to a warranty; because, as crappy coverage as it is, if the TV blows up, it's $1000 for a new one. The other interesting thing is, I don't really consider myself a TV person, and I've always been kind of snotty and condescending to John when I catch him watching reruns of Friends, or really cheesy WW2 movies, "You're watching that?" However, I was passing through the living room yesterday and the giant 42" magnet pulled me in: I sat and watched Wyatt Earp, a not particuliarly good movie, for two hours. It's just so BIG and clear, it is hypnotic. I am going to have to stop walking through the living room.