Lost is Found, and Now for Something Completely Different

I finally found my disks, in a box with my other disks. Who'd have thought? So, I'm back to work on writing, listening, transcribing and analyzing. I'm hoping that I'm going be inspired to deep thinking about the meaning of all of the data, but am afraid that my analysis will be trivial and superficial. But, onward and upward...

I got a letter from the university that I should not expect any assistantship money next year because, at six years, I have outstayed my welcome. Not a shock, but a little off-putting. I can't say as I'd blame them. I've been in a stall for a year and some, and it would be good to get moving again...from my perspective as much as from theirs.

I'll be looking for non-tenure positions as well as tenure positions in the area. I'm hoping to stay part-time so that I have time to do the research and write my dissertation when I'm not on the job. I had hoped to be able to live on my pension and just write, but that seems to be a deadly proposition. I have been very isolated and this makes me less able to think critically about the world around me. I need to be challenged by dropping ideas on others and having them pull the ideas apart. I also need feedback from others about whether I am making my thoughts clear.

For now, I've been working diligently on learning everything about the state's special education initiatives, and how they are intended to blend general and special education into a unified system. I keep wondering if I have anything to offer as far as consultancy to the state, or whether I should be aiming for a teaching position or advocacy work in a non-profit. I really would rather look at the bigger picture--policy, and its effect on kids who are harder to teach...

Curses, foiled again!

If I could have one wish, right now, it would be that my laptop hard drive had never frozen up. I have spent countless days recapturing all of the software, hardware and files that are forever locked in the old drive. It doesn't matter that I have a new drive at no expense (thanks to AppleCare), or that I backed up a lot of things in cyberspace, or on disks. I can't find what I need, all (formerly) neatly stored in my carefully contrived filing system. Although I can look for items on disks, on external hard drives, and on my old and new laptops, each time I have to retrieve something, it seems as if I must look everywhere to find it. I am exhausted, depressed, and it seems as if I can't make any headway on the projects that MUST have my attention. It is just so frustrating!!

The hard drive problem happened at the end of summer (August) and I'm still trying to find software, files and so on. It's February, for goodness' sake, and I feel as if I have been in prison all this time, separated from my "stuff". What makes it all the more distressing is that these delays in my work have shaken my advisor's confidence in me, have placed me in the position of having to look for a job while still very ABD (I'll probably be starting my research at the same time as I start whatever work I can find to do while ABD). It makes me want to just quit.

The added distractions of real life certainly haven't helped although I must say that most have been distinctly more pleasant than my doctoral program. I really thought that I could do this, and make a difference, but I feel so thwarted.

I guess that I need to walk away from the laptop for a few minutes, regain my composure and come back to it.

Net accomplishments for today: installed Endnote, tried to update Quicken so I could open financial files, still searching for sound files that need final transcription and corrections, downloaded Audacity (new version which means I have to learn all the bells and whistles on it...again), and still can't find the sound files (where did I lock them up?), cleaned up my mail sorter, found some pressing bills that I can't pay right now, forgot to call the doctor's office and now have to wait until Monday. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!

I guess I'll go re-wash my laundry, since I forgot to dry it and it's now probably a mess of mildew. Oh, well, what else is new?

Water, Water Everywhere

The truth about water is that it usually is where I don't want it. I seem to have more water-related issues than most people...but maybe I'm just paranoid. I've been cleaning up my bedroom and closet because I have a plumber coming to (I hope) take care of some (but not all) of my water problems.

It all started around 6 months ago when the upstairs toilet began to seep. The floor was wet, and the seepage soaked into a seam in the ceiling over my dining table. Fortunately, I caught it early, turned off the water to the toilet and drained all the remaining water out of the toilet. Unfortunately, the seam is permanently bubbled over my dining room; bubbling but dry. So I had the toilet re-sealed, and it was fine for a while. However, it started leaking around the base again, so I have a plumber coming tomorrow, to fix it again.

leaking toilets do not look like this--they are much messier and uglier

You may wonder why I have to clean my bedroom and closet so that the plumber can come. I have a quirky floorplan. I guess that this was popular at one time, God knows why, but I'd never seen anything like it until I bought my condo. I have what is known as a Hollywood closet--you walk through it into the bathroom. There are two doors to the bathroom, one from my closet, and one from the bedroom on the other side of the bathroom. You have to walk through a bedroom to get to it; there's no access from the hall.


So, I have been cleaning my room, which is just a huge mess--books everywhere, papers in stacks, and milk crates waiting for bookshelves to hold them. Who would have thought that getting a plumber would create such a lot of commotion in my life?

Oh, yeah, the point of this post, though is that I seem to have water where I don't want it with an amazing frequency. My son, who is in college but lives with me, is often responsible for water where I don't want it. Like, when he forgets to check the sink before he starts a load of laundry, and the nylon which I use as a lint filter is so full of lint that it plugs the sink and we have a flooded laundry area. The first time it happened, there was water across the whole room, and the cats were going nuts because their litter boxes were in the middle of a puddle. So, we pushed water over to the floor drain, and sopped it up with sponges, and mops and dried the floor with a fan. All in all, it was incredibly not fun.

This, of course is pure cat drama, not really as bad as the cats would want you to believe

So, in the middle of a frenzy of chores and getting ready for the plumber, I get a message on my cell phone--my son saying he's on his way to work and that the sink has "apparently" overflowed in the basement, and I think that maybe I'll just never go home, and let the whole place fill up with water, and... but then I realize that the cat is home, and who knows if she can get to her litter box? So I go home and sop up the water, and change the nylon on the discharge hose, and all is wet but well. But the toilet upstairs can't be used because I haven't called the plumber, and so I have to run downstairs to use the other toilet which is a royal pain, especially in the morning because I really have to go first thing in the morning, so it's always a panic.

Of course, there's also water in other places that it doesn't belong...leaks into the cupboards under each sink, but they're little leaks and I may be able to fix them with caulk around the sink edges, but I don't know. I just hope that there isn't mold growing because then I'd have to bleach everything before the plumber would even deign to touch the job.

Water is very convenient, when it is confined to where it belongs. But, it just seems as if staying where it belongs is very tenuous, at best, and inversely proportional to the age of the house.

Oh, yeah, and the functionality of faucet handles is also inversely proportional to the age of the house, as I've now learned--the curse of corrosion and liming from hard water has frozen all the shutoff valves, so I am at the mercy of the plumber until I get around to the repairs for all four sinks, two toilets and one shower/tub fixture.

Who would have thought?

POSTSCRIPT: So it snowed and sleeted last night, dumping mondo piles of the white stuff, and the plumber hasn't come. I have to wait until Monday... but my closet is clean, and my room will be cleaner than it was...


Ironic, isn't it?

According to an NPR summary of Obama's position on education, written before the election, the speculation was that he would choose one of these three for his chief of education:

Linda Darling Hammond: She is a professor at Stanford with the School Redesign Network. Hammond is most widely known for her work at Columbia Teachers College, long-considered an incubator for big, liberal, left-leaning education proposals. (Listen to an interview with Linda Darling Hammond from the PBS series Only A Teacher)

Michael Johnston: He works with the New York City-based organization New Leaders for New Schools. His organization is touted as one of the most innovative collections of education entrepeneurs who have made urban school reform their top goal. (More about Michael Johnston)

Andrew Rotherham: He is a former adviser to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and is widely respected in education circles. He is also the co-founder of the Education Sector, a liberal think tank in Washington. Rotherham is considered by some as a possible nominee for U.S. secretary of education in an Obama administration.

I wonder if there are others out there?

Yeah, well...

I guess that I'm not really into gloating. "Yes, we did", but the better lesson learned is "together we can".

McCain Palin Chart of Desperation

McCain Palin Chart of Desperation
Forwarded from Blogging For Michigan - Front Page by Christine for your viewing pleasure.

Christine writes: Well I'm just sitting here in my pro-American little town, minding my own business, when I get this email from the McCain-Palin campaign.

The email asked that I download this chart and send it to at least 5 voters, but I figure we have at least DOUBLE that number reading BFM! :) Plus, there's always the possibility that Wizardkitten will put it in her Flickr set and it will end up as a tv commercial and a piece of GOP direct mail.

The chart was incomplete when I got it, so I finished it for them by adding a couple of lines at the bottom. I'm feeling extra patriotic today!

So here it is folks, pass this on to your friends. Or, just put it on your websites and caption it. It's just that ridiculous.

I think Christine's additions add "truthiness" to the graphic...

KK

Let's get this over with!!!

Wyatt Cenac says it all!! click here

Disability, Difference, Diversity and Equity

Sarah Palin's youngest child, Trig, has Down Syndrome, and that has opened up a number of discussions about the commitment of our two presidential candidates to a number of disability-related issues. Among these are the funding of special education, ensuring the rehabilitation of military veterans with disabilities, and to other needs of the disabilities community. If you haven't read Paul Longmore's well-researched and thoughtful open letter on the two presidential candidates' positions on disability, I think that you might find some of the answers he gives to be very helpful in making your choice for our next president. Here's the link to Paul Longmore's letter. I think that what Longmore says will leave you thinking about much more than disability.

As the parent of two self-determined adult children who often experienced a great deal of self-doubt in school due to barriers to the curriculum imposed on them due to specific learning disabilities, I'm in favor of reducing such barriers to education, in general. I'm specifically in favor of reducing barriers to children whose status as "disabled" or "poor" or "non-white" causes them to be needlessly removed from access to the general education curriculum and subjected to less content, instead of the same content in alternative formats. I believe that the boundaries of equity and social justice have been abridged when your home, your skin color, your ethnic origins, or your (dis)ability are considered "differences that make a difference".

As a special educator, who achieved National Board Certification as a general educator (Early Adolescence/Generalist), I am a firm proponent of good teaching. I am especially interested in seeing the most skilled teachers working in settings where they can do great good: urban schools, as new teacher mentors, as the lead teachers for teacher interns, and as teachers in inclusive classrooms where their skills in meeting the needs of children can be put to best use.

Of course, I understand that education, alone, may not be the "hill to die on"; that we have many interests and concerns, but a wise disability rights advocate friend of mine once reminded me that we are all only "temporarily-abled". As a person encountering some beginning age-related disabilities (considered mild by the medical profession, but every bit as confounding), as a parent and as a teacher, I care about much more than my own situation. Therefore, my concerns are for the many who are excluded from the benefits of full citizenship by virtue of "difference", in its many aspects.

I hope we will leave our children and grandchildren with a nation that focuses its' commitment to "a more perfect union", where all of its' residents matter, and none are set aside.

Kathleen Kosobud
Michigan

Perspective and Schooling

I've got a somewhat different background and a somewhat different view of the definitions of political action, but what I do see is the absolute need for US schools to teach comparative politics and political systems. I have, for example, never met a Michigan HS grad who had learned in school, for example, how New York State votes, or had questioned why both Germany and the UK have larger legislatures than the US House of Representatives, or why other industrialized nations vote for parties more than individuals, or even that there are other voting methods than "majority rules" (or "first past the post").

Without these comparisons young people grow up to be hopeless, believing that they live in a fixed, unchangeable system.

Every other nation I've been in brings these questions into schools. I wonder why the US does not.

Ira

Political Learning Community

Thanks for including me in this little discussion group. Let's
call it a "PLC"--political learning community. I use Google Alerts
to direct me to whatever pops up on the web re: "teacher leadership"
and this appeared today:

And this is what I foresee in the month of October--a national
blood-letting on the topic of race and culture in America. It's easy for
Obama to brush off second-hand associations with folks like William
Ayers and Jeremiah Wright--everyone with half a brain understands that
you're not responsible for what your friends and colleagues say and do,
in the end. What's really bugging the folks who want to attach Obama
and Ayers is the fact that they were "radicalizing" schools in Chicago.

Now--personally--I believe that schools where race, language and culture
are central in the curriculum are a very promising and equitable idea.
But those who fear the loss of privilege are going to push hard on those
fears. Look for it in the next two weeks: We can't trust Obama. He's a
crazy radical. He will take away from "us" and give to "them."

Thanks for your honesty about Bill Ayers, too. As a former torn-jeans-and-peace-sign
chick in the 60s, I know lots and lots of less famous folks who see their past as
over-romanticized youthful daring, while still thinking, speaking and voting for the right
principles now. Let's hope that Ayers uses the moment to step up to the plate
and vindicate himself by expressing some humility and sorrow.

Nancy F.

Sliming and the Press

Just a short report from the McCain/Palin rally yesterday in Clearwater, FL

"Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun
to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted
with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on
to blame Katie Couric's questions for her 'less-than-successful
interview with kinda mainstream media.' At that, Palin supporters
turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and
shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin
supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man
for a network and told him, 'Sit down, boy.' ")

(Another crowd member, upon mention of Obama's ties to Bill Ayers:
"Kill him!")

Ira

Responding to Palin's Attack

I have been touched by the writing bug this morning. Thank, God!! So the reading of the links will wait until later. But I wanted to say thanks to you and your family for keeping some things in perspective. As a child of the 60's and Vietnam, all of us in that era could be called upon to point out our wicked ways by daring to speak against the government. Most of us are now solid citizens and members of the over 30 crowd we criticized.

However, some things never really change so I am glad you keep reminding us to be diligent in seeking out the truth.

Sandra

Palin's Slimy Campaign

I am unhappy about the latest slurs being cast about Obama's association with Bill Ayers. Since Dad served on the Parker School Board with him, and I hung out with a group of teens who called him a friend when I was in high school, does this make us suspect as well? Neither I nor Dad hatched any nefarious plots with Ayers, and as far as I can tell, most of his activities didn't involve 8 year old kids (as Obama was only 8 at the time) when he was in his "glory days" of plotting the bombing of ROTC buildings, and egging young adults on to disrupt the Democratic convention in Chicago.

Where I find fault, if any is to be assigned is that Ayers remains unapologetic for his role as a gadfly, instigating havoc, and disappearing when the cops showed up. He, as far as I know, has never served a day in prison, and many of his "friends" have. In fact, as I recall, he and his wife took in the children of one of his compadres when she went to prison. While I do not believe in eternal punishment, and I believe that Ayers does much good in his community work, I still hold him culpable for the imprisonment or deportation of a number of people who got caught up in the movement. That he is unable to own his responsibility suggests that his ego still is a problem, a dangerous thing for Obama. One must hope that Ayers will redeem himself.

What other (fake) dirt is going to be slung in Obama's direction?

See, the Keating connection strikes me as much more apropos, since McCain was an adult, and a politician at the time, and the Keating contributions to his campaign are a direct reflection on McCain's lack of "due diligence".

That's what makes the difference.

Kathy

Paul Longmore's Op Ed on the Candidates

Here is a link to Paul Longmore's Op Ed on the candidates and disability rights. It is a great summary of the candidate positions, and clearly points the reader to an unmistakable choice...even if one is not disabled...

For another take on the candidates, read Marian Wright Edelman's piece at the Children's Defense Fund Website

Pass the word along...
Kathy

McCain and Palin

I kept trying to decide if McCain's selection of Palin was a simple-minded attempt to lure Hilary's dejected constituents away or what... After much consideration, I decided (in my usual paranoid way of thinking) that, in fact, this was the Republican "good ol' boy" (GOBs), "business as usual" way of handling things. I considered the evidence carefully: what women (and minorities) have been put forth as W's choices for various choice positions? Well, there's Condi Rice, and there's Margaret Spellings, and there was that brief moment where W selected "that woman" as his candidate for Attorney General, but she withdrew so he got Gonzalez to be AG instead. And, of course, there's Laura Bush... Not a one of them has had the spine to disagree with the GOBs, going along with anything they're told to do, obediently as any second class citizen from two centuries ago...

Now, at first blush I thought Palin might actually serve as competition to Hillary's smarts, and her gumption to stick up for causes that no one cared to take on (after all they were all about human rights of those self-same second class citizen groups--which as far as I can tell, are still second class citizens even though we've had a few constitutional amendments, because the GW Supreme Court has been dispatching anything resembling human rights with all due vigor...), but that's all a red herring--to fool the three women who would have voted for Hillary because she wasn't black. The truth is, she's such a little fish, in an infinitesimal pond, that any of her teensy acts of rebellion are pretty much "stage dressing". I don't doubt that she'll be so busy being a "hockey mom" and so on that she will pretty much knuckle under to anything she's told to do. Oooooh, and I hear that she also has this little problem with her daughter (aged 17) being 5 months pregnant. I guess she'll be plenty busy minding the home front...

So, don't any of us think that she's an outsider, poised to effect change--she's NOBODY!! She's INVISIBLE!! She's a stand-in whose voice will be silenced, except when it is expedient to set her up with shamelessly bigoted and inhumane remarks aimed at trashing the opposition, leaving that "wise-cracking" GOB McCain to stay clean, lily-white, and as out of touch with the people as he wishes. Meanwhile, the GOBs will continue to manufacture more of that slime that they "doo-doo" so well.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Wheeeee! The Fun Begins Again!!

ENTER THE JOHN MCCAIN CLINIC FOR WOMEN AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

Great stuff is appearing to help us make our choice for the next president. If a compelling argument could be made to vote against a candidate these video compilations make it!

Go to John McCain: Less Jobs More War for much more!

Here's some fun with NCLB

The Federal Budget and Oreo Cookies

Thanks to Dena, I have something new to post here. Here's a challenge--How many Oreo Cookies does it take to give all the uninsured in Michigan health care coverage, all the children in Michigan fully funded schools, and provide the needed "wrap-around services" to prevent homelessness, hunger, and spousal or child abuse/neglect?

In the interests of fairness, here's the rest of the story...

Online rudeness has its source in parents
Letters to the editor--May 23, 2007

With chagrin and disbelief, I read the recent articles concerning S. area teens' use of Facebook and MySpace blogs to set up brawls, make threats and lob insults at each other. To put it mildly, these young people used very poor judgment.

What bothers me far more is the cavalier remarks of some of the parents quoted in the articles. One characterized his son's behavior as "freedom of expression,'' and another objected to S. Superintendent G.'s proactive calls to parents.

Wow! With remarks like that, one begins to understand how the kids decided that such rudeness was OK. Then, it's not such a leap to bullying, harassment and other incivilities. These are not harmless acts; they do violence to their intended targets.

S. is very lucky to have a superintendent of schools who cares about such things as civility, and community responsibility.

K. K.


Saline superintendent went overboard
Letters to the editor, May 20, 2007

Recent articles have appeared in both the S. Reporter and The A. News about postings in Facebook by S. High School students. I was quoted, however briefly, in The A. News, as saying that I am a supporter of my son's freedom of expression. What was not emphasized in the article was that my son did not post a threat to the superintendent, Dr. B. G., but merely participated in the forum. He did, however, refer to Dr. G. in an unkind manner. This type of freedom of speech is discouraged in our family. I want to set the record straight on this point.

The postings took place in September or October and were a response to the superintendent enforcing part of the dress code, which irritated many of the youth as they were told to keep their varsity jackets in their lockers during the school day. Nothing was said about these postings until a few weeks ago. Why the wait? I really do not know, except that there has been some anti-superintendent sentiment brewing since she canceled the Hxxx tournament some youth put together, after prior approval and much student preparation a few weeks back. This cancellation for "safety reasons'' really ticked off a lot of students.

So, after getting a phone call from Dr. G. earlier in the day, my wife and I found ourselves sitting in the superintendent's office with a printout of the postings and various entries circled for us to mull over. Some photos were shown to us as inappropriate.

One posting was not from our son and another was arguably not offensive. She agreed. So why were we asked to meet? Was our son guilty by association or was this an attempt to scare people into keeping quiet about her for reasons I am not keeping up with?

We left the meeting feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing because my son really did not do a whole lot wrong to merit being brought before a superintendent of schools, and the experience left me feeling a little harassed, frankly.

I believe in protecting students from Internet evils and public officials from being threatened, but not to the point of ridiculousness.

K.S.

Father of blogger fails to teach his son civility
Letters to the editor, May 15, 2007

After reading the story about the teen who denigrated the S. school superintendent in an Internet blog, it should not surprise anyone as to why our young increasingly show disrespect to anyone for any reason.

K. S. believes his son did no wrong by calling the S. superintendent a disparaging name. The loser here will not only be the son, who is not being taught what most parents consider positive relationship skills. The biggest loser will be society, as the son continues to take us down this slippery slope. Dad is teaching his son his own self-absorbed vision of life's lessons. This is most likely a result of our obsession with one's self-esteem (no boundaries) that has gone out of control. No wonder other cultures look at us with disdain. We're becoming a society without simple courtesy or basic manners.

D.R.M.

Parenting for Incivility

(Names and place names have been abbreviated to maintain some anonymity.)

Doesn't rudeness count for anything? No wonder there's a problem with bullying....K

S.'s father K. S. said his son did nothing wrong.

"There's no shame in expressing yourself,'' said K. S., who attended the meeting along with B. S.'s mother. "Unless (not criticizing administrators) is in the code of conduct, then there's no reason to quash the freedom of expression.''

Online comments roil officials
May 08, 2007
BY M.B.
A. News Staff Reporter

Editor's note: This story contains a term that may offend some readers. The News does not print profanity unless it is important for the understanding of the story.

S. High School Senior B. S. thought the disparaging comments he posted on Facebook.com about the school district superintendent would only be seen by other members of his network on the Web site.

S., 18, was surprised when he was called to the superintendent's office with his parents for what he described as a scolding.

B. G. the S. superintendent, found out about the group - called "new superintendent = bitch'' - and other sites she said contained "inappropriate language.'' She held meetings with families, including the one with S. and his parents.

G. said the aim of the meetings was to address the "limited understanding'' that parents and young people have about the dangers of Internet postings.

"A lot of things were said about people, including me, that were hurtful, ignorant,'' said G., who declined to say how many students were involved in meetings. "I paused and thought, 'What is my responsibility?' These are our students.''

S.'s father K. S. said his son did nothing wrong.

"There's no shame in expressing yourself,'' said K. S., who attended the meeting along with B.S.'s mother. "Unless (not criticizing administrators) is in the code of conduct, then there's no reason to quash the freedom of expression.''

G. said that young people and their parents do not realize the nuances of Internet safety, particularly with regard to Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook, two social networks. To raise awareness, the district has scheduled two community meetings for Wednesday, one in the morning and one at night.

On Facebook, members have personal profiles and can belong to groups which also maintain profiles. Group members can post comments, such as opinions and event information, on a group's profile.

Facebook offers varying security settings and the group in question was only accessible to members of the Saline High School network, B. S. said.

"Everything online is potentially public because someone can get into it, but the idea behind having your group only accessible to the network was kind of that safety net for us,'' he said. "We thought no one outside our network would see it.''

G. said that she does not have a Facebook account and that concerned parents drew her attention to the group, as well as to "a number'' of other Facebook groups and Web sites in the past six weeks or so. G. said some of them contained racial- and gender-biased statements and sexually harassing comments, she said.

In cases where she perceived a threat, G. said she was be obligated to call the police. In other instances, such as S.'s, she notified parents and brought the family in for a meeting.

G. declined to say how many threats she may have passed along to the police, but P. Township Director of Public Safety J. P. said that those found threatening are currently under investigation.

"Kids talk to each other, they think it's the same type of secrecy as going into a room, writing in a diary and locking it in the top drawer,'' P. said.

P. will be among the speakers at the community meetings Wednesday. The seminars were planned for parents and students to shed light on online risks, G. said.

"Young people may unwittingly be opening themselves to consequences they hadn't thought about,'' she said.

Contact M. B. at ----