It has finally happened. The country has been waiting anxiously for the once very popular Tony Blair to step down. On Wednesday, he did just that. The new Prime Minister is now picking his cabinet and promising to lead and bring the necessary change Britain needs. A historic event and only time will tell how the Scot, the first in 70 years to lead Britain will do.
6/30/2007
6/24/2007
Elections
Just posting a site that describes the current candidates running for president for anyone looking to research. CQ Politics is a non-partisan website that publishes the daily goings-on of Congress.
6/21/2007
News Coverage of RHS Graduation
An article from the Star News, entitled "Historic class of 2007 graduates from Rogers" details the events of the big night for Rogers High School graduates.
6/19/2007
Too Soon To Start Looking at the US Presidential Elections?
Okay, it is really early to seriously land on one political candidate. Early on, I like Hillary but Obama is hypnotic in his presentation and style; he's very politically attractive. I think I'm most inclined, at this point, to vote for a bit of a dark horse candidate in Bill Richardson.
It's easy to see how Democrats differ from Republicans, and easy to see the similarities in their policies or views on Iraq, the economy or healthcare. But if one looks at an issue like immigration - one that cross cuts conservative and liberal ideological leanings, it might be easier to decide who YOU like.
A sampling of the three:
Clinton
Hillary does not address immigration specifically on her website. But, from what I read and now from her previous votes, she tends to push the security/build a wall approach over freedom/identify-reasons-people-immigrate approach, which is a waste of time and money, in my approach. The Washington Times put's her position just right of Bush's, even.
Obama
From the Campaing Website:
Creating Secure Borders
Barack Obama wants to preserve the integrity of our borders to reduce illegal immigration. He supports additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. Obama believes we need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence. However, enforcing our borders is only one step of comprehensive immigration reform. Despite tripling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol along the southern border between 1990-2005, the undocumented population doubled in size, the death rate of border crossings tripled, and the per-apprehension cost increased from $300 in 1992 to $1700 in 2002, according to the Center for American Progress.
Removing Incentives to Enter Illegally
To remove incentives to enter the country illegally, we need to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Barack Obama has championed a proposal with Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and Max Baucus (D-MT) to create a new employment eligibility verification system so employers could verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S., making it fair to legal workers and tougher on employers.
Improving Legal Immigration
The overwhelming majority of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, come into this country with the hope that hard work and sacrifice will secure a better life for their children. Every year, an estimated 500,000-800,000 people enter the country illegally or illegally overstay their visa. Another million enter legally. Barack Obama believes we must address illegal immigration by stronger border measures and fixing the dysfunctional bureaucracy to balance the needs of American workers and the U.S. economy.
That includes creating legal avenues for people to work here. Barack Obama believes immigrant workers should have legal protections to avoid abuse and downward pressure on American wages and working conditions.
Richardson
From the Campaing Website:
"Building a fence will not increase security, just as attempting to deport 12 million illegal immigrants is not feasible or reasonable. I believe a realistic immigration reform plan must address the problem from all sides -- securing the border, penalizing employers for knowingly hiring illegal workers, offering a tough but reasonable path to legalization, engaging Mexico in the reform process, and improving our current immigration quota system."
The quick and dirty, it appears, is that the first two are pandering to the middle America fears of a 'browning of America' and tout a tough 'wall and troops' approach, which, I disagree with. Building a wall will not stop people, ideas and influence of either from going in and out of this country or any other. It just gives something to 'snap' down the road, when the real reasons for massive immigration keep pushing on.
On a completely unrelated part of the campaign, I had to chuckle when I read that Hillary's campaign picked THEIR song. I don't think it is a good sign of things to come for her campaign, but we'll see.
6/17/2007
6/15/2007
I named it Baby
I am back in Scotland. It is like I never left and yet, it is foreign again because so much has changed in people's lives to make catching up with them necessary. It is a good feeling though.
The palace is still cold - damn it - I did not bring enough jumpers.
The park is beautiful - green and lush and wet. I went on my first walk yesterday.
Henry is still funny. He and Ann will be out Monday for a visit.
There is a new pub in Dalkeith - The Blacksmith's Forge. It's too faux-posh for Dalkeith, which I think is obvious by its name.
Living in the Director's flat is weird. I think I'd kind of prefer our old flat. Our routines and rituals of living in this house are upset by the new flat.
The summer faculty are nice. Ingrid, Rhoda and Rose. We had them over for wine and cheese.
We won the Sam's Quiz Pub already! Rose, Tim and Jim and I played and after a close first 2 rounds, handily won.
One of the questions was, what is the soft spot on a newborn called? We had no idea, but were talking about having kids. I joked that I had adopted one while Tim was over here. He asked, "oh yeah? What's it's name?" I had nothing. I just said, "I named it Baby". Now we have an imaginery baby named Baby.
6/11/2007
RHS Commencement Speech
My speech for commencement went fantastically! With a racing heart and approached the podium, asked the graduates if this 'honor' was due to the fact that my class was so hard - and began reading: "Chapter 1". Of course I was kidding, but I needed them to laugh so that I could relax at the podium and begin.
After the evening was over, many came up for hugs and pictures - which is fun, but the gesture really brings it home that they are leaving. Goodbyes are hard. I wish them all the best.
Here's the speech. If I'm able, I'll post the video as well.
Commencement Speech
Graduates! It is with great pride and appreciation that I speak to you all tonight. Yours is the FIRST class to start and complete your entire high school career at RHS!!! And for that I congratulate you. As you know, I was fortunate to teach most of you as freshman and again as seniors. Few teachers are afforded the opportunity to spend that much time with their students. It has to be said, your class is one of compassion, sophistication and tolerance. You made teaching fun – you gave me the will and a reason to try my hardest to educate, impress and to be myself. Your charm, your wit and your sense of humor made it an absolute pleasure to be in the classroom! Thank you!
Graduation is the perfect opportunity to take pause, look back, make sense of life, and frame the future. In doing so, we quickly realize that lessons in life exist everywhere. This thought is wonderfully encapsulated in a poem I came across recently. Last year, while living in
The following is an excerpt:
When you set out on your journey to
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Always keep
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor,
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.
Tonight, I would like to share with you three lessons I picked up on the way to
During my time at the
Several years later, I found myself working along side an extremely diverse group of educators – older, younger, all races, gay, straight, parents and non-parents, introverts and extroverts. And though we shared many laughs and celebrations, we had heated discussions about students, work ethic, philosophy of education and teaching. This heterogeneous group of people was in charge of evaluating my progress and I theirs. Essentially, my St. Mary’s University cohort reasserted the notion of how much we have in common as well as the difficulty but importance of recognizing diversity – of perspective as well as race or creed or gender. I left the program somewhat less idealistic, but not any less hopeful about the world. I earned a master’s degree in teaching and learning. Moreover, I learned how to successfully work with a disparate community of people, and transferred that knowledge to my classroom.
Two years ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to take a leave of absence from teaching high school, join my partner in
In your 18 years, the world has presented you various people, situations and opportunities. Time and reflection cast valuable light on just what was important and why. To end this evening, I’d like to take a quick trip through memory lane to demonstrate this notion:
Kindergarten brought you to a new world; both scary and exciting.
1. Coloring was your favorite part of the day.
2. Teachers were great – sometimes better than your parents.
3. You were not sure WHY they had you do the things you did, but you WERE sure that you loved doing it MOST when it involved glue, scissors and smelly markers.
As Third Graders, the world brought you rules; having to follow them made school a little less fun, but you still gave it an enthusiastic chance.
1. Science was your favorite part of the day.
2. Teachers were helpful and friendly people.
3. You were NOT sure why you had to stand in straight lines all the time, but you WERE sure that chocolate milk was the bomb, and standing in line was worth it.
As Fifth Graders, the world brought you decisions to be made; you developed interests in your favorite subjects and hobbies.
1. Recess was your favorite part of the day.
2. Teachers were sort of helpful, but increasingly LESS friendly
3. You were SURE about your best friend and sleepovers, but NOT so sure about the opposite gender, and why you couldn’t hit or tease them.
As Seventh Graders, the world brought you some autonomy – traversing from class to class. Receiving your first ‘tardy slip’ reminded you how fleeting that feeling was, however.
1. Your favorite part of the day was passing time and, although you resented rules and traditions set by those before you, you obeyed them religiously as to not stand out too much.
2. Teachers were necessary, but they didn’t actually seem to like you very much.
3. You were NOT so sure about your body and all that was happening to it, but you WERE sure you didn’t like it.
As Ninth Graders, the world brought you choices but sometimes forgot to include the maturity to make them wisely. On one hand, you missed things like recess and being a kid, and on the other hand, you wished your parents would treat you like the adults you THOUGHT you were.
1. LUNCH was your favorite part of the day.
2. As for teachers, you started respecting them again, but that’s only because you had a new enemy – upperclassmen.
3. You were SURE you were too cool for school but NOT so sure on how to exhibit that without standing out TOO much and drawing criticism; what to wear, who to talk to and what parties to attend weighed heavily on your mind.
As seniors, the world brought you wisdom and closure, like the ending to a great movie.
1. Lunch was STILL your favorite part of the day, and your favorite class was the one you could either sleep in or be late to without getting in trouble.
2. As for teachers – well, you’re respect for them waned again, but that’s because by now, you are smarter than them; a sense of entitlement kicked in, and you start thinking to yourselves, ‘how dare they put us in a seating chart and talk at us about supply curves or poetry or logarithms… are we ever going to use this?” And JUST WHO DOES this Economics teacher think he is saying things like “here’s the quick and dirty” or on Fridays, announcing T.G.I.F. “Thank God I’m Fabulous”.
3. Finally, you were not always sure HOW to create the rules and traditions that you resented in junior high – but you were DARN SURE you were going set them because A) you knew what was best for the underclassmen, and the rest of the school for that matter, and, B) it was your year to celebrate and leave your mark.
And here you are tonight; ready to take the next step of your lives. From 1000’s of people and experiences, you will draw on valuable lessons for many years to come; thus, my central message this evening: as you walk in this world, as you live, worship, love, cry, lead, follow, confront and succumb, at each step of the way, I want you to reflect on the situations that befall you and the people you meet and always ask yourself: What is the world bringing to me? Is there something beyond the façade? Is there an underlying message?
The important ‘informal’ lessons I described to you today – on the way to my Ithaca – that disagreements are not barriers but opportunities, that we need to be willing to at least entertain if not accept a multitude of perspectives, and that listening is more important than speaking – I picked up on my journey. For this, I am eternally grateful.
Do not seek solely the destinations of achieving a high-paying job, or owning a new car or buying the “perfect” house. You see, with each destination, from start to finish, lay a myriad of lessons that should not be underestimated or undervalued. Ask yourself, as you meet people on your journey, what are they trying to teach me? You will be richer for it.
Congratulations graduates, the class of 2007!!
I wish you the all the very best!
6/02/2007
My Last Day with the Seniors
Being the overly emotional man that I am... I put together a letter I wrote to the seniors with three videos and lyrics to provide some time for reflection and closure to the seniors. Due to workshops and some interviews, my last day with the seniors (formally, in class) was last Monday! What a GREAT CLASS! I will miss and remember them!
Below, the letter and the songs they watched/listened to as they read it, reflected, and filled out a course evaluation.
As our time together ends, I wanted to share with you a few reflections on life through music and allow you to convey your sentiments to me. Music puts me in a reflective mood. Please listen, watch, and enjoy, and perhaps it will allow you to reflect as well. If you would like, fill out the evaluation too. Anonymity is fine - please be honest and constructive!
All the songs, by the
The first song’s message, in my opinion, is about being your self. It may sounds a bit cliché, but it easier said than done.
Like the first, the second song carries a message too. I haven't always made the best choices and I think I've learned from the mistakes I've made. We all can learn from our mistakes. Your words and actions are powerful and can last a long time - generations even. Choose them wisely!
And the third song is one that I thoroughly enjoy as sort of a personal anthem. It made sense to me from the moment I heard it forst.
In regards to the first stanza… okay, NONE of my friends did this... but I like to think we ALL are taking the long way...which is probably why we all still get along so well.
In regards to the second stanza… well, I don't need anything like a pink RV with stars...I'm flamboyant enough. But this idea sounds like fun and is something I would like to do some day.
As for the third stanza, I did actually get about to be about 5 feet from Queen Elizabeth & the Irish and Hippies I met were very fun people... I miss them!
To the fourth stanza, I came across this song after my two years in
As for the underlined lyric… this is my FAVORITE line in any song. How true it is - remember it always. It will come in handy.
All the best to you as you start down your long journeys. Don't be afraid to take the long way around - there is a lot to be seen and done out there!
Mr. Johnson
Top of the World
Taking the Long Way
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