*chuckle*

I am really enjoying reading through reflections of the students I work with. I asked them to reflect on which rights they struggle with upholding in their relationships from the relationship bill of rights. It’s particularly nice reading the responses given from the guys in my class because they don’t vocalize their feelings as frequently as the girls:

• “The problem I have is understanding how the person feeling. I am clueless when it comes down to it.”
• “The right I have trouble keeping is setting limits and values because I’m too nice.”
• “I struggle with saying no because I am nice that I say yes.”

a story in astoria, oregon

one day very few moons ago, i went to astoria with nathan. we stayed in someone else’s home and wore slippers that Aladdin would wear. 

  
in the morning, we walked along the coastline and listened to sea lions bark in earnest at who knows what. 

saying hellos to people we’d never met

time lulling on like ocean waves beneath a gentle breeze. 

one day very few moons ago, i went to astoria with nathan and i realized i love in a way that i hadn’t loved before.

on being culturally relevant

Today, I used the grammys as a lead in to personal reflection (per beyonce’ acceptance speech) and media consumption.

Just as the NYorker piece referenced  in the previous post argued, the grammys didn’t really work as a lead in because…most of my students didn’t know about it, didn’t watch it or didn’t care to. 
About three quarters of my students are Latino youth and the other forth are API. There are no white people in my class. 

The grammys award show is completely irrelevant to them. 

#oscarsowhite #grammysowhite

If the grammys or oscars or politics for that matter don’t keep up with our rising colorful generation, there’s going to be this continual disunity and chasm between the white dominant culture and everyone else. 

And that state of tension is impermanent so something’s gotta give. 

In other news, I feel much more comfortable getting a rowdy room to quiet down- not that I’m good at it…but this is something I never knew I could do. Thankful for my job pushing me to grow. At this point, I don’t have concrete career goals anymore- just pursuit of a lifestyle of continual growth- something like Nietzche’s ubermench but uber-woman and without anti-semitic applications. 

From the new yorker

Interesting piece from the New Yorker reflecting on how the Grammys has become outdated- altogether not keeping up with changing demographics and tastes in a post-modern musical landscape where one can release excellent music and gain a following without signing a multi-million dollar deal to a label.

“The days of omniscient, authoritative proclamations of quality seem to be largely behind us. No matter what it is you’re into, it’s terrifyingly easy to find others to validate and echo your desires. These days, “good taste” seems like a silly and old-fashioned idea. All taste is good taste; the heart wants what it wants; everything is permissible so long as it is inclusive. So who needs an organization like the Recording Academy to issue decrees from on high? In a speech at around the three-and-a-half-hour mark, the Academy president, Neil Portnow, said, “What we need so desperately are more reminders of all that binds us together.” Golden trinkets, at least, still do not seem to be this thing”

“The 2017 Grammys have no answers” by Amanda Petrusich, 2017