From a friend, Ms. Ruiz

What Teachers Make

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

"I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

Dirait-On

Abandon entouré d'abandon,
tendresse touchant aux tendresses...
C'est ton intérieur qui sans cesse
se caresse, dirait-on;

se caresse en soi-meme,
par son propre reflet éclairé.
Ainsi tu inventes le théme
du Narcisse exaucé.

Something nostalgic

You can sky rocket away from me
And never come back if you find another galaxy
Far from here, with more room to fly
Just leave me your stardust to remember you by

From The Little Prince

If... you came at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy.

From Pedagogy of the Oppressed

A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust. - Paulo Freire

From The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith

But in the languor of disease and the weariness of old age, the pleasures of the vain and empty distinctions of greatness disappear. To one, in this situation, they are no longer capable of recommending those toilsome pursuits in which they had formerly engaged him. In his heart he curses ambition, and vainly regrets the ease and the indolence of youth, pleasures which are fled for ever, and which he has foolishly sacrificed for what, when he has got it, can afford him no real satisfaction. In this miserable aspect does greatness appear to every man when reduced either by spleen or disease to observe with attention to his own situation, and to consider what it is that is really wanting to his happiness. Power and riches appear then to be, what they are, enormous and operose machines contrived to produce a few trifling conviencies to the body, consisting of springs the most nice and delicate, which must be kept in order with the most anxious attention, and which in spite of all our care are ready every moment to burst into pieces, and to crush in their ruins theis unfortunate possesor.

The feeling of not belonging

The feeling of not belonging, of not being entirely worthy, of being sometimes hostage to your own sensibilities. Those things speak to me very personally.
Anthony Minghella

Short Talks by Anne Carson

Short Talk On Orchids
We live by tunnelling for we are people buried alive. To me, the tunnels you make will seem strangely aimless, uprooted orchids. But the fragrance is undying. A Little Boy has run away from Amherst a few Days ago, writes Emily Dickenson in a letter of 1883, and when asked where he was going replied, Vermont or Asia.


Short Talk On The Sensation Of Aeroplane Takeoff
Well you know I wonder, it could be love running towards my life with its arms up yelling let's buy it what a bargain!

Short Talk On Hopes
Soon I hope to live in a totally rubber house. Think how quickly I will be able to get from room to room! One good bounce and you're there. I have a friend whose hands were melted off by a firebomb during the war. Now, once again, he will learn to pass the bread at the dinner table. Learning is life. I hope to invite him over this evening in fact. Learning is the same colour as life. He says things like that.


Short Talk On Housing
Here is one thing you can do if you have no house. Wear several hats - maybe three, four. In the event of rain or snow, remove the one(s) that get(s) wet. Secondly, to be a householder is a matter of rituals. Rituals function cheifly to differentiate horizontal from vertical. To begin the day in your house is to 'get up'. At night you will 'lie down'. When old Tio Pedro comes over for tea you will 'speak up', for these days his hearing is 'on the decline'. If his wife is with him you will be sure to have 'cleaned up' the kitchen and parlour so as not to 'fall' in her opinion. Watching the two of them, as they sit side by side on the couch smoking one cigarette, you feel your 'heart lift'. These patterns of up and down can be imitated, outside the house, in vertical and horizontal designs upon the clothing. The lines are not hard to make. Hats do not need to be decorated for they will 'pile up' on your head, in and of themselves, qua hats, if you have understood my original instruction.

White Nationalism Put U In Bondage

by Autum Ashante, 7 years old

White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirate and vampires like Columbus,
Morgan, and Darwin
Drank the blood of the sheep,
trampled all over them with
Steel, tricks and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look in our streets
The mis-education of she and Hegro –
leaves you on your knee2grow
Black lands taken from your hands,
by vampires with no remorse
They took the gold, the wisdom
and all of the storytellers
They took the black women,
with the black man weak
Made to watch as they changed the paradigm
Of our village
They killed the blind, they killed the lazy, they went
So far as to kill the unborn baby
Yeah White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirates and vampires like Columbus,
Morgan, and Darwin
They drank the blood of the sheep,
trampled all over them with
Steel laden feet, throw in the tricks alcohol and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look at our streets.

Billie Holiday

"Easy To Remember" Lyrics

Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers

Your sweet expression
The smile you gave me,
The way you looked when we meet
It’s easy to remember
But so hard to forget.
I hear you whisper,
I’ll always lave you
I know it’s over and yet
It’s easy to remember
But so hard to forget.

So I must dream
To have your hand caress me,
Fingers press me tight.
I’d rather dream
Than have the lonely feeling
Stealing through the night.

Each little moment
Is clear before me,
And though it brings me regret
It’s easy to remember
But so hard to forget.



"Please Keep Me In Your Dreams"

Tot Seymour / Vee Lawnhurst

Please keep me in your dreams
In your sweet dreams let me hold you
When through your window
The breeze comes swingin’
It’s just bringin’ this love song that I’m singin’
Please keep me in your dreams
My kiss it seems must have told you
My heart you’ll borrow until tomorrow
So please keep me in your dreams