Isn’t it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes? Isn’t it true that we have often in our democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn’t it true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and imperialism?
-Martin Luther King Jr.
This is one of the reasons I love being on staff, for being a part of stuff like this.
Now (more…)
It used to be that the perception of what distinguished public school education from private school education was the access based on cost. By this think, public school education was accessible to all because the cost was subsidized by the government, whereas private school education was only accessible to those that could subsidize the cost themselves.
This article on the current notion of desegregation, aka (more…)
According to a recent study, 40% of employers make hiring decisions based on Facebook accounts. I’d better warn my students about this (their not scandalous, but…)
HT: UrbanOnramps
This book by Frantz Faron was recommended in the “Race & Identity in the New Testament” course that I’m taking. You can take a look at the google.books. I’m not sure when I’ll get to read it, but I’m curious…
Needless to say, I’m highly invested in how this kind of issue goes. Whether Tom Freston, former Viacom exec, is a saint or not, I appreciate his stated motivation, as the article quotes it:
“In a statement, he said he contributed reimbursements he received from the city — and will donate future ones — to a special-education support center in a public school. He says he is pursuing the case so other children, “without jumping through hoops,” can attend appropriate schools “regardless of their family’s financial means.“
My snooty answer to the question - especially when asked in light of schools that already fail typically developing students, before we even begin to talk about special needs students - is whenever public schools fail to provide what they’re supposed to with the tax-payer funds they’ve been alloted, then other means should be funded. It’s why I’ve begun to swing towards a pro-choice stance on the models that vouchers and charter schools provide.
Never one to be “the first,” I’ve recently gotten onto the Facebook/Myspace thing. I’m finding that where cell-phones used to be the new “it” when I first came to CSULA, now if I want to get in touch with my students, the fastest way to get a response is by leaving a comment on their Facebook/Myspace or, sometimes faster, by text message. I need to actually figure out if texts are part of my cell-phone plan, but I found a great website for sending free text messages - Txt2Day.com. Very easy. Great response time from my folks.
Saturday night I went to my 15th year high school reunion. At the end of reconnecting with old faces and catching up on missed stories, I came home on the Metro Goldline thinking a lot about the course of my days since high school, particularly asking questions about what is significant in what my life is about now vs. then. A natural response to reunions, wouldn’t you say.
My friend Nate Young - a post-high school friend - has done his own fair share of thinking on the lessons about what makes life significant. Below is the first in a series of guest post from Nate:
The metaphor of “life as journey” is in no way original. But I thought I might take this basic notion and impose on it a sort of progression in terms of how we think of our lives.
Play: When I was a kid, I would go over to people’s homes, and ring the doorbell. When an adult came to the door, my prepared question was simple, “Can so-and-so play?” Play. A magical, innocent word. Play marks no (more…)
I got this reminder from the email group for my local Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council:
NOTE: This is a public service announcement…..pass it along to allyour friends.REMINDER….9 days from today, all cell phone numbers are being released?to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS.
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number. HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
It take about 20 seconds.
I called it. It really did just take 20 seconds.
Cleverly spinning off of the UPS ad campaign, we shared the LaFe vision for Greater Los Angeles by introducing this video at the end of our staff conference on Thursday.
Our hope was to give staff something to remember as they think their ministry and Latino students on campus. What do you think?
Without any financial transaction taking place - Starbucks made me a customer today.
By freely previewing a product - in this case, a boysenberry & cream frappuccino - I became a Starbucks consumer. They didn’t ask me for a reciept to prove that I belonged at the table that I was utilizing. They didn’t ask for a deposit on a future order as a condition for their generosity.
Instead, (more…)
The Los Angeles Business Journal reported that Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Enterprises is buying the Sears Building on the south end of Boyle Heights (for an easy $70 million) for a huge redevelopment project.
Redevelopment of the property has been discussed by city leaders and stakeholders for years. The warehouse is run down, but the Sears retail store does brisk business in an area that experts say is underserved. (more…)
Several weeks ago, at a coalition meeting of urban youth workers in East LA, we were asked to share about ourselves by answering the question - “What keeps you up at night?”
Too be totally honest, my instinctive response was (more…)
This from Ruben Navarrette, Jr. :
“The restrictionists and those pundits who have taken up their cause claim that race and ethnicity aren’t even part of the discussion and that those who oppose giving illegal immigrants a shot at legal status would feel the same way if the immigrants were coming from Canada instead of Mexico.
They say their concerns are limited to border security and the rule of law, and have nothing to do with nativism or xenophobia. And they reject any suggestion that the debate was hostile to Hispanics…
The people who buy into this demagoguery say the country is being colonized. That harkens back to what Benjamin Franklin said in the 1700s about German immigrants making up “a colony of aliens.”
A lot of what Franklin said about the Germans was rank bigotry. The same goes for what other generations of Americans would later say about Italians, Irish, Jews and other immigrants – even if they came legally.
What poison. Thank goodness we got that out of our system. “
Some folks talk a lot, but don’t have much to say.
Not this guy.
I just saw an interview (on KTLA Morning News) of Dr. Michael Eric Dyson - Professor of Theology, English and African American Studies at Georgetown University - promoting his book “Know what I mean? - Reflections on Hip-Hop” Based on the interview, I’m going to get my hands on his book.
Anthony Bradley has a sharp critique of ‘ghetto life’ as sensationalized and depicted on the increasingly popular website “HotGhettoMess.com” and detailed in the upcoming BET show “We got to do better.”
“The “ghetto” life must cease to be glamorized and normalized in the entertainment industry. Sadly, there is a huge demographic of Americans who are medicating their own personal pain through self-sabotaging, “ghetto” behaviors. The show represents a massive cry for help!”
“…medicating their own personal pain… self-sabotaging, “ghetto” behaviors…” (Unfortunately) Well said, Anthony.
P.S. This Wednesday, July 25th at 6pm - HOW DO GREAT STREETS GET MADE?
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I must be onto something, since someone else is writing a entire book on my ideas. 
Peter Lim - Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee - is currently writing a book entitled Xenophobia to Philozenia: A Trinitarian Theology of Immigration. He is quoted in several recent articles about the New Sanctuary Movement (read their pledge), including (more…)
I’m cleaning up the house & cleaning out the garage to get ready for a big garage sale next weekend. So I found the local S.A.F.E. collection center to take old paint to properly dispose of it.
Trying to do my part.
