Ξ August 11th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
So for taking so long to update the blog about my tip, but we couldn’t spend much time on the internet because there was only one computer and no wireless router. We finally got one two days ago. It’s amazing how addicted we are to the internet. I felt like I was disconnected from the whole world, but I guess that’s how being on vacation is supposed to feel.
Anyway, our trip got off to a rocky start but quickly shaped up. I woke up to the sight of feces and vomit as Kyra had a rough night. Either Kyra sensed that we would be leaving her or I forgot to take her out the night before. I think it’s the latter. Anyway, I got it all cleaned up, got her to the pet boarding house, and got back in enough time to help Janelle finish packing. My buddy Michael took us to the airport and we arrived in more than enough time. So Janelle and I were both at ease. Well, sorta. I always get a little nervous about getting on airplanes. I’m good when we’ve been up there for thirty minutes or so, but the lead up and the initial take-off seem to give me a little trouble. But everything was fine. The flight was great. In fact, the 14 hours seemed to pass by rather quickly. I guess the time does go by quickly if you watch three movies and read books. Anyway, the internet connection here is really weak so I have to cut it short.
Ξ August 4th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
The Lamar men (Leroy Jr, Leroy III, Bryan) are planning fishing trip. This is how we will fish this year.
So the packing begins… Janelle has started packing for our trip to the Philippines. I, on the other hand, won’t pack until two hours before we are to be at the airport. I prefer to sit and worry about not having everything I need for the trip instead of being proactive and getting ready. Anyway, we are very excited as this is our first trip to the Philippines. Janelle has been once but, since she was only four the first time, this can be considered her first real trip. I’ll be trying to update this blog everyday so stay tuned!
Do all men “see” God differently? This question is kinda like asking do all men “taste” food differently. True, all men might not like the taste (or smell) of Durian fruit, but that does not mean that we don’t use the same faculty to taste it. All men “see” God the same way.
I didn’t watch one episode of CNN’s “Black in America” series. To be honest, I didn’t want to be subjected to hours of negative speech. While it is true that are still bigots and racists in America, I’m too busy with owning two homes, three cars, and a dog to really notice the bigots. Teaching high school, college, while working on my second Master’s degree has clouded my vision. I simply don’t see the police dogs chasing elderly women. It’s been a minute since I saw a group of black college men being sprayed with waterhoses.
If you really want to be in the center of God’s will, then you really need to order these CDs.
“Shark Week” isn’t that great this year. Last year it was sharks all day long with the new shows at night. I got up this morning expecting “Air Jaws” or “Sharkman.” Instead, Joyce Meyer was on Discovery. That’s crappy. Can’t a dude get just one week of sharks?
I fear that my new hobby, photography, is going to consume my life. Please keep me in your prayers.
Is practical theology more important than theoretical theology? I would argue that if one’s theory is inaccurate, his practical theology will also be flawed. If you think that God is an impersonal force then, practically, you won’t seek to find out if “He/She/It” has communicated with you.
Durian fruit really does stink, but it taste pretty good.
Ξ July 25th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Ξ July 23rd, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I read this piece this morning and it reminded me of some of the issues I have with my high school students. I realized that I was not alone.
Black Education
Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
“Hard Times at Douglass High,” is an HBO documentary that aired last June. It captured much of the 2004-2005 school year at Baltimore’s predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools.
Douglass’ students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested proficient in reading, in math just 11 percent, and that’s an improvement over previous years. Only one student managed to score above 1,000 on the SAT and another student scored 440 out of 1,600. You get 400 points for just writing in your name. Out of its 1,100 students, 200 to 300 are absent each day. Many of those who do show up don’t do so on time; they roam the hallways and leave the school during the day. Only one-half of the school’s 500 incoming freshmen ninth-graders return for their sophomore year and far fewer remain for graduation
Sixty-six percent of the teachers are uncertified. Even if there were no certified teacher shortage, I doubt whether many teachers with attractive alternatives would want to teach at the school. Douglass High School is not a place for teachers with high expectations for their students. English teacher Mr. McDermott resigned in the middle of the school year saying, “Teaching becomes secondary, and discipline is the main thing that goes on. I don’t feel like I’m making a difference anymore.”
Cameras followed then-principal Isabelle Grant on her visit to the home of a chronically absent student. The student who reads at the fifth- or sixth-grade level is promised that if she attends school regularly she’ll be promoted to the 11th grade. It is impossible to eliminate such a reading deficit in a semester. Teachers are pressured into passing failing students. The documentary showed that within a few days of graduation time the school went from having 138 eligible graduates to 200. Promoting and graduating students who haven’t made the grade is nothing short of academic fraud.
Douglass High School teachers and staff appeared to be concerned and caring people, but the poor quality educational outcomes demonstrate that concern and caring is not enough. The virtually empty classrooms, filmed on back-to-school night, suggested little parental interest in their children’s education. School day behavior demonstrated little student interest. Some students spent class time laughing, joking and tussling with one another. Others had their heads lying on their desks or appeared uninterested in the teacher’s discussion. Many of those engaged in student-teacher exchange on academic topics showed very limited reasoning ability.
Frederick Douglass was founded in 1883 as the Colored High and Training School before it was renamed. It is one of the nation’s oldest historically black high schools. It was a draw for Baltimore’s brightest black students. Success stories among its alumni include Thurgood Marshall, Cab Calloway, as well as several judges, congressmen and civil rights leaders. I guarantee you that if Douglass High student test scores of that earlier era were available, they wouldn’t show today’s achievement gap. Also, a 1940s or ’50s Douglass High graduate would find no comparison between student behavior during their school years and that shown in the documentary.
Politicians and the teaching establishment say more money, smaller classes and newer buildings are necessary for black academic excellence. At Frederick Douglass’ founding, it didn’t have the resources available today. If blacks can achieve at a time when there was far greater poverty, gross discrimination and fewer opportunities, what says blacks cannot achieve today? Whether we want to own up to it or not, the welfare state has done what Jim Crow, gross discrimination and poverty could not have done. It has contributed to the breakdown of the black family structure and has helped establish a set of values alien to traditional values of high moral standards, hard work and achievement.
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Ξ July 21st, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
I often google myself to see if there is anyone out there cares about me and I found this picture that my buddy Travis took awhile back. I forgot that we did this!
The Problem of Pain
As noted in part one of this series, my goal for writing these posts is not merely to note Williams Young’s theology and apologetics as found in The Shack, but I also want to say why the questions, topics, and answers are important. The author’s main purpose in writing this book is to answer the question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain” and I believe that despite committing some errors in both logic and theology, he accomplishes this task. (more…)
Calling my new coffeehouse hangout Afrocentric is an understatement. This spot is so black that one can purchase postcards from the New Black Panther Party along with your 16oz. mocha. I’m not joking. So even though I had not yet seen the most recent cover of The New Yorker, I wasn’t surprised to hear cries of racism from my fellow coffee shop patrons. I decided to find to cover and see if it was really as bad as others were depicting it. I must admit, when I saw the cover, I couldn’t help thinking, “Wow! I can’t believe the New Yorker would publish something so offensive!” I’m not sure if this was motivated by race, but it was definitately hateful. Even Obama responded, ““For this to be used as sort of an insult, or to raise suspicions about me, I think is unfortunate.” But then I read this piece by Jack Shafer and realized that the cover was actually a slam on the political right. The satirist Barry Blitt took all of the criticisms of the right and complied a visual, trying to showing how idiotic the right’s perception of Obama is.
This raises an interesting question about the nature of art, particularly painting. The question is, “Can a painting convey meaning?” By meaning I am speaking of knowledge. For example, as you are reading this post, you are gaining knowledge from what is written. You walk away saying, “Leroy thinks that language conveys meaning.” But can art do the same thing? Using this definition of meaning, what does the painting above “mean?” What cognitive content is being communicated? You would have to admit that there is none. There is nothing in the picture that “tells” us anything. One has to ask the painter what his purpose was in painting it. Of course, he responds by using words. Words are the carriers of meaning, not pictures.
The genius of Jib Jab is there ability to capture the best of the criticisms of both parties. Seeing McCain as this guy who is on the verge of death and seeing Obama as this Pollyanna, fairy tale character is absolutely hilarious.
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