Working for the Weekend

February 17-18, 24, 2007

Up to this point I have had a pretty good run in terms of the overall behavior of the kids I work with at the unnamed educational service. While some of the kids definitely have their highs and lows in terms of keeping focus, staying on task, etc. for the most part behavior has not prevented the children from begin productive during the hour I spend with them. That all changed on the weekend of February 17-18, perhaps due as much to coincidence as anything else.

Each weekend when I arrive at the center there is a daily schedule that tells me: A) Which 2-3 kids I will work with in hour 1, hour 2, etc.; B) Which table I will be working at (this is usually the same for the entire shift); and C) What subject I will be working on with them, either reading or math. There is no rhyme or reason to how the students will be arranged as different kids are coming and going from noon-4p, usually for 2-hour intervals but sometimes longer. It is unusual for me to have the same kid for more than 2 hours at a time. However, just this past weekend I had the same boy at my table for 4 hours straight. Fortunately, we got along well and he was an excellent independent worker.

So, for the first two hours of my shifts on both Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th I had the same three kids, two girls and a boy. I had worked with each child in different groupings in the past and knew that they had a tendency to goof off and not complete many assignments. Little did I know that putting the three of them at the same table together would multiply the behavioral issues exponentially. Whether it was giggling, talking to each other or asking to go to the bathroom or get a drink (along with sharpening the pencil, a classic method of student procrastination) several times during the hour, these kids brought the bad behavior trifecta to the table that day. Unfortunately, I was the dealer.

Initially, I tried to control this situation with verbal warnings and stern looks, but finally I had to really let the group have it by raising my voice to them. Much to my surprise, at one point one of the girls said “But we can do this in school” to which I quickly responded: “This isn’t school.” What I really wanted to say was “Look, the reason you are here in the first place is because you behave like this in school instead of doing your work,” but it would not be appropriate in a setting where we are trying to encourage the kids. The reality is that kids live in the here and now and don’t connect bad behavior in school with the need to come to the center on evenings and weekends.

The “bad combination of students setting each other off” experience was not a new one to me, in that during my student teaching I learned that teachers frequently rearrange desks and change the location of students throughout the year to facilitate better behavior and, of course, learning. As a teacher at the unnamed educational service, the challenge is that when it is just me and the three kids misbehaving at the table there isn’t anywhere for me to move them. Where’s Jack Bauer when you need him?

Who's Your Daddy, Peyton?

When I first launched this blog last fall I mentioned that I would write about, among other things, the brilliance of New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. While one would naturally interpret that as meaning his brilliance ON the field - he has won 3 Super Bowls and 2 Super Bowl MVP's to date - I am making my first Brady post to recognize Tom for his recent accomplishments OFF the field. In all fairness, it should be noted that this angle became much more appealing to me after New England's loss to Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl champion Colts in the AFC Championship game. As a New England area sports fan, Tom Brady related gossip is all I have until the Red Sox season starts.

This past December, Brady broke up with longtime girlfriend, actress and former model Bridget Moynahan after the pair dated for three years. Not long after it was rumored and then confirmed that Brady was dating supermodel Giselle Bundchen, with reports that she waited for him outside his locker room in San Diego after the Patriots beat the Chargers in the playoffs and that he was photographed coming out of her New York apartment. All I am going to say about this is that when your REBOUND is a hot Brazilian supermodel that once dated Leonardo DiCaprio then you are truly big time.

http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=183728

That brings us up to today, with Moynahan's announcement that she is more than three months pregnant and that former boyfiend Brady is the father. I have to admit that when I read this story my first reaction was negative, in that Brady got Moynahan pregnant, broke up with her and is now running around with a supermodel. Plus, I kind of liked Moynahan. She is attractive, intelligent and a 5'9" brunette, which is my type in case you didn't know (Call me, Bridget, I'm listed). Not that this has anything to do with anything, but her character Natasha got totally screwed over by Mr. Big on "Sex and the City" when he married her and then subsequently cheated on her with Carrie. I would have stayed with you, Bridget, if it's any consolation.

I wonder how this development will affect Brady's golden boy image if it does at all. Maybe it was his way of stealing the spotlight back from Super Bowl XLI MVP Manning, who finally eclipsed him on the field this year. Or perhaps Brady is in the early stages of a planned jump to the NBA, where fathering multiple children from different unwed mothers is no biggie. Surely the former sports network ESPN is already planning a "Tom Brady's Top 10 Girlfriends" segment to air in a future edition of Sportscenter, which should be the final arbiter of this important debate.

Grant About Town - February 8, 2007

The weather has been downright awful for a couple of weeks now, with single digit temps and sub zero windchills, but that didn't stop me from getting out and having some fun this past week. And by "getting out" I mean going from my apartment to another warm place very quickly with as little time outdoors as possible. The 21 year-old British singer Lily Allen was in town for a show at Metro, part of a brief 7 city U.S. swing dubbed the MTV Discover & Download Tour.

I had heard her song "Smile" on the fantastic alternative radio station 93 WXRT here in the city (which is now streaming...check it out at http://www.wxrt.com/) but did not know much about her otherwise. However, I saw her perform a couple of songs on "Saturday Night Live" (yes, I still watch it) when Drew Barrymore hosted and really enjoyed her catchy ska and reggae influenced pop sound.

For those unfamiliar with her, Ms. Allen is a native of England and has been somewhat of a phenomenon in Europe though she is still a relative unknown in the States. She signed with Regal Records, a division of Parlophone/EMI in 2005. The studio had hoped to re-record some of her songs, but instead she put them on her MySpace page and soon had 1.5 million people (current count 1,858,630) streaming her tracks. Her debut album, Alright, Still was released in Europe on July 17, 2006 and debuted at No. 2 on the UK charts. The album spawned a No. 1 hit with the catchy track "Smile" and hit the top 10 in Ireland and Australia.

http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

Despite her ripe young age, Ms. Allen has been influenced by a wide variety of artists including The Specials, Rip Rig and Panic, T.Rex ("possibly the best band ever, ever!" according to Allen) The Slits, Blondie, Wreckless Eric, Kate Bush, Prince and Eminem. While one might initially dismiss her based on her age and catchy pop sound, her lyrics are quite observant for a girl of 21. For example, the track "LDN" - a love song to a city filled with teenage muggers, pimps, and crack whores, is narrated by someone who's cycling because "the filth took away my license."

Lily Allen brought her direct and literal brand of pop to a sold out (and warm...whoo hoo!) Metro last Thursday, and I was in attendance along with my friend Liz and several hundred adoring fans. She kicked things off (and eventually finished with) "Smile" and pretty much played her full catalog as the 11-track debut album is her only recording to date.

While it sounds like sugary pop, "Smile" is a breakup song with cutting lyrics such as "At first, when I see you cry, it makes me smile. Yeah, it makes me smile." There is definitely an early-Madonna feel to Allen's attitude and the urban subject matter of her songs, dealing with sex, drug use, shitty breakups, her bratty, pot smoking younger brother and all the other stuff a typical 21 year-old would obsess about. She has a bit of the bad girl quality that made the Material Girl famous and effectively disarms you with her sweet voice while she lays on the twentysomething angst.

http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/

Ms. Allen chatted with the crowd quite a bit and had a little sound board on the stage where she could make various audio effects, which she did several times during the show. Mindful of her paucity of original material, Ms. Allen joked to the crowd that we "Paid good money, and it would be a short show if we only played the album."

So the band, consisting of Allen, a 3-piece horn section, drummer, guitarist and keyboard player, threw in a couple of covers including the The Specials' song "Blank Expression" that pushed the show over the one-hour mark. Her voice sounded fantastic and one couldn't help but bob left and right to the reggae and ska rhythms of the band.

One little funny aside. While Ms. Allen was playing one of her slower tracks and the crowd was relatively quiet, I was chatting with my friend Liz as one is wont to do at a concert. To my amazement, a girl in front of me (whose friend was apparently too busy texting to notice my chatter) turned around and said "Can you please be quiet?" That's right, I was shushed at a rock concert in a club. I wanted to say "You know, we're not in a library" but my non-confrontational instincts kicked in and I said "Um, OK" with a somewhat bewildered look on my face I am sure.

All in all it was a fun night and I will be interested to see how Ms. Allen fares in the United States. We don't always embrace breakout musical artists from the UK - the Arctic Monkeys being a recent example - but I think this one is worth a shot. Check her out.

Are They Just Words?

I am probably the last person on earth to finally weigh in on the controversies surrounding Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade, the Michael Richards comedy club "N word" rant, Isaiah Washington's use of a gay slur and Joe Biden's recent statements intended to (but not interpreted as) complimenting fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. However, I am interested in the topic and a couple of stories that I heard/read last week got my attention such that I wanted to share them.

On NPR's "Talk of the Nation" last week the story "Are All Slurs Created Equal?" featured guests John McWhorter, author of Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America; Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, a Seattle weekly paper who writes a syndicated advice column, "Savage Love," who it should be noted is a homosexual; and Mark Anthony Neal; professor of black popular culture at Duke University.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7117625

The gist of the discussion was now we have historically attached a social stigma to certain terms such as the "N word" in relation to blacks and the "F word" in relation to homosexuals. Specifically, that we condemn those such as Richards and Washington who are not either black (Richards) or gay (Washington) who use these terms towards somebody who is. As McWhorter and Savage discussed on the show, it is very much acceptable for one black person to use the "N word" with another as well as for one gay person to use the "F word" towards another. In fact, these are terms of affection or friendship in those contexts.

One caller suggested that we may give these words more significance by giving events such as the Michael Richards "N word" rant and Isaiah Washington's comments about fellow "Grey's Anatomy" co-star T.R. Knight, who was forced to out himself as a homosexual after Washington's comments, so much attention in the media. He asked just how powerful these words, and after all they are just words, would be if the media and prominent members of the black, gay, or Jewish community just ignored these episodes entirely. Of course, this will never happen but it is food for thought.

In an article that appeared on Slate.com last week titled "The Irrelevance of Soft Bigotry: Why Joe Biden's Foul-Up Doesn't Matter," Richard Thompson Ford looked at Biden's comments and a discrimination case involving a female employee of Price Waterhouse through the prism of existing civil rights law. In case you didn't hear his words, Biden refered to Obama as "The first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

http://www.slate.com/id/2158959/

Ford's general point in regards to Biden is that regardless of the words that we speak, our attitudes are harder to discern, much less control. Maybe, as he puts it, Joe Biden is in fact a bigot who thinks most blacks are dirty and inarticulate. However, as Ford writes, maybe Biden is just inarticulate himself. As evidence he cites President Lyndon Johnson who was, by all accounts, something of a racist which was not unusual for white Southerners of his age. However, as Ford writes Johnson also "worked tirelessly and at real political cost to ensure the passage of modern civil rights legislation," adding that "his professional and personal dealings seem free of the stain of bigotry."

Look, I am not saying that Joe Biden did not put his foot in his mouth and virtually derailed his 2008 Presidential bid before it even got started. However, for him to be completely written off by members of the black community based on these comments is not entirely fair either. Let's evaluate the man for his body of work, for his actions and decisions as a politician such that we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. And you never know, Obama and Biden just might be running mates at some point. How about that for some irony?