Time for a new metaphor??

Now that Obama's in (was there ever any doubt?) there are a few commentators - the conservative types - who are saying stuff like - "Well, he can't keep his promises on taxes, especially to the richer types - that would be disastrous!" One of those commentators is Michael Campbell - big time financial guru here in BC - who can't even pronounce Obama's name correctly. Imagine: O-BAM-AH. If Canadians keep this pronunciation up, I will retaliate with CAH-NAY-DAH!
Anywhoo... I was thinking about Obama stating that we need to get rid of this old ecomomic model of "trickle down" theory. This, I believe, was started by Reagan (who Obama has thoroughly studied and I believe admires in some ways -- wait : a president who STUDIES something, as in, READING???? What a difference!!) This 'trickle down' theory is a tired metaphor. If you try to hold water, some of it always trickles down. The problem is, there is no trickling....the economy has nothing.
A better metaphor may be of a glutton. The glutton is at the table, slamming down all the food he can get his hands on. As he eats quickly, food flies off the table: We are just getting the crumbs. This displays the need for a different system: We need to take some of that food off of the table and actually give it to the poor souls on the floor. The trouble with 'trickle down' is that it doesn't take into account human greed and the creativity of the human to discover ways (loopholes) for keeping the most food on the table.
This is what we've had and the system is collapsing due to human greed. The gluttons at the top are crying over the loss of food. That's all there is to it.

USA: Obama is the only choice left...

I'm addicted to watching CNN election coverage. It's gotta be the most entertaining TV at the moment. I love all the talk of polls and 'close call' -- it's hilarious!! I have a hard time believing that there could be any kind of 'close call' - this is the choice, America: More of the same, or the chance for something different. I voted already - for Obama, of course - and my reasoning has really not much to do with all the complicated platforms and rhetoric. It's simply the point of view that the Republicans had their guy in the White House. He blew it: BIG TIME! It's time to give the other guys a chance, no matter what the platforms are. Some people are talking the election like it's about the salvation of the country or something. Well, it's not. You - individual people - are what really matters. The president won't change who YOU are, so go do something about improving the country. Let the party not in power have a chance and go out and give a poor family a nice Christmas.

Some other random thoughts concerning the US election in no particular order:

• The US looks 'bad' in the eyes of the world. John McCain's mere presence in the White House will do nothing but confirm to the world that the US is REALLY 'bad'. So think on that.


• The election of Barak Obama will potentially enact a profound change in the American psyche. Suddenly, people will realize that people from other races are actually, well, people. I can't really put my finger on it, but we can't afford to have another old white man in the White House at this time....


• Palin - Great punchline and she'll be nothing but a joke as VP. We will yearn for Quayle if she gets in.


• This whole 'test' idea: The new president will be tested, I would think, by some idiot fundamentalist somewhere on the planet. Biden was right. McCain - you've never been President, so you can't say you've been tested. You're on the same page as Obama in that regard.


• Abortion: I hate abortion. I'm not thrilled with most 'pro-choice' rhetoric, but I know Obama gave the most realistic answer on abortion ever during the conversation he had with Rick Warren. No, he wasn't 'decisive': it's called thinking carefully. If you want 'decisive': we had that for the past 8 years, ya know!! I want a President who listens and thinks carefully and weighs all the options. Abortion is an issue that will require a lot of tact and insight. John McCain's answer was decisive and textbook 'pro-life',i.e., he's gonna totally ignore the issue when he's in the White House.


• You know why Colin Powell supported Obama, besides that Obama is the only choice. Bush stabbed him in the back and pushed him out of the White House. I'd be shocked if Powell supported McCain. THAT would be news! And please notice other Republicans are supporting Obama. What does that tell you?


• Advice to Obama: Hilary Clinton for Secretary of State. Think about it - not that you haven't already!

Well, that's the end of my ramblings. I like rambling on the blog - keeps me sane since I have to be so organized in writing for graduate school. I bet you can tell that's quite a challenge for me!!

We're Better Off...

Ok, it's official. Canada is also going to have a federal election in the fall. However, there isn't much of a choice and everyone knows it. This is even obvious in the Conservative slogan (I'm not making this up): We're better off with Harper. I must say I find it slightly...dismissive? Is that the word for it? When do we say "we're better off" in every day life? Well, we have two ways to go somewhere: "We're better off going this way because the other way has more potholes or traffic lights or is more congested this time of day, etc." It's almost saying "You don't really have a choice and we know it..." Why would Stephen Harper call an election? Well, he's hoping for majority government, of course. It must be mind bogglingly dull to write about the Canadian election this season. There really is no other choice. The other guy, Stefan Dion, is, well, nothing. He's a nothing. A wisp of smoke on the political scene. He couldn't challenge a five year old for a spot at the play dough table. It's the complete opposite of the US election. We're talking celebrities. Obama has rhetorical flair - he's not easily dismissed or put aside. McCain has a solid story rooting him in history. They are, like 'em or hate 'em, characters. I'd read books about either one of them. Now, we have the Canadian side. I can barely read the tiniest article about either Harper or Dion without needing a caffeine jolt of some kind. If Obama was in the same room as I was - I would strain to see him....perhaps try to shake his hand. If Dion was in the room, well, I wouldn't even know it. I could walk right up to a potential prime ministerial canidate and, squinting my eyes and tilting my head, I would ask, "Hey, I know you from somewhere....Where you ever a guest star on Star Trek?"

The Dark Knight: There's a Metaphor....somehow..

Ok, I've been totally not posting. What a whirlwind! I'm taking a leave of absence from teaching in order to work on my Masters degree and just getting my classroom packed up, doing report cards, helping Ruth with getting a full-time job AND finishing the paper that I needed to write since Fall (It was cool - don't know if it was written well or not, but it was on the idea of Monsters and forgiveness...)

Anywhoo, I'm just putting this out there: The Dark Knight is an incredible movie that has got to be a metaphor for something....something modern.

I should be profound, but I kinda get all the profundity wrung out of me by contemplating JRR Tolkien and the Inklings ~click on the word if you don't know what it means...

The Joker is an incredible villian in this movie. He is Chaos personified - Anarchy without the subtle wit. He has not interest in money or power - just destruction. Why? It seems to be more than he 'just likes to blow things up'. I definitely want to see this movie a few times (own it on DVD, too). Everything in this movie seems to be a Statement About Something. I know there's a connectiong with the Inklings - Dare I bring up movies in yet another grad paper????

Subtle Fundamentalism

I spent a lot of time thinking about Fundamentalism over spring break - Yes, I think it's fun...why do you ask? - Anyway, I wrote a short summary paper about fundamentalism. Looking at the current so-called "war on terror", Craig Unger points out that this war is really a war about religious fundamentalism (both Islamic and Christian) versus the modern world. Terry Eagleton points out that fundamentalism is a "textual affair" - it 'worships' dead text. The very act of preaching should negate fundamentalism, because as soon as we open our mouth - we are interpreting in a new way. Paul Ricoeur shuddered at the very idea of a "sacred text" - because Christianity is supposed to be about worshipping Christ, not the very text that speaks of him.

Fundamentalism is often characterized as obvious - thundering, smashing its way through society. However, I'm beginning to realize how subtle it can be. I stumbled upon this quote in a magazine for Christian school teachers:

"If Christianity is truth, then Christian education is the only true education and therefore the only practical education. There is no education, no truth - nothing - without God, the eternal author of reality."

(quote is attributed to David Claerbaut, Faith and Learning on the Edge)

Oh, really? It seems like a nice comfortable, perhaps pithy kind of quote, but I will contend that it is an example of how subtle fundamentalism will be.

Let's unpack it a bit by looking first at its conclusion: no education without God, no truth without God... Right away, I begin thinking that the rain falls on the evil and the good, doesn't it? If this is true, then isn't this quote a slap in the face of any kind of public education. Does this mean that Muslims could never make an important discovery or speak truth - ever? Obviously, that cannot be true. Not every invention, every innovation, every insight on this planet was initiated and completed by a Christian.

Wait a second....let's back up to the If...then statement...

If Christianity is truth.....

Interesting assumption. The obvious question: Is Christianity truth? Well, I'm not so sure about that. What is Christianity? A belief system...worldview...an interpretation. Christianity is practiced by those who claim to be following Jesus. Christianity look, sounds, and is experienced differently by different people in different cultures in different ways. How can the practice of following Christ by truth?

Christ never said this. He did say: "I am the way, the truth and the life..." Perhaps we are proceeding from false assumptions or am I being fundamentalistic in my interpretation? *shudder* Well, let's put that aside for now....

So Christ/God is TRUTH. So it must follow that truth is embedded in Creation and all people, who are created in God's image, will respond to it in different ways. Therefore, an atheist may discover a deep, hidden truth that, yes, even Christians can benefit from.

Is Christian education the only 'true' education....nope, can't be. Well, at least it can't be based on this line of reasoning. Sometimes in the intense competitiveness between schools, we need to 'sell' the Christian school to make it 'look' better. Perhaps this kind of thinking is a result of that - for fundamentalism is, ultimately, a fear of non-being, of death, according to Eagleton. Some schools are just not able to compete against the government funding of public schools and are fighting for survival. Fundamentalism, ultimately, never works, though. Clearer thinking is needed.

Sign of the Times???

I'm currently struggling with writing assignments in grad school as well as trying to write report cards, so therefore I suddenly had an urge to post something here. I wonder why....

Anyway, I was working on report cards, when I noticed one of these "smart tags" appear under the word "ART" on the student checklist. These are little letter i's that appear under names and things in Microsoft Word. Apparently, they are supposed to be useful, but they are basically distracting to me and I see them and end up posting here or doing some other thing that keeps me from continuing to work.

Now, why would an "i with a circle" - which is how I think of them - appear under ART? Would it give me a link to the Metropolitan Museum of ART, the Louvre, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, etc???

Nope.

It gives me links to stock quotes and financial exchanges. It looks like a bunch of these companies say ART in their titles!

I'm not so desparate (yet) to see what these companies are really about. Although you could ask me in a week closer to the report card due date and see if I have.

Is this the sign of the times? Art is reduced to stock quotes???

Perhaps there's a paper for grad school in this somewhere, after all....

Connections

I started watching The Gospel of John and I saw the part where Jesus was calling his disciples. Now, this is done by the Visual Bible People, so the only dialogue is the actual Bible. They do, however, show visually some different things that one doesn't always have pictured in one's head. I always pictured Jesus calling his disciples, you know, at random or something. Like they didn't already know each other. In this version, it shows the different disciples connecting and getting others that they knew already. I never realized it, but it is in the text, itself:

(from John 1, NIV)
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter[j]).
43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.

47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believe[k] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you[l] the truth, you[m] shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

I just thought it was neat how one goes to the other and brings that person that they already knew to Jesus. Maybe this is a pattern that many modern day Christian kind of don't realize. They just sit and wait for Jesus to do all the calling, when we're supposed to run around telling others. Hmmmmmm......

Maybe Scrooge has a point....

*****RANT ALERT!!!****

I'm gonna let it out how sucky this past month has been right here and right now. Every person in my family has been sick at least 2 times this past month with stomach flu and/or strep. Meredith is just getting over Scarlet fever. Now, if that's not enough, there was the inevitable stress that Christian organizations insist on doing at Christmas. (Then they all turn around and practically ignore Easter by comparison). So, of course, I got sick from all the stress and pressure. I've been sick most of the month and was horribly ill this past week. On Monday, the car goes into the shop and needs new brakes...$700. Then, while I'm home sick on Wed., Ruth is diagnosed with strep throat and the car won't move. WELL...it's spewing fluid over the driveway and we can't turn the steering wheel. SO...the car is towed away to get a new hose...$170!!. Then, we think things are calming down...NOOOOOOO!! The water heater is flooding the basement. This is actually the second time our basement is flooded this year. The first time is when were were at the "Happiest" flippin' place on earth and became a major insurance claim. We paid our $500 deductible and the floor was replaced. Now, at least, I was home when this happened, so the floor should be ok, but I ain't going away for the holidays, I'll tell you that.

Dennis Leary said it best: "Merry &%$&##@ Christmas!"

Bad Driving

Abbotsford is about the most tense place to drive that I have ever experienced. Now, admittedly I'm not a world traveller as much as some, but I really know that I'm getting close to home after a long road trip when I suddenly notice two key things: I'm being tailgated and I'm only driving about 10km/h over the speed limit. Now the average speed in Abbotsford is about 20-30km/h over the limit - 40km/h on the Trans-Canada.

I do have issues with road rage sometimes...I might respond to the yelling driver or the completely boneheaded decision the other one made. Or was the other one the bonehead?

I've tried to cope when I drive to my Monday night class by playing music in the car. Right now I'm playing Johnny Cash's hymns CD over and over. When I'm going 110km/h and the majority of drivers fly by me like I'm standing still, I'm humming "I'll Fly Away". That helps.

The issue with tailgaters is solved (for me, anyway) by gradually slowing down to EXACTLY the speed limit and not looking in my rearview mirror. Honestly, I could care less what they think. I don't understand how they think coming up to my bumper helps things.

The last thing I do is mumble: "Get off the phone." whenever I see the ignoramous chatting away on a cell phone. This is impaired driving. I've only seen what I thought what drunk driving once and never had a near miss with a drunk driver. Cell phone idiots? I've had more close calls than I care to describe and usually witness at least 3 different close calls with me or others each month. There are at least two times that I could have lost my life if things were just a few centimetres closer. I wonder if Mothers Against Drunk Driving has taken up the cause of cell phone drivers? (I'm feeling too lazy to look it up.)

I am thankful that I received, however reluctantly I took it at the time, defensive driving instruction when I was first learning to drive. This has helped me a lot in coping. I highly recommend it to the frustrated. It helps to not yell out windows too. Also, letting my wife drive most of the time is the best way to deal with it.

FEESH!!!

I have had no ideas to write about lately since school started both in terms of teaching grade 2 and also I am taking one graduate course. Many of you loyal readers will wonder if I ever got my papers done from the summer. Well, I did! Now I have NEW papers to write for my course on "Text and Interpretation". I'm learning about guys like Martin Heidigger, who started all this Hermeneutics stuff that the postmoderns like to go on about. I'm starting to understand it. Just barely. So, instead of writing something new;I am shamelessly copying my sister's recent entry in this blog. I wanted to let you all know about the fish I take care of in my life. It's a hobby, but it's grown a bit.

At home:

1) 1 gallon tank with two goldfish. Like my sister's, they were feeder fish and not supposed to actually live very long. We bought them for my oldest daughter's 4th birthday. She'll be 8 in December. Yes, they're still alive.

2) 2 little fish bowls that were given to my daughters that each contain one male betta. There were a year old when we received them. They're still alive two years later.

3) One 29 gallon tank with various tetras, white clouds and a long finned blue danio. There is also one Panda cory, which I totally love and want to get a couple more so he can have buddies.

At school:

Well, they heard I like to take care of fish at school, so they accepted a donation from the local police. It seems that the police busted a local grow-op (marijuana grow operation - quite the business here in BC) and this tank set up was left behind. Well, I got it running and got some fish. I figure the tank is at least 55 gallons, maybe 60. It has a filtration system that cost at least $300! Those grow-ops must make good money....

The school tank is fairly healthy, but I'm having a bullying problem with the Silver Dollar fish (which were donated about two years ago). They are eating everything and leaving nothing for the albino cories to eat. I have a special fondness for cories, so I'm not particularly liking Silver Dollarsso much. I'm getting food to the one albino cory that's left. When I get a good 'sneaky' system up and running for feeding the cory, I'll buy some more cories for the school tank. The school tank also has a mini-school of tiger barbs. These are fun fish, but you have to have a good school of them and they can be nippy, so they limit the kinds of fish you can buy.

So those are the days of these fishies lives....

Opposites

If you haven't noticed - I've been BUSY with many things. Among them, writing papers for the graduate courses I finished a month ago. Although, don't feel sorry for me - I'm still loving every minute of it!

I'm down to my last two papers. One is on censorship (just about finished) and the last one is about free will (read a lot - haven't started yet...). It just occured to me only yesterday that I'm writing about opposites. I wanted to write this note about two books I've read recently and how they relate to my writing.


The first book is by Al Gore and it is a devastating critique of the Bush administration. It is all about censorship, it turns out. Bush/Cheyney had a vision: invade Iraq - they had it right from day 1 and September 11 was just the excuse they needed. There was,and is, no connection between Saddam and 9/11. Afghanastan is left for Canada to sort out, even though the US did nothing about finishing the job. If even half of what Gore says is right - George Bush should be put on trial for crimes against humanity. The Department of Homeland Security is a waste of taxpayer money - the administration knew all they needed before 9/11 and just didn't act on the information they were given. All the extra security measures in the airport - having gone through that joke this summer - was not even needed. Our intelligence system before 9/11 worked just fine, thank you very much. If the executive branch had listened to their own intelligence, there could have been prevention. They knew all the hijakers before the flight. They knew they were training to fly commercial jets! Bush and Cheyney & co. were so set on Iraq, they blinded themselves, and continue to blind themselves to reality. It's amazing there aren't more protests. It's also amazing that Gore isn't running for president, because this book would make a good platform. Here's hoping Hilary reads it (how could she not?)



**WARNING:SPOILERS TO THE 7TH HARRY POTTER BOOK AHEAD!!

The other book to deal with censorship is the book than many have been screaming to ban from school libraries: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Please note that I've given the link for the far superior Canadian edition. I have never forgiven the USA publishers for ruining the title of the first book. The title in the rest of the world is: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone! Another form of censorship in the US. It's amazing that this book has been so condemned by fundamentalist Christians, especially considering, as stated by Jack Zipes (He's an expert on children's literature) - That Harry Potter, despite being formulaic and sexist (I really don't agree with him on the second), is a "Christian knight". In fact, interviews with followers of Wicca say that Harry Potter bears more resemblance to Christianity than to the Wiccan religion! Does anyone listen, though? I guess not. Here is a hero, who is singled out and hunted down by evil. Evil knows he will triumph and evil also knows that only he or Harry must survive via the other's death. So, what is the final solution? Harry puts his life on the line, not only for the wizarding world, but for the muggle world. Harry dies to save the world. He then is able to return to life. Does that story sound vaguely familiar to ANYONE???

Fast Food Trays

As I struggle to understand Thomas Aquinas - I'm convinced he would be a shark of a criminal defense attorney today. How can you read this guy and NOT have 'reasonable doubt'???? I swear he made up words just to be confusing. Anyway, I wanted to ramble on something even less profound than whether or not the soul is 'subsistent'. That subject of even less profundity than usual is: the fast food tray.

Question: What do you do with your fast food tray and garbage when you're done eating in a restaurant?

Well, I hear you - how silly! But I will contend there's a major cultural difference here. Now, I'm not always sure if it's a difference between American and Canadian cultures and/or between East and West coast culture, but here it is: Most people around here get up and leave all their garbage and trays on the table, bypassing the garbage can. I remember when living in the Philadelphia area that it was expected - via 'unwritten rule' - that if the garbage cans said 'Thank You' that meant you were expected to throw out the garbage and stack your tray. Doesn't that make sense - shouldn't you throw it away?

There's is where (as I contemplate writing a paper about free will in philosophy) I just can't control myself. I can't give in: I throw my stuff away - it's just too ingrained in me. Hmmm....maybe I should go back to Aquinas and see what he thinks about trash.

Back to School....Again...

I'm beginning my Masters degree on July 3. I'm 42 and I'm finally beginning my next degree. Where will it lead? Who knows...well...God does. I just discovered a fantastic quote from William Shakespeare: "We know who we are, not what we will be." I just feel that way now: stepping off into the unknown.

It hasn't been without its hitches, though. I found the registration process to be a bit confusing. I received a note of welcome into the Masters of Arts program in Inderdisciplinary Humanities from Trinity Western University . It's a degree that is more for me. I can't conceive of teaching all day and talking about teaching all night *shudder*. (If you haven't noticed, I'm getting kind of tired of education - same old problems in the same old cycles...) Anyway (I'm American and so I say 'anyway' not 'anyways' like the Canadians do.) the note says that "Incoming graduate students are not required to pre-register for courses."

"Even easier!" I think (incorrectly)

I start asking for pre-reading lists in March, thinking I can get a head start during Spring Break. I get e-mails of puzzlement and head scratching over what to do with this kid who's so anxious. At the end I get the syllabus for each course (2 courses) - would that be syllabi for plural? I get the books from Amazon (used of course) and get to it.

Well, that's that, right? Wrong!

I get an e-mail a couple of weeks ago saying that I haven't registered for my summer courses, so I better do it. I thought I was registered. I go to the website, which I'm convinced is out to get me, and find out how to register. Then I need to pay. They don't take credit card. What's with that?

I finally call a human being and figure out how to pay. Then I get to thinking:
"Do the teachers even know that I'm registered for the courses?"

Turns out to be a good question. The philosophy prof doesn't know that I'm registered and he's changed the syllabus. I have the wrong book!

Well, I ordered the books - there's 5 books, it turns out. I had one already. (used on Amazon - I'm not paying double through Trinity! Yes, it's literally double the price!) and, hopefully, I'll have the books before classes begin.

Maybe it's because I'm an old fart and the younger ones are so intuitive with computers they just know what to do. Oh, well..back to reading...

BIG PS - Ok, I'm an idiot - I just discovered that since I registered, I have a new e-mail at Trinity that has most of the info I've been missing.

Adjective VS Noun

The word is Christian. Quick: Is it an adjective or a noun? Answer: In the Bible, it is a noun. However, we (the Church) have turned it almost exclusively into an adjective. Worse, I've even seen it turned into that most hated of word forms: an adverb *shudders*: 'Christianly'

What's the big deal? Well, I'll tell ya: Putting the label 'Christian' on anything be it music, books or schools implies that it is all the way God, Christ, wants it to be. The label 'Christian' leads to Christians (that's a noun there) assuming that it is the best. The garbage that has the Christian label on it today is astounding. This is the 'white-washed tomb' that Jesus alluded to. I'm so tired of religion and I'm so wanting to follow Christ. I want to BE a Christian, not just have it be just a label over my head.

Christians wonder why they are not always taken seriously and they only have to peek in a 'Christian' fiction book with it's poor, predictable writing to see how shallow we look. It has been said that the North American church is a 'mile wide and an inch deep' - Nothing displays that more than these attempts to mimic popular culture.

Music? Most songs lack content and barely have a complete thought in them. They are sung 6 to 7 times over to try to elicit feeling. Sometimes you feel like crap and all the repition of schmaltzy 'love me' lyrics isn't going to help. Most of the Psalms are arguments with God. Not saying he's my celestial pal!

Christians need to start setting trends - not just following them. If we are followers of the One God who created all...then we should be shaking the world up on a regular basis.

It's All Developmental

I've just realized that I'm getting old. Big news, eh? Well, as a teacher with a birthday in June - I get this double whammy every year. Now it's worse - Our local paper always prints the pictures of all the local high schools' graduates and I've realized that I've suddenly started to recognize the faces. The very first grade 3 class I’ve taught here is graduating high school. They are now entering the workforce, studying to become whatever – they might be the face behind the counter when I apply for another loan! That just blows my mind. When they sign their names, I’m the one who first showed them how to sign their names!

The upside of all this is that I have a bit more of insight into the process of education. And I can say, after all these years: It doesn’t work.

It comes down to one thing - young children cannot learn what they are not developmentally ready to learn. Children are not at the same developmental level at the same age. Dividing young children into groups by age is the same as dividing them by height. It makes no difference! In one grade 2 class, I have students who would be challenged in a grade 1 class and students who could run circles around most grade 4's.

This all developed from a workshop I prepared a few years back that involved teaching spelling. The long and the short of it is that as I watched grade 2 students struggle with spelling the word 'because' I saw that even if the word was on the wall for them to copy they still got it wrong. Now an intensely famous spelling guru,Rebecca Sitton , would say that it is because I'm 'not holding them accountable' - but I'm in their face (relax - in a gentle, primary teacherish kind of way) about it. They still miss a letter or two. Why? I'm convinced that it has to do with how developmental spelling ability is. In the book,Words Their Way , we find that all children will develop in spelling ability in the same progression. If you try to teach the long 'e' rule before they have mastered short vowels, they will not learn the silent 'e' 'rule' in any permanent way.

This leads to grade 1 teachers (big Canadian thing, btw: you say 'grade 1' not 'first grade'. Another thing: Canadian kids are younger than US kids in each grade. Canadian 4 year olds may enter Kindergarten with a December 31 birthday. That's the cut-off when most states have a cut-off in September) saying: "I taught the silent 'e' rule last year! What do you mean that she doesn't understand it???"

After wrestling with spelling, I began to see this pattern in other areas and they I realized: "It's all developmental." Then I realized the way we do education is not developmental. It only works for the kids whose development happens to match the curriculum. Most teachers don't bother with knowing the developmental level of all the kids because it's usually physically impossible to keep track of each child's ability in each level. Another problem: based on research largely done on US high school students - the educational culture believes that retaining young children even at a Kindergarten, grade 1 or 2 level is always wrong. This is a flat out myth.

If you want to eliminate failing schools: Start extending the time some kids spend in Kindergarten and/or grade 1.

If you truly want'no child left behind' then start from scratch and reinvent how education works. Question everything and be ready for the New Enlightment!

Having a Voice

I've had two letters published in the local papers so far, with apologies to Ruth. I've gone through the phase of sitting back and letting others settle issues. After all, I think, I can't vote being an immigrant and all. I'm still an American citizen only. I haven't become a dual citizen. Why not? I have this issue with saying I'm a citizen of two countries at the same time. It just seems....well...impossible. However, I've come to the point where I really do care about what happens here as much as anyone else. Therefore, I am writing letters to the editor because I can't think of anything else at the moment.

I'm very concerned: not about the projects but in the contradictions in numbers that seem to be happening. Right now, everything about Plan A seems to be very murky and confusing. City hall refuses to give out number about how the tax payers' money was used to fund the "Vote yes on Plan A" campaign. City hall did not allow an official 'no' campaign at all. City hall has suddenly come out and said the tax increase is only 7.5% when the 'pro-Plan A' media has said that it will be 16% that's a huge difference.

I may be a landed immigrant, but I am a taxpayer, too. Just like a Canadian. I hate dishonesty and deception. Build the projects, but be honest about the costs. I, unlike many immigrants, have the skill and command of the English language to write letters that demand honesty from those who are spending our tax money. It's the least I can do for my family's hometown.

A Rant

One of my favourite shows happens to also be Canadian - The Rick Mercer Report. In this show, Rick has a weekly Rant - I will now have my rant about the some local Abbotsford stuff. I can't vote, since I'm not a Canadian citizen - so this is my only way to say what I'm thinking. (That, and I promised my wife I wouldn't write any more letters to the editor...)

It's amazing how far a lie can get you in this town. I refuse to call it a city any more. New York is a city. Vancouver is a city. Philadelphia is a city. Abbotsford, with a population of 130,000 - that's a SUBURB!! Canadians don't seem to have suburbs, though. They go right to calling this a city.

"So what?" you may be asking, "What's the harm?"

Well...I'll tell you:

This idea of Abbotsford as a city has led to a lie called
Plan A. Using the idea of Abbotsford as a 'city', the city council has decided that we need $85 million dollars of improvements. The real problem comes down to the $55 million dollar sports arena. The lies started fast and furious when selling this plan to the voting public. There were actually ads in the local paper that had pictures of ticketmaster-type tickets printed up. They were tickets to shows like: Disney on Ice and, believe it or not, MADONNA!!! You're telling me that Madonna is going to show up to perform in a 7,000 seat arena in SUBURBIA???? Madonna's namesake is more likely to show up as an image in a donut at a local Tim Horton's!

Now referendum day comes and: no one shows up. It's snowing - a huge snowfall begins that day that closes schools the following Monday AND Tuesday! The turnout was pitiful. It was approved by less than 20% of voters here. Most people were panicking about the snow - this is not being made up. When it snows in Abbotsford people panic like Stephen Harper at a Greenpeace rally. They weren't thinking about voting - they were thinking: "OH MY GOD!!! Do I have enough bottled water!??!"

Now the lies come fast and furious. The cost isn't $85 million - It's over $100 million now and growing! The councillor in charge of this public robbery states that this increase represents 'soft costs' or some other double-speak phrase and they always knew about the extra costs. Well...then, why didn't they say anything about it in advance? One councillor has finally spoken up (Moe Gill) and said, "Maybe we should rethink this..."

That doesn't seem like much, but for an Abbotsford councillor to say that at a council meeting is like George Bush saying: "Maybe we need to rethink this whole Iraq business..."

Now we're facing a 16% tax increase.

I love how they explain it as: "Well, you voted for it..."

Who exactly is 'you'? Oh, yeah...the business owners who had a shovel and plow that voted in November.

Shakespearean?

I recently got around to renting The Departed , Martin Scorsese's oscar-winning film, and was impressed. Many go out of their way to put down this movie just because of the violence or the use of the 'f word'. Both seem to fit in the culture that is displayed here. Jack Nicholson's character (forgive me - I have a terrible memory for the character names, so I'll use actor names) says something to the boy he's training to be an insider (cop) for him, something like: "You can be a cop or a criminal. Is there any difference?" That's the main idea of the entire movie there. Is there really any difference? I was struck by the tragic ending and couldn't help but think of how the continual battle, the struggle to be insiders (Matt Damon vs. Leo DiCaprio) seemed to be so like a Shakespeare tragedy. I don't know how else to describe it except to say I felt the same way after seeing any of Shakespeare's plays, such as a Hamlet or, perhaps this movie better reflects: Macbeth. Some of the reviews talk about how long the movie was, but, I must admit, I was so caught up in the story of how Matt Damon was leaking info to Jack Nicholson while Leo DiCaprio was an undercover cop leaking info to the police from inside Jack's own organization - that I was surprised by the abruptness of the ending. However, in reading some reviews for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, I recognized the kind of violence: realistic. In reality, people live their lives, can be quite happy and BANG! violence intrudes brutally on their reality, shattering the moment. This is a movie to meditate on and think about. This is real film making at its best!

Best Burger in Abbotsford

The thing is burgers are a matter of taste. If you're really into lots of goop and sauces on your burger or you like a good, meaty patty. Now the tricky part of being an American in Canada is that Canadians have an intense love-affair with mayonnaise. This is probably a youtube clip somewhere, but in the movie The Whole Nine Yards, Bruce Willis has this great scene in a Montreal restaurant ordering a burger. He goes to extreme lengths to describe that he does NOT want mayo on the burger. He threatens, etc. Then the burger comes back later with mayo.

Another movie, the classic A vs C movie, Canadian Bacon (by Michael Moore - who would do well to think about making more funny movies like this to make his point rather than ridiculous ones like Farenheit 9/11). In CB, there is a scene of a news anchor describing the results of a Canadian takeover and one of his points is 'there would be mayo on everything'. My father-in-law likes to put mayo on his hot dogs. Can you handle that, Americans????

Now back to the best burger, which is what this is supposed to be about. What does that ridiculous newspaper vote as best burger every flippin' year? White Spot!!! Now these are good burgers. If you like tons of mayo that you MIGHT be able to convince them to leave off. I gotta admit, if you ask for no mayo, it's about a 50-50 chance it will come WITH mayo. So the goop lovers rejoice at White Spot, but the meat lovers, like yours truly, go good, but not BEST!

What's best? In terms of a good, satisfying burger with lots of styles of burgers to choose from. Not just goopy, but blue cheese, Hawaiian, avocado, etc. or a fantastic cheeseburger, then the hands down winner is Red Robin's!!! They are by far the best here in Abbotsford. So go down to South Fraser Way and order yourself a Blue Ribbon Burger!

Shopaholic!

I gotta stop, but it's sooooo much fun! I've 'discovered' both ebay and amazon to have such great deals on DVD's that I can't stop. It's amazing how overpriced things are now in Canada with the Canadian dollar stronger. I think it was Ruth that said that it seems that Canadian retailers are so used to marking things up, that they are still doing it, even though they shouldn't really need to.

I'm really spending most of my time looking for good deals on the sets of the Star Trek TV series. They're still all over 100 dollars for each season here. Then, over Christmas break, I was in a Wal-Mart in Bellingham, Washington and I saw the first season of Star Trek: The Original series sitting there for only $54! Well, I've waited long enough for the prices to go down and I bought it. I then began looking on e-bay and amazon (NOT Amazon.ca - the prices are still too high!!). I have a PO box in the US, so I have everything sent there. Another annoying thing about Canada is that the postage is so high, it's never worth buying things via mail here. I used to belong to book clubs, but I discovered that it can cost around $10 to mail just one book! I don't think that Canada post believes in 'book rate'. I even talked to a guy at a used book store around here and he says that it's cheaper for him to go to Washington state to mail his book orders TO CANADA! Canada Post is gotta be the biggest scam....grumble, rumble.