Wish I Had More Time
This is my 300th post. Today many of my peers on the AfroSpear are Blogging For Justice. In many ways, this is my blog for justice. However, time is limited. I have a son to raise and educate. It leaves little time for the things I love to do...like blog, stay on top of every and each issue and contribute ideas.
Most of you who have been following along know
that the origin of the word sacrifice is to make sacred.
What is so holy about a child that compels
a parent to make their lives sacred?
Legs and arms measured against your own body. The so soft
skull growing hard and closed in your cradling arms.
Remember the foot smaller than the palm of your hand;
a whole body stretched along your arm; the lost teeth hidden
in the jewellery box; hair in an envelope; looking up suddenly
when bent knees used to be the only way to have eye to eye
communication. Simple words.
please, thanks, love, Mom.
that singular cellular connection
like church bells at midnight.
In return, there is no “down time,” no break, not even a proper weekend. Sacrifice and reward ~ sometimes ~ like last Saturday ....I muttered “fucker” under my breath
at another driver. My son didn’t hear me clearly. I wouldn’t repeat myself. We’ve now added the expletive “muck bucket” to our list.
(For more pre-school appropriate expletives see here.)
Another blogger, Jose recently asked what I thought of Obama’s views on education. I am very sorry to say, I really haven’t time to notice (or care that much.) I know it is selfish. But, a long time ago I gave up the notion that any system - private or public- was going to educate my child. After I sent the first born to school, it was made abundantly clear that everything she ever really learned, she learned at home.
She’s a bright spark of life - that one - when she chooses to shine. And when she's wallowing in darkness and lost direction, I trust her to be having a Robert Frost moment.
When Number 2 came along, my husband and I vowed, “no compromises this time.” So, we make sacrifices by living simply. So, we can home educate.
The only time I’m going to really stand up and take notice of a political figure’s view on education is when they are threatening my right to educate my child as I see fit. If you’ve been following along, the state isn’t so happy about home educators these days.
It seems they wait for some lunatic to come along so they can gather the forces behind them to jump down our majority peaceful throats and regulate us. As in what happened in D.C. recently. Or California.
People are under the misconception that many homeschoolers are lunatic fringe Christians or elite, wealthy White people. But, more and more average people are choosing to home educate their children. They make tremendous personal and professional sacrifices to do so. (This rather poorly written article shows a growing movement of “alternative” families also making this choice.) Currently, 25% of the home schooling community is non-white. Many of us have simply given up on the system.
I wish Obama’s educational policies were important to me. But, by the time my child would benefit from any changes made, he’d already be in college. Sometimes, I do worry about my “selfishness.” But, when I read about Kindergarten children in handcuffs for
temper tantrums. When I notice the trend towards using police officers in schools. When I witness the criminalisation of childhood - it becomes impossible for me to submit. It is these exact behaviours which train children to submit to unfair authority. It is these exact problems which make teens resist authority irrationally and therefore result in countless unnecessary deaths.
Obama will fix none of these things immediately.
For me, my son’s education is directly related to his ability to survive adulthood. Let me qualify that ~ his ability to survive adulthood without being tasered ; brutalized by police, co-opted into the miltary complex or rail-roaded to jail by an unfair justice system.
Whilst I can control none of the above, I can wish and work for all of these things combined with the ability to think rationally, critically, innovatively and compassionately.
Today, on this day of blogging for justice, I’d like to remind people to love their children; prepare them for reality and honour the largeness within them that allows them to sacrifice of their well-being. Take the time ~ it’s all you have.
For better information about tasering and this day of blogging for justice, please visit here:
What Tami Said - A day of blogging for justice
InkogNegro - Day of Blogging for Justice - Don't Tase the Bros to death
African American Opinion - A Day of Blogging for Justice ...
African American Political Opinion - "A Day of Blogging for Justice ...
African American Political Pundit - A Day of Blogging for Justice - Blogging Against Extra-Judicial Electrocution via Tasers
Black Perspective.com -Blog On Wednesday Against Abusive Taser Use
Electronic Village -Electronic Village: End Police Pre-Trial, Extra Judicial
Electrocuted While black - Electrocuted While Black: "A Day of Blogging for Justice
Jack and Jill Politics - Extra-Judicial Electrocution - Jack & Jill Politics
Police Brutality Blog - "A Day of Blogging for Justice
Regina's Family Seasons - "A Day Of Blogging For Justice" - Tasers.
Tasered While Black - Tasered While Black: A Day of Blogging For Justice
Ultra Violet Underground - Day Of Blogging Opposing Pre-Trial Electrocution aka Tasering
The Black Snob - A Fight Against Taser Abuse and Other News
The Super Spade - A Day of Blogging for Justice - Against - Extra - Judicial Electrocution
Now back to monitoring a playdate....
Most of you who have been following along know
that the origin of the word sacrifice is to make sacred.
What is so holy about a child that compels
a parent to make their lives sacred?
Legs and arms measured against your own body. The so soft
skull growing hard and closed in your cradling arms.
Remember the foot smaller than the palm of your hand;
a whole body stretched along your arm; the lost teeth hidden
in the jewellery box; hair in an envelope; looking up suddenly
when bent knees used to be the only way to have eye to eye
communication. Simple words.
please, thanks, love, Mom.
that singular cellular connection
like church bells at midnight.
In return, there is no “down time,” no break, not even a proper weekend. Sacrifice and reward ~ sometimes ~ like last Saturday ....I muttered “fucker” under my breath
at another driver. My son didn’t hear me clearly. I wouldn’t repeat myself. We’ve now added the expletive “muck bucket” to our list.
(For more pre-school appropriate expletives see here.)
Another blogger, Jose recently asked what I thought of Obama’s views on education. I am very sorry to say, I really haven’t time to notice (or care that much.) I know it is selfish. But, a long time ago I gave up the notion that any system - private or public- was going to educate my child. After I sent the first born to school, it was made abundantly clear that everything she ever really learned, she learned at home.
She’s a bright spark of life - that one - when she chooses to shine. And when she's wallowing in darkness and lost direction, I trust her to be having a Robert Frost moment.
When Number 2 came along, my husband and I vowed, “no compromises this time.” So, we make sacrifices by living simply. So, we can home educate.
The only time I’m going to really stand up and take notice of a political figure’s view on education is when they are threatening my right to educate my child as I see fit. If you’ve been following along, the state isn’t so happy about home educators these days.
It seems they wait for some lunatic to come along so they can gather the forces behind them to jump down our majority peaceful throats and regulate us. As in what happened in D.C. recently. Or California.
People are under the misconception that many homeschoolers are lunatic fringe Christians or elite, wealthy White people. But, more and more average people are choosing to home educate their children. They make tremendous personal and professional sacrifices to do so. (This rather poorly written article shows a growing movement of “alternative” families also making this choice.) Currently, 25% of the home schooling community is non-white. Many of us have simply given up on the system.I wish Obama’s educational policies were important to me. But, by the time my child would benefit from any changes made, he’d already be in college. Sometimes, I do worry about my “selfishness.” But, when I read about Kindergarten children in handcuffs for
temper tantrums. When I notice the trend towards using police officers in schools. When I witness the criminalisation of childhood - it becomes impossible for me to submit. It is these exact behaviours which train children to submit to unfair authority. It is these exact problems which make teens resist authority irrationally and therefore result in countless unnecessary deaths.
Obama will fix none of these things immediately.
For me, my son’s education is directly related to his ability to survive adulthood. Let me qualify that ~ his ability to survive adulthood without being tasered ; brutalized by police, co-opted into the miltary complex or rail-roaded to jail by an unfair justice system.
Whilst I can control none of the above, I can wish and work for all of these things combined with the ability to think rationally, critically, innovatively and compassionately.
Today, on this day of blogging for justice, I’d like to remind people to love their children; prepare them for reality and honour the largeness within them that allows them to sacrifice of their well-being. Take the time ~ it’s all you have.
For better information about tasering and this day of blogging for justice, please visit here:
What Tami Said - A day of blogging for justice
InkogNegro - Day of Blogging for Justice - Don't Tase the Bros to death
African American Opinion - A Day of Blogging for Justice ...
African American Political Opinion - "A Day of Blogging for Justice ...
African American Political Pundit - A Day of Blogging for Justice - Blogging Against Extra-Judicial Electrocution via Tasers
All About Race - A Day of Blogging for Justice
Black Perspective.com -Blog On Wednesday Against Abusive Taser Use
Electronic Village -Electronic Village: End Police Pre-Trial, Extra Judicial
Electrocuted While black - Electrocuted While Black: "A Day of Blogging for Justice
Jack and Jill Politics - Extra-Judicial Electrocution - Jack & Jill Politics
Police Brutality Blog - "A Day of Blogging for Justice
Regina's Family Seasons - "A Day Of Blogging For Justice" - Tasers.
Tasered While Black - Tasered While Black: A Day of Blogging For Justice
Ultra Violet Underground - Day Of Blogging Opposing Pre-Trial Electrocution aka Tasering
The Black Snob - A Fight Against Taser Abuse and Other News
The Super Spade - A Day of Blogging for Justice - Against - Extra - Judicial Electrocution
Now back to monitoring a playdate....
Comments
"a long time ago I gave up the notion that any system - private or public- was going to educate my child," all I can say in response is, 'Amen!'
The (public school) system is no sooner going to educate our children without destroying them than they are going to come into our homes and make dinner for them. If big cities, half of all children, most of whom are Black, are leaving school without a high school diploma. So, it's fair to say that the system is utterly failing to educate all of the children, and we have to step up and make sure our own children get educated.
You said, "my son’s education is directly related to his ability to survive adulthood. Let me qualify that ~ his ability to survive adulthood without being tasered ; brutalized by police, co-opted into the miltary complex or rail-roaded to jail by an unfair justice system."
That's precisely what we're facing, and it's something only we are give to our children.
"School violence is a real concern, but in many places, this fear has motivated rigid "zero tolerance" policies that target minor infractions as gateway offenses—and that often disproportionately affect students of color: Black students are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers."
It later went on to show the way in which our children are being increasingly criminalised because school authorities no longer take responsibility for discipline.
"In 2006, Shaquanda Cotton, a 14-year-old African American girl from Paris, Texas, was sentenced to seven years in prison for shoving a teacher's aide. The aide, who was not hurt, was preventing Cotton from entering the building before the beginning of the school day. Cotton had no criminal record; she ended up serving a full year. Critics noted that the judge who sentenced her had previously let a 14-year-old white girl, charged with setting fire to her parents' house, go with probation only.
One reason why students are increasingly ending up in jail is that police now patrol the halls in many schools. In New York, the police department took control of school safety in 1998 under the Giuliani administration; by the 2005-06 school year, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the city employed 4,625 school safety agents and at least 200 armed officers, making the nypd School Safety Division the 10th-biggest police force in the country—larger than those of Washington, DC, Detroit, Boston, or Las Vegas. "We are treating the kids like potential criminals," says Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU"
Thanks much,
AAPP