Category: Columns

Sitting with thoughts dancing in my mind about all the hope that I had recently seen rise in Cairo, I looked online for an image to match how I felt inside and a picture of a rich yellow sun rising or setting in a reddish orange sky caught the attention of my eyes and I literally found myself mesmerized by its beauty.

What does democracy look like? Does it look like teachers, police, firefighters, librarians, nurses, the people who remove snow and trash, and social workers who have peacefully and in large numbers turned out to support the right of working and middle class people to participate in unions and in the collective bargaining process?

Caution, may not be suitable for work…

AOL has bought Huffington Post; Sarah and Bristol Palin have both filed to trademark their names. While we watch raw footage of the protests in the streets of Egypt carried out at times with sticks and stones, the click and whirr of mergers, branding, spin and insider knowledge continue unabated. We live in strange times.

I have been a football fan for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to watch…

Forever etched in my mind and soul is an image of Rosa Parks sitting softly, as she had in that…

In an email recently reviewed by The OB Rag, nine-year-old Tucson shooting victim Christina-Taylor Green confirmed that she is in…

I attended the Friday (Jan. 28) night meeting of the residents and the VFW. I stood right beside Andy Cohen…

Hola, Chavistas de Roosevelt
Middle School.
I just want to tell you
I think you’re beautiful and fly and cool
and take time to say
I loved the letters
that you recently sent my way.
All your comments and questions
warmed my soul and made my day
as I sipped coffee
and read them at Jitters,
a coffee cafe,

Read the rest of this poem by clicking the link below…

Here’s an audio/video project cobbled together from publicly available information… a reaction to President Barack Obama’s emphasis on job creation in his “State of the Union” speech last week.

Just want to point out that American corporations are creating plenty of jobs all the time!

Click the title to see the video…

I don’t know if we’ve ever been able, in our society, to truly talk and listen to each other but,…

Twenty five years ago, on January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger broke into pieces, a mere 73 seconds into…

With all that I’ve had to say lately and in the somewhat distant past about the need for a more loving world where diversity is appreciated, I’ve tried to point out, perhaps indirectly, that schools should be places that model how our world could be. I’m a proponent of Ethnic Studies for that very reason: they promote the building of a better world.

I’ve broached such notions of love because it is my duty as an educator to open minds to ideal possibilities. If nothing else is required of a teacher he or she should be a loving human being who is willing to reach out to a diverse collection of humanity.