2002-04-12
I wish my stressful week was just about getting grades in..., posted at 12:08 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It's been a helluva week. Sorry it's taken so long to update.Developments:
#1) A veteran teacher at our school was arrested this week for doing the second worst possible thing you can do with a students, the first being murder. It would be extremely myopic for me to discuss it here, but suffice to say the kids are shook up (he's beloved), the faculty is in mourning (it seems clear that this seemingly great guy did what he did), and the media is all over it. It has been a sad, unusual week because of it. Myself, I didn't know the guy - can't even picture him, even - but probably will recognize him once they begin flashing photos. The administration is handling the situation very oddly - there's a box for cards and letters for him in the office, announcements that say they're totally in support of him - and I don't know quite what to think. It's been bizaare, that for sure, and an atmosphere of sadness has enveloped the school. I don't feel like I'm part of that, though, as I didn't know the guy; still, many of my students have been in tears this week.
#2) The second interesting thing this week is the interview this week of a teaching candidate from my alma mater, MSU. He's a year older than me; he spent a year teaching out the real world already. But he seems like a nice guy, and it would be cool to have another Spartan here. He's a riot, we share some mutual friends (he used to sing with Eleanor), and he seems to be a smart guy. I also think he's gay - I've got no gaydar to speak of, but the signs seem clear to me (he wore four rings, including on his thumbs; had highlights in his hair; was fit, thin and dressed impeccably; wore fashionable, almost Lisa Loeb-type glasses) - which would add a fun and interesting dynamic to our department. There are two other openly gay teachers at our school - including a lesbian who just had a baby with her partner and posts baby pictures all over her office - but I do not know them well (our school is so sectioned off into departments that sometimes it's hard to get to know the other 80+ teachers).
I haven't spoken much about the homophobia of my students, but it's certainly there. Every now and then I try and get through; for example, I attempt to turn class discussions about discrimination from race to sexual orientation every now and then. I start by delving into the extremes - say, Matthew Sheperd's death or Jerry Falwell's post-9/11 comments - and go from there. It's a long road, though; I wonder what kind of studies have been done with African American teenagers - or African Americans in general - to analyze sentiments about LBGT folks. Part of it certainly has to do with the seemingly very prevalent focus on religion, but I'm sure there's more there.
I was proud that, today, we had a Socratic class discussion (which are wonderful; I'm so much better at it than I used to be) and we were talking about the following quotation from Mr. Dolphus Raymond in regards to Dill crying during the trial: "(He's crying about) the simple hell people give other people without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people to." (Lee 201)
First, we talked about its relation to Dill and the novel. Then, I asked if this still goes on. In both classes, the first person to raise their hand brought up LBGT issues. They're the exception, and not the rule, but it's still pretty cool. The discussion then devolved into us vs. the police, and then a student referred to chinest people as "chinks". I don't think I'd heard the term before, but I figured out what it was. I told him not to use it and that it's discriminatory, and he said, "It don't matter. There's no one chinese in here." I said that discrimination against one is discrimination against all, and that if I was teaching a room full of white students that I wouldn't let them use the n-word either. The kids all turned on him a bit. It was nice, I have to admit. (He said later that he used the term without knowing it was derogatory.)
It reminds of that poster that I used to see in reslife. It says something like, "First they came for the Catholics, and I wasn't Catholic so I didn't do anything. Then they came for the ______, and I wasn't _______ so I didn't do anything. (More of this) Then they came for me, and there wasn't anyone left to do anything at all." Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyone know where I can get it? I'd love to put it up in here. Part of it is age, but my students seem to have a tough time seeing discrimination against others outside of their race.
So, back to the MSU interviewee. I hope he gets hired. I even said I'd be looking for a roommate in June (he's hilarious), and to contact me if he needed someplace to stay. We'll see...
#3) In other news, I have a diaryland girlfriend! How exciting! I'm flattered. We've been diaryland friends for probably two years or so, so I guess it was natural that we just took our relationship to the next level. I can't wait to see where things go from here.