Ed Notes Online: Passion

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Passion

"These guys must be crazy," I was told by someone I know. He was referring to those who keep fighting no matter how bleak things look. "Why would someone of retirement age stuck in the rubber room not just retire," he said? I can't explain it but I understand it. I could add: Why fight Unity Caucus? Why stand up to BloomKlein when they own the world, including the press?

I had no easy answer for my friend but I thought of that guy standing in front of the tank in Tianamen Square. Or the people who stand up for human rights against Putin in Russia no matter how many of their friends are killed. Or any number of people throughout history who were mad as hell and wouldn't take it any more.

I thought of this as I was watching the academy award foreign language winning film The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina) on Friday. One review states:

"A thoroughly entertaining murder mystery, The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) stars Ricardo Darín (Nine Queens) as a retired prosecutor who can't let go of a 25-year-old rape and murder that he considers still unsolved, but solvable."

Benjamin, the detective, is relentless in pursuing answers. But the movie is really about passion. His 25 year unrequited passion for his married boss, who may have had similar passions (they keep you guessing.) The unending passion of a husband for his murdered wife. Benjamin's alcoholic sidekick Sandoval helps track the killer by figuring out he is a passionate soccer fan. "You can change almost anything," he tells Benjamin. "But you can't change passion. It will always win out."

Maybe that passion is what explains so many unexplainable actions by so many people. And thank goodness for these crazy, passionate people. If not for them we would all be living like the zombies in that revolutionary Apple commercial at the 1984 Super Bowl. Or like the drones at Tweed.

Add On
I saw Bogart in "Have and Have Not" last night and there is a similar relationship between him and the Walter Brennan character who also makes a case for drinking, just as Sandoval did.

5 comments:

Quilty said...: Passion... I love that quote. The facts you said about the movie are really good. I actually, understand the passion for soccer, because I seem it. And I dont know you, but maybe the fact that that quote is the introduction to the scene in the stadium maybe make it even more memorable. One question:Was Pablo Sandoval funny for you?.; Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 11:53:00 PM EDT
ed notes online said...: He was funny and tragic. He actually made the case for drinking. I saw Bogart in "Have and Have Not" last night and there is a similar relationship between him and the Walter Brennan character who also makes a case for drinking.; Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 7:19:00 AM EDT
DAVID PAKTER said...: TRUE PASSION ALWAYS ENTAILS SACRIFICE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Whoever asks why people contine to fight on when all seems lost needs an immediate refresher course in History 101.

Every bit of progress the Human race has achieved throughout all of history has been due to individuals who refused to surrender to evil doers such as the NYC Dept of Education.

The fact that sub humans like former Federal Prosecutor, Joel Klein, can wreck the careers and totally destroy the lives of individual NYC Teachers does not negate the fact that the collective
efforts of all those who sacrifice themselves in the struggle, will over time have a powerful effect and create change.

Every struggle that has ever occured since the dawn of time to create a more Just world has been the result of countless individuals, each in his own way, contributing what he could to achieve the ultimate goal.

Many fall but a few survive to carry on the struggle- whatever that struggle may be.

I just returned from Prague last night, where I had accepted a consulting job to make up for the fact that the NYC DOE has been illegally withholding all my City paychecks since Oct. 1, 2009.

In the large pile of mail awaiting me were 9 (Nine) separate envelopes from the NYC DOE containing a set of new, additional 3020-a charges against me.

Thus, despite the fact that my current Teacher Trial has not even ended and may not end for months, Joel Klein's stooges have already memorialized the charges that will be leveled against me the day my current 3020-a trial concludes.

Therefore, even if I am totally exonerated of all the preposterous allegations in my current trial, it will be a hollow victory since new charges will take effect immediately.

Any reasonable person might say to me:

"Why not just give up now because clearly Klein's lapdogs plan to hound you into your grave?"

I have already partially answered that question above. In every struggle it is to be expected that some- even many will fall. That is always the price of the ultimate victory.

Think of the sacrifices required for the ending of American slavery and the final victory over the Third Reich.

And then, as mentioned above also, though many fall, some do not, some survive to fight another day.

And among the latter group there are often a few individuals who ensure that the evil wrought by such sorry specimens of humanity as those who work their evil deeds along Chambers Street in Manhattan, are forced to pay a heavy price for the pain and havoc they have visited for years on others.

The final Hearings of my current NY State 3020-a Teacher Trial commence on May 10 at 49 Chambers Street, 6th Floor at 10 AM -the Hon. Douglas J. Bantle, Esq., presiding.

These final Hearings will be about snatching Victory from Defeat.

That is not to say the DOE will fail through their ruthless and criminal actions to bring me down.

It was preordained, years ago, when I first became a Whistle-blower that the NYC DOE would eventually destroy my teaching career.

But sometimes it is necessary for some to fall, for some to sacrifice themselves, to achieve the ultimate victory of those who follow in their footsteps.

It is a cardinal rule of history.

I consider it the ultimate honor that I was able, for forty years, to be a part of the long struggle to obtain Respect and Dignity for America's Public School Teachers.

David Pakter
__________________________________; Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 12:49:00 PM EDT
Polo Colon said...: Great essay, Norm! Inspirational! Haven't seen a better one from you!; Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 2:27:00 PM EDT
Polo Colon said...: David:
What they are doing to you is threatening not just to all teachers but to every US citizen who believes that tyranny went dead when the revolutionaries knocked out the British here!

It is a threat to us all of continual harassment, defamation, retaliation and a vengeful monstrosity that can only be called ADMINISTRATIVE TERRORISM!

Are they trying to warn us that they will never stop gunning for you and hounddog you if you should question their gestapo-like antics?
Is this a new take on double jeopardy?
Are they mockingly saying that they can and will do this with impunity and with the arrogance of a third rate third world banana republic dictator?

Shame, shame, shame on them!

Keep the passion burning, for in light of the history of right and wrong, you will ultimately prevail and they will surely go down in shame!; Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 2:41:00 PM EDT

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

http://blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

This chapter looks interesting:

Class struggles: The UFT story, part 3

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Of course for another view, check out the review at New Politics of the Kahlenberg Bio on Shanker by Vera Pavone and me: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neocon

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:
http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/
I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You can sign up for this free series at :
http://act.bcfed.ca/online-campaigning-for-union-activists/

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

Ex-HSA Teacher has left a new comment on your post "Fear and Loathing at Evil's Harlem Success Empire ...":

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy Tyson
Professor of African American Studies and History
Duke University

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.
- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Full article with charts here.

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

More at Substance

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.
Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/12/on-growing-use-of-corporate-test.html

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

The US Is Facing a Weimar Moment

Published on Sunday, March 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

SEE MY VIDEO ON HARLEM SUCCESS RALLY 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp7rg_L5JI

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Ed Notes Extended

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Passion

5 comments: