Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
OCT 22, 2017 — Please read and share with all your co-workers. We made this happen together!
Over 80,000 of you signed our petition to calling on on UFT President Mulgrew to fight for this.
Pres. Mulgrew had been in contact with city officials, but this needs to happen now!
Everyday that goes by is another parent having to use their days, and not getting paid after they run out.
We are planning a DAY OF ACTION for March 8th,
which is international women's day. It is a really great chance to get a
large group of people together to support paid family leave for UFT
members.
The more help we have, the better our chances for an actual change.
You guys are amazing.
Emily James and her 80,000 supporters have been a revelation. When she appeared the UFT executive board meeting a few weeks ago with her colleague Susan Hibdon, which was reported in the mainstream press at Politico - as we reported here - What Emily James Said to Mulgrew at the UFT Ex Bd on Parental Care - she got a response from Mulgrew who seems to be trying to jump on the bandwagon. MORE also wanted to jump on the Emily bandwagon and add the 3000 signatures they gathered last year -- every little bit helps. Emily has proven she is doing fine as is that even though she is not a long-term activist - she has been featured in the press at Chalkbeat, NY1's Lindsay Christ (a former teacher and one of the best ed reporters in the city) also interviewed her (sorry I don't have all links.)
Her op ed appeared in the Sunday Daily News. (Reprinted below the break.)
Emily has send an email to the petition signers asking for those who want to do more than sign the petition to get in touch at this email: Fight4NYCDOEPaidLeave@gmail.com
Bannon also launched a blistering attack on a former President George W. Bush — who this week delivered a rebuke of President Donald Trump — casting him as a tool of those globalists.
“President Bush embarrassed himself,’’ Bannon said, referring to him as “a piece of work.” “It is clear he didn’t understanding anything he was talking about...he had no idea whether he was coming or going — just like when he was president of the United States.’’
“There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s,’’ he said to applause.
I laughed my ass off when I heard this from Bannon. I was seething yesterday at the press was fawning over Bush's comments. Give us a break. This guy was one of the keys leading to Trump.
I never thought I would be referencing Bannon but when he often touches on some important truths worth noting - things the left has been addressing for quite some time. At some points Bannon echoes the left. Now we know it is all rhetoric as he has promoted a different version of the billionaire elite - witness the Trump cabinet.
Bannon rips Bush, Silicon Valley 'lords of technology'
In a defiant speech to California Republicans, the Breitbart chief cast the state as a linchpin in the fight to halt the globalist agenda.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Issuing a defiant call to arms to grassroots Republicans, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon railed Friday against dangerous “global elites” and the Silicon Valley “lords of technology” whom he said are robbing U.S. citizens of jobs, wealth and opportunity.
“They want all the benefits of a free society...all the benefits of this rules-based international order,’’ including lucrative trade deals and capital markets, he said, while “we the citizens of the United States...underwrite the whole thing.”
Abolish the ATR System, It Was Bad Policy in 2005 and Poor Policy Now. Teachers Belong in Classrooms.... Peter Goodman
Holy mother of crap --- Is a Unity stalwart now saying what Unity pushed through is bad policy?
Link sent to me by Bruce Markens -- basically the only non-Unity District rep for a decade -- the reason they ended district rep elections -- with this comment by Bruce:
Peter Goodman often "anticipates" what Unity winds up doing. If so, you should anticipate a Unity resolution arguing for abolishing ATR status. Of course, whether such a resolution is actually implemented is a real question. The Unity folks mainly want a PR response to the very problem they created and are embarrassed by Karen Sklaire's exposing their indifference and contempt toward ATRs BTW, Karen's statement was brilliant..... Bruce Markens
Goodman talks about the orderly old system which was overturned by BloomKlein and Randi.
Teachers have been excessed from schools for decades, schools lost
enrollment and the junior teacher was bumped and placed in another
school in the district; it was an orderly procedure without favoritism
or politics. In the late eighties the former Board of Education began
closing schools, the Board and the Union negotiated a process; half the
teachers in the replacement schools would be excess teachers from the
closing school; although they did had to exhibit qualifications through
an interview conducted by a Board-Union committee; once again, an
orderly process.
I generally likes the Burns' series but here is another view even if Gibson posted this before seeing the series. But he gives the long perspective and ties a bunch of loose knots together. I still maintain that Burns couldn't have gotten the funding for this film and it is very valuable to revisit this at this time even if not a perfect film.
It is condescending to say I’m lucky to have a job. I don’t feel lucky. ATR system is failing. Better to not have a job than stay and feel humiliated.
Please tell me.. where is MY protection that takes a HUGE chunk of my paycheck and tells me to sit back and obey.
Lucky not to get fired? At least if someone tried to fire me- I’d have grounds to find a lawyer and contest. You have stripped me of any rights. And now all I can do is hope that I will find something and feel like somebody before I lose myself.
I sat there all summer reading articles in papers not ONCE hearing any of MY story. The story of a 14 year award winning teacher that no one wanted. Where are those articles?
I am a member of 2 unions- Actors Equity and the UFT. I believe in public schools and I did not ask for this. You my union has turned a blind eye on these ATRS most of whom are not there because they are a problem. Where is the article that talks about people like me?
---- Karen Sklaire speech to UFT Ex Bd, October 16, 2017
Karen Sklaire delivered one of the most powerful and emotional speeches to the UFT Ex Bd I've ever heard. You could hear a pin drop. And Mulgrew was even there to hear it. Kudos to Howie Schoor for being so tolerant of allowing people like Karen, who was not on his sign-up list, to have their say. Howie has done a great job of moderating what could be difficult meetings and fostering a cordial relationship between the leadership and the opposition.
Yes, where are you Kate Taylor of the NY Times with your biased reporting that turns a talented teacher like Karen into mud and makes her even more unemployable as the NY Times aids and abets what amounts to abuse?
And where is the UFT in countering that narrative?
How dare the UFT say, as they did last night, they can never change the public's minds about ATRs when they don't even try? Yes they were asked last night to counter the crap coming from reporters such as Kate Taylor and the Times editorial board.
If the UFT put Karen's speech up as a commercial she would change minds. When I heard them say that I practically leaped out of my seat when they put up pablum for commercials. I wish I had a video recorder yesterday.
[As I write this I am watching another UFT commercial about how public school proud they are -- where's their public school pride in allowing this to happen to Karen and so many others?]
The bi-monthly MORE/New Action pre-Ex Bd meetings may be the most exciting things happening in the union for activists. Last night was no different as ATRs, led by active MORE members who are ATRs, showed up to make their case and get some answers from the UFT. (I have a lot more to say about our outstanding group of elected reps in coming days as I report on some of the rancor within MORE over their role.)
MORE and New Action High School Exec Bd reps have been doing a wonderful job since elected last year. The EB meets every 2 weeks, mostly on Mondays and we hold a pre-meeting downstairs in the back of the lobby. People who are speaking during the open mic period are invited to join the meeting and coordinate with them. For many of us, this has been among the most exciting work MORE has done.
Now I know Karen Sklaire's story because our MORE colleagues Alexandra Alves and Karen Arneson are chapter leader and delegate in her school. Alexandra and another colleague came to the EB to support Karen last night. I know that the old principal wanted to get rid of her theater program. And have followed her story through Alexandra and Karen Arneson, some of the best people I've met in MORE. I went with them to see Karen's one woman show at The Fringe a few years ago.
Arthur Goldstein reported at NYC Educator on Karen's statement:
Karen Sklaire—ATR—15 year teacher of theater—excessed. No theater positions available. Say UFT said there was no union representation for ATRs. Second excess in 15 years. First time alone in a room for three years. Left and came back when recruited. Won RFK award in teaching, excessed two years later. Had opportunity to sub for six months—rejected by DOE. Have been assistant in 1st grade, making copies. Told by DOE can’t be placed. Told by union lucky to have job. Am pro union, has been nothing but a heartbreak. I just want to say it’s heartbreaking and I’m ready to leave. Condescending to say I’m lucky to have a job. I don’t feel lucky. ATR system is failing. Better to not have a job than stay and feel humiliated. Schools won’t see me because I’m ATR with 15 years. Only people fighting for me are DOE theater program people.
He also reported on other great statements (sorry I don't have a transcript of these remarks as I do of Karen's).
Gina Trent—English teacher for 17 years, mostly as ATR. Grateful UFT preserved salary and benefits. However, you should fight for more quality of life issues. Most of my colleagues envy ATR position. Disturbing. Many young people leave with health issues and stress. We need to try to get principals accountable where all teachers have no trust. We need to place pressure. We need to defend ATRs and senior teachers. Research suggests we are the most effective.
And MORE associates:
Aixa Rodriguez—ESL teacher and ATR, rated HE—No vacancies for ESL in Bronx HS—CR Part 154 makes courses double counted so there are no vacancies. Asks that stereotyping FSF, be challenged by UFT. Leads to rampant ageism.
August Leppelmeier—NYT maligned character of ATRs. Very unfair. Most ATRs excessed for downsizing. Somehow city isn’t placing ESL teachers. Those charged have been cleared. If not, they’d be fired. UFT needs to stand by concept that people are exonerated. Expects union to fight in press with ads, speak publicly, use social media. Has been going on since June. We expect more.
Karen was kind enough to send me her written version of the speech, though I wish you saw Karen, who is trained to be in front of a crowd, in person. Too bad the UFT doesn't allow taping - if they put Karen's speech on line it would have an impact.
Karen Sklaire's speech (which she said were talking notes).
Good Evening
My name is Karen Sklaire. I am entering my 15th year as a theater teacher for the DOE. I am the 2015 recipient of The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Honor as a teacher and actor creating the first world wide theater lesson that has been translated in over 22 languages.
As a theater teacher I have created curriculum for K-5 theater teachers, was one of the original teachers who rolled out the Blueprint for the Arts, I created the first Robert F Kennedy human rights theater camp merging human rights education and theater as a way of teaching empathy in the classroom. The camp gave scholarships to underserved communities. I have merged with Broadway Theaters to bring students to their first Broadway production and directed many shows. My curriculum is significant in ESL, ELL and ENL communities as a way of teaching children to understand the language through their body and learn how to enunciate. I am currently on the DOE facilitator team for theater where I’ll be leading a workshop at the city wide Professional Development this coming November on using empathy in Playwriting.
I have been a highly effective teacher up until the last year. where my principal did not visit my classroom till March and gave me effectives across the board because she was told to not give out highly effectives. I am now an ATR. This is my second time.
In 2007 I was excessed within the first month of school and made to sit alone in a room only to sub very rarely at the school I was at at the time. I was forced to take the first job which was a high school in The Bronx that moved the principal to strategically punish me until I quit.
I came back a year later after being sought after because of my reputation as an excellent hard working teacher. My principal did not inform me of being excessed till the week before school ended. All really qualifiable positions had been filled already and budgets were in place. I spent the summer applying to as many jobs as I could but only ONE called me in as they needed a music teacher and could I do that. Which I cannot.
I was told the word ATR was like the scarlet letter of teaching. Either my salary was too high or they didn’t trust me because of my status.
I sat there all summer reading articles in papers not ONCE hearing any of MY story. The story of a 14 year award winning teacher that no one wanted. Where are those articles?
I have been kicked around this year in the most demeaning way. A principal told me that the DOE is trying to get me to leave which is why they said NO to any long term sub positions that would have had me actually WORK for my salary instead of being an assistant for a 24 year old first grade teacher. I remember sitting in a closet filing her papers in her portfolios crying and wondering why I was being punished.
The Union person I spoke to said that I consider myself lucky that I still have a job. I wondered if that person would say to a person who was in an abusive relationshop- your lucky your not alone.
It was not their fault- that is what they are told to say. And I have heard it over and over. I even have an award winning show about it. Every opportunity I had to possibly get placed the DOE stood in my way. The union said that's the rules. I have experienced a nervous breakdown and have still showed up to my demeaning position. I had the heads of arts and special programs and a current part time gig I have scream at the DOE saying they got the wrong person lost in the system. There IS NO job for me on this October 16 except a possible 3 day a week gig in Inwood. I’m currently subbing in a performing arts school in the Bronx. My commute for both is about one hour and 40 minutes. I am exhausted and I have too much talent and a huge resume and no one to hire me. I can't imagine enduring this for a whole year so it’s up to me to move my home so I can probably take a lesser paying gig to keep my sanity.
I am a member of 2 unions- Actors Equity and the UFT. I believe in public schools and I did not ask for this. You my union has turned a blind eye on these ATRS most of whom are not there because they are a problem. Where is the article that talks about people like me? How much emotional abuse must I endure before I break?
Please tell me.. where is MY protection that takes a HUGE chunk of my paycheck and tells me to sit back and obey.
Lucky not to get fired? At least if someone tried to fire me- I’d have grounds to find a lawyer and contest. You have stripped me of any rights. And now all I can do is hope that I will find something and feel like somebody before I lose myself.
UFT/Unity Caucus leadership lauded as a social justice org.
I posted the NY Times article on the American role in undermining democracy in Chile in the early 70s on various listserves (US Role in Chile Horror: And They Worry About Russian Meddling?)
and mentioned the role our union leaders played there. Luis Reyes, long-time social justice activist here in the city and beyond made the following comment. I am posting this as a message to people and caucuses like MORE that think they can outflank the union leadership on SJ issues. A group of us in MORE have been contending that if we want to challenge the UFT leadership, it has to be on issues where they have not supported the members, not on how social justicey they are.
Norm and all:
I believe in social change, redemption and renewal. On Saturday,
I was honored by the UFT at their ELLevating Conference with the Luis
O. Reyes ELL Advocacy Award in the UFT auditorium filled with more than
1,000 teachers and teacher leaders. The honor goes to many who made this
moment possible.
In the 1970s, Albert Shanker (R.I.P.), wrote in his NY Times column that bilingual education was "...unamerican and separatist."
In 1984, I reached out to Sandra Feldman (R.I.P.), to start a dialogue with
the UFT leadership. Latino and other bilingual leaders met with leaders
of the UFT; and, together we started a movement that resulted in
the UFT changing its position on bilingual education and supporting
state LEP Aid. Today Evelyn DeJesus, a Puerto Rican bilingual educator
from the Lower East Side is the Vice President for Education and Carmen
Alvarez continues to be the V.P. for Special Education.
Today, Michael Mulgrew, the President of the UFT,
and Randi Weingarten, the President of the AFT, have been leaders in the
the AFL-CIO union coalition sending relief union volunteers, emergency
supplies, and donations to the Hurricane Maria Relief efforts in Puerto
Rico. The UFT sent 30 school nurses and others there this past week. We
are rebuilding Puerto Rico, reconstructing professional relationships,
and preparing to receive children, families, and, yes, teachers from
Puerto Rico and the Caribbean to New York City and New York State.
Yes, I am eternally grateful and appreciative of social change, redemption and renewal.
There is a cable from the Central Intelligence Agency to its officers in Santiago after a failed operation in October 1970 to prevent Allende from assuming office, which he did that November. The C.I.A. provided weapons for the plan, which resulted in the killing of the commander in chief of the army, Gen. René Schneider, and the agency later sent money to help some of the plotters flee the country. “The station has done an excellent job of guiding Chileans to a point today where a military solution is at least an option for them,” the cable says, commending the officers, even though their plot was foiled.
There is no more outrageous story to read today than this one, especially for those who continue to harp on Russian interference, which if it happened pales in comparison what the CIA, etc did and continues to do all over the world interfering everywhere. Another story pops up every day. Read this one in Chile -- which by the way had our own union leader Al Shanker involved using the CIA influenced AFLD to try to undermine leftist teacher unions in Chile.
See:
SANTIAGO, Chile — An old rotary phone rings insistently.
Visitors at a new exhibition at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights here in Santiago who pick up the receiver hear two men complain bitterly about the liberal news media “bleating” over the military coup that had toppled Salvador Allende, the Socialist president of Chile, five days earlier.
“Our hand doesn’t show on this one, though,” one says.
“We didn’t do it,” the other responds. “I mean, we helped them.”
The conversation took place on a Sunday morning in September 1973 between former President Richard M. Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger. The two men were discussing football — and the violent overthrow of a democratically elected government 5,000 miles away with their assistance.
For the exhibition, two Spanish-speaking actors re-enacted the taped phone call based on a declassified transcript.
The chance to listen in on the call is part of “Secrets of State: The Declassified History of the Chilean Dictatorship,” an exhibition that offers visitors an immersive experience of Washington’s intervention in Chile and its 17-year relationship with the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
A dimly lit underground gallery guides visitors through a maze of documents — presidential briefings, intelligence reports, cables and memos — that describe secret operations and intelligence gathering carried out in Chile by the United States from the Nixon years through the Reagan presidency.
Photo
“There is an arc of history that is very dramatic when you put these documents together,” said Peter Kornbluh, the exhibition’s curator who is a senior analyst at the National Security Archive in Washington and director of itsChile Documentation Project. “They have provided revelations and made headlines, they have been used as evidence in human rights prosecutions, and now they are contributing to the verdict of history.”
On view are documents revealing secret exchanges about how to prevent Chile’s Congress from ratifying the Allende victory in 1970, plans for covert operations to destabilize his government and reports about a Chilean military officer informing the United States government of the coming coup and requesting assistance.
There is a cable from the Central Intelligence Agency to its officers in Santiago after a failed operation in October 1970 to prevent Allende from assuming office, which he did that November. The C.I.A. provided weapons for the plan, which resulted in the killing of the commander in chief of the army, Gen. René Schneider, and the agency later sent money to help some of the plotters flee the country.
“The station has done an excellent job of guiding Chileans to a point today where a military solution is at least an option for them,” the cable says, commending the officers, even though their plot was foiled.
The exhibition includes only a small sample of the 23,000 documents on Chile that the Clinton administration declassified between 1999 and 2000 in response to international requests for evidence on Pinochet’s crimes. The former Chilean dictator was arrested in London in October 1998 and awaited extradition to Spain to face trial on charges of human rights abuses during his rule.
As several other European countries also sought Pinochet’s extradition based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, Mr. Kornbluh, the curator, led a campaign to persuade the White House to release classified records that could serve in an eventual trial against the general.
Documents on Chile from 1968 to 1991 from seven United States government agencies, some of them heavily redacted, were released as part of the State Department’sChile Declassification Project. Most were declassified months after Pinochet was sent home from London for humanitarian reasons, but just in time to contribute to new judicial investigations in Chile.
Copies of the front pages of dozens of newspapers during the Pinochet era, on view in the exhibition.CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times
They have also shed light onOperation Condor, a network of South American intelligence services in the 1970s and ’80s that shared information, traded prisoners and orchestrated assassinations abroad. The head of DINA, Chile’s clandestine intelligence agency,Gen. Manuel Contreras, was the mastermind behind Condor, and hosted an inaugural meeting in November 1975 in Santiago.
In the exhibition, the seats at a rectangular table bear the names of the intelligence chiefs of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile who attended Operation Condor’s first meeting. A layer of earth covers the table, and brushes are provided for visitors to reveal what is beneath: the names of Condor victims, many of whom vanished without a trace.
Nearby, copies of the front pages of dozens of newspapers from the Pinochet era hang from a panel simulating a kiosk. They were all published by the conservative media empire El Mercurio, which received at least $2 million from the C.I.A.
The records in the exhibition also profile Pinochet, trace intelligence gathering on brutal state-sponsored repression and detail how the Reagan government abandoned Pinochet to his fate in 1988, fearing a further radicalization of the opposition.
“These documents have helped us rewrite Chile’s contemporary history,” said Francisco Estévez, director of the museum. “This exhibit is a victory in the fight against negationism, the efforts to deny and relativize what happened during our dictatorship.”
TheMemory and Human Rights Museumopened in 2010 during the first term of President Michelle Bachelet and offers a chronological reconstruction of the 17-year Pinochet government through artifacts, recordings, letters, videos, photographs, artwork and other material. About 150,000 people visit the museum annually, a third of them groups of students, Mr. Estévez said.
The National Security Archive donated a selection of 3,000 declassified documents to the museum several years ago, while the State Department provided the Chilean government with copies of the entire collection. Chileans, however, have rarely seen them.
“To see on a piece of paper, for example, the president of the United States ordering the C.I.A. to preemptively overthrow a democratically elected president in Chile is stunning,” Mr. Kornbluh said. “The importance of having these documents in the museum is for the new generations of Chileans to actually see them.”
Every three years each school and functional chapter holds chapter leader elections. Most often they are not contended but when they are things can get heavy. I and a group of other people have had extensive experience in what people face in these elections, especially for first timers.
Is your principal hostile to your running either because there is a relationship with the current CL or does your principal see your election as a threat? Then expect some behind the scenes (or open) campaigning against you.
Are you challenging a Unity CL? Expect a campaign that can get vicious. If you win expect a possible challenge to the borough office even over trivial issues and a chance they will overturn your victory and find something wrong with how the election was held.
Therefore pay strict attention to the procedures laid out on how to run an election -- there must be a committee and the CL has a lot of say -- so fight to get one of your people on. Also pay attention to how ballots are set up and protected.
Most important is how to run a campaign and how to pace such a campaign. At the MORE convention yesterday Gloria Brandman, a retiree who was a CL, suggested MORE provide assistance and training for people wanting to run. We had hoped to run a training at the convention but that time got subsumed by a Labor Notes "Secrets of a Successful Organizer" -- I've taken it a few times and there are no real secrets.
Here is Gloria's pitch which was passed. Execution will be the key. Get in touch if you are interested in running for CL or Del. Sessions will begin after the New Year - or before if there is demand.
Chapter Leader/ Delegate Election Campaign From the MORE website:
“MORE’s central priority will be the development of a UFT caucus. Our aim is to reach UFT members with our message of a more active and democratic union that can effectively fight back against what we have called the “ed deform” agenda and for the basic union rights of our members”. In order to achieve these goals, a union caucus must have some level of power within the union organization. We have gained 7 seats on the Executive Board with our High School representatives and we must continue to build on this success. The UFT will be holding Chapter Leader/Delegate Elections in the Spring of 2018 and this should be the next level in which we build our base and our power. I propose that MORE engage in a Chapter Leader and Delegate Building Campaign.
This will be twofold:
1. Encourage and support all current MORE Chapter Leaders and Delegates to run for re-election in their schools and chapters.
2. Seek out our supporters in schools that are not yet represented by MORE and encourage and support these members to run for Chapter Leaders or Delegate in their schools.
Memo From the RTC:Rhapsody Players Delight Saturday Night Crowd in Benefit Performance
By Norm Scott
Those lucky enough to attend the benefit performance of “The
Rhapsody Players” (rhapsodyplayers.org) at the home of the Rockaway Theatre
Company last Saturday night were treated to two hours of delightful
entertainment by the seven member singing group, accompanied by an outstanding
six piece band. This was the second time I had seen them and the harmony and
the ability of each member to deliver a rock’n sock’n solo gave the audience
the feeling they were at a top level show delivered by star pros. They were
recently joined by our one of RTC’s major stars and voices, Renee Titus, whose
voice can knock down walls – and practically did.
We were accompanied by David Bentley, a former colleague and
friend of mine, who since his retirement from the NYCDOE reviews plays in
various parts of the nation (https://thepeoplescritic.com/).
David, invited us to dinner the night before at the famed Lamb’s Club, a social
club in New York City for actors, songwriters, and others involved in the
theater. It is America's oldest theatrical organization – since 1874 and we
were treated to members performing various songs as we ate dinner – all with an
accompaniest on the piano. All performers are members of the club, which over
its 142 years has contained many famous members – oh that photo on the wall
with a 25 year old Fred Astaire.We told
David about the RTC benefit and he decided to join us, expecting a nice
performance by local amateur talent. Well, he was blown away and couldn’t
believe The Rhapsody Players were not performing professionally. I agree and am
only sorry that all RTC fans didn’t get to see it. Hopefully The Rhapsody
Players will return to Rockaway soon.
Rockaway Café
rehearsals heat up and RTC preps new courses
I’ve been added to the cast of the legendary RTC productions
of The Rockaway Café, which returns after a few years layoff, on Nov. 3 for 10
performances over 3 weekends (and one Thursday). But fans shouldn’t fret – I
can’t mess things up too badly since also joining the cast are Tony Homsey and
Curtis Wanderer – also known as that dynamic duo – Tony Curtis.
The three of us will also be involved in a brand new course
being taught by Tony – Basics of Theater Set Construction, beginning soon after
Thanksgiving and running every Sunday for 8 weeks in two hour sessions. Basic
use of the tools used, safety in using the tools will be covered in the first
session. This is not a set design course but how to exercise the vision of the
set designer and the director in the most feasible manner possible. One of the
goals is to expand our set building crew so as to distribute the workload. One
of the major projects in the course will be building the sets for the two
children’s theater group’s plays in February and March.If interested in joining us keep an eye out
for more information in a few weeks.
Read Norm’s other column, School Scope and his blog at
ednotesonline.com
Burns has set himself up as a self-appointed national therapist for
interpreting U.S. history. This is hard to take at times, but the
subject matter he covers usually rises above his paternalistic
liberalism.... Burns' series outlines the deep roots of deception involved in U.S.
foreign policy that I imagine a younger generation will find shocking....... there also frustrating limits and omissions to Burns and Novick's
series. In the first episode "Déjà vu," narrator Peter Coyote tells us
that "America's involvement in Vietnam...was begun in good faith, by
decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings." Yet the whole series
proves the opposite at every turn.
.... in the first episode, I saw an extraordinary act of historical
censorship. The U.S. plucked Ngo Dinh Diem out of obscurity in the
mid-1950s and made him the president of the Republic of Vietnam, or
"South Vietnam" as it was referred to. In all of the photos of the era, standing behind him clear as day, is
the lanky figure of Edward Lansdale, the CIA's man in Saigon, the man
who made Diem. Yet Lansdale is never identified.... Unfortunately, many people on the left in the U.S. seem to have watched
only the first 20 minutes of this first episode. Disgusted by claims of
"good faith" and "decent people," they didn't watch any further, though
they did take to Facebook and Twitter to denounce it. ....... Socialist Worker, Joe Allen, author of Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost.
The carping from the left began from the first frames of Ken Burns' documentary which for me exposed the entire lying and manipulative structure of the American power structure. Some if it was fair and some not --the SW review is very balanced:
The Vietnam War is a compelling, beautifully made and revealing
documentary series. Burns and Novick have brought back the Vietnam War
back to its proper place in our living history. Despite their limited
critique of the war and their misplaced hostility toward the antiwar
movement, this series should be watched and debated by all.
Burns exposes how history continues to repeat itself in Afghanistan. And it will never end. The dumb strategies in 'Nam and what we see today are similar. Clueless. The minute we are out of Afghanistan we know the script of what happens to puppet type governments. Does that mean we root for the Taliban to win? Hell no. Every alternative is worse than worse.
Also we see how the right wing and the admin went after anti-war protestors and blamed them for the losing war. And also how the soldiers turned against the war, which was the biggest threat to the war wing - which is why they so quickly went to an all volunteer army and killed the draft.
Also we saw how we destabilized an entire area with Cambodia and Laos being essentially undermined and destroyed, leading to the Kmer Rouge. We saw the same in the Middle East and the rise of ISIS due to our actions. (Oh what Saddam would have done to ISIS).
But some elements of the left want purism, as I saw on FB with commentary. Let's be clear that the documentary also exposes some of the brutal acts of the North Vietnamese, which is a no-no in some left circles. No one would pretend that the victory of the North Vietnamese (compare to what happened in Korea in 1950 which has influence over what happened in Nam.)
Allen makes this important point:
Throughout the series, the Vietnamese national struggle is one that
Burns and Novick can't make up their minds about. Was it a civil war, a
national struggle for independence or an example of Cold War Communist
expansion?
People on the left also have some issues. I imagine Trotskyists would condemn the North Vietnamese as Stalinist variations.
So reading the piece in this very fair assessment in the ISO newspaper is instructive in that it defends Burns while also pointing out the flaws. I won't get into the weeds of whether I agree or disagree at this point since I do want to write more about the series.
Thanks to Mike Schirtzer for pointing me to these articles.
... the real Achilles' heel of The Vietnam War is Burns and Novick's disdain for the antiwar movement. Veteran civil rights activist Bill Zimmerman is given a fair amount
of screen time, but the movement against the draft is called a campaign
of "self-interest" because the young men who could be drafted were at
the core of it. When tens of thousands of antiwar activists attempt to
shut down Washington, D.C., in one protest, Burns and Novick echo Nixon
adviser Pat Buchanan in calling them the "crazies." Barnard College antiwar activist Nancy Biberman makes a tearful
apology: "It pains me to think of the things that I said, that we said.
And I'm sorry." What misplaced words could ever compare to the scale of murder,
destruction and deception committed by the U.S. government? Yet what is
now presented as excesses on the part of the antiwar movement is
presented as co-equal. It should be pointed out that no government
official ever apologizes for anything during the series.
Worth reading is:
Vietnam War Protesters have NOTHING to Apologize For | By | Common Dreams
School Scope: Has di Blasio Done Anything Right?Oh, Say, Can You See at a Ranger game?
By Norm Scott
I took my umpteenth Rockaway ferry ride on Sunday. A friend
dropped us off but we could easily have walked the two blocks from our house to
get the free jitney to the ferry. We got off at Wall Street and waited less
than 10 minutes for the Astoria ferry where we used the free transfer and got
dropped off at 34th Street after a 10-minute ride. Not bad for two
bucks seventy five. And I didn’t have to even take my car keys. There has been
no more relaxed way of traveling around the city – and even more routes are on
the way. And I love how these fairly small boats maneuver in and out of the
docks in a jiffy. Only once this summer did I fail to get on a ferry because it
was overcrowded.
Finally seeing the NYC waterways being used effectively to move people around is
a game changer for transportation in our city – if the schedules work for you
and you have some extra time. And more routes are to come. So when it comes
time to give credit to the mayor who made it possible, we see Rockawayites
carping and grouching over what ultimately is minutia. Most of the time the
boats are big enough and by next year they will have bigger boats when they
need them. But most of the time they don’t.
And how about NYC Ferry and Hornblower, the San Francisco
based company which blew into town as people complained about them when they
were given the contract. Consider the time frame of hiring entire staffs, who
have been very nice and courteous most of the time –and making the boats run on time and building
the boats? And how about the low fare after large city subsidies?
Funny how di Blasio is expected to win overwhelmingly, though is he so disliked
even by people who support his policies – hell, I don’t like him. But add the
fact he implemented a massive pre-k program for 4 year olds that has saved so
many people so much child care money and is rolling out a program for 3 year
olds, let’s give some credit where credit is due. In Rockaway it will be
interesting so see the vote. We can predict that the west end will go against
him overwhelmingly while the reverse will happen in the east end. As for the
middle peninsula, I don’t have a clear picture. Probably somewhat mixed.
As for Erich Ulrich, our local city councilman who wouldn’t challenge di Blasio
in this election but will most likely run in four years, I noticed he is
supporting the constitution convention while trying to give himself some cover
by saying he doesn’t support the anti-labor aspects. I don’t buy it. The people
who are pushing the convention are not on the side of workers. They have
something more up their sleeves. I would
like to see massive reform of our political system in the state. The convention
is not the way to do it. I have a way to judge making these type of decisions.
What groups are pushing it and when I look at the list I see a lot of enemies
of working people on it. Too bad Ulrich has decidedto join them. But then again he has that
Republican label on him, which means that ultimately he is aligned with a Party
that wants to destroy labor unions and the hard won rights it took a half
century to build.Don’t get fooled by
phony rhetoric. Ulrich also supports charter schools and Phil Goldfeder’s
support of him doesn’t surprise me since Phil LOVED charters and pretty much
any scheme that would help the privatization of the school system. I don’t love
Democrats very much either and my own union, the UFT, seems to be supporting
Ulrich despite their massive campaign for a NO vote on the convention. That
leaves me scratching my head, but them again the UFT often leaves me scratching
my head.
Oh, Say, Can You See
at a Ranger game?
The national anthem is in the news over protests in the NFL.
There are claims that kneeling during the anthem is a form of disrespect and
has that has become a race issue. Generally the people opposing the players
have been white. So I was reminded of NY Ranger playoff hockey games I attended
years ago with a pretty much white crowd. When the anthem began, people stood.
In regular season games the last bars of the anthem were drowned out by crowd
noise. But during playoffs, soon after the anthem began so did the noise – to
the point that you couldn’t hear the anthem at all as the crescendo built after
Oh Say Can You….. Is there an analogy
here between the national anthem at a hockey game and some of the protests at a
football game during the anthem? I imagine white and black people on the whole
might view things from a different perspective.
Norm is scratching his head as he tries to make his blog
great again at ednotesonline.org.
Also read his Memo from the RTC columns in The WAVE.
