Keep in mind, there were no historians, sociologists, or other experts present...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html?ref=education

I encourage you to read this article, because it is shocking and horrible. Essentially, texas conservatives were able to change school curriculum in their state and tailor it to their made up, racist version of history. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article:

"Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”

“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.” "

This is so racist. These people are trying to create a 'final solution' for their curriculum, 'purifying' it with only white history. Texas is 37% Latino!

"The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution."

The separation of church and state as a liberal bias...interesting.

"Dr. McLeroy, a dentist by training, pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported."

I am confused by this...they want to portray the Black Panthers in a negative light and thereby discredit the positive image of the civil rights movement while including the fact that republicans supported civil rights legislation? I don't get it.

"Mr. Bradley won approval for an amendment saying students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation. He also won approval for an amendment stressing that Germans and Italians as well as Japanese were interned in the United States during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism."

Oh yeah, the internment camps were definitely not motivated by racist fears. That's like saying that this is the case in the Holocaust because gays and political dissenters were in concentration camps with the Jews. I can't even understand why this is necessary or how it benefits the conservative agenda. It's just more racism! Just like the civil rights movement junk they are adding.

"They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.” "

Yeah, real tricky guys.

"n the field of sociology, another conservative member, Barbara Cargill, won passage of an amendment requiring the teaching of “the importance of personal responsibility for life choices” in a section on teenage suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.

“The topic of sociology tends to blame society for everything,” Ms. Cargill said."

What the fuck???? This is messed up. I'm sure they're going to help a lot of suicidal teens and teens with eating disorders by telling them to blame themselves.

"“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”"

Yes, this all does seem very balanced.

I find this so upsetting. I hope the people of Texas scream out for justice!

rage

"Real warriors do not think in terms of challenge, nor are their minds occupied with the battlefield or with past or future consequences. The warrior is completely one with bravery, one with that particular moment. He or she is fully concentrated in the moment because he knows the art of war. You are entirely skilled in your tactics; you do not refer to past events or develop your strength through thinking about future consequences and victory. You are fully aware at that moment, which automatically brings success in the challenge."

- Chogyam Trungpa (from here)

Too often do we let our experiences of the past or our expectations of the future impact our decisions in the present. yes, it is helpful to understand our past, and the role it has played in the flowing creation of who we are. Learn from mistakes, move past regrets, etc. But sometimes, diessecting our past, to understand every occurence, the why's of everything, can hold us back.

and that is what I have found most appreciative, so far, of Cornel West's autobiography Living and Loving Outloud.

West speaks about an intense rage he had growing within him as a child, and the bad decisions that came from it. He reveals how the rage has impacted him in many different ways, how the rage has drove him to be where he is today. But he never once discusses possible theories about why his rage is there, where his rage comes from, he doesn't even acknowledge the curiosity that I am sure he was struck by, about where this rage manifested itself from.

the perfect love song

the perfect love song. which isn't about a moment with him, or her. it's about the moment of revelation, of learning/understanding your own mess of complexities, and loving the confusion, and frustration that comes with trying to untangle ourselves. I'm really diggin' Macklemore's new direction, incorporating live instruments and straying away from what would be known as traditional hip hop with an emcee and DJ.


I look forward to the day, where Love is no longer a romanticized fabrication of this culture, of which I, also, fall victim to. But instead, Love becomes a bigger thing, about self, learning to love self and shining that self love to something bigger, something larger. as Cornel West says "Justice is what the language of love looks like in public." But how can we learn to love publicly if we can't love ourselves. We all got the blues.

female artists are taking over.

I'm sorry, but is it just me, or does it seem like females have been taking over music. especially with Alicia's recent release of the Element of Freedom, with Janelle's release of her first album, the Ark Android, coming soon (hopefully, although i saw a release date of Dec 2010, and i really don't want to wait a whole year..) , and with Erykah's comback with the return of the Ankh.. I can't think of a single male artist that lives to the creative and imaginative artistry of these three ladies (and these are the only ladies that I can think of at the moment, I'm sure there are more than just these three that are doing big things..)

Janelle Monae, The Ark Android



finallyyyy suite 2 & 3 will be coming out in one, entire album entitled "The Ark Android," a self realisation album. Cindi, the android from the first suite, realizes her gift and calling to lead the androids to freedom. Janelle parallels this to ways that we can all learn what our "own superpowers" are and use these powers to transform our own communities. amazing. This is what music should be about. I just reeealllly hope the release date is sooner than december 2010, maybe the source of where I saw this december 2010 release date made a typo and they really meant January 2010... Actually when I first saw the release date of December 2010 for some reason I thought it was December 2009, and i got reeeallly excited but after doing google searches for about 30 min. and coming up with nothing, i looked at the date again and realized that I really saw December 2010. heart breaking.

Alicia Keys, the Element of Freedom

Honestly, when Alicia Keys came out with her first single before the album dropped, Doesn't Mean A Thing, I wasn't really feelin it. Doesn't Mean a thing had a pop-ish, main stream sound to it that I just wasn't really drawn to. however... after listening through her album I realized that Doesn't Mean a Thing was only the tip of an iceberg of what her album had to offer. She uses the universal theme of love to convey a message of freedom and self-love, she begins with the quote "And the Day come that the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud, was more painful than the risk it took to bloom, this is the Element of Freedom." Some favorites Love is Blind, Empire State of Mind II, Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart (the beat and instrumentals are amazing in this one) and of course her collaboration with Beyonce in Put it in a Love Song.

Erykah Badu: Amerykah

the sequel to Erykah Badu's 2006 New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War could be coming in 2010. New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh. below Erykah Badu shares a little bit about the concept (source)

Erykah Badu Levitates from Creative Control on Vimeo.

anddd look who's back! =)

Corinne Bailey Rae "I'd Do It All Again"


Corinne Bailey Rae MySpace Music Videos

2010 will be a good year. happy holidays <3

the noisettes

Precious Jones

After watching the trailer for Precious, the new Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry film based on the novel "Push" by Saphire, I decided to check out the book. Here's the trailer

The book, was not what I was expecting. I mean, I'm not even sure why I created such dinstinct expectations, but I was expecting for this book to be written in a style similar to how memoirs are written. But actually, this book was written completely from the perspective of Precious (who is the main character in the book). You meet Precious when she's 16, but memories keep revisiting her consistently bringing her back to ages 6, 7, 8, all the way to 12. At first this kind of caught me off guard, because everything is written in her perspective, just think about the way we think, and having that being translated into a novel. But then I realized it's impact, that because of how it's written you enter Precious' mind and share the journey with her. At one moment she's ranting angrily about her mother then memories of being raped by her father emerge themselves (major trigger warning btw I had trouble sleeping last night.) The way it's supposed to immitate the works of a mind just allows you to completely immerse yourself into her world. The book is called "Push," because throughout the whole book you can feel the different factors in her life that push Precious to keep on living, to keep on going.

I bought the book just last night and just finished it (quick read) so I'm still trying to digest it. It'll be interesting to see how it gets translated into a feature film.

quick note

So in my previous entry about Ft. Hood, I feel like I Maybe jumped to conclusions myself before doing enough research. and I don't think I made it clear enough that what happened in Ft. Hood was a big tragedy and my heart does go out to all the families that lost a soldier in that tragedy as well as those who have survived it.

However, I think sometimes, when a tragedy of this size happens, we (like myself) can have a tendency to jump into exploring the why's of it, how could something like this happen? That's when you explore the intentions, thinking and rationale that has led the perpetrator to commit such heinous acts. Which is why I felt the previous post that had the comments made from DJ, the Exec. Director of the NAPAMHA which focused on mental health factors and environmental factors that are incredibly important consider, especially if we need to implement preventive measures to avoid another tragedy like this.