Stories and other life lessons

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Mark Gomez

this page is from a book i am reading at the moment entitled The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. apologies for the small print but i felt that the dialogue that these two characters are engaged in reflects an internal dialogue i have been having for awhile in my life, like many others i am sure but even more so the simple yet powerful idea that we as humans learn best through narrative… which is to say through stories. even someone who would argue in the post Locke sense that we learn only through lived experience would in essence be arguing virtually the same thing, when one considers that life experiences collectively are the personal and communal narratives we create as individuals, communities, nations, societies, and worlds etc. as i digress i strive to hold on to the power of this idea of learning through narrative as vitally important for my personal work as an educator… and is one i hope to explore more with my colleagues this next school year, much like the collaborative spirit of Lucas and Campbell… this hero’s journey that we are all on should fundamental in helping us learn things of great importance, and hopefully not ruining great narratives in the process (star wars fans get my angered jab!)

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Art inspired by Mother Nature and a love for her…

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Mark Gomez

Art inspired by Mother Nature and a love for her…: “

In an effort to cultivate an environmental ethic on the campus of John Muir Middle School, the Boys to Men after school program and Outward Bound Adventures have teamed up with other students on campus to take part in the ‘Building Common Ground’ grant through the National Parks Service, a grant dedicated to celebrating the influence African Americans have had on our National Parks system.  This Monday students, park rangers, and artists will come together to create murals reflecting this rich heritage.  Pictures to be posted!!!

“

(Via TYME Foundation.)

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I got some good news…

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Mark Gomez

Thhus week a judge ruled that layoffs solely based on seniority adversely affect schools (like the one I have called home for the last 5 years) unjustly due to the higher concentration of new teachers.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-judge-blocks-school-layoffs,0,4707626.story

Our school, like many others should also have been named in this lawsuit… But I celebrate this as a victory for my teacher friends and family who had to suffer through the last 2 years of uncertainty, abandoned hope, and forced acceptance of a dream deferred.

And more importantly for our students, who have also had to suffer, in the most literal sense of the word. Everyday in the bungalows and in the dean’s office, on the steps of classrooms they have been left to sit on for no rhyme or reason, or the corners of campus they seek as a refuge rather than going to those classes where chaos and indignity triumphs over respect and education. I have seen a lot in these last 5 years to have me still believe that this decision, born from an “impartial” system is cause for hope still…

John Muir Middle School

One of my collaborative attempts to beautify my home for the last 5 years... Mural done by graff artists Galo (MakeOne) and Cre8.

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Michael Leunig

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Mark Gomez

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Art never sleeps

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Mark Gomez

i’m not sure what inspired this… but what i do know is that inspiration and motivation to communicate messages are ever abundant. and things like taking away resources from arts programs or trends indicating a devaluing of the arts , although they present very real and serious issues facing our society, they in no way prevent creativity from transforming the world. in fact one might make the argument that these obstacles, however absurd and self-inflicted they may be, provide the fertile ground for those creative solutions and inspiration that truly satisfies the human spirit…

artistic expression never rests… question is do we want to neglect this natural human urge? or do we want to support it?

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Inspired by kids

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Mark Gomez

My kids inspire me everyday… Some days more than others admittedly, but on Monday when 3 of my students were in class doing what they normally do, I was inspired. After running 26.2 miles the previous day, the marathoners took that spirit, like they do everyday, and applied it to their learning. Like Nike, these kids “just do it” everyday in the classroom and althroughout their lives. The student whose gear is pictured finished in something like 17,000th place. But 1st in my eyes. Keep trucking folks, keep trucking.

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educational 3rd spaces i have experienced this weekend…

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Mark Gomez

i have the pleasure in working in a field that is in constant change… some exciting, some rhetorical, and some just plain depressing. within the span of a mere weekend (two days that supposed to be OFF from work) an ICEBERG of issues were floating around out there and somehow found way to my brain allowing my to offer my perspective on some. here are a few:
on saturday morning my wife (a teacher of 3 years if you count this year, as she has been “subbing” for herself… having been laid off last year) received, as many colleagues and personal friends of mine did i am sure… her second lay off notice from our esteemed district… which begged the question, how can you lay off someone who isn’t even under contract? after posing this we proceeded to laugh and move on with our weekend, having learned the past year that the massive problems plaguing LAUSD weren’t created in a day, neither will the solutions be and therefore should not ruin ours. things are worse for many others and we are grateful to still be able to laugh.

at coffee i intercepted some tweets around the critical teaching in action conference from some friends who were presenting their work there… i was unable to attend let alone present this year, but their work was around media and how it allows someone like me (who didn’t want to be at a formal conference) to benefit from the work that was presented there.

went out to breakfast with a colleague and personal friend who has been teaching at my school for 10 years (twice as long as i have) and enjoyed the company of someone who i might not have the pleasure of working alongside with next year, as i have come to terms with the fact that my creative and philosophical needs around educating youth will be better served elsewhere… perhaps here (at the obama global preparatory academy – working alongside colleagues from UCLA and ISCA) or here...

celebrated the admittance of a friend to the UCLA film school… an accomplishment that will spawn many others as this artist continues to pursue her art to help tell one of many stories that is not being told in the dominant culture… mainly that of the experiences of students and teachers dedicated to educational equality in the inner city… we celebrated this by being rock stars for the night…

today my educational tour over the weekend was wrapped up by an interesting dialogue? with friends/colleagues… around many issues of power, inequity, dialogue…
hegemonic, critical, and transformational identities that we all have. in a safe space that has allowed if anything, a fumbling (albeit entertaining and often times enlightening) exploration into true liberatory pedagogy and the possibility these 3rd spaces open up, for our students, our school site circumstances, and for ourselves… not only as educators but as actors on this world stage.

as i move forward in a spirit of collaboration with all the wonderful people i have had the fortune to meet by being a teacher… i am reminded of the immense work still left to do… but inspired by all the possibilities there are to do it…

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Life in the desert… (my campus after 3pm)

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Mark Gomez

What do our kids do after school? For all the complaining we as educators participate in about the lack of character, discipline, decision making… And the fact that we are constrained to a certain extent from teaching these things throughout the course of a standards-based curricular day, it would seem that afterschool programming would be ideal to address the multiplicity of issues some of our students are facing… Yet everyday for the past year or more, my campus, so filled with loud and vibrant life during the day, instantly transforms into a barren sea of unused space where kids should be playing, hanging out, learning (it takes place after school whether we support it or not)… The few programs that are on campus, one of which I am very much a part of… are exceptions, trying to survive amidst the complete absence of funding or support of any type for that matter. The garden club, the drum club, the Boys to Men rites of passage program (forgive the outdated link, one of my charges as a board member of this organization) I am involved with working for at risk youth without male role models in their lives to help steer them thru adolescence… These outliers exist on the fringe of the school culture that sends the strong message: leave, your time for being tolerated is over. Go find something to do, but don’t get in trouble…

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whose narrative?

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Mark Gomez

storytelling is coming back (or perhaps it never left) but it has been on my mind for the past couple of years… ever since my last visit to the panamanian coastal caribbean town of porto bello… necessary post to come…

as i continue to play up to my writer’s block, i do realize that i am rendering this blog of mine ineffectual the more time that passes between posts. but as previously stated i have preferred the old pen and paper as of late. so to help get some of my ideas out i turn to other peoples’ ideas or MEMES? (however dangerous and infectious they might be.. in-fact-to-us, i believe that is the intent with blogs no?

wade davis, a fast talking natgeo writer ponders the implications of the destruction of cultures, narratives that we are snuffing out quicker and with more success than the “company” in james cameron’s less intellectual but nonetheless stimulating AVATAR… although i find it interesting at the end of his talk when he speaks on natgeo’s work to help combat this and i am automatically transported back to my 1st semester of college in monterey where my professor took quite a critical stance on something i had merely taken for granted as part of my childhood… she question whether natgo and their readership (myself as a child included) were truly doing what the thought they were to help indigenous populations through exposure to the wester world… this question has gone largely unanswered to me although at the time i recall mounting an offensive defense to her argument. this question revisited me after seeing the following talk. resolved: i do stock natgeos in my classroom for my students to read.

and as for kameelah… discovering that she went to school with my old neighbor and good friend has only further excited my appreciation for her ability to put into words and images thoughts that i can merely ponder briefly before giving up under their overwhelming ramifications… her thoughts on haiti and the treatment of her narrative in the media as of late and historically where like echos of the exact questions i proposed to myself… and only once to my wife out loud.

as i try to sort out how i will go on telling my life story, or more so as i try to figure out where the plot line is going… i keep reciting these lines:

9/2010: haiti–’broke illusion’s hymen.’: “

haiti.


i have reserved most commentary up until this point. there is a lot of discourse floating about these here internets and i do not have the energy to scour the www. to find every comment. i will say a few things. i find it unfortunate and perverse that the only moments haiti garners any international attention is when there is a disaster. and even with this disaster, it presents itself as an opportunity for to perpetuate more myths about haiti, black bodies, and savior narratives.

re narratives and illusion: ‘blasphemy‘ by yusef komunyakaa

re haiti as spectacle: there is someone deriving sexual pleasure from these scenes. poverty porn. suffering porn. someone is getting off. is it okay to film haitians receiving medical attention. is it not too invasive? do they deserve some level of privacy?

re haiti and adoption: there are a bunch of orphaned haitian children.there were plenty before. but i wonder…will any hollywood stars adopt those kids? curious.

re disaster as industry: someone is making some money from this tragedy. someone has to be contracted to rebuild.

my stomach drops when i see these photos. i cannot breathe sometimes.

everyone has been talking about ‘helping’ haiti because it’s sooo very poor and desperate. very few have taken the time to investigate the root causes of this desperation. becoming the first nation of black slaves to defeat their colonizers and establish a free nation (which was wrought with it’s own collection of post-slavery issues) left many european nations both angry and scared. since the 1800s, the united states has engaged in embargoes and other punitive policies related to land ownership, interference in elections, support of dictatorships, occupations, etc.

“

(Via kameelahwrites.)

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R.I.P. Mr. Zinn

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Mark Gomez

enough time has passed where i think the sudden sense of surprise and loss has also lessened the impact that my attempt to write something meaningful might have produced… rethinking schools does a much better job here. i have included zinn’s quote here for the link phobic:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

“And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
– Howard Zinn

suffice to say that any social studies educator knows who howard zinn is, regardless of whether they agree with his perspective on american history, recognizes that the greater importance of his tireless work is that he provided many of us with the understanding that history is a subjective production and examination of multiple and often competing perspectives… based on all kinds of different things… in this sense more a twisted knot of narrative threads… from which we can either hang ourselves with, or acknowledge and value the strength in this fiber of shared history… and use it to pull ourselves out of some of the surreal and horrifying situations we still find ourselves in… i hope we chose the later, in both the previous statement and the subsequent video:

his legacy lives on in teachers of history all over…

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