Senator Warren, you are making a wonderful impact

Aside from a ridiculously small number of people, politicians everywhere receive my steadfast ire. The goal of politics as it is today seems vastly different than it was in Aristotle’s day, when the term was created. In my view, modern-day politics is a race to see who can attain the most power. Look at the two major political parties in the United States as a perfect example. Both the Donkey Clan and the Elephant Group will make promises that will positively effect a majority of the populace in order to get elected. Yet when it comes to fulfilling those promises once in office, both groups renege; instead, the policy decisions that are made line the pockets of the politicians or the lobbying groups who control them. Regardless of which of the two main political parties wins the presidency, the common people in this country are the ones who will be worse off because of it. Democrats and Republicans are part of the same corrupt over-arching organization.

One person who seems to fit into the ridiculously small number of politicians who is making a positive affect on the common U.S. citizen is Senator Elizabeth Warren. She is in her first term, yet she has shown more of a backbone in sticking up for what is just than some members of Congress have shown in decades of “service.” Senator Warren has already challenged the Senate Banking Committee to prosecute the big banks that took bailout money and yet are repeating the same mistakes; she questioned the practices of the Food and Drug Administration in allowing tainted pharmaceuticals to hit the market; now she has brought up the potential doubling of interest rates on student loans, saying that students should be given the same interest rate that big banks get when they borrow money from the Fed (0.75%). There is a sincerity in her actions right now that is exceedingly admirable.

The cynic in me says that Senator Warren will succumb to outside pressure. Every member of Congress has done the same thing. However, my hope is that this is a politician who is smart enough to play the game and then come in like a wrecking ball and destroy the current power structure once in the Oval Office. I know that this is quite a lot to expect, but I can definitely see her attaining that post. As a middle class citizen who is paying off a large sum in student loans, I cannot help but support Senator Elizabeth Warren for her gumption. This is a politician who actually seems to be making good on her promises. Fancy that.

Becoming my father

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.

-Mark Twain

I have been told repeatedly throughout my twenty-eight years that I look just like my father. For the first, oh, twenty-three of those years, I would brush off the comment with anger in my voice. It’s not that I was ashamed or angry that I looked like my father, it was simply that I wanted to be a completely unique person (which is probably why I dressed myself each day from the ages of three to seven in knee-high socks, cowboy boots, shorts, a button-up shirt, suspenders, and a bow-tie). I have always wanted to be an individual in every sense of the word, and when someone would tell me that I either looked or acted just like my dad, it seemed to jar my aspirations of being an individual. Dad would look at me from time to time, point to his face, and say, “This is your future.” Again, the desire to cut my own path in this life was threatened by mere words.

The quote by Mark Twain mentioned above has had a constant presence in the Whitton household. Dad had the quote framed and it hung on various spots of the walls in the Evergreen house. I can remember reading it over and over without understanding what it meant. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I caught the tongue-in-cheek presentation of the quote. The dad was not the one who had lessened his ignorance; the twenty-one year old was. In that moment, I had to chuckle.

I cringe when I think about my previous reaction to people saying that I resemble my father. How I was not over-the-top excited to be compared to such a remarkable human being is dumbfounding. I can blame my rampant individualism or my teenage angst, but the excuses do not hold even the smallest quantity of merit. Without a shred of doubt, my father is the person whom I want to become. His generosity, compassion, optimism, and above all, his obligation to fairness, have all been modeled to me every day in my twenty-eight years. I am proud to say that I am becoming my father. There is no one else whom I would rather be.

Growing up a devout sports fan, when people would ask me who my heroes were, I would state that Barry Sanders and Steve Yzerman were my heroes. While these two gentlemen are most definitely good people, they are not my heroes. My dad is my hero.

Thanks to you, Dad, my future looks bright.

Laughing out loud on a Sunday morning

My sweet wife Tami is asleep, which is why I feel bad for laughing so much and so loudly this morning. I have been watching these hilarious video shorts called ‘Kid Snippets,’ in which adults act out conversations had amongst kids, and my sides are aching due to a high volume of laughter. You have to watch these videos, as they are righteously funny. This video is about teaching subtraction, but there are dozens of videos available to watch.

My goodness, what a great way to start a Sunday!

The huge mistake in capitalist thought

capital: wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing

With this definition in mind, the goal of capitalism is to accumulate wealth, is it not? I am sure that more practiced players in the game of semantics could argue me out of this point, but for the purpose of this post, let’s assume that the capitalist system exists to perpetuate wealth among individuals, companies, or organizations.

If the purpose of capitalism is to gain wealth, then inevitably there will be some deceitful ways of acquiring capital. After all, a capitalist is encouraged to make money wherever possible (if you happen to be a devout capitalist and disagree with this statement, then I will welcome a friendly discourse on this matter). As long as the bottom line is showing a gain in the profit margin, then the ways in which money is made are largely irrelevant. Look at the disaster in Bangladesh as a prime example. Over a thousand impoverished workers died a horrific and completely avoidable death due to the incessant need of the business owners to make money. Then you can think about companies that produce weaponry intended to end a mass amount of lives (in the name of freedom and prosperity for a small section of the world’s populace, of course). Then of course you can bring up the companies that contribute to making the earth bald before her time (a phrase borrowed from H.D. Thoreau) in the interest of making profit. These examples simply scratch the surface of the detrimental ways in which capital is gained by the faithful servants of the capitalist system.

I must now direct your attention to the amount of profit that is seen as a result of the Congressional practice of setting the interest rate on federal student loans. The following information has been reported on by Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post (the link to his article will appear below). In this year alone, the United States government stands to make $51 billion on existing student loans for higher education. That number is roughly equivalent to the combined profit that the four largest U.S. banks (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo) reported last year, is more profit than what was made by each of the two most profitable oil companies (Exxon Mobil and Chevron) last year, and is ten billion dollars higher than the Apple corporation’s bottom line in 2012.

During election season, the politicians who are responsible for the interest rates of student loans will say that this country needs to invest in the future. Well, Congressional leaders, young people are the future of this or any country. Instead of putting eager students in a system that saddles them with debt, invest in them! Give them an interest rate that is manageable, not miserable. It is the upcoming generations that will have to literally pay for the actions of the current political scene. Student loans are second only to home mortgages in the realm of household debt. With this type of debt, how will college graduates save money for a car, a house, or a retirement, when they have a large monthly payment that applies mainly to the interest of their federal student loans? This is such a folly in the capitalist mantra. I am speaking directly to the capitalist when I say: if you are so quick to make money wherever you can, then by making every class but the business class broke and disheartened, you are not only hurting your potential earnings, but you are destroying a society that has the potential to live well within its means.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/obama-student-loans-policy-profit_n_3276428.html

Random acts of kindness

Humanity could use more of these for sure. Instead of acting like pompous, spoiled children, adults need to start showering everyone they see with kindness. There doesn’t need to be any reason for kindness, just kindness in and of itself. I remember when I first heard about random acts of kindness, I thought that it was the best idea anyone had ever had in the history of mankind. That sentiment has not changed now that I am an adult, and in fact, I think that it is even more brilliant now that I see how the world truly works.

The beauty about this idea is that anyone* can produce a moment of undiluted happiness for someone else at any point in time. Life should be all about filling people up, not tearing each other down. Any elementary school child knows this, but somewhere along the path to adulthood, this idea becomes warped.

*There are some people who will not want to provide happiness for anyone else. Some of these people are:

1. People who drop bombs on other people. Maybe this type of person derives happiness from ending the lives of people they don’t know. If this is the case, then these people deserve to live out the rest of their lives on a deserted island. There’s no need for a penitentiary.
2. People who think that there needs to be more guns in schools. Put kids in a prison-like setting, and they will end up living like criminals. Put them in a loving setting, and watch them grow up to be excellent people.
3. Fortune 500 CEOs. Jamie Dimon, especially.
4. Anyone in the marketing and advertising field. This includes a lot of my friends, so I’m sure that I’m stepping on a lot of toes here. The goal of M & A is to make people think that they don’t have enough stuff, and that until they purchase the right stuff, people won’t be happy. Forget about trying to make cooking pasta look like the pits; people can be happy without the Pasta Pro.

I will challenge myself and my students in the last part of this school year to give out one random act of kindness each day until the last day of school. This will be the best way to end my tenure with these kids.

Valuing peace

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

This is the thirty-first lesson of the Tao Te Ching. Besides shooting an assortment of NERF guns, I have never used a weapon before, so I can only imagine how I would feel if I had to use one. I have no use for violence, and I cannot imagine that stance changing in my lifetime. Sure, there are unique circumstances in which I might take a weapon in my hand, but it would be with the utmost restraint, like the Tao says.

I tell my students on a regular basis that I do not like anything that relates to real life violence, and in most cases, I don’t like fictional violence either. I see no benefit in pretending to seriously harm or kill someone else. Of course, if kids are pretending to be part of a Star Wars or Harry Potter scene on the playground, and their play causes no harm, then game on. I could do without all real-life depictions of war and graphic violence on video games, like the Call of Duty series, but if the game is like Mario Smash Brothers, where cartoon characters are throwing each other around, then I see no harm there. The former shows what could be a real-life scenario of murder, and the latter is a cartoon scenario that could never happen, and is meant to entertain only.

Violence has no part in my life, which makes me atypical compared to my male brethren all across the world. I like this difference, though, and I am proud of it.

One lesson a day for 1,095 days

My niece was born three years ago today. Her name is Alexis Rain, a beautiful ode to the revitalization of spring time precipitation. She has a mommy and daddy who love her, a little sister who plays with her at night sometimes, and a brother or sister on the way. She is adored by all who know her.

Alexis has a very important job. She is a teacher. Her lessons range from humility to perseverance, compassion to patience, and above all others, love. She is a remarkable teacher, just like her daddy. Her best lessons are very subtle, yet they teach the wisdom of the ages with a grace that shows you that enlightenment is within reach. Alexis is always there for the people she loves, just like her mommy. No family member can resist her presence; in fact, each member of the family craves her company! Alexis Rain brightens everyone’s day, each and every day. She is vital to our survival.

For over a thousand days I have learned a lesson from Alexis Rain. This teacher has become the pupil. After each lesson, I feel instantly refreshed and ready to conquer the world with an indomitable devotion to improving everyone’s situation around me. The greatest lesson that Alexis has taught me is to never, under any circumstances, give up. In focusing my attention on nature, she has shown me that this world can be a treasure to behold if I allow it to be. In cluing me into the stories that feature anecdotes of happiness, she has kept my focus on only those thoughts that provide me with a sustainable mindset to change this world for the better. Though her lessons have been indispensable, I get the feeling that her best lessons are yet to come.

I keep Alexis close by. In fact, she is always hovering directly over my heart. I love this child more than I can describe, and I am so proud to be her uncle. Here’s to you, kid! Today is your day – Happy Birthday!

The inequalities of the charter school system

For three years now, I have been a charter school employee. In all three years, I have been happy to have a job. I got my start in this profession, in a time when obtaining a teaching job straight out of college is virtually impossible unless you have a relative in a school district who can put in a good word for you. There are thousands of applicants for some positions, and trying to separate yourself from that mass is a difficult task indeed. So, let me say that I am happily employed.

Yet, teaching in a charter school setting creates a massive internal conflict for me. I have known about the charter school concept since No Child Left Behind was passed, when I read that public schools with bad test scores had three years to turn around the school or the public school could become a charter school. After a few years, I did a research project in college, and found that many charter schools are started by billionaires. I thought it was odd for these people to get in on public education. A few years past this revelation, I came to the realization that the entire charter school institution was meant to be run like a business, with the profit-line being the ultimate indicator of success in education, and that charter schools could accept or reject whatever students they choose. This creates a need for charter schools to get the best test scores by any means possible, and often denying people based solely on the potential dip the student may have on the overall test score grade for the school. This goes against the foundation of public education: all students are accepted into the school. In a public school, it doesn’t matter who the student is or what that student’s background is; all students are brought into the school, with the expectation that they will learn.

Charter education is a way for business people to tap into a public entity that has “stolen” a potential money flow from profiteers since the inception of the public school system. Teaching at one of these schools is like taking a crowbar to my heart. Not to mention, I get about $4,000 less per year than a district employee, work an hour longer school day and three week longer school year. The students watch their neighborhood friends play during the summer as they have to head back into school and suffer heat exhaustion while trying to learn about constructing a sentence with both a subject and a predicate. The charter system is awful for all parties except the profiteers.

Brian Jones is a man whom I have read about many times in the past few months. He has illuminated many issues in education, but this speech that he has on charter schools being a racist institution completely opened my eyes to the trend in U.S. education of setting up a charter school to promote segregation. This is a long speech, but if you have time, I would suggest watching it.

http://wearemany.org/v/still-separate-still-unequal-racism-class-and-attack-on-public-education

Can you really call this childhood?

I am excessively tired today, but there is a good reason why. I went to my best friend Nick’s concert last night, and I didn’t get back until two in the morning. Five years ago, getting back to my abode at two in the morning was common. Now, I go to bed at ten at night. So as I type this I feel like my eyelids are ten times heavier than normal, but I have such a wonderful feeling and mindset today that I almost wish that this tiredness would stay with me for an extended period of time.

Nick and I have been friends since we were three years old. We looked like brothers growing up: short kids with lenses on that might as well have been magnifying glasses. We were always coming up with games to play. There was hall soccer in Nick’s house, home run derby at mine; beat the buzzer at his house, and garage hockey at ours. Sure, we watched some television and played video games, but we were active kids who liked adventure. We were on the same soccer team for fifteen years, we listened to the same genres of music, and we had the same sense of humor. Childhood was all about either Nick coming to my house or me going to his, and we played all day. I look back on those years with extreme fondness, and the memories that I acquired during that period of time are countless.

After Nick’s band played last night, Nick, his older brother Ben and I were talking about funny stories from growing up. We talked for an hour, but the stories could have taken us well into the morning. What was so great about reminiscing was the realization that my childhood did not have a schedule. I would call Nick and ask if he wanted to come over, and within fifteen minutes, he was at my house. If he invited me over, I would ask Mom or Dad to drive me over to his house. I don’t recall having to ask them for permission; it was more of me telling them that I was going over to Nick’s house and I couldn’t drive myself there. I wouldn’t pack a bag full of things to bring to his house. I would get to the Browning house (or he would come to the Whitton house), and we would create our own fun with whatever we had available.

One generation later, and childhood looks drastically different. I hear moms out on the playground after school, and their kids beg them to set up “play dates” for a couple of hours. Both moms pull out their phones and check their calendars to see if a couple of hours of unstructured fun can fit into the schedule. “Well, you have a guitar lesson from 4:00 to 4:45, then you have karate from 5:15 to 6:15, then you have to eat dinner, do your homework, and go straight to bed.” I did not make up that quote, by the way. I hear this same type of comment by many parents. There is so much planned for their kids that the chance of their progeny having a childhood is slim to none. Then, when you add in the amount of screen time these kids have when they have some down time, their experience of childhood is unrecognizable compared to mine.

Kids need to experience adventure, exhaustion, imagination, exhilaration, and the outdoors. Childhood needs to go back to the basics. No more schedules or play dates. Childhood needs more game nights, but these game nights need to be centered around made up games or board games, not seven hours of video games without a break or without going outside. I tell my students on a weekly basis that I would trade places with them in a heartbeat, with the hope that they understand how much fun they can create every single day.

What this existence means to me

When I look through a lot of my past writings, I notice repeated phrases and words. One of those words that I have used repeatedly is existence. I am glad that I use that word frequently because it shows that I am thinking about the big picture instead of trivial struggles.

As a teacher, I notice patterns in the way that my students are able to learn. Some learn by trial and error, some by looking at someone else completing a task, some by sheer determination, and some by rote memorization. The route that works best for them is the route that I encourage them to pursue. This is how teaching is such a beautiful profession. First, you get to know each student on a personal level, then you get to push the right buttons and see the excitement on their faces when they comprehend what is being presented to them.

I learn best with my eyes. I have always been good at mimicry, and that is due to the details that my eyeballs pick up on. Impersonating others is easy for me, and I think that it’s because I notice how people hold themselves and allow their faces to contort while they talk. For example, when I speak like George W. Bush, I give a heavy dose of forehead and eyebrow movement, while constantly nodding my head in a cocky way. Voila, I become W.! Mimicry is simply noticing the small details and acting them out with accuracy. My eyes observe these details, and then I act them out. The reason why this is fascinating to me is that my eyes could certainly be considered a weak point of mine. I have had glasses since I was three years old. My vision is something like 20/400. Without glasses or contacts, my vision is comparable to that of a blind man. Through this area of weakness, I have built up a strength that I can depend on. I am a visual learner, yet my poor eyesight gave me a very inauspicious beginning in this quest for life-long learning.

This existence of mine is whatever I choose to make it. Nothing is more liberating than this thought! Though times may be oppressive, cruel, or horrific, I can take solace in knowing that my mindset is the engine that drives me back to happiness. If I can take a definite weakness and turn it into a strength, then within reason, anything is possible. The proof is there, and the evidence cannot be questioned. This means that whatever I choose to do with my life is possible. I know that I sound like I’m regurgitating dialogue from a Lifetime Channel original, but I truly believe that these sentiments are what make the human experience worth living.

My cousin Jim once talked about his “existential wanderlust.” When I first heard that phrase, I tried for months to unlock its meaning. By not thinking so much, and sitting back with a smile spread wide across my face, I think I’m finally starting to understand what he meant by that. This existence of mine is nothing short of spectacular.