Label Dissonance - Part 1 - Hispanics in Panic

How to deal with the Hispanic causing panic? Being New Mexican usually affords you a dog in the fight about how Spanish one is. This post is not about the measurable traits to help with this argument. This post is about my understanding of how the Mexican descendants in the borderlands, the North American Southwest, demonstrate heritage acrobatics to draw a phantom line between an Anglo heritage and a Mestizo heritage.  The idea of identity itself is phantom and only a frame of mind. The two words Spanish and Mexican qualitatively not only divide a mindset, but these contrasting signifiers ripple through in Nuevo Mexico’s politics, prejudices, and myths.

Most Hispanics aren’t white supremacist. White supremacist in this context is the belief that Anglo-euro white persons are superior to all other heritages, often using race as a criteria for this belief.  This post is also not about breaking down the semantics for what can be seen as white supremacy. I use this as a basis for describing a cultural divide amongst Mexican descendants in the borderlands. The fallout of the Treaty of Hidalgo, was a promise through a “sporked” tongue. This is the type promise where the agreements were implemented with the bigotry and system rigidity that ensure quick unraveling of any promises, and with an invisibility that left Mexicanos screaming with no one to hear.  The agreement was implemented in a way that provided loopholes, negations, and forfeitures in a manner that skirted the line of evil, while blowing past dignified. This was a colonial carry over from imperial tactics, but mainly just dirty.

This is where the Mexicano people likely consummated the Corsican relationship between Chicano and Hispanic. It served the newly acquired “American Citizens” a naturalized chance at running the prosperity obstacle course to retain their land, rights, and dignity. Many of these land owning Mexican descendants saw the landscape of this obstacle course. They learned from watching squaters, false claims, vigilante justice, and susceptibility to unchecked white crime. They learned how important it was to claim “White” as a piece of safety equipment.  New Mexicans found themselves at the mercy of the American’s appetite for all things profitable. 

The paradox here is the wealthy newly naturalized American citizens likely used similar tactics in their past to acquire their capital during the conquest. So the capitalist encounters a more vindictive capitalist and we have two bullies finding new ways to keep their power. The Mexican with much more to lose transforms themselves from Mexicano into something distinguished, Hispanic. The New Mexican northern Mexican villager who somehow had a direct flight from Santa Fe or Albuquerque to Spain. One of the very first Southwest Airlines  “gotta get away” deals. Joking aside, elite Nuevomexicanos among other politically motivated people used their Spanish lineage as a litigation tool.  

Nearly 200 hundred years later we have people who hold tightly this same Spanish purity myth.

Label Dissonance - Part 2

We can't be racist

 I learned in my late 20's that race was a construct and not a biological marker.  This expanded my perplexed attitude towards my perception of dominant cultures and my own identifications.  I have to admit that it created a disappointment in me that inspired many life changing principles.  A hatred for my own contributions to the systematic bigotries.  The changes were disorienting.  I had new information that highlighted how I didn't belong to a race, how I have privilege despite having embraced a victim's mentality for so long, and how I learned how tainted my origin story is.  

I was socially indoctrinated to function believing that somehow I was socially ordered into an ethnic layer tied to the color of my skin.  And I had around 3 unspoken layers beneath me, a few complex layers around me and one championship layer above me.  And this system of layers was more about human capital than it was ever about superiority. I now find it impossible to participate in life the same way knowing these layers are dysfunctional.  

Today it seems like the world is coming to these same realization or maybe resistance to seeing it change.  Seems like these layers are being stirred by the complexities of our nations shortcuts, abuses, rule breaking, rule bending, and for sure rule escaping.  The Black Lives Matter movement, the Boogaloo movement, the Federalist Society, ANTIFA, Blue Lives Matter and the QAnon folks are all adjusting to the lower layers being informed and the new voices demanding participation where their views historically could be ignored when rule making.  We may not have equality but that is not suppressing assertion. 

I am as aware as ever of the emotions I still have when thinking about where I land in the eyes of my fellow citizens.  I find it challenging and hard to know that I have this information and the systems or eco-systems I live in are still functioning on the legacy caste like mentalities.  I find the pain that creates anger in me isn't as overwhelming.  I can still feel the injustice while also celebrating the change.  I still feel discriminated and I smile when I can't recognize if it is bigotry or because of me .  

At times I think some dominant cultures conceal their bigotry far easier now that we have a more ambiguous linguistics for prejudice.  I see the opportunities where I might have written off barriers to entry as racist, where earlier in my life I would have felt it wasn't my shortcomings but theirs.  I now take more responsibility for making it harder for the systems to exclude me, sometimes by assertion, more often by trusting the process, and when I fall short I let it motivate me to find a different route.  The system is going to make space, but not until I let it know I want it to make room. 

I am not as surprised or devastated when the Anglo world sees me through fear oriented lenses.  I accept the sadness that my culture has such delinquent parts.  I still get frustrated with how it seems at times I am catching up to all the other layers of people, whether it be in knowledge, lifestyle, or effectiveness.  I am grieving the ways I am not sufficient and can't close the gaps.  I seem to be between layers.  And I am grateful for the anger and tension because it might mean I am not the only one who has to begin the process of revisiting this looming concept called Race and how it has antagonized the darkest parts of our character.

I am proud of my Chicano heritage, my Spanish origins, Mexican adaptation, and New Mexican simplicity.  I am a complicated member of a brave experiment that at times didn't want to include me, found a way to, and is now providing a way to contribute that is safer than other peoples around the world can.  I will slowly eliminate my regard for race or speak to the invalidity of Race as a human trait. I will continue to let it draw out emotions working to orient them in way that helps me be more Christ-like and a spreader of dignity

.  All of this while hoping that I might create safety that rarely creates danger for the other layers.  

Not Racist...rather an Ethnicist

It seems surprising that we still use Race as a categorical demographic despite the word having no truth, being fabricated, and its toxicity.  And this is not to suggest that Racism is equally fake.  It saddens me to accept that Racism is a diagnosis for a form of hatred.  Racism, is articulated elegantly by Rev. William J. Barber as, "a strategic hate that has an agenda" (Barber, W.J (2017). Public Speech at Poor Peoples Campaign, August 15, 2017) .  We all are capable of hate.  And racism is a schism between those needing to tighten down a decorated shroud of hateful fallacies that promoted their industrial economic agenda and a reality that we are an integration of evolved bio mechanisms that are uniquely identifiable through genetics, yet our foundation, anatomy, and physiology functions indistinguishably, all worthy of wellness.  It's unfortunate that we camouflage the ethnic hatred with this schism by validating a fictitious word, Race.

I want Racism to be identified by its real source, Ethnic Hate.  We validate the meaning of Race by perpetuating its usage. We still use the concept to describe and acknowledge the ignorance of people still stubborn enough to believe we are differentiated by the illusion of Race.  It seems ignorant to spend time on this schism rooted in the word "Race" when we have the real ethnic, cultural, bigoted, prejudice, economic, social, and ideological schisms stressing this adolescent American nation.   The use of Race as the root word for the concept of racism, shields the propagation of underlying malice, going undetected in our social systems because Race itself is undetectable.  There are not any indicators for someone who is racist because there are not any indicators for Race.  There are indicators for someone who is phobic, prejudice, or discriminant because their statements and policies make it indicative.

The real concept under attack from imperial ideologies is ethnicity and culture.  Ethnicity aligns more with the real human distinguishers. My study of race, my encounter with my "racism", and the unfolding of the intelligence on the subject has allowed me to differentiate between the fiction, ideology, rationality, economics, bigotry, xenophobia and atrocity.  I can also be sad for how it has continued to be used for 600 years (Smedley,  A., 1997).  I hope to share more perspective on the covert and micro absurdities of Race, the concept, still lurking and giving traction to our unfair and unbalanced social constructs.  Race might be cultural sect-ism, inspired by prosperity, more likely rapacity, and corroded by hate, but it is still illusionary.

It would help shift the narrative around our human nature, to call racism what it really is... Ethnicism.

eth ·nic ·ism

/eTH 'ni' sizem /
noun

1. prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different ethnicity based on the belief that one's own ethnicity is superior.
2. the belief that all members of each ethinicity possess characteristics or abilities specific to that ethnicity, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another ethnicity or ethnicities.
3. a form of neurotic hatred treatable with love, cultural immersion, and humility.

References:

Smedley,  A., (1997). Origin Of The Idea Of Race. Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-09.htm

Just a laborer

This is my first encounter with feeling inspired to collaborate with a Saint.

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”?
-Francis of Assisi

Reading this quote can inspire, then as I realize my own sadness around being seen as labor, and not as often, seen as an artist, it doesn't completely help me feel divine.  But, what I have noticed in my evaluation of people's perceptions through their cultures, privilege, and histories, especially my own obligation or rooted ideas to be seen or identified as a "Mexican-American", "Brown", or "Hispanic", is that I have allowed other's preferences and perceptions to define how I am perceived.

I participate in judging one's work, again especially my own.  I establish my own scales of cost and compensation. I determine my own version of what it is to be labor or art.  That scale is used for me and against me.  I cultivate my competencies and doubts from these determinations.  I internalize my worth, alongside my values, and ultimately my social cost.  I have become a judge of quality and economized human worth.

One concept that Francis left out is that when I judge someone's work to be absent of head or heart or both head and heart, I participate in the historic human neurosis, possibly mental disease of bias, prejudice, and economics.  What does it mean to hold an individual in comparison for what they contribute?  What does it mean to use your head or heart?  Is it fair to suggest that some people choose not to use their head and heart?  I wonder about comparison.  I often find it is the root of jealousy.  It seems natural to see comparison as competition.  We, I, have the need to excel and be more alluring.  It might be our reproductive instinct for desirability.  Are we fulfilling our primal instructions to reproduce?  Does distinction drive us to improve or see ourselves as insufficient?  I have a desire to know where I stand among others.  Does my true self need to know this or is it my insecurity that is seeking this out?  So I see this comparison as toxic and hurtful egoism.  Without disregard or disrespect for separating mundane from enchanting,  I have my contribution to this quote.

My contribution would be subtly different.  Those who see the God in someone's work, without comparison, even when done modestly with their hands is an artist.  Those who see Divinity in the distinct quality that  reveals a person's thoughtfulness is an artist. Those who can see beyond jealousy and grandiosity of an individual who combines their labor with thoughtfulness to reveal their heart is an artist.  Lastly when we can begin to look for the hands, head, and heart in all people's contribution we will be artisans.

I hope that one day we, I, will value the produce picker with the same preference as the gourmet chef.  I am working to see the Crossfit games champion as valuable as the dainty homebody.  I am working to see the nuclear physicists as valuable as the janitor who empties the trash.  I desire a day when the carpenter with blistered hands is valued with same reward as the real estate agent with manicured nails.

I idealize about what life would be like when our knowledge won't have a cost on it, and our labor won't be the measure of our social worth.  Who am I to judge someone's worth, much less their cost?

Maybe a better inquiry would be into how modestly can I provide enchanting contributions in community that I am compensated with resources that will not distance my opportunities to thrive from yours?  Or Can I be an artist without keeping you a laborer?  Are you an artist if only the elite can afford to benefit from your work?

Delivery man bring some compassion.

I think I have learned from my entanglement with discrepancy that we all want to see ourselves as overcoming the impossible.  What has been difficult to share with people who don't come from the barrio, people who have light skin, people who are middle class, people who are the dominant culture, and people who are mainstream is the idea of advantage, a.k.a privilege.  As soon as you come across a person who argues the idea of social privilege, I come to the conclusion that their idea of success is a simple formula of hard work and dedication.  How do I argue that?  I don't!

I am learning to thank God that there are those out there that don't have to experience the barrio life, the suspicious appearance, the limited lifestyle, the inferior ideas, and the margins of acceptance.  I have learned to stop convincing, debating, and advocating for the disadvantaged.  I have learned that perception is the most powerful psychological tool a person can see with.  I have learned that we all like to see ourselves as overcoming the impossible, even the privileged.  I might even say that people like to believe that they have had a rough enough journey to qualify as an underdog.  I have come to the idea that privilege doesn't need an advocate, I am learning to accept that fairness is not measurable.

So what I can do is wonder and be curious.  After this song played, after the video settled into my psyche, I began to identify with the limited visibility we base our perceptions on. Maybe even as limited to our own memories or sad stories.  If so many folks believe that hard work and dedication are remedies to poverty, than so be it.  I start to critically remember that this video uses the metaphor of "pizza man" and a "no delivery zone", and I can expand on how that is only a thin slice of the pie.

If its too dangerous for the pizza man, then it sure is too dangerous for the mathematics tutors, college preparatory programs, after school programs, a young man to grieve, Wholefoods, a fitness center, Yoga, parks with grass, hoops with nets, Fro-Yo, sentences without cuss words, family with parents who have flexible work schedules, friends who can withstand peer pressure, employee or parent sponsored recovery programs for addicts, lawyers for misdemeanors, books on a bookshelf, walls without sprayed paint, dogs with collars on leashes wearing cardigans, selling drugs as a as a hobby because here its a career, a habit called responsible drug use, boy scouts tying knots, girls scouts selling cookies, patience, compassion, investment, or attention.

If its to dangerous for the pizza man then it sure ain't too dangerous for the payday lenders, the bondsman, the cigarette shop, the liquor store, the quick mart, planned parenthood, soup kitchen,  house flippers flipping houses, the drive by pharmacist dropping baggies, the Dollar Mart, pawn shop, train tracks, vocational high school, random traffic stops, DWI check points, and police sub stations.

But this might be because the privileged like to believe that privilege doesn't discriminate.  Often I hear, "why shouldn't I benefit from my family's successes".  The privileged don't feel obligated to question the advantage their ancestors created.  Sarcastically, it might be because some inferior peoples prefer to increase their discomfort.  Satirically, it might be the opportunity for some foolish peoples to create a chance for themselves to work even harder.  Maybe its that people add challenges to life for the chance to test their dedication. It could be like an exercise for wherewithal.

So it is possible that we all have privileges.  Again sarcastically, it might be that some of us prefer to alter our availability to it.  Maybe some of us are just not as motivated to work hard.  Maybe some of us just don't have the discipline to remain dedicated.  Or maybe having privilege makes it inconvenient to reflect back on how it was created.  Maybe we might see that our peeps, daddy, grandpa, mamma, grandma or mi patria took short cuts, cheated, payed the right people, sold out the right people, sold out the right cultures, took advantage of the right markets, or capitalized on the right insecurities.  It might be easier to believe that I deserve the privilege available to me because my peeps worked harder and had more dedication.  I can dig that, but I don't.  Its complicated, right?

Privilege is when I take a blessing and turn it into an advantage to elevate my social value at the expense of others.  Responsibility is a word that I am committing my life to.  Responsibility is when I take a blessing and enhance my life so that it enhances the life of those around me.  As long as there is disadvantage or discrepancy I will have to critically evaluate how I leverage my blessings.  There is a beautiful paradox between learning to understand privilege and knowing how to be responsible to the living, because far too much value has been depended on or inherited from the dead.

A Reflection on Scripture

Matthew 7:3-5
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

 

The United States is responsible for its own September 11th.  Holding the 9/11 for American grief is not fair.  It interesting to discover that America has many Al Qaeda like episodes in our history.  We may not have conspired in caves but we did conspire.  We may not have believed in democracy that looked or functioned like ours.  We may have encourage dictatorship.  It appears to be likely that Chileans are saddened by America's role in the overthrow of their elected government.  They also might be grieving the death of thousands at the hand of Pinochet, the dictator inserted to lead.  Being a global leader for freedom should not come at the expense of other creative peoples.

I say we, but I really mean is more likely a small group of American business men hoping to keep leverage.  I cannot help but recognize the hypocrisy that my country seems to display.  As more of our past becomes declassified we will recognize our shortcomings. Americans who, like Bin Laden, manipulate with violence to get their way need to be held with compassion.  What kind of life have they lived.  What traumatic experiences have they lived.  What could build a conscience with so much greed, lust, disregard, and disrespect for others and their countries.

We have got to stop fearing communism, socialism, and equality and start learning about it.  We have got to trust that China has and is functioning as a communist state.  Some might argue that it is successfully adapting to modern economics favorably.  So much so that it is the refuge for American corporations.  With a majority of products being made in China, a communist country, how fearful are we of it.  Our dollars do not seem to fear China's communism.  This is not to say that communism is any better or worse than democracy, it is to talk to the fear some American's have for seeing socially oriented governments becoming one.

The speculation that our leaders believe as truth, the belief that socialism is absolutely a gateway to communism is minimizing to the human capacity to change.  It is disrespectful to social innovation and the idea of democratic socialism.  We have tendencies but we do adapt, adjust, and evolve for the greater good.  We have got to be the country that we want to see other countries be.  We are being the country that we fear will be created if we don't threaten every country that governs with risk.  We need to work with countries that we fear versus threatening their individuality and power.  We have to advocate for healthy governments by participating in international laws.  We have to remain seated when discussions are confrontational.  We have got to let dysfunctional countries find their way with guidance and intervention, not violence and punishment.  We have to learn while teaching.

America's fear for what might happen and what profits could be lost seems to motivate our delinquent tendencies.  We have our own September 11th to reconcile, we have our own tyrannical behaviors to correct.  We have our own apologies to make.  We have our own debt to grieving families to carry.  So in recognition of  September 11th for those we attacked and our lost lives, I hope to take the spec from my own eye, before asking my government to remove theirs.

Surfacing thoughts

I have dreamed of being an instrument of healing.  I have had grandiose thoughts of being the change I'd like to see in the world.  I have traveled to Guatemala first to learn and recently to serve.  I found in my first trip that poverty is a harsh perspective for me to look at.  It is difficult for me to witness.  It is a way of life for millions.  It is a lifestyle that I find painful and discouraging.  For the people of Guatemala it is home.

The second trip has allowed me to get a better understanding for the lifestyle.  There are numerous ways of living in this region.  There are economies that facilitate prosperity, religion, and poverty.  The colonial legacy that once thrived in Central America still holds an advantage.  There are entitled land owners.  There are entitled politicians who are masters of networking and ensuring the status quo.  There are those who simply wake each morning to hold a job and make a living.  There are those who are advocating for the ongoing injustices that might be black and white.  There are those who wake up to each day ignorant and foolish.  There are those who have little comfort but thrive in community.  Guatemala is stepping into the 21 century having a specialized skill set of policing, peasantry, farming, and exporting.

Poverty is alive and strong in Guatemala.  It lives in the form of greed, stubbornness, violence, and obedience.  There is a hunger in Guatemala for learning, creativity, and integrity.  For 30 years this country learned to live by the rules of the military and to unlearn this obedient and mundane culture will take freedom to dream.  There is a poverty of money and health for the peasant class, but worst of all there is a poverty of hope.  There is a beaten and obedient people who have learned to never leave the yard and do what has always been done.  There is not a freedom to dream and shake the cage of "shoulds".  There is a fear of sharing.

There is a slow leak in the concrete heart of Guatemala.  Americans, who come from the same country that empowered the machine that steam rolled their dreams of communal policies, are now saturating the crusted and calloused skin protecting the creativity that lives in the land, softening it, and seeping in confidence and encouragement.  Guatemala is not 3rd world, it is recovering, it is mangled, and it is healing.

For Passion Income Statements

How can we measure our profit margin for an investment in social innovation.  There isn't one.  What I find is that there is a passion margin.  When you get to the bottom line of an income statement for an organization like common hope, the hope should be for passion.  If we give people an opportunity to dream, we have seen them come alive and share in the unique abilities that all living things have, a passion to grow.

If resources can be shared across productive systems like a health clinic, a library, an early learning center, educational psychology, a family guidance center, clean and safe community facilities, educators, and dreams, we have seen that return on passion keeps growing.  The key market indicators are not in dollars, but graduation rates, teen sexual patience rates, drop in rates, preventative health care usage, and economic stability rates.  

When we walked around the barrios of Guatemala we were greeted almost every time.  We were acknowledged with every passing, we were treated to connection, only briefly but consistently.  The scariest folks in Guatemala were not the ragged and impoverished looking people, it was the unknown.  The fear of the consequences and desperation that can come from economic poverty.  There is a quiet and humble tranquility that flows through the streets of Guatemala. That is a natural resource that has been suppressed, disrupted, and barried in classism.

There is conflict and politics like in every system.  It is not capitalism that destroyed this region.  I doubt communism could create less suffering.  I do think the fear of equality keeps others from sharing.  It might be greed and corruption that feeds the fear of equality.  There is a term I rarely hear used in social systems, stingy.  There are cultures that are stingy in the human race.  Those who are stingy have not been loved enough to know that sharing often results in bounty.  

Sharing is not an economically sound strategy for gaining power, and sharing power is rarely admired. I could not have dreamed up this opportunity had I not been able to trust that I could share responsibility with this team.  And now, we share in the bounty.  We look at each other and realize we have extended our family.  We have drilled for love and found it.  We have mined for passion and are exporting it.  We found a compassion forrest and are harvesting its fruit.  We have finalized our sharing statements and have your return on investment, our passion margin.  Our dividends are as high as ever, in the currency of gratitude.  You are valued!

Buen Provecho,

Ron

Incarceration Rates by Population

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate


One nation under God, indivisible, and Justice for those who are empowered. Forgiveness for the powerful few, the elite humble, the profitable meek, and rare ignorant.

It is the home of the brave often when convinced, promised, or deceived with education and hazard pay...not to mention large no bid contracts.

Land of the Free seems to be empirically unseen for the staggering cultures, land of the discriminant and home of the prejudice appears to be a better statistical match.

All men are created equal, unless it becomes inconvenient and rebellious in the eyes of the status quo. Most should pursue happiness and the entitlements that come from capitalism until the rich elite can conspire guidelines that eliminate or discourage competition.

When one can find themselves in the flow of empowerment and able to tolerate the magnetic forces of addiction, we are as great as the greatest nations. We are capable of being talented and symbiotic. We can and have championed liberty by giving the underdog time on the court.

We are brilliant because we allow the underdog an opportunity to study the play book. We open the practice fields up for everyone. We are still in the direction of democracy. We are close to seeing all people as equal.

We are growing further from valuing them for their contributions versus looking for oppotunities to punish them.

License to help

I need a license to work with youth who desperately work to hate the licensed.  We have a license for things that can be harmful.  Counseling is one of them, I guess.  You can buy a gun without a license.  I find myself joining a system of counselors manipulated, inspired, and branded for the most part by the theories of people who have studied the scientific perspective.  The scientific perspective is born from a system of institutional education.
I find myself wondering how did local communities lose sight of wellness.  What i hear in my communities is not suffering but more a refusal to see the sickness.  I sadly describe the lower class community as being sick.  It is unfortunately expected to be dysfunctional because functional for them is not the norm, it is different from the educated higher classes.  If I live in a home with cockroaches, i learn to fuction with them, around them, and time has to be spent dealing with them.  For the upper class, roaches are eradicated, trapped, and poisoned.  

I talk with a carnalito and he looks at me like a threatening stranger.  I am the system he has been punished by.  I am the paddle that has smacked his hearts ass.  I am the concerned veterano being forced to wear the uniform of the correction officer.  They smell me and look over me like the vato turning up their barrio street coming to take away their little brother.

I am a wanna be curandero.   I joined up to heal and now I am handcuffed by legislation, licensure, and oaths.  The currandero is like a rare cactus  that blooms under the right conditions.  The artificial and stale mindset instilled by the congnitives has drapped a white hospital like bed clothe over the colorful cotton blouse worn by the curandero.  My gente cannot see me as a friend.  I am drenched in the smell of the system.  I am wearing a uniform that disguises my intention.  I am a foreigner, an alien among the broken hearted, like Christ in His human form among the sick.  I am rejected and ignored because I don't look capable of bringing good news.  If I was tattooed,  dressed street, and spoke with cred, I could have their attention at least.  The language of love and healing is potent but getting people to speak with it is rare.

Can we "Alford" it?

We spend money where we don't put our minds.  So it is more like putting our money where our asses are.  I recently watched a talk on education spending (not the one below, a different one).  I recently heard about the bonuses that Steve Alford is piling up as a basketball coach.  I also understand that education seems to be an important arena for Americans.  But is education really a priority, or is basketball the priority.  Steve Alford is a happy contributor to the University of New Mexico.  Does he promote education?  Is he worth his weight in bonuses.  Is paying our coaches the most effective strategy for improving education?

"... more than $625,000 in bonuses even after his base salary and other compensation package pays him more than $1 million ($324,200.04 in base salary, $600,000 in “other compensation” and $100,000 annually in deferred compensation paid into a retirement account)" - Grammer, G; Albuquerque Journal; Jan. 20, 2013 Alford's Bonuses

What would our education system look like if we had the same pay mechanism for teachers as we do for coach's.  What if we gave bonuses for small success that a typical hard working person would consider part of the job.  Steve gets a bonus for winning certain games, seems like this is what his core job objectives might expect.  Do we give bonuses to teachers for teaching in schools that are considered more challenging.  Steve gets a bonus for making sure his team is passing their classes.  Do we pay janitors bonuses for keeping the school reasonably clean.  These appear to be job objectives that might fall under meeting expectations versus going above and beyond.  By the way the man manages a game, not a cancer research team.  He makes a salary that most engineers don't even gross.  He has an opportunity to make more money than our school's president.

Is this unfair?  Depends who you ask.  Personally I think it is a propagation of the Jock vs Nerd paradox.  I think it demonstrates this country's shadow.  I think it reveals our stupidity.  Is Steve Alford the kind of man I would invest in.  From the information I have, I wouldn't go to war with him or for him.  Does he win?  Yes!  Is he effective? Sure, but at what expense and at what consequence.  Two huge unknowns.  Is  he humble?  Is he a man with integrity, patience, commitment, and modesty?  I don't think a man who was would find his coaching role a productive part of the University mission.  He would see himself for what he is, a manager of human resources.  What he is to me is an overpaid exploiter of athletes, in a system designed to ignore the human need to educate all members of society, not just the ones who can "Alford" it.

Is the only way for our students to be interested in our University is to see our school in the NCAA tournament.  Is the best form of marketing to pay one of Bobby Knight's psychological spin offs an insane amount of money.  Is education a priority for this country?  As I watch some of the NCAA tournament I can't help but be frustrated with the economy built around the student athlete. As I see and hear about more and more highly skilled employees being imported than exported I wonder if we as a society really value learning, education, and teaching.  From the looks of it we truly have a preference for coaching, strategy, and entertaining.  We might even be a society addicted to competition with a phobia of intellectualization.

Triage

In the software industry there is a balance between innovation and maintenance. This healthy balance allows the industry to both sustain and grow. The risk for future health is found in the risk a group is willing to make in spending time in innovative research or the maintenance of health. I find a gap in how we see cultural systems. Unfortunately cultural systems are not evidently profitable like software is. So cultural systems appear to be unworthy of innovation or investment. When a cultural system is broken or buggy, few in society are willing to investigate the source code. Many prefer swapping or outsourcing cultural systems.

So what does this do to the broken cultural system? In software a buggy system can be addressed in a spectrum of ways from by being rewritten all the way to being retired. There is intentionality to fix a system that is influenced by profitability. Our value for human systems is not as dualistic or motivating as our monetary profits. With human systems retirement is shamed, but attempted in the evidence of genocide. In software buggy is identifiable, but in human systems I have come to understand buggy as subjective. Or possibly I am refusing to see in the computing world that there are often systems design for broken processes. In may human systems I see how the system is functional and productive but is expected to function in a broken process. Our indigenous cultures represent these functional and productive systems. The broken processes I see as the consumer mentality, the convenience hoarding, and the power dependence.

As a potential professional in the helping arena I am worried that the incentive that we are pursuing is simply triage.

Serving Our Country

I find it interesting that close to half the people in the United States consider the government a gravy train. Yet these same folks jump at the opportunity to praise our military, firemen, police, and other duty oriented service bureaucracies. It is as if, the teacher, social worker, or environmental regulator, are something different. These folks are serving our country too. It blows me away how quickly the conservative philosophy calls for smaller government and contradicts its support of service to country. In fact they support the privatization of just about everything which, in turn, emphasizes a loyalty to the stakeholder, which in most cases desires a global audience. So I find the contradiction personal.

My dad is a teacher and my mother is a health administrator. They both serve their community using tax dollars. In a great picture they too are serving their country. The investor is the tax payer, whether it be a sales, income, or other tax. Is there inefficiencies in government run programs? Sure, but it is foolish to believe that corporations are any less susceptible to inefficiencies. It is getting irritating that with all the patriotism that exists, we are so forgetful that Wall Street is serving the largest global investment corporations in the world (brokers). So is privatization the answer, why argue? But if you are gonna honor the soldier for serving their country, please don't disrespect my parents for trying to serve theirs.

Listening

In my world I am taught to find the answers. In my daily routine I am asked to seek out solutions to problems. I think in listening to my mind, body, and spirit, I have herd the noise that people create while solving problems. Now in listening to the problems I see how some create disruption so that they have a problem to solve. In becoming even more quiet I am sensing that solutions are also looking for me. My problems are simply the beacon of light directing a solution home. Am I building problems for the thrill of receiving solutions, or am I seeking problems so that solutions are not roaming wastefully.

Each solution that captures me is a milestone in my map that is guiding me to heaven. Each problem is a riddle that can either be solved, ignored, or accepted. The direction I am going gets more fun with every problem.

Che & Pac

There is a bigotry I see in the distribution of ideas. There are ideas that are discouraged, smudged, feared, or ignored. There is a poetic justice that is delivered with the lyrics that come from 2-Pac. There is a invigorating patriotism that I find in Che Guevara's lifestyle. The bigotry is found when trying to make their message mainstream and respected.

I recognize the bigotry as I try and build a bridge between the messages of these men, and the message found in scripture, Poe, Thoreau, Oliver, Niche, Jefferson, Chomsky, Rand, Douglas, Frankle, Dr. King, Horney, Gandhi, Twain, or Cash. The bigotry is not so much racial as it is for dominance. There are too many people who refuse to look in the shadows, preferring to remain in the limelight. There are too many people who prefer short cuts to a thorough journey. There is a bigotry towards sacrifice and a bias for reward. There is a bigotry towards decomposition, whether it is physiological, emotional, or theoretical.

In this post decomposition can be described as breaking down. Most people are judgmental of failure, creating a stigma around failure. It becomes bigotry when one group of people decide what is failure. In America, the dominant culture, this being white European, determines the definition of failure. This has created a subculture of failures, those who don't fit in, or what can be described as perceived failures. The bigotry is a collective idea that there is a right and wrong way of living, feeling, or being. The bigotry is detrimental to the necessity of paradox, causing imbalance.

I see the bigotry manifesting itself in education. I was taught what the dominant culture chose and still chooses to teach. I was taught that I was lessor by my community of Chicano elders by their insecure choices made while facing an immigrant white culture. I continue the bigotry by believing I am lessor and unfortunate, separating myself from the mainstream, and judging lifestyles. The bigotry comes into play when I am entertained, by being overwhelmed with what the dominant culture has chosen to be worthy of publication, and my desire to reject it by seeking out the underground. The bigotry comes into play when I am influenced, by being punished, restricted, rewarded, or deceived, with aspirations molded by the dominant culture. The bigotry of ideas is tainting the learning process and gaining momentum in the educational systems I belong to. The bigotry is flowing to me and from me.

So Che Guevarra and 2-Pac have lessons to teach. I am seeking mature learning systems that can critically look at their message and learn as much as they can about the people they represent. This desire to understand can lead to respect. Respect might lead people to personal dignity. This personal dignity can lead people to reconciling the histories of being left behind, oppressed, smudged, and exploited. The reconciliation might lead to prosperity for all, not just American's. We might be a world under God, we might one day ask God to bless our enemies, and we might one day realized that faith is written on our hearts not in the pages of scripture. This week is the birth anniversary of two inspirational men in my life, their lessons will be taught and promoted......by me.

Your tradition is confusing my tradition

I think generations of New Mexicans are inundated with trends and superficiality leading to the acceptance of inferiority and imposition of other's values and expectations. I recognize how our cultural gems are being marketed and exploited by many outsiders. I think the outsider is a threat to the integrity of our traditions, whether it is a meal, art, or ritual. I think we are learning to apply economic value to our cultural icons. The American way is to assign value in dollars, and I am struggling to accept this mindset. The economification of this culture is an aspect of modernism that I see as corrosive to the integrity of a collective identity. This is music to the individualists ears, and I like to think that the individual has lived generations disconnected and feels threatened by others connection and unity. I see it as the reason why Americans try so hard to market their American Pride. In New Mexico our pride is engrained in our behaviors, our friendships, and our understanding of God. In metropolitan life it is package, manufactured, themed, and sculpted. Many Americans shop for culture, desiring a connectedness with a past and hopes for legacy; even the individualist. It might be hard to fathom but I am both New Mexican and American; owning both the traditionalist and capitalist mentalities. Not sure why the following program inspired this note but it sucks knowing the military complex has New Mexico and its people by the balls.

No you are not right, but yes you are not wrong

In today's economic struggle we see the unfortunate consequence of materialism and a desire for sustained growth. I see it in my longing for convenience. I see it as the theory of exponential growth. Can life be entirely about constant convenience? Our business schools preach efficiency leading to profit, our politicians preach simplicity and function with complexity, and most American lifestyles are motivated by prosperity. Efficiency, simplicity, and prosperity are all qualities of convenience. We are destined to prove that we can continually improve.

I call this reaching for perfection.......Godliness. I might not be fair in saying this. It is probably more a projection of my own personal desires. I think the intellectual wants to prove God false, the scientist wants to know Gods secrets, the athlete wants to prove himself immortal, the romantic wants to prove herself all desirable, the jefe wants infinite worth, and we "all" want bliss.

Convenience is how I exploit God’s gifts of intelligence, emotion, and senses. I am now recognizing the importance of inefficiency in the paradoxical system I call nature. In destruction there is prosperity. Between two polarities there lies reality and construction and destruction....feast and famine....invention and robbery...cultivation and pruning.

Fear is in the eye of the feared!

I find that when I create animosity it thrives in me. I think maturity allows me to process animosity in my thoughts, actions, and memories. There are rappers, news organizations, and cultures that should be feared but animosity is not the remedy. I think what has helped me mature is recognizing the child in adults and understanding how being in an adult body is a lot simpler than being in an adult mind. I have had great teachers of maturity.



Common, you make a lot of sense for me, and your message is vital to the empowerment of the marginalized, rejected, and disqualified.

Keep on, keeping on.

Lessons Relearned....maybe!

When a country creates laws, it creates precedent, which often create patterns resulting in a culture of condemnation. This judging culture is susceptible to dogma that lurks in the shadows. As seen in the union disputes around the country. I am a man who is wading through a tsunami of dogma, in my faith and economic communities. We will need to relearn our laws and regulations because I have become lazy in understanding the struggle that created those unions. The convenience factor created by the exhausting efforts of people in the past has allowed me to ignore their struggle. I no longer can feel the pain of struggles past and therefore allow the tearing down of safeguards. This will be interesting because it isn't bad....yet. I think it means that those folks must once again learn the lessons that inspired regulations and laws. It will be a struggle for some, but I also see how it is tearing away at dogma.

I think with bias that pain is the source of conflict between the liberal and conservative. To the liberals detriment it has created fear. To the conservative it has done the same. I even think we fear the same crap. Except for liberals its focused around liberties and with conservatives its focused around prosperity. I can see how the teacher's unions are afraid that they won't be respected, treated with care, or valued. I have to say I think conservatives are afraid of the power educators can have. Both equally mistrust the other.

I recognize this fear in love. Having experiencing a painful divorce, I am afraid to revisit much less relearn the lessons of love. So I can see how the conservative wants to relearn the lessons of bargaining. I can see how teachers are afraid to trust that they will be valued. We don't have a consistent track record on either side. The education system knows it isn't great, and the we as a society expect the best without investing in making it happen. I am excited that change is happening. It inspires me to also risk breaking apart my laws and regulations created from being wounded and relearning the lessons that keep me tucked inside my unions.

Lent

A tradition practiced in my family, is Lent! I hear the same old message from the pulpit, and recognize why so many Catholics can identify as non-practicing. Lent is a time for sacrifice and alms, this is what the clergy asks of us. Unfortunately I gotta say check yo self before you wreck yo self. Who am I to question, I am only laity. Well I have a sermon. Lent for me is being loved, a selfish desire for God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

So the ritual is to give one thing up for 40 days out from Easter, so its absence will remind me of Christ. This is an individual quest for the divine. What I hear is, find one thing in my life that is distracting me from acknowledging God. What is so special about a 40 day period? My answer is that even Jesus, the incarnate, might have been overstimulated. Why else would he choose to enter the desert. What better place to eliminate distraction than the desert.

As I finish up a little research on Ayn Rand, she reminds me of how foolish the followers of Jesus are. We are irrational, as she would call us. She might even call us enslaved and victims of communism. I think she would feel a need to educate us and explain to us how valuable our lives could be, if we only recognized our own desires. I would say, "Mrs. Rand, might I call you Dr. Rand, altruism is what I believe it to be, and if it offends you, please forgive me." If serving the less fortunate frustrates you, I apologize, I will try and do it where you don't have to see it or pay for it. Sorry you see me as a corrupt person, and belonging to a corrupt set of people. I hope you will see that I fear your ambitions, and love my hope. If believing in the unprovable is foolish than cast me away with the other fools. I admire your desire for rational. So in honor of you and my Lenten tradition I will do my best to find my own deserts to walk in. With compassion for Ayn Rand I will think freely and rationally about scripture, carving my own understanding of what it means to follow Christ, building an internal industry of faith, aspiring to be as industrial as her fictitious invention John Galt.

Irrationally in love with forgiveness, empathy, grace, suffering, and sacrifice

I feel more understanding of how I am an immigrant soul wondering in this human experience