And so the fun begins...

Well its filing time which means two things. One, we find out who we get to vote for this year, and current state legislators will begin to do their jobs. Gov Fallin accidentally told the truth a few weeks ago. When asked about the budget process she mentioned that some legislators are probably waiting to see if they draw an opponent. See, if they don’t draw an opponent they don’t have to listen to their constituents. And they don’t. So some of the occupants of offices will probably find in in themselves to make a tough decision or two after seeing pictures like this

and stories like this.

It seems several someones have upset the applecart. I noticed a tweet earlier today that said today’s filings eclipsed the total day one filings by lunchtime...

Followed by this later in the day... 

This is good and this is how democracy works. And this is the only way democracy works. We are living the direct result of a disengaged population. I like that it's changing and people are getting involved. Win or lose, a difference has already been made.

I attended a state budget meeting prior to the beginning of session in which Rep. Scott Inman made a very valid observation. He stated in the several years the Republicans have had a majority they have never provided a bill to effectively raise teachers salaries. When times were good, they wanted tax cuts. Now that times are bad and we have no money, they see two democrats win special elections in traditionally republican districts and all of a sudden we had several Republican sponsored bills for teacher raises.

Our country is an experiment. It always has been one. Its an activity and inactivity doesn’t work. I’m glad several are stepping up and I wish them luck. And its a good thing too given this is a good account of what our current leadership sees as good ideas to fix the budget. We are better than this... and we have to work to show it. Let's lose this mindset.

We have to do better, and this is how its done better. There are two more days of filings. Then the work begins…

Here is what we started on Wednesday...

Troy Dyer,House District 3 Ag Educator

Collin Walke, House District 87, Former Educator, Pro Public Education

David Dickerson House District 82, Parent,Public Education advocate

Jim Beckham, House District 42, superintendent

Forrest Bennett, House District 92, public education advocate

James Albert Campbell, House District 19, public education advocate

John Croisant, House District 37, educator

Jacobi Crowley, House District 64, educator

Kelly Dodd, House District 82, parent and public education advocate

Mickey Dollens, House District 93, educator

Troy Dyer, House District 3, educator

Toni Hasenbeck, Senate District 31, educator

Judy Hopper, Senate District 47, retired educator

Brian Jackson, Senate District 37, education nonprofit employee and spouse of public school educator

Johnny Jump, House District 101, educator

Lisa Kramer, Senate District 25, local school board member

Chris Kidd, Senate District 31, former educator

Lee Ann Langston, House District 14, educator

Greg McCortney, Senate District 13, public school parent

Kelly Meredith, House District 87, public school parent and higher education educator

Matt Meredith, House District 4, local school board member

Darla Milligan, House District 12, educator

Monroe Nichols, House District 72, education nonprofit employee and Career Tech board member

Jean Oliver, Senate District 29, educator

Dewayne Pemberton, Senate District 9, educator

Roland Peterson, Senate District 19, educator

Jack Reavis, Senate District 9, educator

Jacob Rosecrants, House District 46, educator

Paul Scott, Senate District 43, spouse of educator

Shawn Sheehan, Senate District 15, educator

Paul Sullivan, House District 69, public education advocate

John Waldron, Senate District 39, educator

Tammy West, House District 84, local school board member

Rhonda Harlow, Senate District 19, Pro public education, reading specialist

Marilyn Rainwater, House District 28 Pro Public education advocate

Jeremy Wayde Coleman, House District 41 Pro Public Education Advocate

Joe Wilhelm, House District 5, Educator

Macy Gleason House District 29, future educator

This is a list as of earlier today. You can check updated filings here

These are my numbers... What are yours???

Gerry Brooks posted a video that has gone #oklaed viral (if that term has not been used can I take credit for it?) discussing bumper stickers and numbers. I can't find it, but it was all over the place...

It got me thinking about my numbers and what my “metrics” would look like. My father was a CPA (or as I told people when I was young a C3PO). I wasn't ever a big fan of math but I can count, and I do have some organizational tendencies. I try to hide them but they are there... Unfortunately I don’t have the time or resources to be exact but I know what I’ve done and I can put together some things.So here it goes...

I’ve taught for nine years in three schools. that is 18 semesters, 36 nine week periods. I’ve had, 3 Superintendents, 7 Principals, taught with easily over 50 teachers, and by my conservative estimates over 725 students have come through a classroom for which I was responsible. I’ve been a part of over 150 parent meetings and conferences.

I have logged over 150 days of Professional Development. I have attended 15 content specific lesson workshops for my current discipline in the past 4 years. Over all I have attended approximately 25 conferences, meetings, workshops, and events. I am certified in every social studies subject for Oklahoma Secondary Schools. And with that I have taught over 25 separate “preps” for social studies. (Yeah, some of these are the same course but I had to reinvent and prep due to class size, school mission, and student capability.) I have used over a dozen textbooks as classroom resources and countless internet and library resources (I really don’t know if I could remember all of the stuff I’ve used… )

I have been in  a school doing my job for 1,544 days. That is 11,508 hours. I’ve taught 7,131 specific class periods (not counting Advisory or study halls, that would add another 15 class periods). I have conservatively assigned 2 graded assignments a week, that totals over 469,000 grades. One exam a month means I've tested my kids at least 80 times.

What does this mean? Well, this is one way of looking at what I’ve done with my life for most of the past decade. There is a part of this job that is absolutely maddening to me, and it gets at why you can’t quantify what we do into an algorithm. These numbers represent what I’ve done, but there is no way of knowing what would have happened if i hadn’t done it. Well, the easy answer is someone else would have. And we’ve now come to the unholy and dangerous intersection of “Savior” and “who cares”. We have to find our balance somewhere in there. Somewhere between savior and cog in the machine…

Perhaps we could find a balance in our numbers, it couldn't hurt to try. I'm glad I did this, and I would encourage you to do the same. I am well aware and would love to see the incredible numbers some of us can put up. Let's see what we've done, and allow it to motivate us. And once we have seen what we've done, we know what we can and will do.

Acts 17:30 Ignorance isn't bliss... Anymore...

Out of nowhere things pop into my head. I watched a TED talk not long ago about finding and harnessing your elusive creative genius. The link is here  and its definitely worth a watch. I love the Tom Waits story (starts at about 12:28 (text below).

And for me, the best contemporary example that I have of how to do that is the musician Tom Waits, who I got to interview several years ago on a magazine assignment. And we were talking about this, and you know, Tom, for most of his life, he was pretty much the embodiment of the tormented contemporary modern artist, trying to control and manage and dominate these sort of uncontrollable creative impulsesthat were totally internalized.

12:52But then he got older, he got calmer, and one day he was driving down the freeway in Los Angeles, and this is when it all changed for him. And he's speeding along, and all of a sudden he hears this little fragment of melody, that comes into his head as inspiration often comes, elusive and tantalizing, and he wants it, it's gorgeous, and he longs for it, but he has no way to get it. He doesn't have a piece of paper, or a pencil, or a tape recorder.

13:16So he starts to feel all of that old anxiety start to rise in him like, "I'm going to lose this thing, and I'll be be haunted by this song forever. I'm not good enough, and I can't do it." And instead of panicking, he just stopped. He just stopped that whole mental process and he did something completely novel. He just looked up at the sky, and he said, "Excuse me, can you not see that I'm driving?"

Technology helps. Thanks to Google, iPad, iPhone, and my laptop, I can, and do, text and message myself ideas. a lot. I use pretty much every internet device I have for most of my posts. They are consistent works in progress. And I like that I always have access and can add and revise stuff all the time. 

The idea that shot through my brain this morning was Acts 17:30. I’m not really what you would call religious, anymore. I was. I still know enough to refer to the books as Second Corinthians and not Two Corinthians  (unless of course two Corinthians were walking into a bar…) I was raised in a remarkably conservative church. We had legit Sunday school with memory verses and everything. I was taught what was in the bible and while I’m not going to discuss theology here I do remember the words, and regardless of personal religious views, good social critiques are always fun…

The verse comes from Paul's sermon on Mars Hill . Not that Mars Hill, the real one in Greece. The one that didn’t swindle people and destroy lives across the Great Northwest. At this Mars Hill Pal is talking to the Greeks about all their gods and how they’ve got it all wrong. Verses 29-31 of chapter 17 reads, (from the King James because old language is awesome!!!) 

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

You can have all the rabbit hole fun about guilt, and original sin, and absolution on your own time but I want to reference this idea to our current socio-political climate. We are living in the world set up for us. So, forget the theology, (remember that's not what this is about). And don’t pay too much attention to God winking at you (the image is cool tho right?), and pay attention to his argument. The message here is  that up until now, ignorance has been an understandable defense, but it can’t be anymore. 

We didn’t make the decisions and shouldn’t be answerable to the “sins of our fathers”. However, as Paul remarked to the Greeks, “once you know better, do better.” 

We have obvious power to change and alter a lot of things, decisions made and practices, traditions, policies, and ideas that formed and were implemented before our time, we didn’t have control over. But we do know now what we know now. And that’s important. We all got to see President Clinton step in it  last week, and step in it again, trying to defend and walk back his defense of his Sec. Clinton's words and Pres. Clinton's legacy. I won’t digress on his statements too much but you can read a remarkable analysis of what he said and why it was so wrong here and here. 

Here’s the thing, for all we hope and wish of our leaders, and for all of our thoughts and likes and dislikes, they are most likely doing the best they know how to do. I don’t doubt for a moment any candidates love of their country and desire to make things good, it's just how and whether or not they are capable that disagreements abound. When Bill Clinton signed the Crime Bill in the 90s it radically accelerated the prison industrial complex. It created a remarkably efficient pipeline to ruin the lives of millions over issues, and with policies we now realize were trivial at best, and downright racist at worst. We. know. That. now. (see vs 30). Regardless of how right we thought we were, we can’t expect that wink when the evidence is obvious. 

From a cultural standpoint it would be soooo much easier if we were to create a cultural reset button. We can’t. And bad ideas have the same power as good ides, if believed in. Many of those flawed, racist, evil, and wrong views are still in belief and practice today. We have to fight against that. We don’t get to say “that’s not my fight.” Whether it's education policies we KNOW hurt kids, practices we know do not produce results, or if its institutions and social norms that we know disenfranchise and harm whole communities for no other reason than being different. We have to be brave enough to confront racism and bigotry. Sometimes that means calling it what it is, and making things uncomfortable for ourselves and others. When you think of the discomfort so many others have felt for centuries, it should put your "sacrifice" in context...

We have to be better than that and I know we are, we just have to start acting like it. We have to call a spade a spade, ESA's  are not savings accounts, they are vouchers (we did good on that one). School choice does exist, its just not the parents or students choice, it’s the private institutions… (we are doing good on that one). 

The issue isn’t oil prices, its revenue generation (we are doing good on that one too). Slowly but surely we are removing the opportunities to allow the feigning of ignorance. I’ve said so often when discussing issues of privilege, supremacy, oppression, and bigotry it is very difficult to convince many people, but once a person sees it, it cannot be unseen. And we are doing a good job of it. Stories like this show we are collectively waking up and getting to work. We have to keep it up. And we have to be willing to continue to learn, adjust, and grow. 

We have to also demand more of our leaders. We have to have the courage to know how right we are (when we are right, and we are right on this one). We have to make their ignorance disappear. Can we make them smart?  Probably not, but we can make it obvious their ignorance is willful. 

If those decisions ended with those generations, we wouldn’t have the issues we do now. If it were that simple our lives would be a lot easier, its not, so lets get to work...

Education oppression

We hear a lot about an oppressive and overpowering education system. It creates a lot of opinions and concerns. Above is what former State Senator Carol Martin thinks of it… This is just obscene! And I’m not even going to touch the grammar (educational?!?!). How childish to compare fellow professionals to children?! You are not now, nor will you ever be seen as our mother. Nor do we, or will we ever see our relationship with the Legislature as anything even resembling anything paternal or maternal. I would argue such a self-inflated and narrow-minded worldview should disallow a person from critical decision making. Unfortunately, you are not alone in this warped worldview. And every now and then you say something so sophomoric, insulting, or embarrassing (in this case it’s all three) we all have to stop and have a discussion about how wrong you are. So here it goes again…. For a more detailed history and explanation see here, here, and here.

As a teacher, and the son, nephew, and grandson of teachers I take offense to many of the criticisms and insults hurled each day at me and my family and fellow professionals. I’m also not so blind and naive to not see my profession has its fair amount of issues and we definitely need to consistently take account of who and where we are, and what exactly we are doing. It hurts to come to the realization your "side" could be wrong.

There are definitely segments of our population that have valid complaints against an oppressive public or government education system? They, by in large, are not white and most definitely, not Christian. The false equivalency of oppression and persecution is laughable and painful. It demeans real suffering, misprioritizes responsibility, totally alters the conversation, and proves once again the unavoidable position of privilege so many ignorantly occupy. In a country with44 consecutive professed Christian leaders, literally hundreds of denominations and houses of worship in every city throughout this country, there are many who would still argue their religious liberties are somehow oppressed.

There are many segments of our population that have legitimate complaints with how they have been treated by government education. You can read about them here, here, here, here, andhere. Minority communities in this country, especially in this state, have every reason to be hesitant of “the government coming to help them.” When I hear the White community complains about it, it just sounds hollow. The main complaint with public education, or as they call them, “government schools”, from what I can gather, is they don’t get to tell everyone how to live, behave, believe, and think. I get not being able to be yourself is awful (look what the government did to the Indian children). Forcing people to deny that which they were taught at home, and adopt a “new worldview” is absolutely wrong. They seem to have a misunderstanding of whats going on in schools, as reported here, and here.

This brings us to where we are today. Ultimately we have precious little resources with which to fight, and everything in the world to lose. In our fight to ensure every child has equal access to an education, we should ensure communities, cultures, and people are treated as communities, cultures and people, not “problems needing fixed” or “”issues needing our attention”. I don’t believe that is too much to ask, and I believe that is what we should be fighting for.

In a number of ways, what I just typed could’ve been said much simpler… Just because the facts do not fit your personal narrative, it doesn't change them. And you can't change them to fit without being remarkably dishonest or just plain stupid. But it isn’t me, if it isn’t unpacked…

On advocacy and activism

                                      


In light of a long, rambling, preachy facebook post on one of the several online teacher networks, I should tell you I'm not at school today. I am in Oklahoma City with my family. I mention why later but I just wanted to make sure anyone thought I was slacking off at work...

I was asked by a friend who works for an organization that does things to make Oklahoma better (vague enough) to share how the budget cuts in Oklahoma have impacted my professional and personal situation. It was a broadly specific set of questions and I was happy to do it. I guess if you teach long enough and let people who are smarter than you know that, they will ask you things because, after all, you're a teacher. And as a teacher you are (at least I am) going to answer those questions. It's a chance to help so I filled out the responses (I'll let you know what I hear).

Being asked this question made me think... And its what you would like to discuss today. I'm a teacher and I know what that means... Am I anything else? Am I supposed to be anything else? Is there something else I should be doing?

Teachers (or at least I do) often struggle with where exactly that line between state employee and activist and advocate is. It is too easy to assume people will just do what they are supposed to. Education will always receive copious amounts of lip service. Everyone "supports" education. Then why are we so behind and where does all that support go? There are thousands of Educators active in the political process throughout the state that engage and support our state leaders. But not nearly enough of us do this consistently. At least, in part, political inactivity and a social naivete is killing us. It is setting us up for failure on a spectacular level. We are actively drowning in a sea of narcissistic, self-loathing empty success. We think we are number one, when there is no evidence to give us that assumption. We delude ourselves into thinking the way we have always done it will  just magically work one day. Then, when we keep making it not work, we get all surprised and bothered.. We have to do better that and begins with engagement, participation, and advocacy.

So how do we do that ethically and professionally? As teachers we are paid for by tax dollars. There are and should be protections, for all involved. The students are a captive audience, easily manipulated, and their parents are the final arbiters of most aspects of their development and social awareness. I get that. I definitely do not want my children subject to extreme indoctrination or on political issues in the classroom setting. Reasonable people can have reasonable conversations about those lines and it's not something that is going to be solved anytime soon or in any specific way. It requires a mature attitude and mindset. 

But what are we supposed to do when that which is what we do and are is under attack? Should we just allow this to happen? One critical peculiarity of our profession is its entanglement in so many lives and pieces of our culture and communities. It really does affect everyone. And there is no getting around that.


So I believe we have to advocate. We have to lobby. We have to make sure our voices are heard. After all, this is a democracy (kind of) right? If we don't, no one else will, and it's not just gonna happen. I would also submit it is our duty, especially if we have found ourselves in the camp complaining of the decisions and actions of the State legislature and leaders. If we are not willing to help and contribute in some way, we really should stop complaining. I don't think we are going to stop complaining... So let's get active and involved.

I haven’t spoken much about this on this platform but my youngest child and only daughter has been battling Leukemia for the past two years. She has responded well to most all treatments. However, there still remain trace elements of the cancer in her system so earlier this year we began the process of her undergoing a bone marrow transplant. I will write about it all in my next post (now that I’ve brought it up) but I brought it up to say the transplant doctor and team is at Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. She's been there for over a month and will be there until later this Summer. Her mother is staying with her and her brothers are staying on this side of the state to continue school. We are spread pretty thin and make a lot of trips to the City. It is where i am today. 

                                                                           

The hospital is located near the State Capitol and the nearest sonic and On Cue are at 23rd and Santa Fe right below (literally) the Capitol. That stretch of 23rd St in Oklahoma City is named the Clara Luper corridor.


I see that sign almost every time I travel to Oklahoma City. You do too if you take the Broadway Extension or 23rd St to get to the Capitol. That should mean something to us. If you don’t know her story, get to know it. Do it now, I'll wait..., then come back here. If you know it, great. I sure hope you share it when it's appropriate, or even when it isn't. She's an amazing story and she is a member of our education family. We need to find that piece of our profession again, and fight for our kids unequivocally
.

If Clara Luper and her students can take action in the way they did, surely we can tweet, email, blog, chat, and discuss topics with our students. Should it be civil? Yes. Will it be controversial? Yeah. Will people be upset? Probably. You'll most likely be one of them at some point, but that is the point. Ideas aren't clean. And knowledge isn’t always pleasant, linear, and pre-boxed with a script and score. We have to be grown ups about grownup things.



We could start with this....

Talk about Trump and Trophies...

What I wanted to do with this post is discuss a cultural touchstone of division and conflict. One that gets a lot of attention. Participation trophies and awards. From auto ads to op-eds to memes, their destructive force is everywhere...

Participation Trophies are the bane of the existence for anyone that “really” loves America. This is one of those odd issues where polar opposites can attract similar opinions. I’m still going to talk about it but, I feel like I have to add something that I think will make sense.

I don't watch or have HBO so what I get is YouTube. I admit I am a fan of BIll Maher. He and I agree on a lot of things but my tweet below expresses my sentiment on the ideological relationship. Here's one where we disagree.

There’s something special about a guy you agree with but still root against. I kinda know how is feeling right now. I say that I'm a fan, which is to say, I’ll watch and listen but I’m not a super fan. I bring it up because apparently he and his staff had almost the same thought as I had about Trump.

Over Spring Break I met and talked shop with a few fellow #oklaed colleagues. While we were chatting I had this thought, and I expressed it to the group. They loved it and I was thrilled. I went home and wrote a tremendous portion of this entry. Then I caught Bill Maher’s show from Friday March 18.

I appreciate a lot of what Bill said and you’ll see where we agree if you choose to read the rest of this. But, I saw something else in his reaction and I want to address that as well. So here it goes...

I don't want to be too psycho-analytical but I think the rugged individualism and bootstrap attitude forged and infused into so much of our culture creates an almost subliminal aversion to anything “group” related. I think a lot of people see participation trophies are seen as an affront to this very foundational belief. And I can see where they see that. I kind of agree with them, sometimes.

Bill and I agree that The Donald is a perfect example of the negative side effects of the participation trophy culture. This is a person with an incredibly overblown ego. So overblown there is no logical or rational explanation for his worldview of himself.

How else could someone like Donald J Trump, who has failed spectacularly, so many times, on so many levels, in front of so many people, still have the lack of social awareness to declare himself such a “winner”? How else could he utter the phrase (about :50 in)“I know a lot of words, I have the best words” and expect to be taken seriously? How else could he, when asked who we should listen to on foreign policy, say (about :20) “I have a great brain and have said a lot of things, so I would listen to myself” and expect to be taken seriously?

Yes, Donald Trump is a walking participation trophy. His supporters are the parents in the helicopters applauding his buffoonery. They mistake volume as a leadership trait m. They validate his rants as policy, and his obscene inherited wealth as “hard earned”.

This is the culture Donald was raised in and continues to create for himself. An environment so detached from reality, he was able to develop a sense of entitlement and arrogance that can only be measured in how many buildings you affix your name to. Which is in no way a successful measurement of anything but your ability to spell. But, even spelling has been in issue for Trump and his campaign, see here and here.

Of course, there are several living examples that embody much of what was just described. And a lot of them are young kids. The one that concerns me right now isn't though. As a millennial I get it, we were the group that got Participation trophies, and are forever scarred because we don't know what winners are.

So Bill and I came to a similar conclusion, he goes much more cynical and heartless than I. Mostly because of a different worldview. He despises children. I do not. He has no children, I do. He doesn't want kids and doesn't want to be around them. I'm a teacher. That is perfectly fine. If that's your worldview, Don't be. As much as possible avoid them. But remember when you do have to interact with children, they are no more or less human than you. They have the same rights, as much as you want to wish them away, they get to exist. Do some of them misbehave? Yeah. Most do. A lot. So what, get over it and move on. The world isn't getting scarier from the kid's temper tantrums…. The world is getting scarier from the grown ups temper tantrums.

So having a different view of a large section of the culture will obviously lead to different understandings. His view of “the youth” can make it difficult for him to acknowledge they may not be that bad after all. After all, young kids are not having much to do with Trump. The younger the voting bloc the more peripheral he and his attempts at ideas become. I don’t have the time or resources to delve into much more of this too much, but i feel safe in assessing the millennial cooperative spirit and affinity for collaboration over competition had little to do with the “everyone gets a trophy advertisement” that is The Donald. Or if it did, I don’t think they deserve nearly the amount of blame they get to shoulder.

So, Bill and I part ways on this topic is”Who’s to blame?” Maher makes no specific mention other than “the culture”. I would take it a step further. I would add it was the adults at the time (mostly Boomers and older Gen Xers) were making these rules. It was the Boomers who parented with a “no one gets hurt safe space” attitude. Where is the outrage over who built this culture? I’ll leave that discussion for later (the who built this culture discussion) but I think even a cursory look at history would show the effects of such an environment being blamed for such outcomes, is misleading at best, and outright deceitful at worst.



So even though we get the brunt of the blame for all the evils it has created, perhaps we weren't the inventors of the Participation Trophy culture in the first place? I'm looking for nor am I awaiting an apology or anything, I just feel that it should be stated and considered. I do think it is important to know where and how this leviathan came from. If for no other reasons so we can stop the behavior and break the cycle for future generations.

It's been a while

I haven't posted in a while and I have plenty of excuses why. I know you don' t want to hear them, so here it goes... Mostly grad school and family but grad school is done for the semester, there is still family stuff here and there but, I can try to discuss a few thoughts that have swirled in my head these past few weeks. There has been a lot going on and I have definitely had thoughts and opinions about many of these goings on… 

I’ll write about the legislature and what I’m doing in my classroom later but I really want to confess something in this post. It’s something I’ve done, and it is also another reason I have fallen behind in my blogging. I'm in love all over again. I don’t always do a good job of making time for, reading. I’ve gone in and out of reading spells and moods throughout my life. I spent a lot of high school avoiding it and working around it as much as possible. I read what I was supposed to but that was about it. It wasn't that I couldn’t or didn’t really want to, I just really didn't want to. I love it again. A lot.

It annoyed the hell out of my dad. He was a remarkably voracious reader. Every evening he would sit in a corner chair in our living room with a Stephen King book and wonder why we wouldn't read. As I’ve grown older I’ve found that love again. There is a part of me that wishes I had never fallen out of love with it, but I also have developed a deep appreciation for it since I can recall how dull and bland my life was when I wasn’t invading the thoughts and imaginations of others through their written word. I know his example is where I get that touchstone to return to. 

Grad school makes you read. My degree is in Native American Leadership so a number of the courses center around the culture, history, and heritage of theIndian  people. Working to understand their story and legacy has rekindled a curiosity in me. Our human history is remarkably entertaining, and I have a hard time understanding how people don't see that. I love learning about the similarities between our behaviors (both individually and collectively) and their consequences. 

I've annoyed a number  of my friends recently with this new found obsession of mine. I visited the Full Circle Book Store in OKC (If you haven’t you should) and picked up a couple of books. One I really can’t put down, and another I can’t wait to begin. As a history teacher and student I love reading history. Good history, real history. History that can touch me. Do I have to tell you I've read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United State? I'm guessing most figured that out. Well, at full circle I found a collection of essays and articles titled On History. The writings are incredible. And remarkably relevant to our time. (This is me telling you to read them too!)

So I have been tearing through the pages and don't really want to stop… Plenty has gone on I've just not wanted to hinder reading new ideas by trying to organize my old thoughts. I have a few other ideas and have received some urging to write about one in particular. I'll have that one for later this week...

As a history student and teacher reading about history is what I truly love. Winston Churchill's declaration "the farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see" never rings more true than during a study of human history. You don't have to love it as much as I do, but understanding it is incredibly valuable. 

I know this is a kinda bland post, I'm sorry I'll make up for it I promise.