Teamteacher’s Weblog

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/Frazier

As the new school year starts, I am full of optimism for my children.  As a class, we set goals for our futures.  These range from the traditional to the wacky.  Most claim an interest in college, and several usually espouse a preference for a career in rap or professional sports.  I take the job of getting students like Brandon to college (or becoming a successful rapper) very seriously, yet with the recent addition of Governor Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket, I’ve grown even more concerned about the futures of my middle school kids.

These are students who are already facing issues of poverty, lack of quality health care, and agency in our political system.  It is now becoming clear that Republicans have a a true chance at winning this election, despite presenting a platform eerily similar to President George W. Bush, a veritable poster boy for failed representation of minorities in America.

As I imagine my students in various professions, be they doctor, lawyer, or the baddest MC on the East Coast, my hope for their success diminishes greatly under yet another Republican administration.  I shudder to think of a female student who has no choice in whether to have a child, or a male student killed in the never-ending Iraq War.  I wonder if college will be remotely affordable for students whose families inform me they need assistance paying for field trips.

In social studies we talk about the value of citizenship, but another Republican administration means more people, like the students I teach, remain second class citizens in America, restricted from the best resources available.  Despite what we may believe in our liberal bubbles, Sarah Palin could be selecting Supreme Court judges with the power to further discriminate against our rights as citizens. Please, help me support Barack Obama so that my students can follow their first-choice dream, and should rapping not work out, at least get a quality college education.

Learn how to donate here at my personal Barack Obama website

A longtime lover of the classic ironic film, “Wet Hot American Summer,” I am a perpetual sucker for a story about summer camp.  Combine that with the waning nights of the summer of 2008, and I’m simply hankering for an experience that allows me to relish the last moments of warmth and daylight before darkness and snow invade New York.  Thank heavens, therefore, for “Camp Summer Camp,” the latest piece put up by the always irreverent PS 122, a performance space in the East Village.  The last time I attended this landmark institution I was present for the always auspicious Avant Garde-O-Rama, an event that culminated in a fat naked man performing a stirring monologue.  

Camp Summer Camp, believe it or not, had even less of a narrative line than the disparate, incongruous shorts of Avant Garde O Rama, yet it pleased nonetheless.  Little more than a glorified party where hipsters mingled sipping jungle juice and reminiscing about summers in Vermont, the act was less theatre and more fiesta.  Along with my best friend, I entered a beer chugging contest and lost, though frankly I think we beat the other teams rather handily.  It was a photo finish, no doubt.

After the games, I got two tattoos which read, “I love anal,” and “I love S&M.”  I now have to go shower them off.  School starts tomorrow.