The Stoning of Soraya M.

Oh my goodness. After meaning to watch this movie for years, I finally watched "The Stoning of Soraya M." last night. And it took me through a slur of emotions. Intrigue. Disgust. Anger. Sorrow.

The movie begins with a French/Iranian journalist traveling through Iran when his car breaks down near a small town. However, the small town has secrets. Secrets that the outside world would find disgusting and incredibly misogynistic.

I would have loved to show this in my journalism 1 classes (and skip the bloody stoning -- which gives it its "R" rating). With parent permission, I encourage all of you to watch it. It sheds a little light on the injustice happening around the world.

Thank you!

Ah, here we are. The end of the first semester. As my second period journalism 1 students are hunched over their tests, only the sound of striking pencils and the rattle of the heater can be heard.

I'm going to miss this class. All of my journalism 1 classes for that matter. I feel as though each journo class has bonded more in just four months than some of my other classes will do in a year. Perhaps it is the age. I know not all of you are underclassmen, but most are, and I feel comfortable with that age group for varoius reasons. Typically, you aren't jaded. You are fairly certain you don't know everything. You are eager to participate after getting to know one another. You are open to ideas or strategies that your other teachers use. You don't get defensive when criticism is given.

Thank you for that. Don't lose your curiosity, spunk and willingness to participate. Take newspaper and yearbook (shameless plug)!

Thus far what I've learned from your comments and discussions is that to improve journalism 1, we should have more visual aids --- something I am totatally capable of providing you with, so thank you for sharing! And we should blog more, which pleases me. I know many of you were timid to blog at the beginning but the responses and thoughtfulness that went into most posts were fantastic to see.

Among my teacher friends we often discuss questions we have about teens. One of which is, "Why are kids so arrogant? They are convinced they know everything about everything and have no desire to further their education." Now, I know that doesn't apply to all of you, but what many of us have concluded is that social networking has made many teens feel as though their every thought,every teeny tiny emotion needs to be broadcasted to the world ... Because, to them, they are the world.

Most of the time this troubles me, but when you guys share your thoughts on real issues, it's great to read your perspectives. You have a lot of insight to offer, so I encourage you to continue sharing ... just remember to listen to others as well and choose your comments wisely.

I hope you all have a great break and second semester. In exactly one week I'll be in NYC and promise to post photos.

I love this time of year.

The smell of pine and cinnamon, crisp (hopefully) snowy evenings, lounging for hours in my snowflake pants and a cup of nutcracker sweet. I'd take this time of year vs. summer always.

But what I really wanted to share with you isn't all this sentimental jazz, it's consumerism at it's finest. Here is some great junk I had (and loved) in the 90s. I hope it gives you youngsters a laugh.

Reminder

Bonjour, students! This isn't really a post as much as it is a reminder of what you are supposed to blog about. Yesterday you viewed quotes from teachers and community members in Beatrice about BHS students. (In case you were gone, I will list a few of them below so you have something to go off of)

You may blog about:
1) Your reaction to the teacher/community responses
2) Critical thinking/problem solving and an understanding of other ways of life
3) "The Other" in general -- even though many have already done this
4) What you think students should learn about other cultures/religions/sexual preferences

Happy blogging! Remember, when you are done, feel free to blog about whatever you like.

Some of you are missing blogs that were already assigned because you chose to blog about your own thing instead of following the prompts. If this is you, please make sure you go back to my previous posts and find your assignment! 

P.S. Be nice to the sub. It isn't easy walking in to an unfamiliar classroom.


**** Here are some teacher quotes taken directly from the form****

"Without being able to discuss God, many instructors avoid the religion issues.  If discussion is not lead in a classroom setting, it probably doesn't happen.  Church leaders seldom discuss a world view of religion, they more tend to advocate their own belief system."    


"very ego-centric people can spend hours on silly television programs, video games, surfing the web, updating facebook, etc.  A little time learning about the world would benefit without serious pain or injury.  It's a mindset."

"I think many of our students are very closed off to other cultures at BHS. Many times I think it is because the environment they are in (family, friends...) are not very tolerant/understanding of others "not like them" and so that gets passed down to the next generation."

"Not very knowledgable.  Often times their "understanding" is their parents' opinions."

"I am sick to death of kids using "Jew" or "Gay" or "Towel-Head" not to mention other awful things they say to each other.  They are too ignorant to have any idea how stupid they sound."

"Gay is now slang, and they have little appreciation for the actual context, they joke about sexual orientation enough that it makes me realize they are uncomfortable discussing it and having an understanding of views different from their own."

"From their willingness to describe everything bad as "gay" I would guess they have very little understanding of different sexual preferences. Also many feel they have God on their side when it comes to discrimminating against homesexuals."

What can you do with a sentimental heart?

A short and sweet post to help you blog about your weekend.

This weekend was filled with heartache as I put a period at the end of my stay at Lenox Village Apartments, said goodbye to my little kitty, and revisited and reminisced about my alma mater with college friends.

I've always been a person who grieves the loss of time or moments after they've passed. I can honestly remember being sad when 1996 ended (it was a good year what with the Magnificent Seven winning the Olympic Gold Medal and all -- plus, I got a bowl cut shortly into 1997 because I refused to let people brush my hair, but that's beside the point).

For all of you young folks:
My bowl cut (Thanks, Isaiah, for pointing out I had the wrong
 version of "bowl" on this for a month! You keep me on
my toes!) was referred to as the Amanda
Borden (far left); my sisters and I named
our dog Mochie (real name Dominique)
after Dominique Moceanu (third from right).

I've also been oddly attached to animals, especially animals I take care of. So giving Kitty to Ms. Wilbers -- even though I know he/she will be very happy there -- was hard. I cried most of the way from Lincoln to Beatrice Sunday night in anticipation of giving her/him up.

But, I have to be a big girl. I am in no position to have a cat because I have no idea what the future is going to hold for me. I'm ready to begin the ellipsis portion of my life. Decided what my future holds. Take whatever opportunity is tossed my way.

I leave you with this lovely song by She and Him.

Never Ending Search for Stories

I was searching for a short article on NPR that I heard while driving from Lincoln last week, and, instead, I stumbled across a story that will air on All Things Considered tonight.

This story is about Native American children who have been ripped away from their families and put in the foster care system. While this story could have caught my attention any way, I actually heard about this crime (yes, that's how I see it. You can decide your stance) this summer while my friend was taking a graduate class on Native American literature.

His class went to Pine Ridge and talked to residents there, and also to the State Penitentiary in Tecumseh to talk to inmates -- many of whom were in foster care themselves and could never seem to escape the system.

Anyway, take a listen (online at 7 p.m.) or read the story. Feel free to reflect.

What I was actually looking for when I jumped on the NPR site, was this story about British Airports using holograms to help passengers. 

Take a listen and let me know what questions come to mind. As discussed in class, finding stories isn't difficult. You just need to be willing to challenge things you hear. Question everything. How could that work differently? How will that affect other people? What is wrong with this situation?

Happy blogging!

Little Flannery

Last Monday I longed for a relaxing fall break to catch up on school work, my social life and rest to prepare myself for second quarter.

That didn't happen.

Fall break was just one stressful day after another as I made edits to the newspaper (though it isn't close to perfection), graded, graded and graded some more, reunited with friends who I haven't seen in a year and fell in love. Yes, you read correctly. I fell in love this weekend with a tiny, abandoned kitten named Flannery.

Flannery and I graded papers outside on Sunday afternoon.

I had just arrived at a surprise party for my brother-in-law at my dad's farm when my little sister walked up to me with a shaking ball of black and white fluff that was meowing like a broken record. All night, my sister and I checked on the kitten, who ran shakily to anything that moved in the barn and continued to cry helplessly.

After a few hours (it was hard to hold out for so long), I broke down and wrapped the kitten in towels, put her in a box and brought her inside the heated area of the barn. After much persuasion, I convinced my parents to let me take the kitten home for the weekend to nurse her back to health (she had been meowing loudly like that for two days my dad said -- and with no trace of a mother cat returning for her).

Saturday and Sunday passed with feedings every four hours, lots of petting and snuggling and an introduction to my parents' dog, Oscar -- a yappy Yorkie with an attitude problem.

Needless to say I'm exhausted and have grown so attached to Flannery -- named after the novelist Flannery O'Connor whose stories are dark and depressing just like this little kitten's -- that I refuse to let her go back to the farm (my dramatic mind imagines larger Tom cats beating her up). She's become accustom to sleeping on a cozy, dog bed with a heating pad and blankets. High maintenance.

The trouble is, I can't keep her either. Believe me, if I still had a place of my own in Lincoln (this is my last week), I would keep her in a heartbeat. Luckily, it will be a few weeks until she's big enough to jump on things, which is when I was told she has to go. (When Sergio, the cat I had a few years ago, would get mad, he'd stare at you and swat at something he knew you didn't want all over the carpet e.g. juice, pizza, glassware, etc.)

So if anyone has a nice, loving home for a kitten, please let me know. I doubt she'll be as vindictive as Sergio :)

She's getting very rambunctious and loves to
climb on my Asics.