Cue the "Full House" I've-learned-my-lesson music

I decided to blog about a particular incident that happened at school, because it seemed too scripted to be reality, when I'm pretty sure it was 100% real.

Before I go into the actual moment I'm talking about, you need the background information.

So 5th grade's Holiday Program is on 12/16. They're doing 3 songs:
1. Rudolph
2. Silent Night (Noche de Paz)
3. Deck the Hall

I'm using CDs from my textbook adoption that I've had for a few years, and using what's available to me in that collection. So this story really focuses on "Rudolph". As we all (should) know, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" begins:

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen... 

and goes on to list the rest of the reindeer before getting to good ol' Rudy. I had the idea of having a few kid soloists sing the introduction before the rest of the 5th graders sing all together. Well, I had 3 particular girls in mind I wanted to cast for the parts. So one day, earlier this week, we got all the 5th graders together, and I invited those interested in auditioning for the solos to come up and audition if they were serious. All 3 I thought would be the best bet came up...and so did 1 boy. I had them sing the part to the karaoke track in front of their peers, and they all did fairly well. So I had the contestants turn around while I took a popular vote from the audience of their peers, and in American Idol fashion the top 3 were chosen...and it ended up being 2 girls, and 1 boy.

So later, the one girl whom I thought would be a shoe-in that ended up not getting picked comes to music class. Upon asking the kids to get on the risers to rehearse, I noticed she was doing everything I asked except sing. So I had the others take a seat while I pulled her aside and spoke to her in private.

"Are you okay? Why are you not singing?"
"I don't want to be in the program after all."
"That's fine, I can't force you, but are you feeling this way because you weren't picked for the solo?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Okay, yes."

Cue the music at the end of every Full House episode. 

The conversation moved to (I hate to admit) a few honest clichés that I ended up laying on her. I talked about how when we have the skills for a good job and we apply for it, 20 people could apply for the same job and only 1 person gets it. I referenced American Idol, how millions of people believe and want to do it so badly, but only 1 gets voted to stay at the very end, but it doesn't stop the rest of them from following their dreams and following their hearts in doing what they love to do. I showed her how it was exactly the same with how the voting results were for the Rudolph auditions, and that though she wasn't picked, she shouldn't let that stop her from singing if she really loved doing it. I told her how much I enjoyed listening to her which is why I wanted her to audition, that I needed her voice, and that the more people that came to sing the better the performance would be. In middle school, she could join choir and audition for more solos in the future.


"Okay, Mr. Hickey. I'll be in it," she said with a smile."

I gave her a hug, got her back on the risers, and she was singing again. I looked at her a few times while I was mouthing the words to the song as the kids rehearsed. I smiled seeing that she was singing, and she smiled back at me.The whole thing seemed too planned, scripted to be true. Nonetheless, I believe it was as real as the music we made together.

It was a great, raw moment of being a teacher, lifting a student out of self-pity and disappointment, and reminding them of the great future they had already.

FCKH8

If you haven't seen this around, it stands for "FUCK HATE", but it also refers to California's Proposition 8 that sought to ban gay marriage in the Golden State. FCKH8 is campaign and has a website where they're selling shirts and other items in an effort to fund-raise in order to both fund the fight for equal marriage, and also fund youth queer counseling for suicide prevention in light of the recent tragedies among gay youth.

The commercials have received many hits on YouTube, especially for their very blunt message: "Fuck hate". We know that in our society and culture the word "fuck", also known as the "f-bomb", has the connotation of being among the worst or strongest obscenities in the English language. This one word is the reason so many movies are rated "R" in theaters. What's more, to speak honestly, is how this word has various grammatical functions. It can be a verb, an infix, an adjective, a noun, and especially an interjection. Search "fuck" on Wikipedia to learn more about its grammatical functions. I'm serious. It's provided. I checked.

I've received an e-mail in the past that said the word used to be an acronym for "Fornication Under Consent of the King". I don't know how true this is, but it implies that centuries ago, if a couple wanted to engage in sexual relations out of wedlock, they needed royal consent as the king was ordained by God. However, after checking Wikipedia, this etymology has been debunked as an urban legend.

Over the years, it has evolved into an obscenity that many people use in social settings. It's most often used when people express intense over any situation. I'll admit I use it myself, in personal situations, when I'm either proud of something, upset, inconvenienced horribly, and other related situations. It expresses my frustrations well, and as long as I don't use it to offend someone else, I don't see anything wrong with it other than it bothers people who are uncomfortable hearing profanity.

Bbeing an educator, especially in an elementary setting, it bothers me to listen to young children use obscenities. Education has turned me into somewhat of a professional prude (despite how socially liberal I am), and that prude comes out a bit when I watch these FCKH8 commercials. I truly agree with, enjoy (entertainment-wise), and appreciate the messages conveyed, and the way in which they're using the word. But what troubles me a little is seeing that they have featured some very young children using the word in the commercials. I try to calm myself by hoping that these kids' parents gave them permission to use the word for the sake of the message of the campaign.

That being said, the goal of the FCKH8 campaign is to apply the word "fuck" (particularly its meaning) against the word "hate". Those behind the project have a goal to "fuck hate". They're taking one of the strongest, most omnipotent obscenities in our language and using it against a human emotion that has caused so many of the world's problems.  Part of what's in their favor, socially, is that despite how vulgar the word is (it's often censored in modern media), it's been used so much to the point where some social settings are...numb to it. It doesn't necessarily change the extremity of its vulgarity, but the reaction to it may no longer be as strong as it once was.

All this being said, judge for yourself. I love both videos, and the video about the bullies has a drag queen who speaks with a...very intimidating voice. And it cracks me up each time!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=1amIrR-VMAI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjFafCR6FOI&feature=player_profilepage

The WORST policy

In a nutshell, I'm talking about Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). I don't know how anyone living in America could be unfamiliar with this military policy, but President Bill Clinton signed in to law 17 years ago in 1993. He supported gays serving in the military, and, well, the military didn't want that. So DADT was established as a compromise: don't ask a soldier if they're gay, and don't tell them if you are. Under this policy, if you come out or are outed, then you're kicked out of the military. It doesn't matter what special skills you possess. It doesn't matter how long or how well you've served, how many tours of duty you've been on, what awards you've won. If they learn you're gay, you're out. No questions asked.
One of the sad things about this is that a lot of gay soldiers followed the policy and were kicked out later by someone who found out somehow, by either invading the soldier's privacy, or some other means. The military has lost so many amazing soldiers for the simple reason of whom they love. Since the military's soldiers are mostly men, and since we are a highly patriarchal society, we as a culture are more accepting of 2 men holding guns than 2 men holding hands. That's messed up. The same paradox applies to a quote I once read of a soldier who was discharged under DADT. He said, "I was awarded for killing a man, and punished for loving one."

Allow me to share with you a few great ironies in this country:

-"Be yourself." We teach this to our kids, and in the real world when it comes to making friends, it's completely true. The best friends and colleagues are the ones who love you as you are. But the military has a problem with that?
-Be all you that you can be. (The army's slogan.)

A lot of conservative people were supporting DADT for many years thinking they were doing the gay community a favor by implementing this policy. Their justification was that with the policy in place, gay people would be protected from homophobes or anyone who wanted to cause harm to a gay soldier. I have to say, in theory this makes sense. But why do you need to protect a group of soldiers from their colleagues and brothers in arms? If you're holding a gun on the front lines, does it matter who your fellow soldier loves in his private life? What difference does it make if you kiss girls, but the guy next to you is attracted to men? Well, DADT also served to console homophobes who feared being flirted with by another guy. They didn't want to feel uncomfortable knowing that while they're sharing a community shower, another guy would be looking at his genitalia and immediately become aroused, leading to an extremely awkward moment between fellow soldiers. The policy preys on gay stereotypes that all gay men are sex-hungry devils, looking to have sex with anything that moves. DADT serves to put homophobes' minds at ease.

When DADT came to a potential repeal vote in the Senate recently, international pop singing sensation Lady Gaga made it a personal mission to rouse her millions of fans to become politically active in telling their legislators to support repeal. She addressed a big crowd and reminded everyone that the best thing about our country was the fact that we're all EQUAL. She explained how DADT strips gay soldiers of being seen as equals, and that, in fact, the policy was backwards, penalizing the wrong people:

Doesn't it seem that [DADT] is backwards? Doesn't it seem...that we're penalizing the wrong soldier? Doesn't it seem ... that we should send home the prejudiced; the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier? The straight soldier whose performance is affected because he's homophobic? The straight soldier who harbors hate instead of our nation's values?

I couldn't have said it better myself. All these military officials and personnel who want to keep DADT going justify it because they say that soldiers who are open about their sexuality will disrupt or destroy unit cohesion, which is the glue that holds troops together in combat. If you're holding a weapon and fighting an enemy, you want to feel close to the people you work with. So how is it that working with people who are forced to hide a part of themselves...how is that being cohesive? How does that promote cohesion? People in groups become stronger groups, more connected groups when they know the people they work with.

Watching a simple YouTube video with an internationally renowned pop star giving an address about human and civil equality astounds me. Her ideas made more sense than the policy implemented for over a decade by the American government, a government consisting of highly educated individuals; people who are or work with scientists, doctors, lawyers, business owners and other highly qualified, highly trained, highly educated professionals. How is it that a simple pop singer/songwriter's thinking makes more sense and is more aligned with the American values of equality, freedom, liberty, freedom from oppression, the pursuit of happiness than those of the people we put in power to administer over our country's future?

But you know what really upsets me? Senator John McCain. I think the only nice thing I have to say about him is that I'm grateful for his service to our country. But he's been coming up with excuse after excuse to impede repeal. He wanted to know how the top military officials felt about repeal; they supported it. He wanted to hear from the troops themselves; the in-depth survey conducted over 9 months shows that the vast majority of soldiers support repeal. He wanted to hear from the Pentagon; it also supports repeal. Everyone he's wanted to hear from has supported repeal. And now he's saying he won't support repeal because the economy is so messed up. Are you kidding me?!

McCain, I think it's time for you to retire.

How can we be a country whose Pledge of Allegiance ends with "...with liberty and justice for all" be the country that it is today, denying equality and justice to all of its people?

This country is extremely backwards sometimes. This country needs to look at itself in the mirror and change what truly doesn't work so everyone can have the same treatment regardless of any part of who they are. It's the reason why this country has become so incredibly diverse over the years. We're a melting pot of societies, of cultures. What message does it send to the world if we guarantee equality for all as long as certain conditions are met? That's not what America is. That's neither whom we strive to be nor whom we are.

They say that you can judge a country based on how it treats its minorities. Repeal DADT. It's unfair, it's unjust, it's discriminatory, and America, despite recent actions, is much smarter than this.