Peanut Butter (or Lead) And Pineapples

early-onset-of-night:

Catholic Bishops On The Attack Against Girls Scouts

….Girl Scout leaders hope the inquiry will ease the bishops’ apprehensions. But there’s frustration within the organization, known for its inclusiveness and cookie sales, that it has become such an ideological target. Sometimes, the little girls themselves get caught in the crossfire.

“For us, there’s an overarching sadness to it,” said the Girl Scouts’ spokeswoman, Michelle Tompkins. “We’re just trying to further girls’ leadership.”

“Ultimately, that’s the problem,” countered Bazinga. “Furthering leadership is all fine and dandy, even for girls I suppose, but how far must it go? What if many of these girls reject the correct forms of marriage and family as taught by a group of out-of-touch, celibate men? What if they start thinking it’s ok to be gay? How about some leadership in the kitchen for once?”….

full article

visual-poetry:

“conceptual poetry is poetry pregnant with thought” by charles bernstein

source: http://poetrycenter.arizona.edu/conceptualpoetry/cp_media/misc/bernstein.ppt

racismschool:

TW: Cissexism & Trans* phobia

Many things that I write about being an ally come from my personal life. Things that I wish someone had told me as well as things I wish I could tell other people. I have been debating on writing this story for a while now. I am ashamed of it.

This is my “Ally” story.

Read More

(via themindislimitless)

Howard Zinn (via theyoungradical)

(Source: mynameskatetoday, via theyoungradical)

Sometime between freshman fall and senior spring, an insane number of students decide – one way or another – that entering the banking industry makes a whole lot of sense. A few weeks ago I interviewed over 20 Yalies to try to figure out why.

What I found was somewhat surprising: the clichéd pull of high salaries is only part of the problem. Few college seniors have any idea how to “get a job,” let alone what that job would be. Representatives from the consulting and finance industries come to schools early and often – providing us with application timelines and inviting us to information sessions in individualized e-mails. We’re made to feel special and desired and important.

Of course, none of us are actually special. The important thing is that we go to a top-tier school and they recruit at top-tier schools and their recruitment is pretty darn smart. They understand that it’s no longer “cool” to explicitly seek wealth. Our generation inherited a kind of corporate hate from the ’60s and ’70s that dissuades most students at schools like Harvard and Yale from working for corporations after graduation. But we will work for banks and hedge funds because they’re marketed to us (quite strategically) as something to merely do for a few years — as a perfect way to gain skills for a future career in somehow saving the world.

detroitsomething:

My name is Ray Stoeser.  I am a high school teacher living and working in Detroit.  Below is a testament to the power of Tumblr and social networking.  Most importantly it is about how 554 complete strangers helped change the lives of my Detroit students.

The Power of Tumblr.  The Beauty of Strangers.

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HELLOOOOOOOOO INTERNET. HELLOOOO PEOPLE. Good job to y’all guys. And congrats to the students =)))))))

But about school reform. Three big ideas: First, Romney is going to make the states provide “ample school choice.” Unless we’re talking, mushily, about vouchers, this one sounded exactly like the Bush law that allows parents whose children are in failing schools to move them elsewhere. It hasn’t really worked well. It turns out the parents wanted their local school to be better, not to ship their children out of the neighborhood. The magic of the marketplace works great for iPods, but not apparently for fourth graders.

Second, Romney wants the schools to have “report cards” on student performance so parents can make good decisions about choice. The only problems with this plan are: A) The parents don’t want that kind of choice; and B) the schools already have report cards.

Finally, he vowed to encourage teacher evaluation and accountability. This is something the Obama administration has been doing through its Race to the Top initiatives, much to the dismay of some teachers’ unions.

Romney then concluded with a long attack on Obama for being in the pocket of teachers’ unions.

Happy Memorial Day.

mehreenkasana:

Always good to explore and learn.

realfakescientist:

no words, just, no words.