i just came back from a showing of for the bible tells me so . it's amazing. you hear all the religious babble from both sides, the verses, the retorts, but the movie presented the facts in such a way that wasn't pretentious or entitled. i wasn't in a sermon, but it was honest and heartfelt. i felt it began to repair the rift that comes with being religious and gay. if for anything, watch it for the first 5 minutes of the film. seriously.
in the movie, there is an image of a man holding a sign that says god hate fags outside a church when new hampshire consecrated the first gay bishop in 93. i had such a strong reaction to this. it just makes me so incredibly angry, which is a shame because the message i got from the film was love, love, love. great message, but i can't embrace the message, especially toward ignorant people who do ignorant things. i can't move past it, embody jesus to teach or be patient with them. i simply cannot and will not.
i think one the best lines in the film was one a reverend said (something to effect of) maybe there was a reason why only a select group of people should be able read the bible because the general public will make a mess of it and misinterpret it. that line really resonates with me. i realize and appreciate that an endorsement of this statement is classist, and privileged and everything else that i'm generally against, but i right now, i'm stuck and can't move beyond that, but i applaud those who can and do and make movies about it.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Screw You ABC!
I recently read an article about ABC's insensitivity to Filipinos in a season premiere episode of Desperate Housewives. How anyone signed off on that episode is beyond me. I can't believe how anyone involved with that episode thought that was a good idea. Listen, I know all about dog lapping and outwardly conveying your support for things in your head you know is stupid, especially to people above you and have direct influence over your job, but to agree to write, produce and star in something so inflammatory and degrading and dismissive. that's just fucked up. i would like to think that i would cease kissing ass if i new my actions would directly and adversely a large group of people and say something, anything to change the course of the product.
my mom is a filipino doctor and i have witnessed first hand how hostile and insensitive the medical community in the US can be toward foreign doctors. we don't need a television show (and a crappy television at that) to affirm bogus ideas of the quality of healthcare from a provider who studied overseas. there is a huge filipino population in the healthcare industry, not only including doctors, but extending to nurses, technicians and other workers in the hospital themselves.
you know what, fuck you abc and your claim to be diverse and sensitive to cultural differences. while i applaud your apology, although brief, i feel you need to put your money where your apology is and
a). create scholarships for filipino americans so they can get college degress(preferably in mass media so that can snatch your job from under your fat white ass)
b). invest in some hard core diversity training for your writers, producers and actors
c). invest in some job training so writers can produce something truly creative and not rely on cheap, shitty, racist statements to get a cheap, shitty, racist laugh.
what totally sucks is i know the reach of media, and while a majority of people can distinguish between fiction and reality, there are still people out there, who cannot, and who do rely on these media clues to form an opinion.
grr. so sign please sign the petition
my mom is a filipino doctor and i have witnessed first hand how hostile and insensitive the medical community in the US can be toward foreign doctors. we don't need a television show (and a crappy television at that) to affirm bogus ideas of the quality of healthcare from a provider who studied overseas. there is a huge filipino population in the healthcare industry, not only including doctors, but extending to nurses, technicians and other workers in the hospital themselves.
you know what, fuck you abc and your claim to be diverse and sensitive to cultural differences. while i applaud your apology, although brief, i feel you need to put your money where your apology is and
a). create scholarships for filipino americans so they can get college degress(preferably in mass media so that can snatch your job from under your fat white ass)
b). invest in some hard core diversity training for your writers, producers and actors
c). invest in some job training so writers can produce something truly creative and not rely on cheap, shitty, racist statements to get a cheap, shitty, racist laugh.
what totally sucks is i know the reach of media, and while a majority of people can distinguish between fiction and reality, there are still people out there, who cannot, and who do rely on these media clues to form an opinion.
grr. so sign please sign the petition
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
what do you get when you google yourself?
inspired by the following article , i googled myself to see what potential employers and/or dates see as impressions of me:
1. 2001 Daily Texas article over student government . In my defense, it was 2001 and I was a bratty, entitled undergraduate.
2. LBJ Journal Editorial Staff . A little more promising and not as bratty or entitled.
3. Friendster Profile (thankfully set to private)
4. 2001 Daily Texan article of Pride Week . Great picture of me with a shaved head. Awesome.
5. 2002 Daily Texan article over an awards banquet .
Weird. The Internet is scary sometimes.
1. 2001 Daily Texas article over student government . In my defense, it was 2001 and I was a bratty, entitled undergraduate.
2. LBJ Journal Editorial Staff . A little more promising and not as bratty or entitled.
3. Friendster Profile (thankfully set to private)
4. 2001 Daily Texan article of Pride Week . Great picture of me with a shaved head. Awesome.
5. 2002 Daily Texan article over an awards banquet .
Weird. The Internet is scary sometimes.
ha ha ha no child left behind
during my interview with teach for america, they asked me how the organization
and its mission fit into my professional goals. i replied that i was always interested in policy, especially related to education, but i felt the need to experience education policy in action before i could fix what was broken. in my two years in the corps, i experienced a lot of broken things. i saw classrooms that were under resourced , thousands of dollars spend on standardized test study guides geared toward my high school students who were barely reading at a seventh grade level, private companies overtaking schools with promises of change, but really concentrating on how to make a profit. i saw first hand how no child left behind really meant not leaving *certain* children behind. my students in the inner city,
were left behind every year, despite my best intentions otherwise.
so i get excited when other people, far more eloquent than me, join in
this discussion of the broken
education system . i completely agree when ravitch mentions
that state and cities know their schools better and know what methods
and practices are effective in achieving success. i find it problematic
when policies are written to the lowest common denominator (failing
schools) and don't take into consideration the locality of these
failing schools or assume what works in one district surely must work
in the next.
i'm not saying that each case is radically different or that there aren't similarities shared among failing schools. issues like acquiring and retaining quality teachers, funding, finding ways to challenge and inspire students are common, but as policymakers, we have to appreciate the nuances that surround each district. as i found in simply teaching on both the east and west coast, the method in which education plays out in the community is dramatically different.
no child left behind is analogous to buying one type of cream and applying it to all your ailments: a broken foot, the common cold, menstrual cramps, chylamidia, the flu, allergies and cancer. no child left behind isn't the wonder drug that is going to cure this country's broken public education system, if anything, it continues to exacerbate it.
and its mission fit into my professional goals. i replied that i was always interested in policy, especially related to education, but i felt the need to experience education policy in action before i could fix what was broken. in my two years in the corps, i experienced a lot of broken things. i saw classrooms that were under resourced , thousands of dollars spend on standardized test study guides geared toward my high school students who were barely reading at a seventh grade level, private companies overtaking schools with promises of change, but really concentrating on how to make a profit. i saw first hand how no child left behind really meant not leaving *certain* children behind. my students in the inner city,
were left behind every year, despite my best intentions otherwise.
so i get excited when other people, far more eloquent than me, join in
this discussion of the broken
education system . i completely agree when ravitch mentions
that state and cities know their schools better and know what methods
and practices are effective in achieving success. i find it problematic
when policies are written to the lowest common denominator (failing
schools) and don't take into consideration the locality of these
failing schools or assume what works in one district surely must work
in the next.
i'm not saying that each case is radically different or that there aren't similarities shared among failing schools. issues like acquiring and retaining quality teachers, funding, finding ways to challenge and inspire students are common, but as policymakers, we have to appreciate the nuances that surround each district. as i found in simply teaching on both the east and west coast, the method in which education plays out in the community is dramatically different.
no child left behind is analogous to buying one type of cream and applying it to all your ailments: a broken foot, the common cold, menstrual cramps, chylamidia, the flu, allergies and cancer. no child left behind isn't the wonder drug that is going to cure this country's broken public education system, if anything, it continues to exacerbate it.
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