Category Archives: Soapbox

Soapbox

“Slava Ukraini!”

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This goes way back but I encountered my first Ukrainians when I was in the first grade. I went to one of those little K-8th grade Catholic parish schools that were abundant in small cities like Trenton, NJ, where each ethnicity gathered in certain urban neighborhoods with the ethnic church as the religious and social center.  My parish was Slovak, as were the kids, but the nearby Ukrainian church didn’t have a parish school, so they sent all their kids to ours. The kids were all native-born, but their parents, and most likely their grandparents were from the the Ukraine. This was opposed to we Slovaks, we were third or even fourth generation Americans, and the most Slovak we knew was pierogi and kolbas and a few other words we knew meant to run away fast when the nuns yelled them at us. But the Ukrainian kids all knew the mother tongue–they ALL did, and they were fierce in retaining their heritage no matter how American they sounded or looked. They were proud to be Ukrainian and they let everyone know it.

I’ve been thinking of those kids lately, wondering how they got on and what they’re thinking at this particular time in history. All I know is even though those kids didn’t have their own school, that they had to blend into ours, they never lost lost their identity, and they always let us know exactly who they were, and we always respected them for it.  So no matter what the future brings, they will never let their identity be lost. They didn’t lose it in Trenton, and they sure as hell aren’t going to give it up in their homeland. Never. Ever ever ever.

Soapbox

This time your “Happy New Year” better mean it.

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Happy-New-Year-Memes.

I’m not kidding around this time. Enough bullshit already. I’m really sick and tired of your hollow promises. Enough with all the noisemakers, funny hats, glow sticks, confetti and fireworks at midnight. I want me some real live Happy New Years and no more playing around. No more insurrections, Omicrons, lockdowns, natural disasters, Zoomers, KN95s, vaccine deniers, or breakthrough infections. I’m so over take-out. I want to hang out at a bar. Go to the movies. I’m really wanting some five-star service and I don’t care if I have to pay for it. Go get the damn shot. Shots. The booster. Just go do your part and let’s do some Normal already.

Thank you.

Soapbox

OKAY, CONVINCE ME NOT TO GET VACCINATED. GO!

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vacc-menu-fully-vaccinated

Got my second Pfizer shot last week and I’m really glad it’s over with. I feel good about getting it, and while I had some trepidation, it was never enough to cause me second thoughts. Now that I’ve had them, it made me think of the medical professional I had a chat with a couple of weeks ago. When I asked them if they had gotten vaccinated — because they were about to get intimately acquainted with a vulnerable part of my body — they were vague about it because they said it was “a personal decision.” I beg to differ. Unlike cancer or heart disease, which a body develops on its own, viruses are contagious. They seek out new hosts. My body can only get it from another body. So your “personal decision” ends when it comes in contact with me. Your body may also come in contact with someone who has yet to be vaccinated or someone who can’t. And a big population of “can’ts” are young children who are ending up sicker and with more long-lasting consequences than older people. So to those who won’t get vaccinated, to those who may carry the virus but never get symptoms, ask yourself if you’ll be able to live with your “personal decision” if it causes illness or death to someone you love. Aren’t you willing to do anything you can for them?

Soapbox

I AM OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER

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I am old enough to remember when you could pick up the newspaper want ads and see jobs listed as HELP WANTED – WOMEN and HELP WANTED – MEN. I am old enough to have been fired from a job because the owner wanted a “fresher, more-attractive face” up at the front counter, while the backroom boys made twice what that woman did. I am old enough to remember being passed over for promotion, even though the man who got the job had less experience and education than I did. And even today, with the profession I’m in, we’re paid half as what we should be paid, and is it any accident that we’re mostly women.

Today is Equal Pay Day 2021, and according to the National Committee on Pay Equity, “This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.” Why is it, that over a hundred years after women attained the right to vote, that we’re still struggling over basic issues of fairness, when we make up 50.8 percent of the population?

Soapbox

Teaching Online Blows

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I’ve been teaching college courses online for about ten years now. I started back when there was no Zoom-like interactions, just course modules, dropboxes, and discussion boards. The closest you got to live interaction was email, and the selling point was you could attend college in your pajamas, and at any hour of the day or night. But that was a choice you consciously made, because it was mostly made out of convenience. Not so now.

This semester, I’m teaching what’s known as synchronous  classes, live classes with students as mostly avatars, staring back at my computer screen. Since so many classes are being taught online at once, each class can only handle four student cameras at a time. Mostly, staring at those avatars, I feel like I’m talking to myself, and there’s no way of knowing how many students are paying attention to me at once. I try to be engaging, asking for responses, and we do have live class discussions over the readings, short stories, poetry and such, led by student Discussion Leaders, but it’s a poor, poor substitute. By the quality of their assignments, and the constant barrage of emails, and requests for office visits (also virtual), I know that for many students, I’m not getting through.

Why? Because teaching online is NO substitute for classroom interaction. Students, whether in preschool or college, need face-to-face interaction, and the give-and-take that only a live instructor can give to disseminate information. Yes, if you’re highly motivated, online learning is a wonderful alternative. But there’s more to any educational institution than just coursework, and I can go on for hours just what those things are. But in order to get students back into the classroom, which is what everyone wants, we need to get instructors — ALL instructors — vaccinated. There’s an old story, that if a plane is going down,  and a mother, with a baby, has access to only one oxygen mask, who gets it, the mother or the baby. The first instinct of the mother would be to put the mask on the baby. But who will care for the baby if the baby dies? So the logical answer is  to save the mother, as the baby can’t fend for itself.

The same for the instructors as believe me, no one wants to be back on campus more than we do. Children are the least likely to fall ill if they catch the virus, and college students, if they do, we most likely shrug it off. Not so with the instructors who are more often than not older and more vulnerable. If we value our children’s education as much as we say we do, then please give equal value to the people who spend their lives teaching them who are now at risk. Vaccinate all educators now.

Soapbox

Impeachment 2.0

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Photo The New York Times

Last week I posted a photo of the melee going on at the Capitol during what needs to be called an Insurrection. I have no other name for it, as “protesters” don’t smash windows, beat cops, and otherwise trash a hallowed temple of our democracy. Seeing that the War of 1812 ended over 200 years ago, I couldn’t see any other reason why they’d be there. So today, Speaker Pelosi was forced again to deal with the Insurrectionist-in-Chief the only way she could, by once again impeaching him. For those who disagree, you’re welcome to your point of view. That’s what First Amendment rights are all about. What they don’t concern is yelling louder than anyone else so you can punctuate your point with violence. We are free to disagree. We are not free to endanger the rights, the lives, the liberty, and the Constitution of this country. You live here, you have to play by the rules. If you disagree, there are legal avenues you are free to explore. But your right to disagree with me ends at the point of your fist.  Because we are a republic, and we’re civilized. Right? Right?

Soapbox

Why Biden?

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I will be the first one to tell you that Joe Biden, Jr. was not my first choice for president. In fact, he was probably my last choice. But let me get one thing straight: it was never because I didn’t think him either competent or ready for the job. He spent decades in the Senate and eight years as Vice-President, so he knows more than most what’s expected of him and he’s ready to hit the ground running. So when James Clyburn of South Carolina endorsed him, setting him on a winning streak that proved to be unstoppable, I can’t say I was disappointed. And when he picked Kamala Harris as his running mate–who was my first choice–that sealed the deal for me. So when I got my mail-in ballot from the Great State of New Jersey, (Jersey Girls don’t do lines because they don’t have to), I confidently dropped it in the ballot box with no reservations. So why not? Why Joe, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Four years ago I laid out my reasons for electing Hillary Clinton. I don’t think I have to mention how that went. There were a lot of reasons why Clinton lost, a couple of progressive third-party candidates, ignoring Midwestern and battleground states, and the plain fact that people were so over the Clintons. Then there was the reality that a lot of people simply didn’t vote, turned off by the nasty state of politics and an apathy for it altogether. People were saying both candidates were awful and how could my one vote make a difference? And here’s the best reason: whatever they do in Washington D.C. can hardly affect me. Thank about that for a few seconds: whatever they do in Washington D.C. can hardly affect me.

Seriously? Ever hear of a little ol’ thing called the COVID-19 pandemic? So how many people are you having over for Thanksgiving? When’s the last time you went to a concert? See your grandma lately? How about that last frat party? Let’s all try that new restaurant! Want to go out for a drink? Don’t worry, it’ll all go away in the spring. No–not next spring. Last spring. Except it didn’t. And there’s no one else to blame expect for Donald Trump. But this isn’t a column against him. I’m from Jersey, and we know who Trump is. And I’m not going to waste keystrokes on this cult of personality. He isn’t worth aggravating my carpel tunnel. So I’ll move on.

I voted for Joe Biden because I want competence in the government again. I want an adult who believe in science and progressive thinking and will honor differences of opinion, and is willing to compromise for a consensus. I want to believe in what my elected officials say, and when they do speak, they’ll speak truthfully and without recrimination, and they’ll respect the expertise of career public service professionals. I want my president to remember he’s a caretaker of not only the public trust, but to remember he’s the president of all Americans, blue state and red, and that he’ll rely on science and not on whatever’s rolling out of the rumor mill. I want Joe Biden as president because maybe we won’t be the laughingstock of the world anymore, and he’ll respect the expertise of our career diplomats and military. He’ll remember the White House is hotel and not his private country club, and that when family come over it’s for lunch in the private residence, and not for work in an office off the Oval. I want Joe Biden as president because I trust him to hire the best people for the job, not off a TV show he watched that morning, and when he fires someone I don’t learn about it in a tweet.

Oh man…I could go on and on, but like I said, the carpel…. I guess most of all why I want Joe Biden for president is I’m exhausted, and through boredom borne of this pandemic, what I’m craving now is normalcy. Donald–you’re just not funny anymore. You’ve worn me out–you’ve worn us all out. We want a leader, not an entertainer, because most definitely, we are not amused.

Biden Harris 2020.