the real lacc: 29/08/2010

do no harm:

idit dobb-weinstein: "teaching is action and thinking at once. What I try to guard against most when I teach is not speaking as if my answer were conclusive, so as to avoid (to the extent possible) any kind of dogmatic appropriation. It is understandable why students might wish to imitate their teachers, but there are different modes of imitation. I try very hard to avoid the mimetic appropriation that is immediate, passive, and occludes thinking. One other reason is that if I made clear what my views were, and my views appeared as if they were final, it would preclude the possibility of first, students challenging me and second, learning from my students. The relation between the student and teacher is, to me, a dynamic relationship . . . Teaching and learning is a movement that occurs between. In other words, we are at once both agent and patient, both teacher and learner. If we are not very careful, we can do a great deal of harm. And that, too, I have learned from my teachers, Maimonides especially.

I believe my task is to provoke students to think and to engage them in genuine dialogue and questioning. To paraphrase a rabbinic saying, 'I have learned from my teachers, and I have learned from my peers, but I have learned most from my students.' And that is a continuous process of learning."

Friday 3 September 2010

fie foul fiend

in many situations, a mere gesture can get you kiled . . . a mere look . . . so it is only natural that evolving languages would be full of land-mines.

i am going to study hate speech for my next project.

why words like jew, nword and b------ are hate words. and why they hurt. and what is achieved in the utterance. like keening or the ancient imprecation against darkness, the primitive chanting before black metal. why do we let imprecations fly?

for my old drama coach bart whiteman

for showing us beckett
one flew over the cukoo's nest
equus
and so much shakespeare

and for dead poet's society
bc
the last thing you need is your favorite teacher cursing

Thursday 2 September 2010

finding allies--

to:

Letia Royal-Burnett

Los Angeles Trade-Technical College

Compliance Officer

the seminar i am taking this summer is on conflict resolution.

i hope to go to law school and be a fighter for human rights.

there are very specific laws against epithets and slurs which have been violated at LACC.

cristy passman discouraged me from making reports and tried to talk down to me and blame me.

the administration needs a total overhaul so that latina women and asian women and all women can go to a school in an equal atmosphere.

i appreciate anything you can do do help make LACC a better place.

i really really feel inspired by talking to you and hope we can talk soon.

i wil work on excerpting the anecdotes pertaining to passman's protection of the abusers.

i believe there is a better future for LACC.

my seminar concludes this friday and i will have time to dedicate to speaking with you and sending you the extracts from my blog and names of witnesses.

i appreciate your support and courageous educational committment.

i think ms. passman deserves respect, but i think our attempts to help her see the value of true equality will make LACC a safer place.

women are literally dropping classes and being kicked out of classes bc of predator professors and sexism from the lecture verbiage and harassing emails.

the damage to our souls and psychological well-being is severe.

i thank you for being an ally!!!!!

more later

mary eng

Wednesday 1 September 2010

LACC be proud of your future!

have faith have courage, speak and give voice to the future, the future is fair and the future is a good listener. trust your own divinity. your so called disabilities are your advantages. nothing will stop the path of human intelligence. not dyslexia or tourette's syndrom, or smog, or sapir-whorf.

not a big ego either, because in the future our togetherness is our ego-strength.

if somebody, or many people, are feeling bad about disrespect, school administrators will listen.

because they do not want a suicide on their hands. like the AFI has to bury peter gelles. RIP.
LACC will care about you! LACC will not protect sexual harassment!!!!! or let professors joke around about rape, bulimia, sluts, prostitution as if not a brain cell survived the smog attack.

in your future letia royal-burnet is your new hero of equality. she has the power to decide the fate of this story.

i am sending her a link right now. and the question is:
will we have equality now, or later?

will teachers be respectful?

is rape, bulimia, prostitution a laughing matter?

is kicking women out of student government okay in retaliation for sexual harassment whistleblowing?

is giving them a "c" for "a" work an okay method for retaliating against them for attempting to enforce federal civil rights law?

is jim crow for women, transgendered, bulimics, rape victims okay????

in the future, women will feel safe, and men will feel enlightened. they won't have to squirm in their seats while some big doctor says bogus stuff a wingman wouldn't let his friend say even in a bar.

like dude shut up! you are embarrassing . . . not to mention spouting nonsensical sexist hateful losery BS on the tax dime.

go to a zen monastery or something and practice silence and respectfulness.

really.

we're all good people.

some of us shouldn't get paid to abuse others and hide the carnage.
oh, but oh yeah, its the dominator culture, i forgot.