The Unofficial Foundation for the Advancement of Friends in Precarious Situations (UFAFIPS)
I observe who the non-profits are aimed to serve, and I notice they are us.
When “critical thinking” becomes “dismissal of lived experience”
Intellectualism’s signature value of “critical thinking” quickly manifests as “dismissal of lived experience” when white people refuse to remove their own lenses before reading black narratives. Here’s a non-colonialist way for white people to approach the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates.
“MAN HITTING PEOPLE WITH HAMMER TURNS OUT TO BE MENTALLY ILL”: My first attempt at SATIRE!
My first attempt at SATIRE! “MAN HITTING PEOPLE WITH HAMMER TURNS OUT TO BE MENTALLY ILL: City residents surprised to find out man who attacked people with hammer had a history of mental illness.”
Quaker author Chuck Fager sheds Light on cheeseburgers
On May 2, Quaker author Chuck Fager published an article on his blog, A Friendly Letter, called “Nope, Nestle’s Is NOT The California Drought Devil,” about who the real culprits are in California’s drought. He makes plain the different roles Nestle, “Big Almonds,” and the meat and dairy industries play in the crisis. What I like about…
Just fucking listen to survivors.
A new article from The Daily Beast, “Columbia Student: I Didn’t Rape Her” gives a picture of what many people view as important to “seeing both sides.” What results is much like various other situations in which power inequity makes the idea of “both sides” a sick joke: in the interest of fairness, the weightiest issues…
What we can learn from The Imitation Game
If you haven’t seen The Imitation Game yet, go see it. It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. Spectacular acting, beautifully made, and it has Tom Branson in it. (You can tell I’m not an actual movie critic.) How life-affirming it is when something beautiful, nerdy, and emotionally moving is also replete with lesson materials.…
Christmas at the DMV
Christmas at the DMV: Because separation between church and state was always a joke. As happens often, I had an enlightening texting conversation with my sister. Went like this: Me: The fact that they’re playing xmas music at the DMV – does that count as failure to separate church and state? My sister: Yes Long…
Fun with infographics #2: Those Stop n Frisk Stats
I’ve seen some people sharing an article from The New Republic that features a very nice-looking graph: The caption says that the data is from the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the article links to an NYCLU page with some tidy data, prefaced like so: Graphs! Cool! Data! Cool! But wait. Before y’all do that…
No, that actually doesn’t count as culturally competent pedagogy
Last Monday night, I was at a poetry slam to benefit Planned Parenthood. I’m pretty sure the poets were personally invited. One man went up to the mic who is a writing professor and has won awards for a diversity multicultural something or other. He told a story about teaching a class of ‘at-risk’ students. He kept…
OMG, GMOs! What the labeling controversy is actually about
Originally posted on Viriditude:
Voters in Oregon will decide on Tuesday whether their state will require labeling of products that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), when they vote on the Oregon Mandatory Labeling of GMOs Initiative, aka Measure 92. As usual with initiatives on controversial topics, there’s been a ton of hype about this, and…
NCTM’s Equity Pedagogy Research Brief in digestible form
My friend who recently completed STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program) and now teaches math in an SF public school shared this link on facebook: The NCTM Equity Pedagogy Research Brief. I enjoyed reading it and felt like converting it to a format that I’d find easier to reference later. Why not share it? Please note that…
Arts 'n' Maths 