my little activist

I've mentioned before that Michael seems to really start kicking around anytime I'm reading or watching something that has to do with social injustice or bigotry. This week it seems like he's constantly doing summersalts and aerobics as I've been reading things about glenn beck's rally yesterday, the Muslim community center in Manhatten (also known misleadingly as the Ground Zero Mosque) and all sorts of other issues in the news right now. Sometimes I find myself wondering about Michael growing up in such a political/social environment filled with ignorance, hate and people using religion as a tool to spread both. It's understandable, being hateful and fearful is much easier to do than to actually think critically and try to understand where someone is coming from. In general, people are terrified of change and of anything different from themselves.

I don't know that I would say that I grew up in a particularly political household--at least not in the sense that my parents were really overtly involved in politics beyond voting. Though they both certainly raised my sister and I with the notion that regardless of where someone comes from or who they are that they are valid and worthwhile people who have the same rights as I do. I also became aware fairly early on that many people do not feel this way and that there is definitely a social hierarchy at work here in the United States. Lately more and more it seems that those desperate to keep this hierarchy in place are getting louder in their protests, and I can't help but get depressed about it.

However, then I think of my wonderful students, the people that I have in my life and how beautiful the world still is. As much as I might get discouraged, I have to believe in keeping up the fight.



"landing gear " by Ani DiFranco

hey little bag of sugar
floating in your biosphere
summon the courage
to put down your landing gear
and come out here

'cuz i am as exhausted
as a drowning polar bear
swimming around looking for a ride
and it's so god awful hot outside

and quit kicking me in the rib
every time adam tells what he did
man creates woman, he says
sweeping his hand through the air
like mister show biz

you're gonna love this world
if it's the last thing i do
the whole extravagant joke
topped in bitter sweet chocolate goo
for someone who ain't even here yet
look how much the world loves you
look how much the world loves you

the candles are burning down
the music is fading
your pinata is torn
it is time to be born
death is at the door
peddling that old fashioned
blood and gore
here at the house of creation
cue the sobering moment
of revelation

you're gonna love this world
if it's the last thing i do
the whole extravagant joke
topped in bitter sweet chocolate goo
for someone who ain't even here yet
look how much the world loves you
look how much the world loves you


When I was around 5 I remember asking my mom why people looked different from each other, for example different colored skin and hair and eyes, etc. She told me that it was so we could all tell each other apart and find each other when we got lost. For example, if I got lost from her in the store, how would I ever find her again if everyone looked like her. I hope that's something I can pass on to Michael--that we're all looking for each other and for ourselves, so we might as well help each other out.