The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Thursday, May 6, 2010

yes i realize that

I'm a senior citizen I know, and I come from another era I know that too.  And I try to understand the needs and intentions of people as they relate in our "new world" but sometimes I'm puzzled.

Like this for instance, it confuses me why this would be an issue:


Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees



KNTV Videos



By George Kiriyama
NBCBayArea.com
updated 36 minutes ago
On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.
Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.
"They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."

The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus.
"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.
The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."
But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.
"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."
As for an apology, the boys and their families say, "fat chance."
"I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American."
The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district released a statement saying it does not agree with how Live Oak High School administrators handled this incident.
The boys will not be suspended and they were told they can go back to school Thursday. They may even wear their red, white, and blue colors again, but this time, the day after Cinco de Mayo, there will be no controversy.

I don't get it, why problems yesterday and not today?  I suppose there's the whole America/Mexico thing to consider, but this isn't Mexico, and I doubt they'd be very interested if I were to wear my American flag (not that I own one) t-shirt in Mexico on July4.  So why should Mexican Americans care if someone wears their American Flag-wear on Cinco de mayo?   Who's being insensitive here?  Like I said, another era I guess.

Last night i was given a rare treat:
The evening Star has apparently come to visit this year.  It was a lovely evening on my deck.  

When I was a student we were encouraged to speak our minds, not become sheep to be herded about. Mind you beards and mustaches were discouraged, as was long hair, but it was a private school and  we knew little else.  And our parents were on the side of the administration so we shaved and cut our hair, stupid I know, but it's the reality we lived then.  

But today no one is allowed to do or say anything that might upset others,  they are to be completely considerate of each others sensibilities.  We all know they're not, we know that this fosters ill-will and makes those who are perceived to be different more appealing targets than they were in the first place.  You can't legislate behavior and anyone with any sense knows that.  

During grade and high school I was the object of quite a bit of ridicule because I was (correctly) perceived as gay. (let's see, skinny, intelligent, uncircumcised, homosexual. not very well socialized, bad at sports, and a loner. yes I was an easy target)  I was harassed for my lack of ability at sports, I was made fun of, in general grade school was quite a bit of misery. And at the time I'd have sided with the administration if they tried to legislate that behavior, but they couldn't and they knew it. In fact the grocery is in the very neighborhood where I grew up and one of the worst of my antagonists is still there.  He's apparently living with his elderly mother and looking for work.  He's also apparently not a very good guy.  I told them that 40 years ago.  Amusingly enough he's trying to be my friend when he comes in.  I'm civil and I speak when he does, and several people have warned me about what a wretch he is.  I laugh.   
I very nearly got myself in a silly struggle with a student over that very issue a month or two ago.  He's very immature and he acts out in ways I wouldn't expect a college student to.  He is however in a community college, and some of that shit  is to be expected.  He did what he wanted and though there will be consequences from me he got what he wanted.  I don't have to approve, and I don't have to give him more opportunity to do it to me again. But to get into some struggle over who did what to whom and how it felt is a complete waste of time.  Let him be who he is, and move on without him. That's when he'll get the message.

Still very much in the get out of here mode. The other countries look better and better.  Though the unemployment rates are scary right now.  
Very little of these "things" need to be dragged around the world.  Stuff'll show up in my experience.  Furniture is everywhere.  There's a laptop, a few keepsakes a mantel clock, a flat screen, a bike, and some art work.  Other than clothes that's about it as far as I'm concerned. The rest can go.  Maybe being more mobile will help my mental process of letting go of the here where I live. 
On the other hand I have an income and a nice place to live and I get to look at the evening star when I come home.  

And so it goes:



The other day I used the title "Miss Otis regrets..." and  since then I've come to realize that one of the many stories about Cole Porter can't be easily found on the internet.  This one regards the title of this particular song.  it goes like this:  One afternoon he was apparently making advances on one of the staff of the hotel where he was staying and the young man simply named denominations that it would cost Porter to perform a particular daliance.  Porter became increasingly frustrated walked over to his desk wrote the young man a check for 5K dropped it in his lap and said "Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today."

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