Contemporary Pederasty? Some Thoughts on The History Boys

So, I absolutely love the History Boys. It is one of the best written and acted movies I have ever seen. There is so much subtlety in the characterization, so much wit in the dialogue, so much emotion in the actors’ expressions and mannerisms, so much everything that the movie feels like it’s about to explode all over my living room. It also contains one of the most intensely emotional songs I’ve ever heard (Edith Piaf’s L’Accordeoniste)). But it’s also one of the most philosophically/morally troubling films I’ve ever watched.

SPOILER ALERT!

Is Domestic Violence A Pandemic?

So, I just found out on the first that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month. I’ve decided to use this as a spring board to guide some of my reading, thinking, and, consequently, writing for the time being.

How Education Reform Is Missing The Mark

I have issues with the mainstream education reform movement. Big issues. Huge issues.

John Phillips & The Problems With Representing Rapists as “Other”

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING

Gender Violence: Reflections On Jackson Katz’s Lecture

So, I just went to an powerful lecture by this guy named Jackson Katz entitled More Than a Few Good Men: A Lecture on American Manhood and Violence Against Women. Until tonight, I’m sad to say that I’d never heard of Jackson Katz. After tonight, I want to run out and buy all of his movies and books, because if he’s half as good at making movies or writing books as he is at speaking, it’ll be worth the money. The lecture was very, very good, but there was a LOT there to try to process. So, I’m going totry to give some of the major impressions I’m left with and engage with some of the content right now, with the idea that I’ll engage with it in more detail in the future.

Sex As A Social Construct

So, years ago, during the summer between eleventh and twelvth grade, I was introduced to an idea that seemed a little silly to me at the time. During a discussion about racism and colonialism, somebody claimed that race was an artificial social construct. My immediate response was something along the lines of placing my arm next to hers and asking what was socially constructed about that. I was darker skinned than her, with coarser, curlier hair. My facial features were different and my likelihood of developing certain diseases were different. I was black and she was white. In my view, there was nothing artificial about this division, and nothing that was said at the time convinced me otherwise. As I grew up and more seriously studied historical and sociological views of race, I began to rethink my view on the subject. Essentially, what I learned was that my response had been completely true, but irrelevant to the discussion she was trying to have. Yes, my physical features were different from hers, but that’s not what she was talking about. Rather, she was talking about why my features made me “black” and hers made her “white” (especially since I’m actually biracial). It’s these discrete categories we group the physical differences into that are artificially drawn. Sometimes they’re drawn by legislation (the infamous one-drop laws). Sometimes they’re drawn by the scientific community. More often, they’re simply drawn by the current dominant culture.

I plan to get more into race as a social construct at a later time, especially what this means for the dismantling of systems of racial oppression. For now, I want to use it as a springboard for discussing a different socially constructed category I was discussing a couple nights ago, sex. And no, I don’t mean gender identity. I’m talking about sex.

Summer Learning Loss: The Case For Year-Round School

This may be the start of my “Our education system’s broke! Let’s fix it!” series. Or it may end up being my second and final blog post ever. Who knows? Either way, read on if educational policy interests you.

Educational policy interests me on many levels. First of all, I used to be student and (it’s pretty safe to assume) so did everyone else I know. So I have a tendency to look back and evaluate the experience. What did I love? What did I hate? How much was my experience affected by policy decisions and mandates? How different was my experience than people in other districts, states or even in private schools? Then there’s the fact that I’m trying to work towards being a teacher, so educational policy is going to have a direct effect on my ability to do my job and have an impact on my students. Finally, as a minority who grew up without much money (and, as my bro would put it, a non-zombie), I’m very aware of the gaping inequities of the educational system.

Modifications to General Relativity or Why Theoretical Physics Baffles Me

I’m not going to lie. Theoretical physics baffles me. The entire idea that there are people out there whose job is to sit and think, “What if….?” and then design a model to try to find an answer is strange. But what really baffles me is the fact that these guys and gals manage to further science by doing this! Take Einstein, for example. Now, I have never bothered to read any biographies of the man, so I have no idea what his background was in experimental stuff. But the contributions that he is remembered for (general/special relativity, e=mc^2, etc.) are primarily theoretical stuff. He didn’t do physics in a lab. He did it in his head and on chalkboards and paper. But he still had one of the greatest impacts on physics in the 20th century (probably the biggest).