I apologize for the leading. My HTML-fu is weak.

Some thoughts for Banned Book Week (September 22-28).

As you may know, I served on the Little Rock, Arkansas, School Board from 2000-2006. During that time, I don’t recall their being a book banning fever in the US. I’m currently running again for the School Board.

The media frenzy in 2023 over banned books and Moms for Liberty (MFL) seems to have abated somewhat. However, slipping from the public eye can be a blow to free speech advocates. Our watchword should be “vigilance.” They haven’t gone far.

Banning books is not only in violation of the free speech guarantees of the US Constitution, it is antithetical to the Jeffersonian ideas of education and citizenship. Jefferson urged free, public education in order to instill in citizens the ability to reason critically about the public issues of moment in order to render an unbiased judgment at the ballot box. How can people have an idea of the appropriate or inappropriate nature of a book without reading that book from themselves? The MFL crowd seem to think it’s easy; just listen to them.

MFL argues that they are protecting not only their children, but yours as well; so what’s the problem? Unfortunately, telling the first truth: “I do not want you to protect my child” makes you come off as unconcerned about the MFL’s issues. And, you probably are. Unconcerned, I mean. My mother never policed my reading, and I, on only one occasion policed my daughter’s. She was about 10 and very much into manga and picked up a book from the CLAMP studio. It was that goofy kind of manga porn that passes as erotica: a robot, modeled to appear as a human female had an on/off switch in her vagina. I just took the book from her and told her it wasn’t for kids her age and that she could read in later on down the road. In all honesty, I don’t know what happened to the book (this was 25 years ago), and I don’t think she ever read it. But, I could wrong because by the time she was 12 I figured she could handle anything on her own. And that she would ask questions if something was troubling her.

And, here we come to the second truth: “Just because you and your kid aren’t close is no reason to take books out of the reach of kids who want to read them.” When I was around 11 or 12, I read one of those teen advice books (for the life of me, I can’t remember or figure out which one). I read it for the titillation; I hid it from my mother. But over the next few weeks, I felt her out on some of the topics, asking vague questions that she answered. The book was an excellent way to get me some of the answers from my mother to questions on petting and sex; which is what the MFL crowd wants: them giving information to their kids in what they feel is the proper time and place. If you’re honest with your kids, they’ll be honest with you.

And, speaking of honesty, we come to the third truth: “You hate and fear people different from yourself and you want us to hate and fear them, too, so you’ll feel safer.” The ground-level, organized book banners are not interested in banning books. They are interested in banning people who frighten them. And, in addition to the obviousness of this statement, there is a subtle aspect. Look at the authors of the books they want banned. Yes, yes, many of the authors are LGBTQ+ folks, so, as I said, it’s obvious they want those people banned. But, if you do a little digging, you’re going to find that black authors and Jewish authors are over-represented in the author lists that they make. And a great many of the comics they want banned are manga, Japanese comics. We’re just back to the same, old hateful anti-black, anti-Asian, anti-Semitic, white supremacy lies and fear-mongering. And this is one of the reason that anti-intellectualism, anti-public education, anti-free speech, et cetera, just won’t go away. We can’t root out the fear of the other that governs the thinking of too many Americans.

And the fourth truth: “The people at the top of your organization and the people that fund you, don’t give a good goddamn about the issues that drive you; they just want you driven.” The leaders on the right just want to create division by fanning the flames of cultural issues, any of them. And those of us on the progressive side just can’t help but take the bait. And so there are shouting matches at city board meetings and altercations at school board meetings that result in arrests. And the positions of the voters become ossified. And the leaders on the right then do a lot of pointing and claiming justification for the hatred they are attempting to inculcate in the populace.

If you read this expecting arguments against book banning, I’m sorry. Book banning, protesting against gay marriage, eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion offices are all a part of the same cloth. On the left, we make arguments based on our beliefs in the decency of people, their ability to reason, and the Constitution of the United States. On the right, manipulators of voters and their duped supporters make arguments based on fear, which denies reason. We can’t change their minds on the details until we can change their minds on the larger issues, and that will still be a long time a’comin’.

 The moment has come when I have to ask for money. I have to have your donations or my campaign for LRSD School Board will die. the maximum allowed by state law for an individual contribution is $3,300 per contributor per election.

The Math Literacy Gap

Stay with me on this, especially you educators. 

The civil rights icon, Bob Moses -- and if you don't know a lot about him, he was the field secretary for SNCC in Mississippi in the early '60s and is as an important figure to the civil rights movement as MLK, just not so well known. Find a biography and read it -- was awarded a McArthur "Genius Grant" in 1982. He used the money to found the Algebra Project. Moses felt that "Education is still basically Jim Crow as far as the kids who are in the bottom economic strata of the country. No one knows about them, no one cares about them" (NPR's Morning Edition August 1, 2013). 

I trust that I don't have to quote the numbers indicating that not only are black students significantly behind white students nation-wide, state-wide, and LRSD-wide, but the white students aren't doing that great either.

The idea for correcting that math achievement gap -- according the Algebra Project -- is to double up on math courses in high school. And, perhaps most importantly, require all students to take Algebra I in the eighth grade. Don't let counselors (who work hard, I'm not dissing them) assign students to non-algebra math courses based on test scores or "soft expectations." There's more to it, encouraging students to talk about math in class, using ordinary, everyday language. Then, through a process called "5-step circular," teachers work with students to systematically move from observation to symbology. No doubt this requires a great deal of professional development for teachers, but if it works like it has in some schools...

The Algebra Project has a newsletter here: https://algebra.org/newsletter/

If you google "math literacy strategies" you will see too many links to articles that suggest applying the methods used to teach reading to mathematics. I would like to point out that reading scores are on par with math scores. Using the same strategies over and over and expecting something different is a waste of everybody's time.

So, educators, what is your horseback opinion of the viability of such efforts?

Here's some more stuff: https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61afa2b5ded66610900a0b97/6659f1a0beba12df4a468d40_%20BEYOND-ALGEBRA-REPORT_05312024.pdf

Politics and stuff

I've filed to run for the Little Rock School District Board of Directors. So far, I have only one opponent. He is an investment banker and has already spent more on this campaign than has ever been spent on a Little Rock school board election. He rolled out a professionaly created web site that listed everyone who had endorsed him. They were the movers and shakers of Little Rock. Did you ever notice that it's only the rich who decry class warfare. I doubt I will win this race. He can outspend me on literature, signs, hired door-bell ringers, etc. He seems very enthusiastic about serving. The thing is, he thinks a "hey, let's all pull in the same direction" will resonate with everyone and things will just naturally get batter. He says he'll defer to the administration on matters of education because they're the "experts." He thinks that the job of the board is to provide a vision and direction for the district. He's wrong. Those things come from the community. The board's job is to craft policies that will promote the community's vision. He knows that the board is supposed to keep an eye on the money, and since that's his profession, he'll probably be good at that. I'm smarter than the average bear and I never did understand how it worked; there was something called "7% claw back" that was the real kicker (I may have the percentage wrong; it's been years). His web site touts his education, and it is pretty impressive: high school at Central, undergrad in government from Harvard, JD and MBA from UA-Fayetteville. It makes mine look sorta provincial: Waldron High School in Scott County, BA, BS, MA, all from UA-Little Rock. Yep, he wins that pretty handily. The election is in November. I plan to use the traditional America calendar for elections; I'm only piddling around until Labor Day. For now, I'm going to raise some money for yard signs, a couple of big signs, and a fold-out with my psositions of stuff that will have a cut-out that will let you hang them from door knobs. Many of you know that I am clinically depressed. My mental well-being took a helluva hit when I saw how much money he had spent. I don't expect to win, but I hope that we can work up some sort of debate or panel discussion that will be on a necessarily even commmon ground.

I found a new toy!

 https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/

Hypocrisy

 I had thought to start off with "You gotta love Republicans," in the sense that they are pathetic and probably need a hug at the end of each long day of hating.  Then I realized that no matter the bitter laughs they provide me with, they are generally ignorant people who, when engaged in culture warfare, don't think any of it through.

The governor of Tennessee dressed in drag for a high school thing back in the 70s. His defense, as you can see, is that was different from those evil, sexual, obscene drag queens coming for our children. For the life of me, the only difference I can see is that it was him and not a gay man.  For the record, I've dressed in drag more than once.  Never for my own gratification, but every time as a form of entertainment for others.

The unintended consequences of their abortion laws is worse.  We don't get to laugh at these kinds of things (behind the Washington Post paywall, which they let you step over for free for a while). It's simply horrific.  And you know damned good and well that they wouldn't let this happen to their wives and daughters.  No matter the cost, they would see that the women close to them got appropriate health care.  But your daughter or mine?  Fuck them.

And there is no need to talk about the debacle that was Kansas under a "eliminate taxes" governor with a compliant legislature a few years ago.  And the hell of it is, that here in Arkansas, we're about to go through the same hell, bankrupting the state by eliminating income taxes and promising vouchers to take kids to private schools.

No, you don't have to love them.  You have to be sickened.  And you have to be afraid.

By the lights of the Supreme Court,...

 ...it was a bad week to be an oil company guy working by the hour plus a bonus on an oil rig (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/598/21-908/?utm_source=summary-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-02-23-us-supreme-court-efa8b99341&utm_content=text-case-title-1).

...it was a good day to be a capital murderer arguing that federal law applied to his federal. case https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/598/21-846/?utm_source=summary-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-02-23-us-supreme-court-efa8b99341&utm_content=text-case-title-2.

and, finally...If I understand the cases correctly, it was a bad day to be involved in raising and spending the poison fruit of a poisoned tree. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/598/21-984/?utm_source=summary-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-02-23-us-supreme-court-efa8b99341&utm_content=text-case-title-3

We live in a science fiction universe #731

 https://www.space.com/very-large-telescope-photographs-lightest-ever-exoplanet

A Perfect Storm

 This blog used to have, up there in the masthead, the sentence, "I'm so mad I can't think straight." I thought it was funny, but nobody ever laughed besides me, so...

However, this story, in all its glory, has made me to mad that I'm talking like Yosemite Sam.

A couple of days ago, the Washington Post broke a story about a company that sterilizes meat packing equipment employing children in overnight, mostly unsupervised, dangerous jobs.  See here (it's behind a registration wall, but they don't seem to have bombarded me too much for registering, so  I recommend it).  Short version: Department of Labor fined Packers Sanitation Services $1.5 million for child labor law violations.

Turns out (and not even close to a surprise) that Tyson, the giant food processing corporation originating in my home state of Arkansas, was one of the businesses that used illegal labor from Packers Sanitation Services (at Tyson's plant in Green Forest).  Short article here.

The second half of the article from the Arkansas Times gets to the part that is so infuriating.  As reported in the Guardian (here), it seems that the GOP is making a coordinated effort, at the state level, to undermine the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.  And, of course, they don't just want them to work, they want the companies that hire them to be shielded from the inevitable accidents (some that will be fatal) that are part and parcel of hiring young, inexperienced labor.

But why? Is the labor shortage that business keeps squealing about that acute?  Could we finally be at the point where business will be forced to realize that infinite, eternal growth is not possible?  Will every sentence in this paragraph be a question?

Homelessness and poverty.

 The easiest way to end homelessness is to give unhoused people houses: https://www.5newsonline.com/amp/article/news/local/little-rock-tiny-homes-homeless/91-e069c403-25b1-45c1-9cea-c97c3c52cb84

You can eliminate poverty the same way.  Give the poor money.

Did you know that many Christians are opposed to eliminating poverty? Yep.  You start talking to them about ways to get rid of poverty and they'll sling half of Matthew 26:11 at you and say it can't be done.  As usual, these kinds of Christians are cherry picking.  I guess Deuteronomy 4:2 -- Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you -- just doesn't resonate with them.

So, good on Ken Howard and the city of Little Rock.  I don't like the drawing, it looks like a ghetto and they are building it in a pretty trashy part of town -- no offense intended for anybody who lives near there and keeps their property looking nice and junk picked up and stuff --, but I guess it's better than nothing.