Books = Joy

Books = Joy

It will come as no surprise that I love books. I have books I have had since my childhood in our apartment, I think the oldest one being a wordless book called A Sleepless Day by John Hamberger, a gift from my beloved Aunt Helen on my 2nd birthday. I have a bit of OCD … Continue reading →

Getting Called Out on Your Racial Microaggressions

Getting Called Out on Your Racial Microaggressions

I have written about racial microaggressions before, but I had the humbling experience of being called out on my own racial microaggression this fall by my brave student Stephanie (name changed). For those who don’t know: Racial microaggressions have been defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, … Continue reading →

Turn Your Back because PUBLIC SCHOOLS MATTER

Turn Your Back because PUBLIC SCHOOLS MATTER

As 2014 drew to a close, New York City was a electrified yet grieving bundle of nerves. After the grand jury decided not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who administered the choke-hold on Eric Garner that resulted in his death, the city was a constant flow of protests, die-ins, and demonstrations. The Mayor … Continue reading →

Teaching with Hip Hop/Rap Music

Teaching with Hip Hop/Rap Music

While procrastinating in the most productive way this morning, I read this article about Slick Rick, a musician I have been a fan of since the 6th grade when we sat in Jimmy Meceda’s bedroom listening to a 45″ record of “LaDiDaDi” of Doug E. Fresh and MC Ricky D (later known as Slick Rick) … Continue reading →

This is my job

This is my job

I get a lot of questions from people about teaching community college. A lot. Most of my friends did not go to community college and they want to know what the differences are between it and a four-year school. A lot of people I know are literature and/or creative writing professors, and although my job … Continue reading →

Let’s be Human in New York

Let’s be Human in New York

I am sure anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks has followed the incredible story on Humans of New York, the young man from Brownsville named Vidal, his principal Ms. Nadia Lopez, and the crowd-sourced fundraiser that Brandon Stanton (the photographer of Humans of New York, also called … Continue reading →

Scars = Survival

As I wrote my other post today, I was reminded of one of my many favorite quotes from a book. So, I went and found Little Bee by Chris Cleave to get the quote. In my last post I wrote about having a scar from being given a bad grade on a research paper in … Continue reading →

The Importance of Model Texts/Sample Papers

The Importance of Model Texts/Sample Papers

This fall semester I taught I class I designed called Ethnography of Education. In the class, the students learned sociological concepts/theories of education and ethnographic research skills. They created a simple research question, chose a research subject, and observed and interviewed their subject. They retrieved a document from their subject and/or related to their research … Continue reading →

When Does it Start? How does it End?

When Does it Start? How does it End?

Last summer after Mike Brown was shot, I did not write about it. After writing about Trayvon Martin here, here, and here (oh, and here), I felt guilty for not giving Mike Brown’s death words–my form of an offering–but I felt frozen.  I had watched the YouTube video of Eric Garner (which is beyond horrible, … Continue reading →