Now that's a revolutionary perspective if I ever read one! You need any foot soldiers?

A delightful, charming and even therapeutic little note.  I hope you will find the time to pen some vignettes with the details about these happy little moments.  You have been gone over a year but I think you can imagine how much we who still live in this Fritz Lang movie set of a nation need to hear things like this.  Thanks and have more good times and then tell us about them.

Orlando, great blog, and a great read. TY.  I love SE Asia and am here right now, visiting  my parents. I was raised here, I wrote my first thesis  because of the impact Asia had on my life.

I took this picture when I landed in Manila Feb 1st. I love coming home.

My daughter was asking about Komodo dragons last night. Have you been anywhere near their habitat?

And, most importantly, I got to teach. Teaching was a creative and energizing endeavor that I wish I’d embarked on twenty years ago. I wasted a lot of time trying to do things to make the world better or to trying to make my mark. Finally, I’ve found something I truly enjoy and I’ve found the general sense of contentment that goes along with it.

I love the following quote, have for a long time.  It is on my wall at work:

Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

^{--Robert F. Kennedy, University of Cape Town, South Africa, N.U.S.A.S. "Day of Affirmation" Speech, June 6, 1966}

For most of us our ability to 'make the world a better place' takes place one conversation, one action at a time.  Probably we usually don't have much impact in our own eyes if we make it our measure of success to bring about an immediate change in another person's point of view or attitudes.  Especially doing overtly political work.  Less is often more. 

As a teacher interacting with students who are influenced by your values and actions, I don't think you would be able to avoid making the world a better place, even and maybe especially if you don't think about it that way.  The opportunities for meaningful human exchange seem so much more promising than going door-to-door to talk to people one has never met before in a campaign for Obama or any political candidate.  As the late Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion, said: "I touch the future.  I teach."  So true. 

The teacher-bashers are out there in full force in the US these days, just so you know.  They relentlessly focus their efforts are hunting down and firing the bad teachers.  It is necessary to try to help those who are unproven and burned out or on the cusp to do their jobs well.  If that cannot be done, then, yes, they need to find another line of work.  Counseling out is something the teachers' unions do a fair amount of, although they don't talk about that a lot in public.      

The teacher-bashers usually are folks who have never lifted a finger to advocate long-term investment in supporting and developing teachers throughout their careers.  No, can't get a useful campaign message or published op-ed piece out of that.  I wonder how many of these people--yes I could name names--before they speak, stop and think about whether what they say may have an effect on the decisions some people make about whether to become teachers or not?  Hmmm...might be something worth thinking about when half our teachers will be retiring over the next 10 years.

The lack of respect from some students and parents, the under-valuation of the profession by society, the silence politically aware teachers impose on themselves when they listen to, usually, white males now occupying privileged positions who would not have lasted 5 minutes in their classroom, force them through the adoption of misguided policies to do things they know are educationally wrong for kids...really, sometimes I wonder why as many people go into teaching as do.  And stay in, once they know all of the above. 

I think it speaks to a deep and resilient belief in the potential and power of education in our country.  When was the last time you saw some Sunday AM talking head acknowledge that that potential is ever even partially realized in our schools? 

But I digress.

Does the banner headline mean you really are coming back to dag, to write much more often?  That would be great.  If so, welcome back (kind of).