10.06.2010
“In America, if you don’t earn a lot of money, something went wrong.” – Student.
“How do you expect us to do well when you can’t even make mistakes?” – Student.
“Produce, produce, produce.” – Teacher.
“I think the United States needs to rethink how we do schooling. The economic future of the country depends on our addressing this.” – Adult.
“We need to redefine success for our kids.” – Adult.
10.05.2010
When the first Europeans arrived, they raped the land and killed Native Americans, the people they perceived to be the enemy.
Then the Europeans brought over slaves to do their work for them while reaping the profits. Hatred for the black person grew.
Men feared women for a number of reasons and did what they could, by law, to suppress them in every way possible making sure that a woman knew her place was in the kitchen and with the children.
The Chinese and the Irish were soon feared, despised and killed but not before their services were used to build the Transcontinental Railroad. During this time, the blacks and the Irish were very good friends resolved to living in the slums. Though the minute the Civil War ended, the Irish would now compete with blacks for jobs and so they turned against their neighbors.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Italians were now despised and white people's hatred for blacks continued. Eugenics was brought into American culture too where minorities, the mentally disabled and anyone else perceived to be “different” was sterilized under the auspices that “white is best."
By mid-century, Latinos have entered the equation and not because of their spot in America’s economic wheel but because hatred toward them now was going strong.
Today, all of these emotions toward these different ethnic groups still exist except for maybe the Irish and Italians. Funny thing. What’s the color of their skin?
10.04.2010
“Education is a business that has a monopoly. When you have a monopoly, you can whatever you want.”
“It’s a sad scene but they’ve been pimping on children for a long time."
08.23.2010
I will eventually write a rant about our education system especially in light of the heavy coverage by the Los Angeles Times; however, I haven’t been able to contain my anger and frustration enough to be able to put everything into words and to make it a manageable read.
But until I can sit down and accomplish that, please watch the following trailer and seriously consider going to see this movie when it comes out. Whether or not you have a child, you owe it to yourself to know and understand the dire straits that America is in. Our future depends on our ability to invest in it.[1]
[1] Waiting for “Superman” official website: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/
06.01.2010
One of my all-time favorite movies ever is Adrienne Shelly’s Waitress. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The writing is fantastic and so is the acting. It stars Kerri Russell (from Felicity), Cindy Hines, Shelly herself, Jeremy Sisto (most notably from Six Feet Under) and Andy Griffith is featured in the movie as well.
Rob took me to see this movie when it came out in the theatres (2007) and later told me the story behind the movie that made me fall in love with it all the more. The movie is about a woman who is in a dead marriage who finds out she’s pregnant. Despite not wanting the child, she keeps it and the movie is about her journey during the pregnancy. Every scene about the baby I can identify with; the fears, concerns, wishes, etc.
The story behind the movie is that Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and acted in the movie, never got to see its release because she was murdered in her apartment office in New York. The murder was initially staged to look like a suicide but soon the cops pieced together what happened. An (illegal) immigrant, working on some construction in the building, broke into her office and tried to steal some money from her when she caught him. He panicked, killed her, staged a suicide and fled; he was eventually caught.
The most heartfelt and bittersweet part of the movie is that it was written as a love letter to Shelly’s own daughter who was only 3 years old (I think) when Shelly was killed and who is actually featured right at the end of the movie as Russell’s daughter.
I desperately latch on to (good) movies that are written and directed by women because there are so few women in Hollywood who are able to carve out a niche for themselves in that male-dominated world. And not just carve out a niche but successfully have a husband and child/ren too.
What’s difficult for me though, is at what point does a movie like Waitress separate itself from real-life? The issues and concerns that Shelly brings up in the movie are so identifiable for me.
I find that it would be ironic that I would choose to feel the joy that Russell’s character feels at the end of the movie because of a movie. And I say this mainly because it is I who continuously lambastes Hollywood for selling unobtainable images and dreams to hundreds of thousands of women. I’m not saying that any decision of mine has tipped in any one direction, but it would be an interesting way for a woman whom I never met to communicate to me about something I’m so scared and unsure.
Which again begs the question, Where does a movie stop and real life begin?
05.06.2010
I’m looking forward to the Babies movie that’s out. It is a documentary following the first year of life of 4 babies from 4 different cultures. VERY, VERY CUTE!!
[This post is out of sequence cause I'm still Internet and blog challenged and just figured out how to post the video instead of the site address.]
