i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i
carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

I may reveal just how uncool a kid I am by admitting it, but I do love how movies can give music and poetry different worlds of life.

Case in point, the soundtracks to Cruel Intentions, D.E.B.S., and Garden State, as well as W.H. Auden's "Stop All the Clocks" featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" and ee cummings' "i carry your heart with me" featured in In Her Shoes.

Some of Us are Brave

I borrow the title of my post from what I hope is the well-known and widely-read anthology:

Hull, Gloria T., Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith (eds.). But
Some of Us are Brave: All the Women are White, All the Blacks are
Men. New York: Feminist Press, 1982.

Apparently, however, the lesson that there are women of color making significant contributions in our lives, and to the world, is still today often lost.

One of my Facebook friends posted a note recently highlighting the song, "A Dream" by Common & Will.i.am which is featured in the recently released film Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank.

It's an interesting song that samples Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech "I Have a Dream," and based on the trailer that I saw, the film itself looks like a compelling one.

But, all the recent publicity around Freedom Writers got me to thinking about real-life stories of amazing teachers, and the representations of them.

Doing a keyword search for "teachers" in the International Movie Database (IMDb) yields a long list of results. I was particularly interested in "dedicated-teacher" and "teacher-hero" results because those seemed to encapsulate the kind of film Freedom Writers fell in line with. Sure enough, I found amongst those lists many (though not all) of the films I had been playing back in my mind:

Stand and Deliver
Akeelah and the Bee
The Ron Clark Story
Lean on Me
Dangerous Minds
Music of the Heart
Dead Poets Society
Good Will Hunting
Mona Lisa Smile
The Emperor’s Club

That's when it hit me WHO was being featured as the dedicated/hero teacher...

Hilary Swank – Freedom Writers
Edward J. Olmos – Stand and Deliver
Lawrence Fishburne - Akeelah and the Bee
Matthew Perry – The Ron Clark Story
Morgan Freeman – Lean on Me
Michelle Pfeiffer – Dangerous Minds
Meryl Streep - Music of the Heart
Robin Williams - Dead Poets Society
Robin Williams – Good Will Hunting
Julia Roberts – Mona Lisa Smile
Kevin Kline - The Emperor’s Club

Granted, a good number of these films are based on "true" stories, and the actors chosen for these roles in part reflects those "true" stories. But, it's also the case that not all true stories have the privilege of being told, and that there are many more stories out there.

Still, I found the pattern peculiar...

Do you see what's missing?

Yeah, that's right...not one woman of color teacher in the bunch!

Okay, I'll admit, I haven't done the research to give you figures of exactly how many K-12 teachers are women, and how many of those women are women of color, but I know that they exist--contrary to cinematic representations. (Again, I'll admit that I haven't seen every film that might fall in this genre, and I am probably overlooking some great teacher films that feature a woman of color protagonist. Please, if you know films like these, share the titles!)

Just goes to show the extent to which stories of teachers who are white women and men of color in classrooms dominated by students of color have been made to be "extraordinary" stories of dedication and heroism, while stories of teachers who are women of color amongst students of color are overlooked in their "ordinariness."

Perhaps a sign of lingering, racist, mammy paradigms? If not, then what?

Mobilized

I recently learned that one of my regular Starbucks costumers is on her way out of town--she's being "mobilized." That is, she's being called upon to fulfill her reservist duties.

She doesn't seem at all resentful, despite being given less than one month's notice to settle her affairs and get herself organized enough to leave her current employment, residence, and community in order to report for duty. She definitely understands that such a mobilization is part and parcel of being a reservist.

I remember having to make similar goodbyes years ago when the U.S. first attacked Iraq. Goodbyes are never easy.

I was disheartened to hear of Bush's announcement to send even more troops to Iraq, but glad to hear (finally) vocal opposition.

Still, I can't wait for the day when I'll get to welcome back some of my regulars who have gone away to serve...but that day can't come soon enough.

In the mean time, I hope that I don't see them first in the "Faces of the Dead in Iraq", there are already too many faces there.

Epiphanies and Dreams

This past Sunday, it was the celebration of the Feast of Epiphany for us Catholics.

As part of its celebration, Dignity Washington invited a long-time community member to give the homily.

I wish I had a copy of her homily to share here because I was so moved by it...and yet at the same time I find myself lacking the words to adequately relate the heart of her message.

Still, I just wanted to note it here because it was a great way to start the new year off...thinking about what we can do because of what we have...because of faith...and the all important remind not only to keep dreaming, but to recognize those dreams that we can bring to fruition.