When the hurly-burly’s done

From the New York Times Magazine.

Read the article and think about how it connects to Peggy McIntosh’s article:

My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. My schooling followed the pattern my colleague Elizabeth Minnich has pointed out: whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow “them” to be more like “us.”

Lula’s got a link to a story that took place this weekend.

Update: here’s a collection of links to what other bloggers are saying about the incident in NYC.

AP: Black Leaders Seek End to Use of Slur

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., charged that only situations such as the Richards incident turn mainstream media attention to issues involving the black community.

”This is not simply about whether or not the black community forgives or forgets, this is about understanding that this is pervasive, that this happens in all of our institutions, one way or the other,” Waters said.

The Baltimore Sun has a piece by Leonard Pitts, Jr. called “Worse than Richards’ rant: America’s refusal to acknowledge racism” that’s worth reading. (Warning: contains potentially offensive language):

No, here’s what bothers me: If so many of my white countrymen refuse to recognize racism when it is this blatant and unmistakable, what expectation can we have that they will do so when it is subtle and covert? In other words, when it is what it usually is.

I was going to post a link to the Richards video but decided against it. If you haven’t seen it and still feel the need to, it’s easy to find. To me, though, as a learner and American in 2006, isn’t the one incident–it’s what it says about our society. Let’s focus on that in class and online for the next few weeks and see what we come up with. And please, be like Lula and keep the links coming. This stuff is everywhere.

Students looking for outside reading inspiration should look no further than manybooks.net.  It’s a repository of ebook versions of out-of-print, rare, and just plain fascinating books, formatted for use with Acrobat Reader, Palm devices, iPods, and other tools.  For example:

Howard Pyle: Book of Pirates

Mark Twain: The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut

 There are plenty more.  Poke around the site and see what you find.  Leave a comment with a link to anything particularly good.

Telluride!

Originally uploaded by jwasserman.

Check out TelluRide, too–they were a lot of fun. Did you know that there’s a line dance you can do to “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band? Neither did I…

Hossey, Jeff, Missy, Sue

Originally uploaded by jwasserman.

The cowboy in the photo is Hossey Hicks. Listen to his songs–the guy’s a really talented writer.