It is early in the morning, and I am on the job, down at the very bottom of an abyss of words, phrases, and neatly folded plans and tasks. My work day begins early with a shower and walk to a comfortable spot at a coffee shop. It's good to have someone prepare my coffee while I sit wondering. Wondering is meaningful enough to take my attention away from a coffee maker, allowing it to bubble wildly out of control, spit up all over the stove and leave the environs with the sweet burnt smell of overcooked grounds.
Grounds ground into the ground.
It is a good thing to show up and let magic take its turn to handle things. At the spur of the moment, Arturo O' Farrill invited me to sing some backup on Trashed Out, a show about the housing crisis, he was working on and I went with no expectations and full of Jamaican green, my favorite drink from Ms. Lily's. Our rehearsal was at City College and the halls smelled of damp clarinet reeds and I was brought back to the time I attempted to take piano there and decided it was frivolous.
Now, I realize the only frivolous thing in life is doing anything that doesn't bring me joy. Joyful is my natural state and anything that diminishes joy is irrelevant.
We were there -- a group of musicians, having fun. And then, we performed at The Stone to a packed little house. The music was free, avant-garde, morose and humorous. We, the 'we' being Brad Jones, Bill Ware, E.J. Rodriguez, Sam Bardfeld, Roy Nathanson, Arturo O'Farrill, Zack O'Farrill, Josh Roseman, Lloyd Miller, Sandra Lilia Velasquez, were crammed together on a stage, tangled in each others' instrument and microphone cords, sweating profusely and it was perfect.
On Monday, I got the chance to meet Danny Glover, an actor I greatly admire for his devotion to political causes as well as his acting ability and re-connected with Charles Knox Lasister, a fascinating Harlem character and owner of Knox Gallery
And I get a message via Facebook from Julio Ricardo Varela, the founder of the Latino Rebels, saying, we were mentioned in a Forbes Magazine online article. Harmonic convergence, magical realism, and my head reels with nerdish excitement. http://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2012/10/01/rebel-with-a-latino-cause/2/
My life feels like a beautifully-written and sometimes, badly-acted film and I am merely a character actress waiting for her lines.
Trashed Out.
Songs-in-progress, script excerpts, photos, and more from this work-in-progress can be found here: http://roynathanson.tumblr.com/
Haiku Empire
Showing posts with label Latino Rebels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latino Rebels. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hispanic Heritage Month: Latinos and Education, instilling intellectual curiosity in a child.
Odilia Rivera Santos
You can provide an elite private school education for your children without spending any money. It does require that parents take a long at themselves and invest time and energy in working one-on-one with their children.
1. Attitude - the adults are the prototype for what a child envisions as his or her future adult self. Your language is extremely important. Focus on solutions and not problems when you speak. If you constantly talk about problems, a child will feel that life is difficult and he or she will feel easily defeated. If you state the problem simply and go on to talk about how the problem may be addressed, the child learns critical thinking skills and gains an optimistic outlook. Teach that every problem has a solution.
2. Self-advocacy - young children have to be taught to be activists. They need tools for setting boundaries between themselves and other kids, adults, etc. They must understand that they have rights everywhere they go and that no one has the right to be verbally abusive or to touch them without permission.
Teaching children history with an emphasis on their particular racial or ethnic group as "victims" will create a sense of hopelessness and a person who feels hopeless is less likely to stand up for him or herself.
Make sure to expose children to the history of brilliant leaders and to focus on those who triumphed despite adversity.
3. Goals - the best way to teach children to set goals is to have some goals yourself and to speak to your child about the process. If you are a parent working on getting a G.E.D., do not speak about the experience with regret or in a way that connotes that you feel like a failure; instead, focus on talking about what you are learning and the interesting people you're meeting in the process.
Don't do the "Don't do what I did" speech because it is fear-based, boring and not effective.
Consider presenting yourself to your kids as if you were an employee.
The truth is that your kids are evaluating your parenting skills; your assessment as a parent will come in the way of your child's positive or negative behavior.
Be a dynamic employee/parent who the child will admire. Children listen to people they respect, admire or find interesting. This does not mean that you become their friend and abandon providing structure for children's lives; it means that you must be a person a child would like to emulate.
You are in charge but in order to be an effective parent, you must be humble enough to admit when your parenting approach is not working.
The goal is to have a happy interdependent relationship with your children in which they can make informed decisions when you are not around to offer guidance. If the parenting methods you are currently employing are not getting the results you'd like, change.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result." - Einstein.
4. Standards - there are certain skills that a child is expected to learn before going on to the next grade. You can find a lot of useful lesson plans to do at home on PBS Kids and Starfall is a great website for phonics help.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/goingtoschool/what_1.html
http://www.starfall.com/
5. Language - teach your child Spanish by putting time aside to speak only in Spanish. You can choose to speak Spanish on the weekend or at night, but make sure you do not respond to your child if he or she speaks English. If you ask a question in Spanish and the child answers in English, keep asking in Spanish until you get an answer in Spanish. The most natural way to learn language is through employing it in everyday life: watch films, read books, listen to music and have conversations in the target language -- Spanish.
If your Spanish skills need some brushing up, Directo al grano is a great grammar book that provides a comparison of Spanish and English grammar. MIT offers free online courses -- take a Spanish class. Lo que no mata engorda.
http://www.amazon.com/Directo-grano-Complete-Reference-Spanish/dp/0130848018
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/
6. Recreation as work and work as recreation - you can teach reading comprehension, research skills and critical thinking through doing research on subjects that the child enjoys. You can read the same books and articles and talk about them.
Choose one day per week to go to the library and always keep the appointment.
It is a good idea to read books on library reading lists, as they represent books used in schools. Reading books at home before the child reads them at school will give them a sense of accomplishment and insure they are better prepared.
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended.cfm
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended.cfm
7. Oral communication skills - boys tend to give one-word answers to questions while girls only need one simple question to talk for two hours. Make sure every question you ask is open-ended. Open-ended questions force the child to think.
Did you have fun at school today? - this is a yes/no question
How was school today? - this is an open-ended question, which allows a child to produce language, review syntax, use of prepositions, etc.
Give the child your undivided attention without staring at them. Some kids feel scrutinized and as if they are being interrogated if you ask questions and make intense eye-contact. Be casual but listen closely. You can try having a conversation as you prepare a snack together or do some other quiet activity.
Do not interrupt a child who speaks slowly; he or she might process information slowly and interruptions will make the child feel uncomfortable about speaking.
Make sure the television is not always on.
Attention deficit disorder begins at home with too much stimulation: cellphones, television, radio, music, a group of people talking at once.
8.Make time for important stuff. Reading and talking with your children is vital. Throw your television out the window, but make sure no one is standing below first. Limit television viewing because there are very few jobs for people that require them to sit still, stare blankly and overeat.
A bad education is hard to undo but a great education is something that no one can ever take away from you. The best inheritance you can leave your children is intellectual curiosity.
Check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
You can provide an elite private school education for your children without spending any money. It does require that parents take a long at themselves and invest time and energy in working one-on-one with their children.
1. Attitude - the adults are the prototype for what a child envisions as his or her future adult self. Your language is extremely important. Focus on solutions and not problems when you speak. If you constantly talk about problems, a child will feel that life is difficult and he or she will feel easily defeated. If you state the problem simply and go on to talk about how the problem may be addressed, the child learns critical thinking skills and gains an optimistic outlook. Teach that every problem has a solution.
2. Self-advocacy - young children have to be taught to be activists. They need tools for setting boundaries between themselves and other kids, adults, etc. They must understand that they have rights everywhere they go and that no one has the right to be verbally abusive or to touch them without permission.
Teaching children history with an emphasis on their particular racial or ethnic group as "victims" will create a sense of hopelessness and a person who feels hopeless is less likely to stand up for him or herself.
Make sure to expose children to the history of brilliant leaders and to focus on those who triumphed despite adversity.
3. Goals - the best way to teach children to set goals is to have some goals yourself and to speak to your child about the process. If you are a parent working on getting a G.E.D., do not speak about the experience with regret or in a way that connotes that you feel like a failure; instead, focus on talking about what you are learning and the interesting people you're meeting in the process.
Don't do the "Don't do what I did" speech because it is fear-based, boring and not effective.
Consider presenting yourself to your kids as if you were an employee.
The truth is that your kids are evaluating your parenting skills; your assessment as a parent will come in the way of your child's positive or negative behavior.
Be a dynamic employee/parent who the child will admire. Children listen to people they respect, admire or find interesting. This does not mean that you become their friend and abandon providing structure for children's lives; it means that you must be a person a child would like to emulate.
You are in charge but in order to be an effective parent, you must be humble enough to admit when your parenting approach is not working.
The goal is to have a happy interdependent relationship with your children in which they can make informed decisions when you are not around to offer guidance. If the parenting methods you are currently employing are not getting the results you'd like, change.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result." - Einstein.
4. Standards - there are certain skills that a child is expected to learn before going on to the next grade. You can find a lot of useful lesson plans to do at home on PBS Kids and Starfall is a great website for phonics help.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/goingtoschool/what_1.html
http://www.starfall.com/
5. Language - teach your child Spanish by putting time aside to speak only in Spanish. You can choose to speak Spanish on the weekend or at night, but make sure you do not respond to your child if he or she speaks English. If you ask a question in Spanish and the child answers in English, keep asking in Spanish until you get an answer in Spanish. The most natural way to learn language is through employing it in everyday life: watch films, read books, listen to music and have conversations in the target language -- Spanish.
If your Spanish skills need some brushing up, Directo al grano is a great grammar book that provides a comparison of Spanish and English grammar. MIT offers free online courses -- take a Spanish class. Lo que no mata engorda.
http://www.amazon.com/Directo-grano-Complete-Reference-Spanish/dp/0130848018
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/
6. Recreation as work and work as recreation - you can teach reading comprehension, research skills and critical thinking through doing research on subjects that the child enjoys. You can read the same books and articles and talk about them.
Choose one day per week to go to the library and always keep the appointment.
It is a good idea to read books on library reading lists, as they represent books used in schools. Reading books at home before the child reads them at school will give them a sense of accomplishment and insure they are better prepared.
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended.cfm
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended.cfm
7. Oral communication skills - boys tend to give one-word answers to questions while girls only need one simple question to talk for two hours. Make sure every question you ask is open-ended. Open-ended questions force the child to think.
Did you have fun at school today? - this is a yes/no question
How was school today? - this is an open-ended question, which allows a child to produce language, review syntax, use of prepositions, etc.
Give the child your undivided attention without staring at them. Some kids feel scrutinized and as if they are being interrogated if you ask questions and make intense eye-contact. Be casual but listen closely. You can try having a conversation as you prepare a snack together or do some other quiet activity.
Do not interrupt a child who speaks slowly; he or she might process information slowly and interruptions will make the child feel uncomfortable about speaking.
Make sure the television is not always on.
Attention deficit disorder begins at home with too much stimulation: cellphones, television, radio, music, a group of people talking at once.
8.Make time for important stuff. Reading and talking with your children is vital. Throw your television out the window, but make sure no one is standing below first. Limit television viewing because there are very few jobs for people that require them to sit still, stare blankly and overeat.
A bad education is hard to undo but a great education is something that no one can ever take away from you. The best inheritance you can leave your children is intellectual curiosity.
Check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Hispanic Heritage Month and the 'Superpeople'
Odilia Rivera Santos
During Hispanic Heritage Month, the media bombards Americans with images of Latino 'superpeople,' a term used in a NY Times article recently on overachievers who speak three or more languages and hold advanced degrees in subject areas requiring both sides of the brain.
For persons from a humble background who didn't have access to the kinds of mentorship,education and/or familial support necessary to reach superpeople status, Latino superpeople can be both a source of pride and discomfort. Regardless of how damaging it may be, people tend to compare themselves to those in the spotlight. And it is often the case that those with the least educational opportunities also lack an understanding of what such high achievement necessitates. There are incremental steps one must take before becoming a CEO at a respectable socially-conscious corporation - they exist.
Being disconnected from the reality of how many people are involved in the achievements of one person sometimes causes Latinos to have unrealistic goals, which inevitably leads to failure. The Latino superpeople didn't pop up in a vacuum.
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates mainly those who have had tremendous triumphs on the world stage, but we should also celebrate the Latinos offstage in the back of the theater or those in the standing room area.
Today is a good day to celebrate the everyday superpeople, the Latinos who have made an art of survival, who love and nurture their families, who accept failure as part of the rhythm of life and continue to strive for a better life while appreciating the life they have.
I am working on a collection of essays about work entitled Work Chronicles to be published as an e-book on Smashwords in November; in the meantime, you can check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
During Hispanic Heritage Month, the media bombards Americans with images of Latino 'superpeople,' a term used in a NY Times article recently on overachievers who speak three or more languages and hold advanced degrees in subject areas requiring both sides of the brain.
For persons from a humble background who didn't have access to the kinds of mentorship,education and/or familial support necessary to reach superpeople status, Latino superpeople can be both a source of pride and discomfort. Regardless of how damaging it may be, people tend to compare themselves to those in the spotlight. And it is often the case that those with the least educational opportunities also lack an understanding of what such high achievement necessitates. There are incremental steps one must take before becoming a CEO at a respectable socially-conscious corporation - they exist.
Being disconnected from the reality of how many people are involved in the achievements of one person sometimes causes Latinos to have unrealistic goals, which inevitably leads to failure. The Latino superpeople didn't pop up in a vacuum.
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates mainly those who have had tremendous triumphs on the world stage, but we should also celebrate the Latinos offstage in the back of the theater or those in the standing room area.
Today is a good day to celebrate the everyday superpeople, the Latinos who have made an art of survival, who love and nurture their families, who accept failure as part of the rhythm of life and continue to strive for a better life while appreciating the life they have.
I am working on a collection of essays about work entitled Work Chronicles to be published as an e-book on Smashwords in November; in the meantime, you can check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hispanic Heritage Month: Latinos and Education
Odilia Rivera Santos
It is Hispanic Heritage Month and we will ignore its actual start date and focus on the most important issue in the life of Latinos: Education.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the high school graduation rate among Latinos has improved. However, a graduation rate of 57 percent among Hispanic students is nothing to be proud of.
Parents in the U.S. are often overwhelmed by having to deal with work, and maintaining a home and a marriage intact; for low-income families, the challenges in raising a family are exacerbated by a limited income and less leisure time.
Oftentimes, children do not associate a formal education with everyday life. Lectures about how school is important and how you wish you had gone to college or taken school seriously don't work because it is negative reinforcement. Children don't respond well to being told of the horrors that await them should they decide to drop out of high school, trade school or college.
Positive reinforcement is a much more successful tool and because kids disengage from lectures -- you remember Charlie Brown and his teacher. Wah wah wah -- your best option as a parent is to incorporate learning into everyday life.
Living life one day at a time while thinking about the future
Cooking with your children and eating meals as a family are a great way for a parent to initiate conversations with children in a nonthreatening non-confrontational way. While you cook, you can ask open-ended questions instead of yes or no questions.
What did you do in math class today?
What do you think about the new English teacher?
You can teach a kid math, measurements and nutrition while you get them to discuss how they feel about their educational experience at home in a comfortable setting, not at the parent/teacher conference.
These interactions with a child will make him or her more comfortable speaking up about problems in school before they become a major issue. It is the one-day-at-a-time approach in which you reinforce the importance of what a child is doing at his or her "job," which is school.
The small talk and activities often lead to a discussion of a kid's bigger dreams and an understanding of how their actions in the present are cumulative and will lead to the future he or she wants.
Conversations about music, television and books
Kids often arrive in school not knowing how to learn. Parents can teach their kids how to learn by speaking with them about what they have read, listened to or seen throughout the day. It is always a good idea for parents to create a balance regarding how their kids receive information without judging what they like.
Some children learn more easily through reading than watching films or television or vice versa. In the learning process, the most important thing is that a child not take in information without engaging with it in some way. A parent can help a child learn to be a critical thinker and to become a person who analyzes information.
The aforementioned process is necessary in learning any subject in school.
You can watch PBS or Discovery Channel shows online on different subjects and talk about what you've just seen, but make sure you let the child do most of the talking.
Letting your child be smarter than you
One of the best ways to assess your child's understanding of a subject is to let him or her explain something to you. Choose something about which you know little or nothing because you won't be tempted to fill in the gaps. This is an activity to teach children to be authoritative and use language.
If the parent is always the teacher and always the expert, a child will be less prone to speak or ask questions. When a child can teach an adult something, he or she gains a lot of confidence.
Doing homework is hard
On top of all the other jobs a parent has, no one expects you to relearn math! However, doing homework with a child every night allows you to see how he or she is doing in a subject. Homework help is available in many communities and you can contact your child's school to find assistance.
Find out what kind of standardized exams a child will have in each grade by visiting the school's website or conferring with your child's teacher. Schools also provide materials for children to prepare for each exam at home.
Teach your children through modeling behavior you expect from them
Devote yourself to learning something new. While you keep your mind sharp by reading or watching history programs, you are teaching your child the importance of education without boring lectures.
Why is it important to focus on education?
It is important to focus on education because while we cannot control every aspect of our lives, we can certainly control the trajectory of our work life. During this difficult economic time in which many people have been laid off, persons who know how to learn will fare better, as they will find it easier to train for a new profession. A formal education provides more opportunities and this may be vocational or scholarly. The important thing is to choose what makes you happy as far as a course of study and career is concerned.
Education is work and work is an education, because we have to remain open to new ideas, keep learning and continue to hone skills.
I am writing a collection of essays about work entitled Work Chronicles to be published as an e-book on Smashwords in November; in the meantime, you can check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
It is Hispanic Heritage Month and we will ignore its actual start date and focus on the most important issue in the life of Latinos: Education.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the high school graduation rate among Latinos has improved. However, a graduation rate of 57 percent among Hispanic students is nothing to be proud of.
Parents in the U.S. are often overwhelmed by having to deal with work, and maintaining a home and a marriage intact; for low-income families, the challenges in raising a family are exacerbated by a limited income and less leisure time.
Oftentimes, children do not associate a formal education with everyday life. Lectures about how school is important and how you wish you had gone to college or taken school seriously don't work because it is negative reinforcement. Children don't respond well to being told of the horrors that await them should they decide to drop out of high school, trade school or college.
Positive reinforcement is a much more successful tool and because kids disengage from lectures -- you remember Charlie Brown and his teacher. Wah wah wah -- your best option as a parent is to incorporate learning into everyday life.
Living life one day at a time while thinking about the future
Cooking with your children and eating meals as a family are a great way for a parent to initiate conversations with children in a nonthreatening non-confrontational way. While you cook, you can ask open-ended questions instead of yes or no questions.
What did you do in math class today?
What do you think about the new English teacher?
You can teach a kid math, measurements and nutrition while you get them to discuss how they feel about their educational experience at home in a comfortable setting, not at the parent/teacher conference.
These interactions with a child will make him or her more comfortable speaking up about problems in school before they become a major issue. It is the one-day-at-a-time approach in which you reinforce the importance of what a child is doing at his or her "job," which is school.
The small talk and activities often lead to a discussion of a kid's bigger dreams and an understanding of how their actions in the present are cumulative and will lead to the future he or she wants.
Conversations about music, television and books
Kids often arrive in school not knowing how to learn. Parents can teach their kids how to learn by speaking with them about what they have read, listened to or seen throughout the day. It is always a good idea for parents to create a balance regarding how their kids receive information without judging what they like.
Some children learn more easily through reading than watching films or television or vice versa. In the learning process, the most important thing is that a child not take in information without engaging with it in some way. A parent can help a child learn to be a critical thinker and to become a person who analyzes information.
The aforementioned process is necessary in learning any subject in school.
You can watch PBS or Discovery Channel shows online on different subjects and talk about what you've just seen, but make sure you let the child do most of the talking.
Letting your child be smarter than you
One of the best ways to assess your child's understanding of a subject is to let him or her explain something to you. Choose something about which you know little or nothing because you won't be tempted to fill in the gaps. This is an activity to teach children to be authoritative and use language.
If the parent is always the teacher and always the expert, a child will be less prone to speak or ask questions. When a child can teach an adult something, he or she gains a lot of confidence.
Doing homework is hard
On top of all the other jobs a parent has, no one expects you to relearn math! However, doing homework with a child every night allows you to see how he or she is doing in a subject. Homework help is available in many communities and you can contact your child's school to find assistance.
Find out what kind of standardized exams a child will have in each grade by visiting the school's website or conferring with your child's teacher. Schools also provide materials for children to prepare for each exam at home.
Teach your children through modeling behavior you expect from them
Devote yourself to learning something new. While you keep your mind sharp by reading or watching history programs, you are teaching your child the importance of education without boring lectures.
Why is it important to focus on education?
It is important to focus on education because while we cannot control every aspect of our lives, we can certainly control the trajectory of our work life. During this difficult economic time in which many people have been laid off, persons who know how to learn will fare better, as they will find it easier to train for a new profession. A formal education provides more opportunities and this may be vocational or scholarly. The important thing is to choose what makes you happy as far as a course of study and career is concerned.
Education is work and work is an education, because we have to remain open to new ideas, keep learning and continue to hone skills.
I am writing a collection of essays about work entitled Work Chronicles to be published as an e-book on Smashwords in November; in the meantime, you can check out my creative nonfiction essays Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part I and Latinalogue Puerto Rican Nonfiction Part II: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69697
Writers, be careful not to die of exposure.
http://twitter.com/#!/UrbanBrainiac
http://twitter.com/#!/bezotes
http://twitter.com/#!/latinaauthor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)