Curtis Acosta, Shakespeare, teaching and MAS
by David Safier
Before I get long-winded, the most important takeaway from this post is an excellent article by Curtis Acosta, "Shakespeare is banned for Chican@s in Tucson." It's in the online magazine La Tolteca published and edited by Ana Castillo, author of the novel "So Far From God," one of the books that the ex-Mexican American Studies teachers have been warned against using.
The article by Acosta, one of the displaced MAS teachers, is as interesting for its analysis of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" as it is for its discussion of the closing of the MAS program and the strong suggestion he stop teaching the play if he wanted to stay out of trouble. Shakespeare's (probably) final play can be read as an allegory for the Europeans' early contacts with the indigenous people of The Americas and the attempts to dominate the inhabitants, a process which was in full swing in Shakespeare's time. If you want to know more about this interpretation of the play, read the article. I'm moving on to other things.
First, as a retired high school English teacher, I can tell you, not many high school teachers can write a lengthy piece of this quality. Any K-12 school that has a teacher with Acosta's intellectual gifts is fortunate, so long as that person is an effective teacher. And from what I've heard and seen, though I've never been in his classroom, I'm reasonably certain Acosta is a very effective teacher. Students are fortunate to have the opportunity to take his classes.
So when I read the notes Mark Stegeman made while he observed Acosta's class — the notes were entered as evidence by John Huppental in the current court case deciding the future fate of MAS — I have to question his analysis. Stegeman wrote in his notes that Acosta "is mostly relating to kids, not educating them." But he also observed, "During group work kids are engaged and seemingly on task. They seem enthusiastic." And later: "In the end quite a few students participate."
Another GOP myth debunked: Obama Is best president for corporate profits since 1900
Kyrsten Sinema ad: ‘Vernon Parker, Tea Party Candidate’
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Tea-Publican congressional candidate Vernon Parker (CD 9) has promised the "forced birth" culture warriors at Center for Arizona Policy that he would ban all abortions except in cases that would prevent the death of a mother. This abortion ban would not make any exception for cases of rape, incest or even when the health of the mother is endangered.
In response to Parker's extreme views on the issue of abortion rights, Kyrsten Sinema's campaign has released the following ad entitled "Vernon Parker, Tea Party Candidate."
Video below the fold.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund ad: ‘Yes We Plan’
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Planned Parenthood Action Fund released a video entitled "Yes We Plan" on Tuesday, inspired by Will.i.am's 2008 Obama video "Yes We Can," urging voters to protect women's health issues by re-electing President Obama. The ad features Mary J. Blige, Julianne Moore, and Q-Tip.
Description of ad:
With so much at stake at this critical moment, our voices — and our votes — matter more than ever. And after everything President Obama has done to stand up for women in the past four years, it's time to speak, act, and vote.
Sign the Pledge to Vote: http://yesweplan.org
Better yet, vote early! Do it today!
Video below the fold.
American Bridge Super PAC ad: ‘GOP’s War on Women’
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Democratic Super PAC, American Bridge, is running a new ad this week entitled "GOP's War on Women." Description of ad: From shutting down Planned Parenthood to "legitimate rape," GOP candidates are waging a war on women.
Learn more, please visit www.Bindersfullofwomen.com.
Video below the fold.
American Bridge Super PAC ad: ‘Romnopoly’
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Democratic Super PAC, American Bridge, is running a new ad this week called "Romnopoly." Description of ad:
From opposing the auto recovery plan and laying off workers during his time at Bain to gutting education to pay for tax cuts to the rich, the ad runs through the many reasons that if Mitt Romney wins, the middle class will lose.
Learn more, please visit www.Romnopoly.org.
Video below the fold.
Editorial endorsements and ‘Stockholm Syndrome’
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
"Stockholm syndrome," or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.
In reviewing the dislogic evident in several major newspaper editorial endorsements for Willard "Mittens" Romney, I can only surmise that editors of corporate media suffer from Stockholm Syndrome when they recommend to their readers that they should acceed to our Tea-Publican hostage taker's demands. "Just give them what they want!" Corporate media has failed its principle obligation as the "watchdogs of democracy." They are now recommending that we surrender to authoritarianism.
Ezra Klein describes this phenomenon today in Mitch McConnell, John Boehner strategy worked:
In endorsement after endorsement, the basic argument is that President Obama hasn’t been able to persuade House or Senate Republicans to work with him. If Obama is reelected, it’s a safe bet that they’ll continue to refuse to work with him. So vote Romney!
That’s not even a slight exaggeration. Take the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest and most influential paper. They endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008. But this year, they endorsed Romney.
Why? In the end, they said, it came down to a simple test. “Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.”
* * *
The Orlando Sentinel also endorsed Obama in 2008 and Romney in 2012, and their reasoning is similar to the Register’s. “The next president is likely to be dealing with a Congress where at least one, if not both, chambers are controlled by Republicans,” they write. “It verges on magical thinking to expect Obama to get different results in the next four years.”
