The Socially Aware

Said the mother to her 6 month old son.  A statement that brought the baby’s first chuckle weeks ago and she continues to repeat it in effort to get another.  Children, especially boys, can get obsessed with guns. From tots playing chase around the house brandishing plastic toy guns that can be mistaken for real, to the bullet laced fantasy worlds that can be entered in many video games, gun play has become an every day past time. Have you seen someone pretend to stab their child with the dinner knife, choke the baby with the diaper bag or simulate a terrorist threat feeding with airplane dives of poisoned pureed pears to their mouths?  So why is gun play okay??

Front view

The quality of teachers in public education is consistently a hot news topic.  Regardless of the focal point, topics such as classroom management; US teaching approaches, compared to that of other industrialized nations; tenure benefits and drawbacks; cooperative learning, as opposed to more competitively geared class structures are all frequently discussed yet less often brought to a consensus.  Depending on the time period and current political climate, teachers may be professionally evaluated on a range of criteria.

What about their bumper stickers?

On January 7, 2011, an English teacher at Imagine Prep (Surprise, AZ) was fired for refusing to remove at least one bumper sticker from her car. It seems that, in the two months that she had been teaching at this school, a group of approximately five parents united to vocalize their opposition to bumper stickers on this teacher’s car, which they found offensive. The car, which hosts a total of 61 stickers, range in
content from environmental, to feminist, to LGBT matters, to political, to religious, to non-categorical. Three particular bumper stickers were addressed in meetings between the teacher, principal, vice principal, and Regional Director, and the teacher was placed on paid administrative leave for a day after refusing to move her car off campus. In the final meeting, the Regional Director, Linda Kiefner, issued
a directive: Remove at least one bumper sticker from the car (“Have you drugged your kid today?”) or park off campus for the remainder of the year. (The other two bumper stickers in question – one being political and the other being religious in nature – were omitted from the final order.) When the teacher refused to do either on the grounds that this directive was a violation of her First Amendment rights, she was immediately fired.

It was made clear to the teacher that the quality of instruction within her classroom was not being called into question. Rather, the issue was that “the interpretation of [her] bumper stickers did not fit in with the culture of the community.” It may help to add that this was a public charter school – not a private, religious school – whereby the focus was to adequately prepare students for college.

My question is this: Is it acceptable to fire a public school teacher for the expression of her/his belief systems, if those beliefs are kept out of the classroom learning environment?

Rear view

In a state so concerned with their homeland and available jobs secure from illegal immigrants, I find it interesting that there are so many white men begging. White men are arguably the most privileged in our society, but at the 75th Ave. exit off the WB I10 in Phoenix, AZ there is a community of white men begging in shifts.  Some have signs, while others don’t, but it is clear that they are all working together.  They are typically at all four corners of the intersection from dawn until dusk, and if you frequent the area you begin to recognize them.  This is growing to epidemic proportions as their efforts have already grown to the 83Ave exit.  What’s even more disturbing is that I checked the area and several employers are hiring including CarMax and the PetSmart warehouse.

While Arizona is trying to kick immigrants who want to work out of the state, these young, able, white men who are unwilling to work, beg for you to hand them your hard earned money out the window.  Does this bother anyone else?

UsrNme1

Not even willing to hold a sign.

Young, able and homeless??

Working as a team.

Street begging

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed both the quality and quantity of food you are receiving at restaurants have decreased with the economy?  In many cases, we are paying more for less food.  I’m not an idiot; I know food is more expensive for the restaurants to purchase in this economy, and that expense is passed on to us.  I’m willing to pay a few extra bucks, as long as I am getting a quality product.

Lately, though, I have noticed that my Edamame bowl is less full, my sandwiches are stacked lower, and some of my favorite salads are now made with iceberg lettuce instead of seasonal greens. Should the customer be cheated because the restaurant is struggling? Below is a list of restaurants where the quality/quantity of their food has/have noticeably changed.  Please feel free to add your own experiences.

UsrNme1

Carl’s Jr. – The large fry is now the same size as the small fry.

Claim Jumper – The potato cakes appetizer is now a quantity of two instead of three; the veggie burger comes without all the toppings, unless a customer complains and sends it back; and the ice cream that accompanies the desserts is no bigger in diameter than a half-dollar coin.

Hana Sushi – Now serving half the edamame in the same size bowl.

Quiznos – Less toppings and poor quality of lettuce used on their salads.

According to the guy in front of me in line at Home Depot, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona is an expert at spotting Mexicans.  Arpaio’s office, which serves the Phoenix Metro area is being sued for racial profiling. It seems that this follows a long list of accusations against the Sheriff and the department from the local Latino community. While many feel that the Sheriff’s efforts are deeply rooted in racism, others claim that the deputies are simply not trained to properly deal with minority suspects.

Arpaio has been known to form posses, who make random traffic stops, raid work sites and neighborhoods with dense Latino populations, arresting anyone who can’t prove they are legal citizens of the United States. No sheriff in the country has taken the job of immigration enforcement so seriously, and because of his diligence, he is also the most protested sheriff in the country.  The voters backed the sheriff and part-time reality star with a landslide re-election, but the dense Hispanic community is enraged.  So I ask you: do racial profiling laws make it difficult to fight illegal immigration?

UsrNme1

News on the recent law suit:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/02/23/20100223mcso-racial-profiling-suits.html

So I asked two African American gentlemen what their favorite events are in the Winter Olympics.  After they stopped laughing, I received a lecture on African American people and winter sports that went far beyond cold weather. I want to know what the general public thinks about the subject. Why are the winter sports racially unbalanced?

UsrNme1

This was demand I heard from a very upset frequent traveler.  Her reasoning??? American Airlines announced that as of May 1st, 2010 they will begin charging $8.00 for a blanket on their flights.  Oh it gets better, they are only charging the passengers in coach!!  Please remember this is also the airline that charges $25 per checked bag, while other airlines carry them for free.  It’s sad as hotels continue to try discount rooms and cut cost to lure us in to a few nights stay, but  this airline stabs us all in the back with additional charges after you’ve purchased the ticket.  “These extra charges make it nearly impossible for a family with kids to travel!”, she said.

I think she had a point, this doesn’t seem very socially aware for a company in today’s economic turmoil. What do you think? Read for yourself:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/09/american.airlines.blankets/?hpt=T2

Usrnme1

For many people this is a very sad day.  Much like a funeral reception that is filled with friends, family and a great spread of tasty treats, today we say good bye to the 2009 NFL football season for six long months.  The chores and family gatherings you were able to avoid because your team was playing, are now filling the calendar.  Those who love you more than the game, may secretly welcome this time of year to get more of your attention.  So tonight when the chip scraps the last bit of salsa from the bowl, will you:

1. Start spending more time with your kids or significant other.

2. Quickly switch your enthusiasm to another sport.

3. Enter a deep dark depression that can only be cured by the release of the 2010 training camp reports (August).

or 4. You don’t know Peyton Manning from Barry Manilow.

Does your social awareness increase after football season?

UsrNme1

I overheard a woman make that statement at one of my favorite coffee shops.  I was shocked by the blatant comment and had to find out why she felt that way.  I asked and she kindly explained that she feels access to more money and family support can lead to more abortions.  Her theory starts with the understanding that young women with Prada purses are no less sexually active then girls with empty purses. She said, “For a wealthy family, a $500 abortion is a quick fix to an embarrassing problem, while women like me would have difficulty coming up with that kind of money quick enough to safely have the procedure. It would take months for me to save that much money!”  Then she spoke of the “those girls” in high school and college, and I was left to assume they were wealthy/popular/ones that would not give her the time of day.  She explained how they would take “family vacations” during the middle of a school week and everyone knew they were abortion vacations.  So I ask, has anyone else ever heard of this theory or is this just the opinion of one angry woman?

UsrNme1

Okay people, help me get a little more socially aware on this topic.  Last night I was at dining at restaurant, when a family of four was seated next to me.  I was immediately disturbed by the size of this family, and by size I mean the mother, father and both children were severely obese. So I ask you, with all the information we have on the problems that come with being over weight and the rapid increase in child obesity, should parents raising little fat offspring be cited for child abuse??

UsrNme1