Monthly Archives: September 2021
Tied Up
I was tied up with stuff all day yesterday and did not have time to write a full post. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write more for tomorrow.
Acceptance in Education
Something I never thought I’d see in Alabama has happened. The Magic City Acceptance Academy opened its doors to 200-plus students on its Homewood (a suburb of Birmingham) campus. The public charter school’s mission statement pretty much says it all: “The Magic City Acceptance Academy facilitates a community in which all learners are empowered to embrace education, achieve individual success, and take ownership of their future in a safe, LGBTQ-affirming learning environment.”
The school had faced some issues with getting a city charter. Birmingham City Schools refused to allow the school in their district. Instead, Homewood granted them the charter to build the school in their city. The school welcomed its first students on Aug. 31. And while an LGBTQ-affirming learning environment is part of its mission statement, MCAA welcomes all students in grades 6-12.
“All is good up on the hill,” said principal Michael Wilson, Ph.D. “We’re just glad our students are feeling they’re safe themselves. In a couple of days, no telling how much they are going to open up.” Wilson continues saying, “It’s not all about sexuality and gender. We have kids who have been bullied for other reasons, and they just wanted a new start, and that’s why they’re here. We’ve got some kids that their parents felt their special needs weren’t being met, and they brought them to us. We’re working with our special needs teacher and looking at their educational plans to make sure we meet all their needs.” Growing up in Alabama and later teaching there, I’ve known and seen the bullying firsthand that comes with being a kid who others consider not “normal.” It’s so wonderful to see that these kids will hopefully experience a much better atmosphere for their education.
Sadly, a school of this type in Alabama requires extra security. The administrators know that there people out there who would feel such a progressive middle school and high school had no right to exist. Wilson said they would be “diligent about protecting” their space and their building. Wilson further said, “It took a lot for us to earn the right to be here, and we’re not about to give that away to somebody with an agenda that is just opposite of ours. We have as much right to exist as they do, especially when it comes to meeting the needs of children. Of students. They deserve the right to feel safe in a learning space that values them as kids and as students, and that’s what we’re determined to provide, and with all the resources other students have.” It also doesn’t hurt that the Homewood Police Department is directly across the street.
Rarely do I hear uplifting stories out of the state where I grew up, but it’s a wonderful experience when it happens. I wish MCAA and their students the best in their endeavors. I usually don’t favor charter schools because they give public funds to private schools and many of them are not of the quality they should be, but when it comes to schools like MCAA, I am all for the charter school system. These kids would not have had the opportunity to study in an affirming environment where they can feel safe if they were attending public school in Alabama. The one drawback is that admittance to the school is based on a lottery system, and there does seem to be more demand than what the school can accommodate. Also, many kids are not out and therefore cannot ask their parents to send them to MCAA. These are probably the same kids who get bullied and are too afraid to tell their parents or teachers about it.
French Leave
French Leave
By Claude McKay
No servile little fear shall daunt my will
This morning, I have courage steeled to say
I will be lazy, conqueringly still,
I will not lose the hours in toil this day.
The roaring world without, careless of souls,
Shall leave me to my placid dream of rest,
My four walls shield me from its shouting ghouls,
And all its hates have fled my quiet breast.
And I will loll here resting, wide awake,
Dead to the world of work, the world of love,
I laze contented just for dreaming’s sake,
With not the slightest urge to think or move.
How tired unto death, how tired I was!
Now for a day I put my burdens by,
And like a child amidst the meadow grass
Under the southern sun, I languid lie,
And feel the bed about me kindly deep,
My strength ooze gently from my hollow bones,
My worried brain drift aimlessly to sleep,
Life soften to a song of tuneful tones.
About the Poet
Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, on September 15, 1889. Better known as Claude McKay, he moved to Harlem, New York, after publishing his first books of poetry, and established himself as a literary voice for social justice during the Harlem Renaissance. He is known for his novels, essays and poems, including “If We Must Die” and “Harlem Shadows.” He died on May 22, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois.
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A “French leave” is a departure from a location or event without informing others or without seeking approval. Examples include relatively innocuous acts such as leaving a party without bidding farewell in order to avoid disturbing or upsetting the host, or more problematic acts such as a soldier leaving their post without authorization.
The Great Procrastinator
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.
—Ecclesiastes 9:10-12
When Solomon said, “Whatever your hand finds to do,” he was acknowledging that there is always work to be done. We should challenge ourselves to grab hold of the ordinary responsibilities of each day and simply make sure they get done. It’s easy for most of us to live in a perpetual state of procrastination consisting of “maybe tomorrow” or “someday” we’ll get around to doing the things we need to do. I am a terrible procrastinator. The problem with being a procrastinator is that none of us is guaranteed tomorrow; we only have today. We can’t go back and relive yesterday and correct our mistakes. We should take each day in-hand and “do it with your might,” rather than waste hours dreaming about what we would rather be doing. As the Nike ads used to say, “Just Do It!” Tomorrow may never come, though we will hope it will.
Not only are we to do whatever lies close at hand, but we are to do it with enthusiasm. I know that is sometimes very hard to do. Sometimes, we reluctantly do something, but we need to try to get over that reluctance. If we consider that Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus about 50 million years, we can put just how short of a time we will be on this earth into perspective. While our ancestors have been around for about six million years, the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago. Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialization started in the earnest only in the 1800s. While we’ve accomplished much in that short time, it also shows our responsibility as caretakers for the only planet we live on right now. That means humans have only been on this Earth for .0044 percent of the time of Earth’s existence, and civilizations make up a mere 3 percent of that time (that’s .0132 percent of the history of the Earth.) Considering that the average human lives 72.6 years, we are here for a very short time. We need to make the most of the time we are here. While some of us will live longer than 72.6 years, others will not make it to 72.6 years.
Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going,” he underscores the fact that the chances of facing mortality are an overwhelming 100 percent. None of us are immortal. Even though none of us want to hear that we are going to the grave, it is a fact we all need to face. Pretending it isn’t true or simply ignore it, won’t keep it from happening. This life is not a dress rehearsal. We only get one chance to do whatever we’re going to do here on planet earth. Our moment in the sun will be over sooner than most of us care to admit. The next time we procrastinate doing something, we need to remember, “We are not promised tomorrow.” I am often easily distracted, but sometimes we just need to concentrate on the task at hand and get it done.
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