RANTS AND RAVES: Molson Edition

Hey Folks.
I liked Free-ho's rants and raves post last month so much that I thought I would do one of my own.

RANTS:
-The Increasing Sense of Powerlessness I feel
-NYT Digital Subscriptions
-Perceptions of The Teaching Profession

RAVES:
-Creativity
-Clouds
-"Best Kept Secrets"


Let's Dive Right In!



The Increasing Sense of Powerlessness I Feel
I recently watch Inside Job. Really enjoyed it. But I like Michael Moore-y type exposes. I learned a lot though during the movie that I hadn't learned in various newspaper articles or anything. But it really made me feel powerless. I've just been shocked recently at the ridiculousness of our economic/business sector of society. The disparity in wealth is increasing, jobs are still scarce, and executive pay is soaring.

I don't know if I would consider myself an activist. I strongly feel that increased awareness about issues is the key to reform/change, and that is what I like to be involved in. I think I would like to inspire others to actually do the changing though... Lately though, I've felt that even after learning a ton about the problems of our economic system, nothing has really been done to change it. Bills are watered down and real change is elusive. I guess that's American Politics. I'm almost looking forward to the next lame duck congress - may be we can actually get things done again.


NYT Digital Subscriptions
So I'm a news junkie. Mostly political shit, but also other news. During the early college years, I got so hooked to CNN during vacation breaks that I wasted much of my days loafing in front of my tv while I waited for my friends to go chill at night. I also used to read CNN.com all the time. Somewhere along the line (I think John Stewart and the Poli Sci dept to thank), I started to realize just how annoying the 24 hour news cycle has become and what it was doing to my brain. I narrowed my news sources to a few reliable and respected sites/sources - one of them being the New York Times. Then BAM: Changing to digital subscriptions. WTF, NTY? I knew it was coming, but I guess I didn't realize how many articles I read a month. I get 20 free ones. I went through them in a week. I'm not gonna pay when there is the same info elsewhere on the net, but it still makes me pretty upset since I was so comfortable there and I like their web-blogs/op-ed columnists.


The Perception of Teachers
Now, maybe Free-ho has a more informed view of this issue, but I hate how little respect teachers get from wider American society. As the craziness in Wisconsin this past month showed, there are some people in our country that do not give enough credit to teachers.

The Daily Show - Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Some people say that teacher's actually get plenty of respect, and this recent hype in Wisconsin is just one little blip in the national consciousness. But I disagree. In my interactions with people in the past few years, when I've told them that I wanted to be a high school history teachers, the responses I got back have been particularly telling. While many state something like, "Oh, well we need good teachers," I've had quite a few conversations where the person I was talking to expressed the view that it was not a difficult or prestigious job. I think this is a big problem. Our society should value our nation's teachers more. In our culture, we do that with high salaries. The one thing I wish John Stewart had stated in his clip was in regards to the "Talent Exodus" comment made by that fox pundit. I've come across several consultant/commission reports, articles, and speeches in my Ed Studies courses that call for raising the salaries of teachers in order to attract higher quality of teacher candidates. The actual statistics on who are going into Education Schools are pretty scary when you realize these are the people who are going to eventually land up educating and socializing the next generation (i'll give you a hint: they are NOT our nation's best and brightest). Ok. I'm getting upset as I write this. A few last things: the tenure system should be reformed, and unions are sometimes a pain in the ass, but teachers get the shaft overall.

[eds note: Just found this article that recently came out and shares much of the same ideas, but its much better worded.]


Creativity
Some have it. Some have more of it. Some have a SHIT TON of it. I do not consider myself to be extremely creative. I love art. I love creativity. I love being around people who have a lot of creativity. It really brightens my day. I think its because I wish I could be more creative. Maybe I just need to paint my room blue. But seriously, I would have never of thought up stuff like this.


Clouds
I was thinking of ranting about the weather that MN has had recently (lots of rain, only like one day over 60 degrees F), but then I thought I did not need to give further proof of me reaching near completion of transforming into an Old Man. But today was the first sunny day in quite some time. Even if the wind made it a little colder than I would have liked, I still grabbed my GRE study book and went out to the bald spot to give myself some much needed Vitamin D. It was partly cloudy, WHICH I'M SO OKAY WITH. I love clouds. Big, puffy, white ones. When the very white and pure blue contrast, its friggin awesome. I like clouds when I can see a lot of the sky. I love the window seat on air planes and I love being somewhere tall when the clouds are beautiful. As I said recently, I've been itching to go out west. I wanna get my ass to Arches National Park and stand up on a tall rock and see the vast sky, clouds and all.


Best Kept Secrets
This Saturday, I think some of us are going to the Elko Speedway to see a monster truck show. I got the idea when I drove down 35w and thought to myself, "How come Carleton folks never go to the Elko Speedway? It's closer than MSP, the mall, the movies, or Mystic Lake!" So some of us are going to go (It's Elvis night and you get in free if you wear a costume... we'll see about that part). In the last year, I've got pleasure from exploring and enjoying little known places. Many of these are places to eat. One of the Northfield gems has been the Pizza Barn. Ok, so that is not its real name. But that's what Hannah N. called it the first time she mentioned it and it stuck. It's this great little barn out past the high school on a farm on a small hill (so you can see a nice scenic view of Northfield at sunset). This family decided to build a brick oven and make pizzas on Wednesday night from April to October. It's BYOB and we've had a great time so far. Very chill way to start a Wednesday evening of fun. I've also enjoyed going to parks that are often overlooked as a way to counter boredom, routine and add some variety to life.




That's pretty much it for now. Hope everyone has a good Sunday.
MOLSON OUT.