My first mid-term out of the way!

Well, I got my first mid-term paper of my graduate school career out of the way tonight. The paper was for my Law class which looks at the First Amendment and its implications on Education.
It was a 2000 word maximum paper and you may be thinking, well Joey, that's not so bad. True 2000 words is not bad at all. The problem was that the paper couldn't exceed 2000 words!! After my first draft, I was over by 200 words and hadn't written my last two sections. This paper was a little harder than I thought given that our professor literally gave us what to say and how to organize our paper. I thought, this is going to be cake. I mean, who holds a review and goes over each section of the exam and tells you what legal issues you need to raise? Well, now I know that the real test of the mid-term was whether you can be concise and to the point in your writing. There was no room for BS in this paper! It was state your claim, analyze it and move on to the next claim.
I'm glad that's out of the way (other than a final edit). The only problem is that I have two more mid-term papers looming for next week.
I have a feeling that from now until the end of the semester I will be living in the library.

On a different note, those of you in the education world, I recommend you picking up and reading a book by Jonathan Kozol named The Shame of a Nation. It is about the restoration of apartheid schooling in America. The first half will make you cringe at what is going on in schools across America, especially in predominantly minority schools. I haven't read the second half, as I was assigned the first five chapters for class. I hope to finish the book in whatever little spare time I have this week. My ethics professor, Thomas Sobol, is quoted in the book a few times. It's not often that you are taught by someone who is highly regarded and respected in the education field. This is where I am truly blessed to be in this program. The people I am learning from are amazingly renowned for their work in education.

Okay, so I need to get some sleep, so I can make my final edit of my mid-term before I turn it in tomorrow.

Now You be a Good Boy!

"Now you be a good boy Joey!" Those were the final words I heard my Mamaw say the Saturday before she left this earth to be with the Father Monday, October 15th. Looking back on my life and my interactions with Mamaw over the past week, this phrase keeps playing back in my head. Reason being is that those were the words she always said to me since I met her over 20 years ago every time we would part ways from visiting each other. Our goodbyes always ended with I love you and now you be a good boy. Even now at 29, she couldn't resist telling me to be a good boy, especially since I am living in New York. It was a serendipitous goodbye. No better way for her to tell me goodbye, than for telling me that phrase.
Well, I can honestly say, that I have lived those words to the best of my ability and continue to do so. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, that is why trying to live out Mamaw's phrase is so difficult for me from time to time.
The funeral on Wednesday evening was one of celebration. It was so comforting to know that when her pastor asked her how things were between her and the Lord and she said things are good, it brought joy to my heart knowing that I would see her again when the Lord calls me up to be with Him. The next day at the internment, I witnessed something I never witnessed before at a funeral. The pastor read from Psalm 55:6 which says "And I say, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest...'" Then my step-brother, Chris, goes to a small white box and is given a white dove to hold on to representing the spirit of Mamaw. While Chris was holding the dove, three other doves were set free from the box and flew away. The three doves represented the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Chris then let go of the dove he was holding. Now here is where the most amazing thing happened.
The three doves flew in one direction and the lone dove, Mamaw's "spirit," went in another direction. The doves right before flying off into the distance all reunited and flew away together. You may be asking what is so amazing about that.
Well, to me it was a perfect representation of the relationship Christ wants to have with us. The birds flying in different directions represented that we are so separated from the love of God, yet the Lord calls us to be Him through Christ, and if we listen and obey and offer our lives to Him, we will be united with Him. Seeing the four fly away together was just that; the Lord calling Mamaw to be with Him. What a visualisation of the Love God has for us. I hope that I've explained it well enough for you to understand what I saw.
I will miss my grandmother tremendously. She was full of life. I can only hope to live a life half as full as hers. I don't think that I will ever hear those words again, but I know they will forever be ingrained in my heart. I can only hope to make her proud by trying to be the best "Good boy" I can be.

Noose at TC

You might be thinking, does it ever stop at Columbia? First there was the Ahmadinejad controversy, and now there is racism.
Yesterday, October 9, a noose was found hanging from the office door of distinguished African American Psychology professor Madonna Constantine. I couldn't believe that this type of thing was happening here, at Teachers College, a place that prides itself in having diversity and equity in education. At the same time, no place is free of racism as long as it is prevalent in our country. TC is no different. AS diverse as our community is here, it doesn't escape the evils of racism.
Today we had a protest of solidarity where the entire college, students, faculty, and administration, stood outside of TC's main entrance to let people know that this college and university wasn't going to stand for actions as cowardice and awful as this. After Professor Madonna Constantine gave her statement saying that she wasn't going to be silenced from the actions of a coward on Tuesday, we walked around the Teachers College campus and then around Columbia's campus before returning for a town hall meeting.
Personally, I loved it. It was the first real protest that I stood behind and believed in.
Racism is horrendous. In the eyes of God, we are all equal. If I am to live a life representative of Christ and help in ending racism, I must love and be accepting of everyone, no matter where they come from.
The fact that racism still exists tells me that our society still has a long way to go in order to have this hate eradicated. One would've thought that we have progressed as a society from these horrible acts, but just as in Jena, La and now in the nation's best graduate school of education, it is evident that we haven't.
This event did cause a great deal of dialogue which is the first step to improving race relations, especially diversity on campus. In the town hall meeting that we had after the protest this afternoon allowed for everyone to not only voice their concerns, but also to hear suggestions about how to better our school as a safe place where diversity is not only embraced but racism is not tolerated.

A month in the city

I can't believe that it has already been a month since I arrived in New York and began graduate school. I think that I have fully adjusted to the hustle and bustle of city life as well as with the workload of being a graduate student.

My classes have been great. Most of the classes I'm taking are practical. It's exciting to know that I will be able to use what I am learning and apply to a school.

I've received my internship for the semester working at a public school in Washington Heights called WHEELS or Washington Heights Expedionary Learning School. It's a brand new school that when in full operatioin will be a a 6-12 grade school. It's a very progressive school where learning is very non-traditional. The students learn through a life experience model bringing in what they know already and don't know from their community and apply it to their learning. It's a take off from Outward Bound. The school puts Out Bound learning models in the classroom. I'm really excited to be experiencing what working in a public school is like.

If you all think about it this month, please be praying for me as I think this will be one of my busiest months this semester. Mid-terms and papers loom in the coming weeks.

So far so good I'd have to say. I can't wait for what the other 7 or 8 months have for me.