Spring Training Politics, Beer and Other Sinful Matters

I notice Joltin' JoeMonahan.com has spent another 10 inches of electrons relating that Big Bill Richardson might not get 60% in his re-election win, this time because Hispanics can't stand him. I'm all for building excitement in political races, but last time I checked you can still win one of them Guv'nor races with less than 60% of the vote. If debating whether Big Bill gets 60 over and over constitutes building excitement we got us one hell of a boring Guv'nor race here.

And speaking of building electoral excitement...I'm giving Patsy Madrid one more chance and am actually venturing beyond the four psychedically painted walls of the Burque Babble Bunker to attend her alleged appearance Thursday night at the Democracy For New Mexico monthly meeting. My avid readership might remember that Patsy stood me up some months back at a scheduled DFNM meeting (which would have been the first I've ever attended). I was stung by the non-appearance, but I've had a few sessions of really helpful therapy on the subjects of grasping and letting go of insensitivity in those around me.

I'm ready and I'm giving Patsy another shot. Unless I don't get to my laundry by Thursday. Or I really feel a need to take a nap because of this darn time change. Or something. But seriously, that's it...I'm going this time, and Patsy's going. It's like we're going together. I'll have a report on BB here in a few days.

Yes, I am one of those people who shorten things down to an acronym when they really are short enough already and don't need acronymization.

On the subject of Patsy v. Heather (or Madrid v. Twistedly Kindler, Gentler Domenici Disciple [TKGDD] if you prefer a more respectful use of last names), my only current wager on the race is a six-pack of beer. That needs to change. So I'm making an all-call to those who wanna make an early season friendly wager on the House One race. I'll take the incumbent. No, you don't get points, or odds. Straight up, I've got Heather (AKA TKGDD) and you take Patsy.

I didn't say that's what I WANT to happen (not yet anyway...I still have the long-awaited date with Patsy coming up). It's just what I think WILL happen. You know, incumbents, never underestimate the stupidity of the American people...that sort of thing.

By the way, if brazenly announcing public call-outs for wagers on political races is illegal in New Mexico, that's pretty lame. Still, if so I'll add one of those disclaimers that my discussing the issue is purely for informational purposes only. And I'll post a Gambler's Anonymous 800 number, and make it flash at the bottom of the screen, along with a picture of our current NM Attorney General. I promise.

And for those of you still thinking it over, I'm not talking about some weak-ass Miller Light crap, but a six-pack of Stone IPA or equivalent. Let's get serious here.

We need something to liven up this heretofore less-than-tantalizing political season, and talking about Big Bill being below 60% sure ain't gonna do it. And that's when you roll out the rampant gambling and beer. Works every time.

The Black Dahlia: Part Infinity

Leaving the Constitution/Carlisle Smith's late this afternoon I pass by "newspaper guy", his sales made more brisk by a relatively large special sales display over a small wire rack. "Astorga Nabbed" the large print says atop a black/white copy of the now-famous photo. The photo we've seen in all ABQ media for the past ten days. The same photo used in all the many 10 O'Clock News teasers, above-the-fold newspaper updates, and wherever finest news is sold. In many cases, sold in a disgusting manner.

I realize I'm not breaking any new ground when I say that news organizations take advantage of public fear and outrage in the same way the Lottery takes advantage of people's dreams and inability to understand probability math. But when the signature news-as-sales hyperhype kicks in, like it has in the McGrane shooting, it's hard to stomach the sheer audacity of a media in full slithering feeding frenzy.

Yeah, I get the other argument. It's the public's right to know. Yes, I understand the other position. Maybe the media does go overboard, but it's only responding to what people want. And true, I understand that this same debate of journalistic ethics happens with every Astorga, Schiavo, Katrina, Peterson, etc. It's nothing new, and the ABQ/NM media is no more guilty than the ABQ/NM citizenry, or the media and citizenry of countless other hyperhype stories in the past and to come.

Still, it was hard not to walk by that sign display at the "newspaper guy's" rack outside Smith's today and not think: "I wonder what a few more Astorgas could do for newspaper sales in this town?" "I wonder if there's a news producer at a local station in town secretly wishing the crime could have taken place during May sweeps?"

So, Hurricane Astorga has made landfall. It was a slow moving system, but now it's hit. We're winding down coverage now to some damage reports, interviews with a few displaced, a face-to-face with a insurance adjuster or weather historian. And then it's time to wait for the next storm.

Back to you Carla.

The Lame Replacement of a YouTube Post

Did you ever write like the greatest 750 words in the history of blogger.com (a long storied history that) and lose it in a computer crash? Now the world is deprived of those words. Think of the things those powerful words could have made better, people who could have been made happier, others who could have been led to a higher plane of consciousness.

It's a shame. And now I'm far too lazy to even bother recreating them. It wasn't that great a post, anyway.

Basically it was all about wasting my Spring Break in glorious gluttony watching versions of the Chris Parnell/whatever that guy name is SNL hip-hop/"Chronic"what?"les of Narnia" parody "Lazy Sunday" at YouTube.com.

And yes, I realize that the whole SNL Chronic(what?) is so yesterday, like January 2006 over, and my perfect 750 words pointed that out, as well as the fact that I can't help it because: 1. I'm a schoolteacher; 2. I live in ABQ, which is always three months behind the times.

Anyway, my favorite is either "Lazy Muncie" (a popular choice) in "Midwest Style" or the West Coast take "Lazy Monday". Shades of early Beastie Boys back when at least I thought it was all a joke. Obviously from the 177 versions on YouTube home video lives, and if anything could use more parody (it already has enough self-parody) it's hip-hop and rap music.

Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious

Now that's a great line, but seriously, I had 750 similarly great, perfectly placed perfect words right here on the page, and now....gone. Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde never had a computer crash! I gotta run. The tears are falling on the keyboard in buckets.

Texas JoeMonahan Radio and the Big Bill

Reading JoeMonahan.com always leaves the political addict feeling somehow morally unclean. The site is the Knockouts, TD's Showclub and Ice House of New Mexico politics. It serves the role of all three strip clubs in part because it has no real competition, and because it serves the not-so-better angels of the political junkies' nature with a steady diet of semi-news and varying degrees of truthiness. Yes, I said "truthiness"...next thing you know I'll be breaking out "meme" and "frameshop".

Today's post from Joe is about an "exclusive poll" that shows Big Bill Richardson's approval rating is only at 56%, according to Democrat pollsters Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. The "story" then goes on to posit the possibility that Big Bill will win the Governor's race, but will not get 60% of the vote. Now, as a political junkie (and one vaguely unsettled about Big Bill) Joe goes straight to my politiporn (trademark pending) addiction, and has me extrapolating all sorts of meaning from the numbers.

What does not getting 60% in NM mean for Big Bill's Presidential chances? How can someone seemingly so popular nationally only have middling support at home? Is it at this point in my mental frenzy of wild speculation that I notice my hands are involuntarily massaging a set of imaginary ball bearings, ala Humphrey Bogart in "The Caine Mutiny". It's the psychological equivalent of creasing five dollar bills to go into the lap dancer's thong. I'm hooked.

Then the pleasure sensation passes and a slightly more rational interpretation emerges. It's more dull and leaves me typing this post instead of rolling imaginary ball bearings in my hand, but let's not forget the following:

• The poll concerns "approval ratings" for Big Bill, but doesn't put his name in the poll versus any candidate.
• One reason the poll probably doesn't include mention of any other candidates is because, given the Republican field at present, respondents would have almost universally replied "Who the Hell is J.R. Damron? Is he the guy with JLo in that new 'Dallas' movie?"
• I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Big Bill's numbers would go up in any poll in which he was pitted against another known Republican human being (i.e. if we can consider Republican politicians to be human beings). For instance, just throwing somebody's name out there...whaddya think the Joe Carraro v. Big Bill numbers would have been?
  
• I know, you're thinking almost all NM respondents would have said "Carraro? The guy with that dive bar off of Central by UNM? Is he running for something?"
  
• Right now pollsters are polling Big Bill v. An Infinite Void because that's basically how great the discrepancy in name recognition is between Big Bill and any potential Republican candidate.
  
• Needless to mention all potential Democrat candidates to run against Big Bill in a primary were immediately dealt with by Paulie Walnuts from the Sopranos. Paulie was on a trip to the Southwest to improve his tan, and had some free time on his hands to do a special favor or two.
  

• Given the situation, my advice to pollsters is to phrase questions pitting Big Bill versus somebody or at least something. Maybe they could start with: "In the upcoming 2006 New Mexico Gubernatorial Race, would you be more likely to vote for Bill Richardson or a Clove of Garlic?" Additional questions could be asked using rutabagas, celery and other vegetables. Republican pollsters looking for bad Big Bill numbers are encouraged to use "corn tortilla" or "green chile sauce from Barelas Coffee House" instead.
  

Politiporn (trademark pending). Feels great and excited in the short term, but leaves one feeling ashamed and dissatisfied in the long run. I've got to take a shower now.

P.S.: If there's one thing I really appreciate JoeMonahan for, it's the total lack of graphic layout skill in which he arranges his political sponsorship ads at the top of his site. As someone with the visual aesthetic acuity of an engorged hyena running along with a antelope carcass, Joe makes me feel better that I am not alone in this area. Thanks Joe!

Spring Cleaning in Blog (Jenga!) Land

As mentioned in harrowingly downbeat detail last week, this is "Spring Break" for us in the APS set. I've had a few days to decompress from the Apocalypse Now Willard-meets-Kurtz-esque final weeks before Break and can now report that I have the answer to all life's questions.

No, it's not 42. The answer is Spring Cleaning, to everything: home, brain, even this little blog. Like a cerebellum with too much synaptic detritus and cluttered bad memories, this blog (and yes, I'm still hoping the Jenga! people will lighten up and let us just use the term instead of the loathsome "blog") is gonna tidy up. I haven't touched the link column in ages. I haven't hung a picture up in forever. Here...here's a nice picture...I think it really ties the room together:

Hockney not avant-garde enough for you? Well, who cares..I'm Spring Cleaning everything, including my brain and staring at water sprinklers on a lawn is about all I can mentally handle right now.

Now to the Cleaning. It's like spending a day at a Spiritual retreat, but without the back and knee pain of sitting on a buckwheat pillow all day. Plus I get to listen to the entire Miles Davis 65-68 quintet recordings for Columbia (with Shorter, Williams, Hancock, Carter), instead of waiting for the sound of that bell that never seems to ring.

Om Mani Pade Me Hum, and all that jazz....

Working for the Broken Man: Epilogue

Ah, the day before Spring Break. Magic words for anyone caught in the three month K-12 death march from the beginning of January to now. I know we're whining, but it's a long haul, and one that has folks questioning careers, sanity and the purpose of life.

About one-third of the folks at my little school are sick, but it's hard to tell how much of that is due to viruses and bacteria and how much of that is a deep, abiding hatred for the institution and its fellow occupants.

We need a break. Of course, we needed a break about three or four weeks ago. We especially needed a break two weeks ago after the coma-inducing drudgery of our standardized testing finally ended. But no, we shuffled on for two more weeks, looking more and more like zombies with each passing day.

Some people like to pretend that all planning in education is "for the children", but having Spring Break at the end of March is clear indication of that fallacy in thinking. For more evidence, just look at the daily schedule of APS schools where high schoolers start their educational day at 7:30 A.M. in large part because of busing and parent schedules, and in no part because 7:30 A.M. is when students learn best.

But it's the day before Spring Break. We're gonna make it now.

My last two entries have been about K-12 education and I find myself unable to stop writing about it. Maybe that's because I need a break, but it also seems the rest of the world can't stop writing about education as well. Maybe the entire world needs a Spring Break.

Anyway, in addition to what I wrote on earlier this week, we have had the following:

• FP Marty Chavez says he wants public input via the Internet for his plan to Mayorally appoint APS Board members. ($$ reg. req.). The city will have a special site (up on Tuesday) for public comments. Here's hoping the comments are more plentiful and productive than the ones at the ABQ Trib and SF New Mexican sites.

• Slightly buried in a story on APS plans to redistrict the school boundaries in the Four Hills and Singing Arrow neighborhood is the factoid that "only 26 percent of the 223 students living in Four Hills currently attend their assigned schools". (more $$ req. req.) This startling number stirs a goulash of controversial topics, including "white flight" the importance of neighborhood schools, and the value of public schools in general.

In my opinion, the core of the story is its illustration of how important being entrepreneurial about school choice is. The dropoff of Four Hills kids at its "district" schools has been going on for at least a decade. Only now does APS start talking about a redistricting plan to address the situation?

Many just look at the situation as another example of stumbling, "broken" APS. But let's turn that around. APS is a ******* bureaucracy for Buddha's sake. Whaddya expect....streamlined efficiency? Neighborhood schools are important members of a local community on a number of different levels. They are a vital reflecion of the neighborhood, and need local community support. Still, if the neighborhood school is lousy teachers, parents and especially kids are better off going somewhere else instead of waiting for a bureaucracy to improve the neighborhood school. Period.

Since moving to the South Valley six years ago, I have repeatedly searched out teaching at my neighborhood schools. I interviewed and such from time to time, and have asked around on many occasions for insights. It is with sincerely deep regret that I say: I don't want to teach in the South Valley anymore. It's a bummer, but I'm certainly not going to start working at a SV school and wait for the bureaucracy to improve it. Parents, and especially children shouldn't wait around for that, either. The Four Hills story is crystal clear evidence of that.

• Then there's the reason I started thinking/writing about all this a few days back: Horizon Prep High School. As most of you know, Horizon High is a charter on Isleta Blvd (right down from my house) that had a bit of an accounting problem some time back. Something about miscalculating the actual number of students and a few hundred thousand dollars. Nasty business. Anyway, in a rare show of bureaucratic moxy the NM Education Department (I refuse to use their new name, reasoning that they will only change it again in a year or so) and APS revoked the school's charter. The school was scheduled to close on Friday, like it was Circle K or something.

But now APS has decided to allow Horizon High's next door neighbor, Horizon Academy South, to take over control of the school. You might notice the similarity in names..these Horizon folks have started quite a few charters both in ABQ and in Arizona where the outfit originates (as I understand it). APS gave Horizon $70,000 in emergency funds, probably just to avoid the hassle of taking in all the transferring students for the seven weeks after Spring Break.

Why is this story interesting? Well, on a selfish level, the school is just down the street from me and I was personally looking forward to an improvement in the awful traffic on Isleta resulting from the Horizon schools. More importantly, those who incessantly bash APS or any district need to remember the case of Horizon. What would the reaction be if APS schools said it would have to suddenly close on Friday? Who would be there to bail them out? I like the idea of charter schools...Hell, I worked at one for three years. But if people want more choice and freedom in selecting where they go to school they need to do significant research. They can't just make knee-jerk reactions like "it's a small school, so it must be a good school". Or "there test scores are bad, so they must be bad." It's been my experience that most parents never get past this overly simple "analysis". Caveat emptor applies to more than just automotive repair.

Have a great Spring Break everyone! May we all like each other and the buildings in which we spend so much time a bit more when we get back.

Working for the Broken Man: Part II

Yesterday, I wrote about the recent spate of universally negative public discourse regarding Albuquerque Public Schools. Looking around the Net, I now see we've gone beyond your simple spate to Las Vegas buffet gluttony on the subject. You can't throw a standardized test without hitting someone's editorial/column/blog about how heinously awful APS is.

As I mentioned yesterday, the big reason for all the negative attention lately is Feudal Prince Marty's idea that the Mayor should appoint APS School Board members instead of having them elected. The resulting opining has generally been of two stripes: 1. "APS is broken and something must be done this minute, and Hell, why not FP Marty's idea"; and 2. "Just about the only thing run as badly as APS is the City of Albuquerque, so where does FP Marty get off saying he should run APS?"

Given the glut of attention, I'm starting to wonder why I should bother bringing my own soap box, but being an actual bona fide APS teacher (who also happens to have a wildly popular blog read by upwards of three to four people per day) I'm feeling somewhat compelled to hop on the box, so to speak. By the way, I can promise that my tirade will neither be as elequent or as long as the one posted by Scott Hale at Duke City Fix yesterday. And that, finally, gets me to my runty little points on the subject.

Given:

• The Albuquerque Public School District is poorly run
• If you look around the web a bit (or have lived elsewhere) you quickly find that almost every public school district is poorly run
• Most of us adults went to public schools
• Those public schools we went to were, in general, poorly run

So my overall response to this latest brouhaha is the same I've had to every other cyclical brouhaha regarding education,: school districts suck. They pretty much always have. So what? As someone with 12+ years of K-12 teaching experience (okay, now I'm dropping the "expert" bomb...sorry for the shrapnel), I can tell you that the importance of school district quality in a child's education isn't 1/1000th as important as the quality of the individual teachers a child sees. And a School Board, elected or appointed, is about 1/100,000th as important.

You can make the same analogy in other "professions". If we had a "Broke-o-Meter", we'd certainly put the U.S. Medical System towards the very top. Most would agree that the Criminal Justice system needs a complete overhaul. The key for users of these systems is to find the individuals who shine despite the systemic problems.

And that reminds me...after ten years I still haven't found a good auto mechanic in this town. The "system" of auto repair has let me down in my time in ABQ, and I think the Mayor should appoint auto mechanics. No, most folks would say I just need to do a better job of asking around to find a good mechanic and avoid my up-to-now technique of just looking for the one closest to my house.

Hey, wait! That's how most folks find their child's teachers. Oh, you knew that already. Let's get serious here.

The key to fixing education isn't "fixing" districts, a Holy Grail-level search that, but finding goood, passionate teachers. And that's doesn't have to be a difficult search. We're out there, and we're finally get paid decent money.

Yes, there are bad teachers, burnouts, incompetents, whack-jobs who use their classrooms for sex and snorting crystal meth. Just as there are bad doctors, lawyers and auto mechanics. And I'm sorry we seem to only hear about the bad teachers, and bad test scores (subject of another blog entry, another time), and bad, bad districts. But you three or four readers of this blog...think back to your own education. Remember those, perhaps few, teachers who really made a difference in your life? Who really cared about you and the subjects they taught?

And you came out okay, didn't you? Even though the school district was crap, the drinking fountain filled with moss and chewing gum, and the chalk was all broken. You survived and are at least thriving enough now to read this silly blog, digest some debate on whether FP Marty should appoint school board members, and maybe you can even do a little Algebra.

It's time I devoted the rest of my free-time before work this morning staring out at the falling snow, but I just want to close by suggesting to everyone whose kids are suffering from bad teachers to be entrepreneurial about it. Don't wait for the "district" to get rid of bad teachers, just as you wouldn't wait for the Better Business Bureau to get rid of that mechanic who put in the wrong transmission for your Dodge Ram 2500 3/4 ton truck a few years back. Talk to your child, talk to the school administration, ask for schedule changes. Those conversations and actions are worth 1,000 hours of attendance at school board meetings and 1,000,000 readings of piddly blog entries like this on the subject of the public schools.

Working for the Broken Man: Part I

The outcry is shrill, relentless and unwavering: the Albuquerque Public School District sucks. It's such common knowledge that it's unnecessary to find examples of this universal outcry in action. The District sucks and, well, we all just know. It's a given. But, what the Hell, let's throw a recent example or two of this outcry in action.

Example #7,567,842: Feudal Prince Marty has decreed that "APS is Broken". This bold statement is typical of FP Marty's "leadership" in which he attacks complicated subjects in the most simplistic manner possible. Lots of drunks fighting all over town....close the Blue Spruce. Kids under 21 having crimes committed at downtown concerts....stop all-ages shows altogether. FP Marty's solution for APS is to have FP Marty control the APS School Board through Mayoral appointments. In true APS School Board spirit, he's also hired a $70,000 a year lobbyist to rally the cause of city control over APS.

That Feudal Prince Marty, always attacking the powerful and mighty, in this case the giant pro-APS School Board lobby. My guess is that a survey conducted to gauge public support for various institutions would go something like this:

Level of public support by percentage:

3%: Those in favor of drunks fighting/killing each other all over town
.01%: Those favoring crimes committed against those under 21
.00000001%: Those who view the APS School Board favorably

Example #7,567,843: In related news, Duke City Fix and Alblogguerque poster Johnny Mango delivers a body blow to APS Superintendent Beth Everitt and gets universal support. Evidently Superintendent Everitt ranks somewhere between "those favoring crimes against teenagers" and the APS School Board in terms of public support.


So there you have it, two more examples of the public outcry that APS sucks. Which leads to me, as I have learned is true for all things.

I teach in the Albuquerque Public Schools. I, therefore, am a working participant in a district that "is broken", ridiculed and just about universally despised. Why would I do such a thing? How can I sleep at night knowing that I'm part and parcel of a broken, despised system? Where do I get the nerve to ruin student's lives by providing a substandard education over and over again?

Good questions...but I see that we have run out of time. Sorry, but at least this way the posts are shorter. Later today I'll ineffectually try to answer the questions in the previous paragraph and maybe add a little perspective on the whole "District" question. Not to be like those loathsome local news 9:45 P.M. teasers, but "tune in later tonight for news you'll only get on Four". Yeah, I'm making myself sick even typing that last sentence...but c'mon back around this evening. Or not. It's your Internet.