October 13, 2008
October 4, 2008
Please explain why this man has been suspended and not been fired?
From The Daily Voice
From Fox News:
A Florida middle school teacher has been disciplined for writing a racially offensive phrase about Barack Obama on his classroom dry-erase board last month. The Tallahassee Democrat reported Friday that school officials learned the teacher wrote the phrase in a 7th grade class of mostly white students. The phrase, which invoked Obama’s campaign slogan, said, “C.H.A.N.G.E. — Come Help A (N-word) Get Elected.”
According to the newspaper, the teacher, Greg Howard, was suspended for 10 days without pay and will be forced to write a letter of apology to the students. He will also be reassigned to teach in the adult education program.
I’m not getting this. The man is a teacher and in 10 days will be back in the classroom. I am utterly disgusted.
October 3, 2008
October 2, 2008
A Beautiful Lesson From History (And Art)
I have been lecturing on Neoclassical art and covering the French Revolution, which made me drag out my old friend the opera Andrea Chenier which is a lovely work. The story is set during the French Revolution and plays on the gulf between the aristocracy and the French peasantry. As the story opens we find Gerard (a servant of a Countess) angry over the toll that years of hard labor have taken on his aging father. The court is holding a gala that evening in which guests will sing love songs and dance. Poet Andrea Chenier (a guest at the party) at first refuses to recite a poem for the gathering until the young countess Madalena convinces him, suggesting he recite a love poem. Instead he sings of the suffering of the peasants (in this case the servants) and rages against those responsible. Everyone but Madalena is infuriated by Chenier’s song, until the peasants gather and are abruptly cast out of the castle, followed by an indignant Chenier.
Chenier becomes a revolutionary and a wanted man for his fiery speeches about the Church and the Ruling class. He should flee the area to escape the Reign of Terror but of course he has fallen in love with Madalena who has sneaked away from home to join the revolution. They are reunited briefly but soon discoverd by Gérard, who has also loved Madalena from afar while working in her castle. They fight and Gérard is wounded, but advises Chenier to take Madalena with him and save her from the mob that will be looking for them.
Later Gerard is part of a Robespierre’s revolutionary tribunal that is to decide the recently captured Chenier’s arrest for speaking out on the Reign of Terror. It is Gerard who will decide the fate of his old enemy. he has to consider that it was Chenier’s poem that sparked his own role in the revolution but on the other hand, by signing his execution order he could have Madalena, couldn’t he? It’s the classic struggle between love and honor, or rationality and emotion. Emotion wins and he signs Chenier’s death warrant.
Now who should turn up at this point but Madalena. Her mother has just been killed and she doesn’t want to see the one other person she loves die. She begs Gerard to release Chenier and promises to give herself to him, which of course he is willing to accept (it’s all about the girl). However, it is too late and the execution will go forward.
The final act opens with the Chenier writing poems in his prison, cell when Madalena is brought by Gerard for one last meeting. All hope is lost now and soon after Chenier is executed; Madalena no longer wanting to live without her love, stoically faces her own execution.
There are great lessons in this opera and there are great lessons in history. It’s just so perplexing that we choose not to learn from them.
Enjoy the recording. It’s Maria Callas — hard to get any better than that 
