Here it is, Adam. Jean asked me at dinner tonight if I had created a blog yet, so I went ahead and did it. (Couldn't wait til after your nuptials.)
The only difficult part about this was thinking of a title. There were several elements I set out to include: TFA-relevance, wit, some sense of universality, perhaps a literary or obscure music/film reference. I contemplated "Mornings on Bourbon Street," after a poem by New Orleans' own Tennessee Williams, but decided I might encite unwelcome curiousity with a title like that. The title I settled on is a phrase from a MLK, Jr quote. He says, "A riot at bottom is the language of the unheard." While riots are something I hope to avoid during the next two years, I appreciate the urgency of the concept. To me, a riot is the language of the desperate - those who have no other fathomable means by which to achieve their desired end. I feel this speaks of the students in the areas Teach for America seeks to affect. Students who have been historically unheard for many reasons, and continue to have their potential stifled in conditions of inadequately set expectations and standards. I have alot to learn during the next week at Induction, five weeks in Phoenix and two years in New Orleans, but I hope in some way I can help foster and amplify the language of the unheard.
I leave for New Orleans in the morning! I'll be at Induction in the city for a few days, and then on to Phoenix (which feels a bit like Oz at the moment).
More on that later...
The only difficult part about this was thinking of a title. There were several elements I set out to include: TFA-relevance, wit, some sense of universality, perhaps a literary or obscure music/film reference. I contemplated "Mornings on Bourbon Street," after a poem by New Orleans' own Tennessee Williams, but decided I might encite unwelcome curiousity with a title like that. The title I settled on is a phrase from a MLK, Jr quote. He says, "A riot at bottom is the language of the unheard." While riots are something I hope to avoid during the next two years, I appreciate the urgency of the concept. To me, a riot is the language of the desperate - those who have no other fathomable means by which to achieve their desired end. I feel this speaks of the students in the areas Teach for America seeks to affect. Students who have been historically unheard for many reasons, and continue to have their potential stifled in conditions of inadequately set expectations and standards. I have alot to learn during the next week at Induction, five weeks in Phoenix and two years in New Orleans, but I hope in some way I can help foster and amplify the language of the unheard.
I leave for New Orleans in the morning! I'll be at Induction in the city for a few days, and then on to Phoenix (which feels a bit like Oz at the moment).
More on that later...
1 comment:
Your place looks beautiful!!
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