Mom, It's Affecting Us Now!

I try to stay away from blatant politics on this blog, simply because I hate getting in lose, lose conversations.  These days people either have one opinion or another and never the twain shall meet.  I make sure to never very rarely get into the conversations with family members because I do not want the fight.  I will however, occasionally mention something when the passion brims over, and this is one of those times.

Our state is headed in a very scary direction.  New legislation is being passed down regularly that is terrifying.  As I talked about here, it is important for us to participate in the democratic process and teach our kids the same.  We have explained to them that they may not see any immediate effect in things like their schools, but the reason we are speaking out is our concern for what we feel the repercussions will be in the future.  We have also explained that there are others that feel just as passionately that what Scott Walker is doing is right.  They know our reasons for our beliefs, but we are also teaching them that other's have different beliefs, just as strong as ours, and that is ok. 

Yesterday when I picked up the kids at school, Sidney came running up and said "Mom, the changes are affecting us now!!!"  They had made an announcement at school that 3 TA's and the school nurse would be gone next year.  Sidney said that all of the girls were crying.  The kids have known these teachers since first grade and they have been important in their learning, or in helping their friends.  I am afraid that this is just the first round of news as the superintendent announced there were going to be  a lot of cuts, including 125 positions district wide. 

Appropriately, this may very well be the end of the world as we know it.

Jambo!

Jambo is Swahili for Hello

This week has been full of kid activities the crescendo last night with the second grade African feast and drumming.  The second grade class does a unit each year that focus' on Africa.  They dig deep into the culture, language, and all components of the continent.  They eat, sleep, breath and more importantly learn amazing amounts of information in a way that is so exciting both for them and for me as a parent. 

 When Sidney went through a couple of years ago, we made a very ornate entree for the feast.  This year Charles insisted on Tanzanian Baked Bananas, simple, delicious, and he was completely thrilled!  We toured the four classrooms (each one decorated in the theme that class had focused on), we ate, we played mancala, and then we danced, sang and enjoyed.

Lucky Diop and his troop of talented drummers and dancers performed for the kids, taught the kids, and got the parents on their feet.  A memorable learning and cultural moment for the whole family.  As an aside, Naima on this years American Idol is a former student of Lucky's!

Happy Weekend!