Teachers

I spend a lot of time thinking about teachers. Mostly because I will become one pretty soon, in about three and half years. I think about how it will feel to be in charge, to give assignments and to grade papers. A lot of people think that teaching is a noble calling. Alright, I’ll admit I am one of those people who believe that education is the means to solving all of our social problems. What can I say, I’m liberal? But I don’t have any particular desire to mentor troubled youth or win a teacher of the year award. I think most people become teachers because the things they’re interested in don’t pay much otherwise. I’d trade in my brain any day for some marginal mathematical talent or a passing interest in biology. Hey, doctors have MUCH more exciting lives then teachers, we’ve all seen Grey’s Anatomy. You don’t see any shows about teachers with that much popularity and steamy drama. People become teachers for the steady paycheck. Because lets face it…free lance historian?….not exactly the most secure of callings. I’m young, I have the notion that I’ll be able to write a bestseller over summer break or something. But I HAVE seen Mr. Holland’s Opus…actually I can’t remember how it ends…but that scene with him singing the John Lenon song and doing the sign language–tear jerker! Anyway I know that I’ll probably live a pretty mundane life and I won’t be able to move out of my parents’ house for a long time with a teacher’s paycheck.

Are you thinking there is going to be a point to this at some point? Oh, poor you.

Martha Coakley, and other socially apocalyptic entities

So, on November 7th Massachusetts elected Martha Coakley as the new Attorney General. Being that she was the only non-republican candidate on the ballot, I too voted for her. But as I reflect on my moments spent in the voting booth I wish that I had left that spot blank. Not because my vote was the one vote that decided whether or not this Fem-beast would be elected, after all I certainly don’t approve of the Republican candidate, Larry Frisoli, either. Rather, I wish I had left that spot blank out of general protest. Martha Coakley is as conservative as a democrat can get. She campaigned with a “tough on crime” platform and has stated that she’ll do everything she can to dissuade Deval Patrick from initiating his plan to give driver’s licences to illegal immigrants. Now, I’m not saying that I condone crime (although my personal belief of a universal balance of good and evil, and the duality of the universe in this respect certainly states that it is necessary to existence) but the slogan, “tough on crime” brings some rather pejorative images to my conciousness: death penalty, tougher sentences for “cop killers”, corrupt police officers, less focus on rehabilitation of criminals and more focus on “punishment.” For now I think I’ll have to wait and see how things turn out, with Deval Patrick as governor I doubt that he will allow for the state to forget the rights of the accused. Still we should always watch out for our rights.

As far as the “and other socially apocalyptic entities” part of this subject line…let’s just say: zombies.