Adeiu

This has been quite the journey for me.  A hospitalization, major surgery, days of tear worthy pain spent bent over a computer laboring over posts and papers.  I am finished, done, finito and glad, euphoric even!

I have increased my awareness of the world around me however.  What are the odds that I would see the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement, the legalization of gay marriage, and the transgender movement all within the program.  The time is certainly now in terms of understanding one another and having a broad and stern definition and practice of diversity.

We will have to follow the innocence in our children, nurture that innoncence, and gently answer any questions that they may have with gentleness and understanding.  This will prevent permanent misconceptions and make for a happier world in the future.

My goal is to encourage child like innoncence in everyone, and to nurture and protect that innocence in our children.  I have maintained that children learn the negative behaviors of adults and mimic them to perfection.  I strive to educate the parent and the child and end biases and prejudices one small mind at a time.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my professors, classmates, advisors, my family and friends who all surrounded me and ushered me to this point.  I am beyond thankful, I am so full.....
It is with great joy that I write this last blog and offer all who read it peace and harmony in the endeavors to come.

My Place in the World

I would choose to spend my time and money and expertise in Haiti.  This area is suffering from incomprehensible poverty.Also, this region has not quite recovered from the disastrous earthquake that the people suffered through in 2010.  There are families that have no idea where the rest of the family is.  The kids will be forced to work to rebuild their communities and education may not necessarily be the first priority.  According to an article in Time magazine, the government is not being helpful or cooperative and the citizens are taking the rebuilding on themselves.

I think that there are many opportunities here.  I think that I could capitalize on the resilience that seems to seep through the heartbeat of the Haitian people.  I could use this resilience in education to bring about positive change.  I would help in whatever way needed, even if it was simply having a place where the youngest could feel loved and nurtured.


I think that seeing dilapidated buildings, trash, and poverty is hard on a child.  It sends a message that they are important and unworthy.  Having family around helps, and according to TIME, the families in Hatii have really rallied around each other.  They are close and even live in close proximity.  Having someone outside of their situation come to their home and be kind and caring and helpful will send a strong message of love and determination.  I would even adopt one of the thousands of orphans left in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake.  What a precious endeavor!

The link to a helpful website is here:

• http://www.kidsalive.org/where-we-work/haiti/

Sexualization of Children? Really?

I must revert to Freud on the argument of sexualization of small children.  I actually have not seen much sexualization of children.  I have watched a few shows, such as Teen Titans, and Steven Universe, and even some cartoons that are not meant for children like Family Guy, and Bob's Burgers.  I say that I agree with Freud, deep down, we are all sexualized beings and we work through our sexuality in subtle and overt ways.  There is nothing wrong with that; it is a natural part of life.

What I have noticed is that we do teach gender.  Pinks are for girls and Blues are for boys.  Dolls are for girls and trucks are for boys.  Actually, I don't see anything wrong with that either.  I think that our children are the best teachers and when they want to differentiate from the mold, they will do so. I think that we can overthink things  and try to protect children from things that they may or may not need protecting from.

In history, human kind has suffered because of POWER.  In the early days of our country, settlers that came to our country practiced taking POWER from others; this was done by horrendous means.  Children that grow up practicing such practices have learned this from their families and communities.  I think that the taking down of the confederate flag in South Carolina, the millions around the world that are joining hands around the #Blacklivesmatter movement, and even #sayhername movement, proves that human kind can pick out and preserve the better elements for the survival of human kind.  We are not that sick as human kind, or so I believe, that we can't let girls where pink without being hard on ourselves for not offering them a gender-neutral color.

I think that we are here to protect the innocence of our children.  They will work out there sexuality in a healthy matter if we support them.  We are here to not only teach them but support them in decisions that they make.  We support and champion all races, cultures, and sexual choices that they make.  Technology changes our world to a whole different world within five years, there are jobs that this generation is training for that have not been created yet, and cultures that have yet to be seen.  If we support and champion, our young ones will be fine.

I am Woman

One big shock for me upon moving to Nashville was how quickly demographics changed.  One minute an area would be mostly Caucasian and within a month that same area would be mostly Hispanic or Somalian.  This was refreshing because Nashville is really turning into a very diverse place with such a unique personality.

With these changes though, come their own set of challenges.  One of the biggest challenges that I faced was getting any kind of respect from males from different cultures.  Because in their native lands women's roles are quite different, it is very difficult to relate to men from a culture that does not see their role as different.  The boys are taught to disregard instructions and reprimand which makes classroom management a difficult task at times too.  Often male bus drivers have to reinforce what is communicated when there are males from particular backgrounds around, or what we say is disregarded or ignored.

It is infuriating to me as a woman and as a professional to have what I say totally looked over by someone else just because of my gender.  I think it absurd that you would not listen to someone who is charged with the care of your child while you are away for hours at a time and you refuse to acknowledge that I have any intelligence or really humanity?!  The children we teach are getting the message however. In a female dominated field, the boys have not choice but to listen to women, obey women, and respect women, they are all around. Although I understand the ideology behind the behavior; I will rejoice whe this kind of direspect ends.  It makes me want to make a muscle and shout to the heavens, "Who runs the world....GIRLS!"