So since I've become obsessive about quilting and sewing with bright, graphic, modern cotton fabrics I've been thinking it's time to blog some more... Maybe I can share some pictures of the pretty or funky little things I've been coming up with.
So far I'm most in love with the projects found in the blog and archives of www.sewmamasew.com -- their fabric is the best, too... though maybe a little too nice for my budget a lot of the time :).

Why are humans so arrogant? At least sometimes we figure out what our place really is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=948Nm34arfA

Been busy with the end of the grading period and other such distractions, but I promise to have something to say very soon...

Today I'm going to be overtly political, though in a bi-partisan way... did that make sense? Oh well, I'm spastic. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm fiscally conservative and there is no doubt in my mind about that. Otherwise I'm a live and let live kind of gal, so that technically makes me a libertarian, though I'll be shocked if they ever put a non-quack up for election. At any rate, immigration is an area that I am very interested in because of my job, but I can say that the more I learn, the more I find more questions than answers. Immigration is a sticky issue and I don't begin to profess to know the answers to the myriad problems associated with the unchecked flow of Central Americans and Mexicans to this country over the last several decades.

There is one area, however, that I have no question about. That is minors who are brought to this country. This is an issue I would have never given much thought about if it were not for my job. In the school where I teach, 40% of our student body is Latino and it would be safe to say about one quarter of them are undocumented. That means that one out of every 10 students in my classroom at any given moment are undocumented. These are children who were not responsible for the choice to come to this country through illegal means. Minors can not enter in to contracts and are not held to the same standards for breaking laws (in most cases) that aduts are. So why do we punish these minors in an arguably harsher way than we do their parents who are responsible for their presence here?

I imagine you are now asking yourself, how do you argue that we punish these children more harshly than their parents? And what do you mean by punishment, I mean, we don't really deport people very often, right? Well, here's the thing, in this wonderful country we are all entitled to a free public education and we infact require children to go to school until the age of 16. This requirement is extended to immigrant children regardless of their immigration status, due I'm sure to some past passing of a bill or court case. I could look it up, but it doesn't really matter because it's just fact. There is a veritable don't ask/don't tell policy in place in the public schools, at least in my state. We are not allowed to ask the immigration status of a student, though their status does not change the fact that we are charged with educating them. As we should be, because if there are throngs of immigrant children rattling around your town, do you want them in school during the day and educated, or rambling the streets getting in to trouble (eventually causing an explosion in our country's already serious street gang problem with the time on the hands of the children and their lack of education -- idle hands are afterall the devil's playground, right?)?

So -- we have these kids sitting in our schools learning -- being asked to be successful and achieve just like everyone else. When a student ever asks, "why?" we say some form of, "for your future," whether the question is about a novel or a geometric formula or the point of homework. These undocumented students look around and see their documented and natural citizen counterparts working hard and being rewarded with that "future." College. Good jobs. What does the undocumented student have to look forward to? The same gruelling work in a poultry factory that brought their parents here to start with? Well, they can do this work without finishing high school. So why try? Why learn? I see two problems.

The first problem I will call the "Annie Effect." Did you ever notice how cruel the premise of the movie Annie actually is? "I'm Daddy Warbucks. I'll pluck you from your horrific orphanage for 2 weeks to show you how awesome life is for someone else, how it COULD be if you were someone else, and then put you right back in your horrific orphanage." That is just MEAN. Thank goodness Annie won his heart and put a stop to the madness. How many kids before her tried putting their heads in ovens after their return to the orphanage? This is what we are doing to these kids. We say, "college is awesome, being educated gives you opportunities, don't you want to live a great life and have 2 cars and 2.3 kids and a dog and maybe even have a pool?" And then we say, "just kidding, go back to your cardboard shack in Honduras." This is cruel!

The second problem is what happens to a class of kids when 10% of the kids have no hope. If you have no expectation of reward for hard work, do you work hard? Chances are, the answer is no. Learning for the sake of learning is a concept lost on adolescents, in case you were wondering. Having students with absolutely no motivation to do work, listen, even follow simple directions such as "stay quietly in your seat" sullies the educational environment for EVERY student, regardless of ethnicity or status.

These kids deserve to dream that they can work hard and achieve the chance to live they see all around them. As a two year old being hauled across the desert at 2am, do you think even you would stop and say, "um, Mom (or more likely, big brother/sister), I think this is illegal?" Doubtful. And even if you did, would "Mom" listen? Doubtful. They can't be held responsible for their status.

There is an piece of legislation which was introduced to both the House and the Senate on March 26 of this year called the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act. This proposed legislation allows for immigrants who can prove that they:

• came to the US before the age of 16
• have been in the US for 5 consecutive years
• is between the ages of 12 and 35 when the bill is enacted
• has graduated from high school or earned a GED
• and is of "good moral character" (measured by recommendation by a teacher, boss, etc.)

can be issued a visa to remain in this country for six probationary years in which they must complete a 2 year degree, complete 2 years towards a four year degree or serve 2 years in the US armed forces. Upon completion of this requirement such a person may apply for a green card.

The DREAM Act gives hope to students outside of early, loveless marriage to make their efforts in school and to be a good citizen worth while. I hope you will support this legislation and even contact your representative. The DREAM Act has bipartisan support. My fear is that concerns with the economy and preoccupation with proving "Change" will cause this act to be forgotten.

I've been noticing all day that there is a pall of gloom hanging over everything. The sky is charcoal, but it just won't start raining. The temperature is not pleasantly warm or cool, but has the feeling of a just broken fever that makes you want a shower. Add on to that, my usual difficulty with running errands bothered me more than usual. First I needed to go to the pharmacy, but I was 5 minutes down the road before I realized I left the prescriptions at home. Turn around. Back on the road. I'm trying to cover the darkness of the sky by putting down the sun visor, thinking that will somehow fool my subconscious and the feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach will relent. Alas no. I get to the pharmacy, drop off, ask directions to the grocery store that I know is right around one of these corners. I manage to take a wrong turn in the 1/4 mile to the store and end up taking a 15 minute drive to Walmart. The Walmart is weirder than usual, all disheveled while being remodeled. We all know I'm chronically spastic, but I just can't shake it all with a sunny attitude like usual...

And then it hits me. I know why this day is so wrong and unpleasant and weird. It's tax day. I filed my taxes months ago, and thankfully received a refund, but the mass wiriness and anxiety of the rest of American society somehow seeped in to the weather, and in to me. Ew!

So to all of you who must pay taxes today, I send a heartfelt shoulder rub. And do this one little exercise that will help, DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, think for one second about where that money is going EXCEPT for the support of our armed forces. That's it. Pretend it's a check straight to them. That's the only way I can stand to look at my pay stub every month.

I say that even knowing I am on the state government payroll as a teacher. But trust me, if you saw what I see at my job everyday, you'd be on the lawn of every capital with a big sign asking for school vouchers. Sigh!

Now that the fog of week-before-spring-break is beginning to lift from my brain I can finally get to telling some of the latest priceless moments from my little corner of life...

I teach a group of kids success/college skills at the high school where I teach English. It's a group for kids that are intelligent and motivated but for some reason don't have the same advantages as other kids when it comes to knowing how to "do school" or get in to college (parents from another country, parents didn't finish school, etc.). Part of the program is to take the kids on two college visits per year to give them a chance to see schools as their parents may not be able to take them themselves. The coordinator of this program at my school is a short Costa Rican man who epitomizes the Napoleonic complex. He thinks he is God's gift to... well, everything. It's pretty funny. Well, Napoleon here is the only one of us that was dumb enough to get a bus driver's license so he has to take us on these trips (I draw the line at driving 30 teens in a tin can on steroids).
So, Napoleon is driving along using his little navigation system thingie that he thinks makes him super cool. The fact of the matter is that he just has no idea where he is going, though prior to the trip he acted like he pretty much owned the college. We're in the middle of B-F-nowhere in rural NC and it's time to get on the interstate. The navigation system (the same type Miss Sylvia calls "the bitch") tells Napoleon to keep left. Ignoring the big red signs that say... oh something or another... he keeps left.
Yes, our behemoth tin can began barrelling down the interstate going the WRONG WAY. MORON! The kids in the back are screaming (they don't even have driver's licenses yet, but somehow THEY were smart enough to read the signs...), and Napoleon says, in his little accent, "I think I did something rrreally bad." YA THINK? So he pulls over to the shoulder before any near misses, thank God. Pondering his choices, he decides to attempt a three point turn in the grass. Um yeah. So we got stuck of COURSE. We can't go back, but we can go forward, so we took our overgrown grocery container off-roading back to the off-ramp that we had just used as an on-ramp. NICE JOB! I was just controlling the impulse to lay down in the isle and literally roll around laughing at this little Waterloo.
Twenty or so minutes later we go for a potty stop at McD's. I go in for some coffee as I am an ADULT. Napoleon has the gall, upon my return, to make a comment about not wanting any delays. I said, "Hey, buddy, I didn't drive the wrong way on the interstate..." He didn't have anything else to say about my coffee :).

However cliche it may be, I am very much enjoying being back in my hometown with my parents and sisters and kid brother for Easter weekend. Puck stayed home. I am so glad it is spring break finally. I need a break from my students. I brought Kate with me to play with my parents' dogs and we're just having a lovely time. I made a great birthday cake for my sisters, whose birthdays were last month. It is an almond cream cheese pound cake with chocolate mousse filling frosted with chocolate fudge frosting. I decorated it with tiny rosette borders in the fudge and then did french lace on top in baby blue and put tiny baby blue french dots between the rosettes. It came out delicious AND beautiful! I think the Easter bunny might even manage to bring me a prize or two overnight... nothing like going home again!