For Profit Charter Schools and The Obvious Question

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Christine Noble

Abandoned school building in ; seen from the southeast. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am slightly disappointed in the people of Buffalo right now. So many hard-working people walked the streets of the North district and spread the word about Sue Gillick, a candidate with all the right qualifications, a woman who would have fought hard for their schools and their kids, but they decided to go with the bartender anyway. Do not get me wrong, I am sure Jay McCarthy is a nice guy. How that qualifies him to make decisions about our schools is beyond me. Now the Buffalo school board will go without the strongest voice it had against the radical agenda of Carl Paladino, a profiteer out to line his pockets at the expense of our taxpayers and our children Continue reading →

Porch Swing

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Christine Noble

Robert’s Porch Swing (Photo credit: spike55151)

Zachary eases back in the big swing on his big porch in his “rundown” neighborhood. People have come and gone over the years. The past few it has mostly been gone. He remembers when his mom and dad brought him up from Birmingham all those years ago to buy this house. It took every last nickel they had ever earned and they both worked like dogs to keep it. He just sits back, a big glass of ice tea in one hand and his pipe in the other. Continue reading →

Why Identity Politics Matter

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Christine Noble

LGBT History (Photo credit: Earthworm)

I often hear, usually from someone who is not struggling against the particular form of privilege being discussed, that “identity” politics are a distraction from the real economic struggles in this country. I am chastised that in focusing attention on LGBT issues, racial issues, or women’s issues, that I am taking time and energy away from the “real” problems of corporate malfeasance and the need for jobs. Never mind that I spend plenty of time writing about our economic issues in this country and that my paying gig, canvassing for Working Families, focuses very much on the need for jobs, identity politics still need to be addressed. Continue reading →

All That Fuss and Bother

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Christine Noble

homophobia is a choice (Photo credit: SarahDeer)

This past week saw a pretty remarkable breakthrough in the LGBT world. Some may want to play it down but Jason Collins’ coming out is a huge deal. Pro sports in general, and in particular the big three team sports in America, have long been an important pillar in the heterosexist narrative. Excelling at sports has been, for a very long time, the proof that you are a manly man, and failure at sports is still often derides as being effeminate or “gay.” Mr. Collins boldly coming out of the closet while he is still playing will do a lot to tear down this horribly destructive culture and help build a new one, where people’s basic human dignity is respected. Continue reading →

Horror and Perspective

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Christine Noble

English: Honors College Complex at Kent State (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today we mark an ugly blot on our nation’s history. It was forty-three years ago on this date that National Guardsmen open fired on protesters at Kent State University in Ohio. When the shooting was over four people were dead, and our country, as a whole not just within the counter-culture, began to question our military involvement in South East Asia. In the new-found age of fast mass media it was the first time many Americans had ever seen authorities gun down defenseless targets (and please do not make me berate you for an idiot by going on about the students throwing rocks.) Continue reading →

The Right To Be Privileged

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Christine Noble

English: A woman makes her support of her marriage, and not civil unions, known outside the Mormon temple at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Photographer’s blog post about this photo and the protest. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The right to exercise your faith does not include the right to have that faith enjoy a privileged position. I am tackling nothing new here. What I am writing about today has been repeated, often, by bloggers, journalists, pundits, and politicians. It has also been ignored multiple times by those the message has been directed toward. This is in part to blame because we all live in our little echo chambers, listening, and often speaking, only to those with whom we agree. There is also the stubborn persistence on the part of the privileged to claim any attempt to lessen that privilege is an attack on their person. Continue reading →

The Unbound Enthusiasm of White Male Anger

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Christine Noble

angry white men (Photo credit: nomsalina)

If any subject has ever boggled my mind, it has been the insistence of the idea that Men of Color are far more likely to be violent than white men. I have been on the receiving end of violence and threats thereof many times in my life. I am not talking about the occasional school yard fight, I am talking being beaten once I was down, I am talking having my life threatened just for being. All but one of those instances have been at the hands of white men. When I have witnessed violence, it has almost always been a white, male aggressor. Then I go ahead and read one article citing a study about attitudes regarding armed revolution and another about the chaos at Seattle’s Mayday marches. Continue reading →

Hand of Ananke

Musings about the world in which we live