November...wha...hey, waddaminit! Where'd November go?!
Yeah, it's like that.
Home for the holidays is always a joy and a treasure. Or not. This round was brief with its moments of heartfelt love and connectivity, but then the damn Lions had to go and lose the friggin' game. I'm seriously beginning to not enjoy watching them play. Not completely yet, but almost.
Oh, yeah, family. Well, Lisa was home from New Orleans, or wherever in the world it is she's been traveling most recently. She brought me and Casey some nifty things from around the world, and from that other world of now New Orleans. The best thing she gave me, though--okay, sure, besides sisterly love and all that--was a book! Surprise! A book - for me? But the book is a response to the blog I wrote about Homeland Security Against Racist F*ckers. Of course, it comes from Tolerance.org - only one of the coolest organizations to ever exist in terms of education and all the -isms that plague our process as a truly civilized nation.
The book she gave me is called Speak Up! Responding to Everyday Bigotry. I think this may become required reading in my classes...
Click here some wonderful publications they offer for FREE! Great for teachers and the general public of folks like me dealing with ignoramous neighbors. Of course, if you can give money to the organization - The Southern Poverty Law Center - I highly recommend it. Even a couple of bucks to cover some postage costs. But don't sweat it if you can't. Get the publications - some are PDF downloads, so you can run off bazillions of them at work or some other stick-it-to-the-man action.
Thank you Lisa for a great gift I hope to share with many others, and unfortunately will need to put to use myself, but am grateful to have something now to guide my confrontations, making them more constructive then, say, just slapping someone silly. After all, violence like that, no matter how good it feels, really isn't right.
Deep breaths.
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