sea salt

To confirm the actual date of the end of the Civil War, I consulted a history timeline. While the war officially ended in May of 1865, a series of events led up to the important day on which, in theory, a divided nation was reunited. This morning I came to an important realization: I am from nowhere. The date is February 16, 2010; the location is Boston, MA; the battleground is the train. Like the Civil War timeline, my own important date (today) is preceded by a list of previous events and circumstances that, while I didn't know it at the time, prepared and shaped me for the moment on the train. I call this moment my Civil Observation, which in turn led to the Realization that I am, in fact, from nowhere. I grew up in South Florida in a true melting pot that included many different groups of people: Jewish, Indian, Asian, and Latin American (I didn't have a crush on a white, American, Protestant boy until I got to college). My parents are from New England, like so many...

"There is no character flaw in ignorance. The character flaw is the willingness to remain ignorant." My mother and I had a conversation today about our students.  She teaches high school, I teach college, and we both at times feel we are losing the battle against apathy, laziness, and a lack of intellectual curiosity.  I knew I would face this when I signed my first teaching contract in September, but in my mind it was simply ignorance, a tragic character flaw.  What my mother revealed to me in one simple statement is that ignorance isn't what makes a student - or anyone - tragically flawed.  The tragic flaw is the willingness to remain ignorant, the refusal to change. My concept of ignorance has always been directly associated with people who are racist, uneducated, irrational, intolerant, extremist in any way (leftist, rightist, elitist, supremacist...).  I don't think my associations are unique: hyper-educated New Englanders pick on the "ignor...