This Sunday, Feb. 3rd
at 8:30pm, I’ll be performing in a FREE comedy show at the Jazz on the Park
Hostel. You can BYOB. 36 West 106 Street near Central Park
West. Some people have told me, “Love
you but it’s the Super Bowl.”
I’m not part of that
tradition. So if you, like me, would prefer
to laugh
than to scream at the screen, get yourself a bottle of wine or
whatever you like and come on over. We’ll
be having a heat wave to celebrate.
On Wed., March 6th at 7pm, I’ll
be in round one of
New
York’s Got Talent
The Green Room 42 inside Yotel
42nd Street and 10th
Avenue
Here’s the link to get your ticket:
If something doesn’t
change for me soon in the financial realm, I may have to hold some kind of a
fundraiser for my existence. I’ve gotten
further into debt. This sucks so bad. Don’t be surprised to get an invite to a rent
party (remember those?).
A former student told
me yesterday that I had been the first teacher to
make him feel at home. I was so moved. He’s not a mushy kind of man, so it really
surprised me to hear that. When I told
him, he said, “You never know what someone is thinking.” Many are still upset that the new director (described
as a “force of destruction” by an excellent worker who was let go) got rid of the
ones she chose to get rid of (the ones the students loved) when the funding cut
occurred. He plans to let them know how
he feels. I told him, “Just don’t curse.”
Another student, who is
still attending the program and had been one of
my favorites, communicates with
me on Facebook private messages. He just
needs five more points to get his diploma, so he’s trying to hang in
there. He is very blunt, which is a
quality I appreciate. We reminisced and
laughed about some great moments we had in class. Then he told me what a bitch his current math
teacher is and how he respected me so much for standing up for students. I told him that was probably why I’m not
there and the bitches are.
(A few good ones are
still there too, thank goodness.)
I miss the realness of
the relationships I had with my adult students.
One basic thing that is so wrong with many educational programs is the
teachers see the students as “them.”
Students need people they can connect with, feel accepted by, and can see
themselves in. They don’t need to have their flaws emphasized. Psych 101 – positive reinforcement brings
better results than negative reinforcement.
The main thing is to know oneself.
If a teacher knows her/his self, there is less projecting their bullshit
on others. But so many would rather just
discuss curriculum. And because it is
all about the teacher and her/his curriculum, they feel the right to start a
student’s day with, “You’re LATE!”
School can really destroy one’s natural desire to learn. Too many of my Bronx peeps feel like school
isn’t for them.
Recently, I ran into a
teacher who works there part time. We
hugged. I always liked her. She told me the program is not the same program
it once was. I know that’s true. I sometimes
wonder how the former directors feel about what happened to the program. They had put so much work into making it a relatively
good place to be. I was at lunch with another
former co-worker last week. He also
wondered how the past administrators felt.
I said, “After all the years of work they did to build, they must now feel
like Obama.”
