Reactions to the Swine Flu

I don't know what it is about this swine flu that is making people so nasty. In my almost 11 months blogging at knoxnews, the comments on my posts about the swine flu have been the nastiest, most uncalled for I've ever had. These make the "go choke on a tortilla" comment seem nice.

One would think that we could put aside stereotypes and division and have compassion for the plight of our fellow humanbeings. But obviously there is a crowd of people that cannot do that. I rarely delete comments on my KNS blog, but some of these are so bad that I refuse to perpetuate their sick message.

The most offensive thing I've done is suggest that American tourists, like myself, brought the swine flu into the U.S. rather than undocumented immigrants.

I also think that this is being taken out of porportion. According to that link from CNN, thousands of Americans die every year from the regular ole flu, and hundreds of thousands world wide die from it.

Rather than pointing fingers, we need to help the people affected and protect ourselves with the same common sense meaures that protect us from other illnesses.

My KNS swine flu posts:
Swine flu- latest conspiracy of undocumented immigrants
Swine flu in perspective
A child was the original swine flu carrier?
39 yr old woman first carrier of swine flu?

Students' Opinions of Teachers

As a fourth year teacher, I've learned to be thick-skinned.

My job as a high school Spanish teacher is to prepare my students for college Spanish classes. (According to the state of Tennessee, that will change for current 8th graders.) So I don't really care if Spanish word order makes students mad or if they think Latin American geography is pointless. I present the material in a variety of ways that will help students learn. If students study, my class and those of my colleagues are not that difficult.

I take most of the complaining with a grain of salt. A certain amount of whining is to be expected from teenagers. I didn't love every assignment I was given in high school, and I would complain if I had to take Geometry right now. No one likes to hear this when they're doing something they don't like, but I believe that sometimes you have to do things you don't like is a good piece of advice for the real world. I didn't like college biology or anthropology, but I like that college degree they helped me earn.

I read Tuesday's Knoxville News Sentinel. I usually read it online, but I got a "real" paper on Tuesday. The KNS has recently reformatted the paper. Their weekly teen feature, Text Me, moved to the back of the section where it used to be, and they turned the front page of the section into School Matters. The headline of school matters caught my eye. So it made me curious about what they would run in Text Me to compliment that. (The format of the Text Me section is confusing, but worth a read.)

I'm really not surprised by teenagers much, but their responses shocked me. As a teacher, I am well aware of respect issues between teachers and teens, but I didn't know trust was such an issue.

Do you think teachers/administrators with a proper permit should be allowed to carry a gun to school? Why?
No, it's just doesn't sound safe to me. Some teachers might go crazy or something.
No, they could get mad and do something bad.
Absolutely not. If teachers carry guns, what is to prevent students from bringing them to school? And the fact that a teacher that doesn't like you may be carrying a gun is not a comforting thought.

Is this what students think about their teachers, or is this random sampling full of suspicious people? Do students worry about crazy teachers out to get them? While there are the Erin McLeans out there who disgrace all teachers, is there a reason students have this opinion of the average teacher?

What do real teens think?

What I want to say to liberals who would tell me I'm wrong

One thing that really bugs me these days is people trying to make me feel inferior, uneducated, ignorant, or redneck because of certain views I hold. Most of my confession could fit into that category.

I had a total ah-ha moment a few weeks ago when reading Megan McCafferty's Second Helpings: A Novel. Jessica Darling decides to attend a protest at Columbia Univeristy with Paul Parlipiano and his friends. Paul graduated a year before Jessica and was the object of her obsession for a very long time until she learned that he is gay. Jessica is excited about the protest and a chance to hang out with Paul and his friends.

Jessica gets her bubble busted when she gets there and Paul immediately starts criticizing her GAP jeans and preference for Coke. He is appalled that she doesn't know the inhumane conditions of workers in GAP factories and the corporate imperialism of Coca-Cola. He declares ignorance is not an excuse.

Jessica finally gets enough and responds- Paul and his friends are too busy protesting everything that they don't stand for anything.

Jessica: "I'm entitled to my opinion."
Paul: "Not if your opinion is wrong."
Jessica: "It's my opinion. By definition it can't be wrong."
Paul: "Well, it is."
Second Helpings: A Novel by Megan McCafferty p269-272

I feel like that's the conversation I'm having with the media and liberals who find my opinions not quite sophisticated and enlightened enough. During the presidential election, the media sent the message that if you didn't support Obama and change, your opinion was wrong and didn't matter. It's okay for athiests, LGBTs, and all the special interest groups to voice their opinions, but conservatives are accused of being close-minded bigots if they defend their points of view. When we demand a voice for all, let's not exclude those whose voice is contrary to our own.

I Confess

In the spirit of the January issue of Skirt! magazine, I'm going to do some confessing of my own.

10 reasons many people would consider me uncool:

1. I like Sarah Palin. I think this clip gives a pretty accurate portrayl of the situation. I like Sarah Palin because I can more readily identify with her than Joe Biden. As a woman, I have much more in common with Sarah Palin than Hillary Clinton. Palin definitely fits in better in my neck of the woods than Clinton, and apparently others feel the same.

2. I would let Brad Paisley check me for Ticks. Country music isn't considered cool by many people, but I love his songs.

3. I don't like alcohol. I think it tastes the way I imagine motor oil would taste. Plus, I really don't like throwing up and that's definitely not my idea of fun with friends. At the risk of sounding like a public service announcement for youth, I prefer to remember where I've been and what I've done.

4. I have recently had a crush on a 17 year old vampire and a former druggie/male slut turned reformed philosopher. Guys who want relationship pointers should meet Edward Cullen and Marcus Flutie. (I hope I don't need to provide a link to Edward Cullen.)


4. I am a conservative Christian, which has a lot to do with number 1. I agree with Rick Warren's religious views, and I believe he is a good choice to deliver the invocation at the inauguration.

5. I am not a good judge of sexual orientation. I worked retail when I was in high school. I worked with one assistant manager for months and didn't realize he was gay until a co-worker told me. I went to the guy's apartment for a store party and saw a curio cabinet of Precious Moment's figurines and thought it was wierd he was keeping those for his mom. He was upset with the guy who told me. He kept it from me and an older co-worker because I was too young and innocent and she was too staid and respectable to know.

6. I am not convinced that Obama can change the world. I didn't hear him talk specifics too much. Hopefully, he can change at least a small part of our country.

7. I like to listen to George W's speeches. It's better than SNL.

8. I spent 15 minutes in lock-up. When I was working as a court interpreter, I accompanied a child protective services worker, a female who was my age, to the county jail to complete paperwork with a Spanish-speaking mother who had lost custody of her child. There were a lot of official visitors that day and the guards were out of room in the usual meeting spots, so they locked us in the church room with the woman and a walkie-talkie. After about 15 minutes, we had the paperwork complete and started trying to call a guard to let us out. It didn't work. After a panicked few minutes, I finally got a signal on my cell phone and called the jail. There line was busy. I had weak signal issues again. We began waving our arms in front of the security camera. No response. I finally got a signal again and called the court clerks office to tell them to use one of their secret numbers to call the jail and tell them to free the child protective service worker and the interpreter. Five minutes later, a jailer strolled in laughing, saying that a fellow jailer must have given us the radio with low batteries. I didn't do many jail visits after that.

9. I love fast cars. In high school I demonstrated the superior speed of Casper, my white Pontiac Sunfire, over my male friends' cars. A Pontiac Trans Am is my dream car.

10. I support Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the Dream Act. I believe that the current immigrants in this nation are not unlike those of previous generations who come here to seek a better life for themselves and their children. I do not believe that children should be condemned for the actions of their parents.

Am I totally unpopular now? Anyone else want to confess?