All It Takes Is A Little Love

We live in a modern world that has clear directives for how structures must be built. Architects, engineers and those who erect homes and skyscrapers have to adhere to safety measures with everything they erect. While such regulations can be annoying or even daunting they are designed to insure that homes and buildings will be as safe as possible for the people who live and work inside them. 

Donald Trump took the reins of his father’s real estate business as a young man and over time expanded the reach of the family business. His efforts were not always as successful as he had hoped. There were projects that he skimped on by using low end paint and then holding the painters responsible for results that did not satisfy him. He created a for profit college that left students in debt and without bankable skills. He even managed to run a casino into bankruptcy. 

Now Trump is redesigning the White House and its grounds along with attempting to erect monuments and update the reflection pond that sits between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. He has even taken over the Kennedy Center and claims that it is so rundown that it might need to be demolished. 

What we have witnessed is the same kind of bumbling that marked many of his business ventures and led to multiple bankruptcies during his lifetime. He exudes great confidence in himself as though he is a master planner who knows how to get things designed and built properly without the interference of experts or even legal codes. 

His brashness has resulted in one disaster after another. He pushed an inexperienced company to redo the reflecting pool as though it was a swimming pool and it took little time before the new liner was peeling from the bottom and floating on the surface. The Oval Office is filled with so much gilt that it looks more like someone’s idea of a cheap version bordello than the working office of our chief executive. The once lovely grounds of the White House are torn up and under construction that was never necessary and that Trump undertook without permission as though he owned the White House.

One of the biggest boondoggles has been the destruction of the East Wing of the White House in order to build a huge ballroom that will be totally out of proportion to the rest of the structure. On top of that there is little need for such an edifice. To convince people of its importance Trump now claims that it will insure the security of future presidents. He intends to turn it into a kind of fortress with a bunker and drones and other so-called protective additions.

The latest report is that the people in charge of the construction of the ballroom insist that the design that Trump wants will not align with building codes. They worry that the location of the kitchen has the potential of causing e a catastrophic fire. Trump has brushed off the critiques by announcing, “I am the code!”

If ever there were a single statement that sums up Trump’s  authoritarian manner of ruling our nation it is in those four words. They represent the sum total of what he has been doing in his second administration. He operates as though only he may make decisions because he believes that he knows better than anyone else what to do when it comes to any issue. By surrounding himself with loyal followers he gives himself the audacious green light to do whatever he wishes without any pushback. 

To say that giving one person so much power is dangerous is an understatement but even worse is the fact that so little has been done to stop him from ignoring laws and traditions and even building codes. The balance of powers as described in the Constitution were designed to prevent any of the three parts of government from becoming the only voice. It’s purpose was to insure that nobody had the supreme power to become “the code.”

Most of us can’t even put-up a fence or build something on our property without following the laws that have been created over time to protect our neighbors and the environment. We follow the guidelines because we understand the reasons behind them. What is demanded of us should also be demanded of our president. Congress and the many agencies in Washington D.C. should have a voice in what happens to the structures that might be torn down or built. Never should it be the serendipity of a single person, even if the person is the president of the United States. 

Donald Trump is not the code. The Constitution and the laws are the code and we the people should be unafraid to demand that he adhere to those rules just as we all must do.  

Surely we recall that a few years back a reporter from the Wall Street Journal ended up in jail in Russia simply for attempting to relay the truth about what was happening in the Kremlin. He was accused of being a spy and sent away for months even as efforts were launched to have him released. Meanwhile back in history the editor of a newspaper in China who had the audacity to report the truth about what Mao ZeDong was doing during the finalization of the revolution there in 1949 was imprisoned and his family’s home was seized. He would live the rest of his life in a state of imprisonment and poverty just for attempting to print the truth.

This is how authoritarian nations keep strict control over what the citizenry is allowed to hear or say. They create the news often without any resemblance to the truth. Our Founding Fathers sought to prevent such a thing with the establishment of a free press in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Their intent was that citizens would be allowed to ask questions and express concerns without fears of being silenced. For the most part we have enjoyed this incredible assurance for two hundred fifty years.

We have all listened to Donald Trump’s threats and fantasies about how great his second term is going. We have watched him insulting and lunging at reporters who had the audacity to question what he is doing. He has sued media outlets and personalities for making statements that were not to his liking. Now he has banned three networks from the Oval office because he did not like the way that they were reporting the news. CNN, MSNow and Politico were somewhat randomly removed from the his press conferences because he insists that they are peddling fake news. In making his bold announcement he has assured reporters that the expulsion of these three media giants are only the beginning of his intent to rid himself of reporters that he does not like. 

This flies in the face of the First Amendment and in truth does not qualify as fake news. He is the one making things up. He is telling lies hoping that his supporters will not realize the mess that he is making from his tantrums in the Oval office. He is totally out of control and seems to want only whatever he wants us to know to be reported as though it is the truth and nothing but the truth. He wants no questions, no doubts, no challenges to his iron fisted way of doing whatever he wants to do without Congress or attempts to follow the laws of the land. 

This is a movement right out of every authoritarian playbook. Lie, lie and lie and convince the populace that all is well. He wants nobody to notice that his words have no clothes. He wants to define what we believe and woe be anyone who flinches and suggests that he is wrong. We are a nation created with the idea that the country belongs to the people and as such we each have the right to point out problems that we see. We were not founded on the idea that a single person or party should be able to define the truth without commentary or criticism. 

Every president and representative that we have ever had endured pushback. There has been and will always be criticism and disagreements among the electorate. This is exactly as it should be. When we lose the right to hear rebuttals and to pay attention to them we bow to an authoritarian kind of government. Brutal nations like China, North Korea, and Russia have a national press that communicates only what the leaders want the citizens to know. Speaking out against the government line is a crime with dire consequences. 

In the United States of America we have always depended on the idea that it would be safe to voice our own opinions, to debate even those in the highest offices in the land. We can protest and write blogs stating our personal opinions without fear of being silenced or imprisoned. We rely on a press that is not afraid to tell us what they believe to be true. We can challenge the thinking of our leaders and ask them why they are doing certain things. We have taken for granted that nobody will demand that we walk in lockstep. 

Not even those who founded this nation agreed with one another. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had fiery discussions that demonstrated their differences. For a time they did not even speak with one another but over time they came to honor one another without insisting that either of them change their ways of thinking about how our government should be. They both understood the importance of allowing each citizen the right to have different beliefs.

Little by little far too many people rely on a single media outlet that provides a single point of view all day long. They refuse to even consider ideas that are contrary to their own. We need all of the voices and we should also be willing to hear what they have to say. We should be confident that we can disagree with impunity and that we can seek the truth with hard questions. Our freedom of speech and the press is perhaps the most important rite that we have as citizens and it is up to all of us to protect it no matter who may be threatening it.

Thankfully it appears that other news outlets will no longer participate in the president’s press conferences. This is the kind of bold and rightful step that we have needed to see. I applaud them for doing the right thing. Nonetheless, Trump continues to fight back and things will not be rightly settled until he is forced to comply with our most important freedom. Whether he likes what they say or not, every American has to right to challenge his thinking and beliefs.

The first day of fall tends to be quite disappointing in Houston, Texas. The temperature stays in the nineties and the only signs of the changes of seasons are the porch decorations that feature pumpkins and wreaths festooned with the kind of leaves that we never see here. 

Around twenty one years ago my eldest grandson, Andrew, was in kindergarten and had an assignment to go on a fall walk and then create a picture or a short speech about the signs of fall that he saw.  Even at five years old he understood that he was not going to find dramatic changes in nature so he mostly grinched along as we felt overcome by the heat while sauntering around the neighborhood. 

Trying to be positive I suggested that he become a bit creative and describe how so many people change the color palette of their homes and clothing in the fall. I suggested that we might go to The Cheesecake Factory to enjoy a slice of pumpkin cheesecake that only comes around for a few months each year. I mentioned that we might make some pumpkin bread when we returned home or decorate his own house with whatever we might find stashed away in closets. Barring any of that I thought it might be fun to just draw a picture of what he would like to see on a real fall day like they have in Maine or New Hampshire. 

I think he was born logical because none of my ideas lit his creative torch. “Let’s face it, Gammy,” he insisted, “fall in Houston only means that maybe we no longer reach temperatures in the in the hundreds.” I tried to maintain my positivity by agreeing to drive through Starbucks to purchase a pumpkin latte for his mother. I wanted to at least get out and about somewhere to soothe his irritation with the teacher whom he believed must have never before lived in Houston. He kept insisting that nobody born in Houston would give the class such a silly assignment.

After our trip to Starbucks we settled down to create a semblance of a project that would keep him from awaking the ire of his teacher. He half-heartedly drew a photo of falling leaves in shades of yellow, orange, red and brown. He vied for extra credit by creating a speech about what causes trees to develop such dramatic shades when a true fall season comes around. I suppose that he had the right idea even if the enthusiasm was not there.

I’ve been fortunate to see some autumn beauty in Colorado and most recently in Scotland even though I was there a bit early for a full blown extravaganza. Still I got the idea of how glorious the landscape would look in a week or two. I have to admit that I felt a sense of jealousy that some people get to see such glory once each year over and over again. I thought of how cool the air was in Scotland and how I was able to begin wearing sweaters as early as October instead of waiting just a bit longer because of the warmth that defined the days.

My own sweaters seem to last a lifetime. My only reasons for giving them away are because they begin to look out of style or perhaps I have gained more weight than I wish and they look funny with the lumps and bumps. Investing in fall and winter clothing where I live is generally a waste. The summer gear is a much better investment. I have even seen folks wearing shorts and sandals on Christmas Day. 

Nonetheless I get into the fall spirit every single year starting with September when I unpack the two boxes that have my autumn decorations. Somehow the inside of my home looks so much cozier with the wreaths and pumpkins that I place in the rooms. Then when October comes I add to the frivolity with Halloween gear.

I set out my books by Edgar Alan Poe and perch a raven on top of them. I hang a skeleton near the front door and set up a string of ghostly lights along the sidewalk leading to my front door. I put a grouping of haunted houses in the living room window and do my best to make the the atmosphere look scary for the arrival of the Trick or Treaters at the end of the month.

Then comes Thanksgiving and I set out the pilgrim statuettes that i purchased so long ago that they have become a tradition in my home. I have a turkey handmade by students in a shop class at one of my schools and bring in gourds and special plates. I begin making pumpkin pies the way my mother taught me that always keeps members of the family asking for more. I bear a bit of the heat by adjusting my air conditioner so that I might finally wear my sweaters and break out the fall necklace that my husband gave me as a gift many years ago. 

One of these days I hope to spend the fall in a bonafide leaf changing kind of place where the nights are cool and call for sitting near a fireplace sipping on coffee or tea. Until then I have to admit that I am fairly good at making the best of my situation. I fill the air with the aroma of pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie. I pretend that my fake wreaths are real and mostly I enjoy the many traditions of the season that keep me enjoying the people with whom I share a kind of holiday spirit. 

The children continue to come to my door each Halloween and I do my best to entertain then as a good witch. I meet up with family on Thanksgiving and feel a profound sense of gratitude that even after many decades I am still going strong. Maybe not having a real fall where I live is not so bad after all. 

For several days now I have stewed over something that happened in my state of Texas. I found it so repulsive that I had to take a deep breath before addressing the issue. 

By now most people have heard of the racist comment posted by Republican Bo French regarding a photo of celebration at the University of Texas/Ohio State football game. The picture showed a group of South Asian University of Texas students wearing cowboy hats and the burnt orange colors of the Texas Longhorns. They were jumping up and down with their fingers waving the UT horns sign and huge smiles lit up their their faces. What should have been a beautiful tribute to the incredible diversity of the school, the state of Texas and the United States itself was tarnished by Bo French’s insinuation and lament that so many foreign looking students were taking the rightful spots of native white Texans.

The saddest aspect of his horrific remark came when other Republicans defended him or simply ignored what he had said. It pointed to something very ugly that some (not all) MAGAs under the influence of Donald Trump have not just implied but openly defended since 2016. Namely there is a large core of Americans who literally want to ship out citizens of color who they also condemn because they are not Christians regardless of whether or not they are citizens of our country. This has been a damning moment that has revealed an ugly underbelly of thinking that we have all seen unfolding time after time after time in regards to anyone who appears to be foreign.

It has been rightfully pointed out that it is not easy for students to gain admission to the University of Texas. The school’s standards are extremely high and include a state rule that the very top students of Texas public schools will be automatically accepted. This does not mean that that their preferences in majors will be automatic as well. For many majors such as business and engineering they will have to prove their abilities during the first two years of study and only a small percent of them will be officially allowed to continue in certain programs. Those students in that photo had to have the chops to be there. They were not a group of foreigners who were given a shot over Texas residents and citizens of America they were more than likely fully assimilated Americans. They had to meet the standards of the university by merit and it seems that seventy five percent of the students at the University of Texas are part of the top tier of those graduating from public schools. in the state.

Sadly for me the point is not to defend these young students simply because they are bright and not necessarily from foreign countries but because they should not have been deemed as somehow deficient and unworthy simply by the way they look. That is racism by any definition and someone running for one of the most important offices in Texas like Bo French should be shunned for his horrific comments. Sadly this is not the first time he has said such things. His beliefs are disgusting and held by many other Republicans politicians and voters who would be happy to see all Asians, Hispanics and Muslims sent back to wherever they came from even if they are citizens born here.

I have not wanted to believe that such horrific thinking was still living in the hearts and minds of so many Americans. Many of my former students of color and even some of my work colleagues of color have warned me not to be so naive. They have told me that my whiteness has sheltered me from the truth and I did not want to believe. Sadly more and more often I have seen evidence of the veracity of an ugly kind of bigotry from far too many of my fellow Americans.

We have a major problem in the United States right now and it is not in our immigrants. It is in our White House and in far right organizations spreading hate in efforts to rid our country of anyone that does not seem to conform to their beliefs that we should be a white Christian nation. Not even all of our founders believed that and yet such thinking has been a major problem for the United States since its inception.

We took too long to outlaw slavery and endured a Civil War because of it. After the nation held there were decades before our Black citizens gained a modicum of equality. There is an undercurrent of racism that is behind ICE and those rallies that Trump holds. Many MAGAs have become bolder and bolder in their willingness to spout racist comments sometimes under the cloak of Christian nationalism. They often imply that Muslims should be tossed out of our country. They fret over the diversity that they see overtaking the United States. They want a one size fits all way of white supremacy and a form of Christianity that would puzzle Jesus himself.

I write this with a grave sadness and anger that we must address this kind of bigotry again. We fought hard to be inclusive and to value the worth of every human being regardless of whether or not they were like us. All it took was a beautiful photo of young students who did not fit the preferences of many MAGAs to light a match that revealed what has always been behind the screen for far too many Americans. Bigotry is real and I pray that we send a message to Bo French and anyone else who either agrees with him or is unwilling to spurn him by voting them out in the midterm elections. It is long past time for turning the tide to decency. 

One thing that I know for certain is that we each learn differently. My husband only needs to hear something and he remembers it forever. I have to not only see things on paper but I must also be able to manipulate what is written down by highlighting, underlining and circling important ideas. In other words I am not only a visual learner but also one who has to include some kinesthetics to completely understand a concept. 

When I was a student I adopted a personal way of learning. I literally paced back and forth in my bedroom repeating ideas over and over again while tying them to visual experiences that I had. I worked magnificently but it was also a somewhat strange way of doing things. I was never able to sit quietly at a table in a library while learning new concepts. I literally had to use the methods that I invented for myself that seemed to work. 

I was never tested for any kind of learning disability nor did anyone attempt to find out what my learning style actually was. I somehow bumbled into knowing what I needed. Maybe it began with my first grade teacher who realized that I was having trouble differentiating between certain letters of the alphabet like the difference between a d and a b. With her encouragement I learned how to decode the written word with a number of tricks that included a large number of circles, underlining, arrows and color coding. I also used lined paper to the hilt so that I might properly sequence ideas. Just seeing something on a page and instantly comprehending it did not work for me. 

I greatly enjoy the power of computers but when it comes to testing my knowledge I find that computerized questions are more difficult than when the same query is made on a piece of paper that I can touch and decode with my ways of highlighting important ideas. Sadly computers are being used more and more in classrooms in lieu of actual textbooks and paper assessments. 

I tutor a number of students who are very bright but struggling with the online information. I suspect that it does not jibe well with their innate learning styles. I find that even I sometimes miss critical information when I attempt to help them. Our eyes fly over the words and without the ability to recode the question to fit the way we think it is more difficult than it should be. 

Many times I have printed countless pages from computerized lessons because I needed to show my students how to decode the information beyond just seeing it with their eyes. I literally teach them to read the problem and then write down essential information including exactly what kind of answer the question is seeking. This takes time and effort and in a world where they are expected to quickly move from one question to another they sometimes fall short. 

Another problem with having everything online is that parents have little or no idea what the teachers are trying to explain. They often complain to me that without a textbook with lots of examples they become unable to answer the questions that their children ask them. To them it feels as though the needed information is being hidden from them. 

As a mathematics teacher I always wanted to see my students’ work because that was the only way that I knew what they were missing when an answer was wrong. Seeing their actual calculations also insured that they were not just guessing from a list of multiple choice answers. I encouraged them to show me every step of their work by giving partial credit for answers that were only wrong because of a slight calculation error rather than total ignorance about how to perform the needed problem solving steps. 

As I tutor of today’s computer bound students I find that the best teachers provide them with written information on paper that they are able to keep in notebooks that sequentially lead them from one concept to another. Such teachers also require written copies of solutions that are then used to choose the correct answer on the computer. Then these great educators actually take the time to look at each student’s work even if they get everything correct. Such attention to details makes learning more comfortable for the students, provides parents with documentation of what is right and what is wrong, and allows students to use the learning style that works best for them. 

Computers have been a godsend for me in creating written documents. I am able to instantly repair typos and misspellings. In that regard they are wonderful but doing all of the practice and testing of certain subjects like mathematics with total reliance on a computer belies the hallmark of education which should always involve teaching that uses all of the learning styles. 

I find it remarkable that it was a first grade teacher who noticed my bit of dyslexia. She did not name it or indicate that is was a kind of disability. She simply understood that I was seeing things differently and she knew how to help me unravel the jumble of reversals with techniques that I have used to this very day. 

Perhaps what we need when we test our students is a combination of methods that might even include written copies of the questions and answers on paper that students may use to jot down what they are seeing and then transfer their answers to the screen. It will cost more and take more time but in the long run it will make life so much easier for students whose eyes almost cross when staring at a screen.