Another new series: Hill is shrill!

I'm seeing a lot of dumdum shit from progressive White guys in the last couple of days since Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic nomination. It occurred to me that this election might create an opportunity for feminists/womanists/women from the future to educate misogynist progressives (ha).  I'm going to (try to remember to) keep a running list here of the "teachable moments" I encounter.  Sometimes I get so astounded by something shitty said to me that I forget to throw a little knowledge  back at the shit-sayer.

(Note: A lot of times, I'm going to say "we," "us," "girls," and "women" knowing full well that I cannot and do not speak for all women, particularly not women of color, women with disabilities, queer women, transwomen, poor women, immigrant women, incarcerated women, etc.)

(1) Don't tell us that Hillary's nomination is an important thing for women and girls (and trans folk, but I'm not seeing trans folk come up in the rhetoric at all.  [Shocker.])  First, don't tell us anything about what's good for us. Further, it's a great thing for men and boys, too. Figure out why.

(2) Related to (1), but definitely it's own thing:  Especially because Hillary is a White woman, you should learn something about the history of feminism because saying something is important for women and girls is just a super White thing to say.

(3) Code words!  There are so many code words!  For today, I'll do shrill. A personal example: When Rachel and I first started teaching, she was advised by a dude teacher that she should raise her voice when necessary to assert her authority in a class where she had some rowdiness.  Yeah right.  When a dude raises his voice, it's most of the time commanding.  When a White woman raises her voice, it's most of the time received as either ridiculous or annoying or both, but definitely not authoritative.  Y'all get to raise your voice, and we don't.  Don't call us shrill.

(4) Don't ask us to teach you this stuff.  Do your own work because you're exhausting me.  And insulting, but the insulting is kinda whatever.  It's just tiring to talk you through things from step one. Read something.

Notes from No Class #2

Prison was real prison-rific tonight.  When class was supposed to start, there was an  forty-five alarm, which means that the men have to stop right where they are and get on the ground.  And then once the alarm was over, there was a yard recall, which means that everybody goes back to their cells.  And then they said that Education could stay open, so those men were allowed to come down.  And then right as we settled into our groups, there was another alarm, and an officer came and said that all of the volunteers had to leave.

Try again tomorrow.

still lifes (lives?)

On the captain's porch, there's an office divided by clear walls into many offices, and I was in one of those sub-offices.  On the wall, there's taped a file folder with clip art of an adorable little cat and a dainty little butterfly, and in between the two, "CONFIRMED PRE-PAROLE LIST."  On the window-wall, one of those clingie sticker things is a fun little cartoon bulky white guy in stripes breaking apart rocks with a pick.  Cute little drops of sweat coming off his face.

--

Above the door of one the offices in the administration building hangs a wooden sign, like the kind you'd get at Cracker Barrel, welcoming, "Come On In!"  Just inside the office, there's an old-school pencil sharpener still attached to the wall.  Just outside, a sign on the wall reminds, "Understanding Disability is an ATTITUDE."

Notes from Class Entry #1 (of many, hopefully)

Anticipating Week 1.

This week we’ll begin our second semester under our reorganized approach.  Considering outer space from various angles, we’ll puzzle over the question, “What’s out there?”

Last week was a work week.  We talked about what went well last semester and what we’d like to do differently this semester.  We chose a pre-test, settled on rosters and writing groups, put together the readers.  We finalized lesson plans for the first two weeks of class.  We made a big calendar for the wall detailing the study opportunities available on days we don’t have class.  

We made table tents so the students will know where to sit when they come in on the first day.  We tweaked our system for taking attendance and collecting homework.  We organized the supply closet.  

C bit the cords off of the two computer keyboards he managed to get us on the sly; having cords attached could get us into trouble because the cord comes with the possibility of accessing a CPU.  And, obviously, we don’t have scissors, hence the biting.  

We made plans for how we want to use our newly approved study hall time, at one point using a March Madness style bracket to decide which book we’d read in the new book club.  (Fahrenheit 451. Not my pick.)  We met with the math coordinator for the college program to talk about possible collaborations.

I wrote letters of support for the inside teachers with upcoming dates with the parole board.  The inside teachers wrote survey questions for collecting information from our students that might be useful in grant writing for my salary.

Last night, the teachers would have walked students through the reader and all of the resources in it, and they would have started our warm-up writing assignment, the classic RAFT.  Choose one of each:

ROLE: astronaut, alien, Pluto, black hole

AUDIENCE: earthlings, aliens

FORM of writing: letter, movie trailer, election speech, play, poem

TONE: condescending, fearful, aggressive, comical, doomsday, apologetic

Tomorrow night, we’ll share first drafts in the writing groups and offer feedback.  Homework: Revise!

Gotta make time.

I keep trying to make time for, and keep failing to make time for, writing up some of the stories of what's happening at the prison.  I'm keeping a list of topics.

• 1,000 mile club
• Pit watching
• X-ray vs. treating on paper
• Police are bad
• More detail
• "I'm a dinosaur."/"The worst thing we had to deal with was racism."
• "Sometimes doing the right thing ain't the right thing."
• "Signed, Every female in the world."
• Dave Eggers guy
• "I'm like Zuckerberg"
• "I beat him on paper because of The BEAT"
• Responding to writing vs. person
• "I want to be a sociologist."
• ADA
• Two soups
• Body receipt
• Lactation station
• Talented men
• Smell flowers
• "Bernie Sanders said I can spell my name however I want to."