Surpriiiise! Surpriiiise! Surpriiiiise!

our school's mock election results:

Overall school turnout – 57% (639)

Champaign States Attorney
Janie-Miller Jones (R) 17% (108)
Julia Reitz (D) 83% (528)

Illinois House of Representatives
Frank Calabrese (R) 16% (111)
Naomi Jakobsson (D) 84 % (555)

U.S. Congress 15th District
Timothy Johnson (R) 30% (197)
Steve Cox (D) 70% (471)

U.S. Senate
Larry Stafford (L) 3% (21)
Steve Sauerberg (R) 11% (72)
Kathy Cummings (G) 11% (75)
Richard Durbin (D) 75% (504)

U.S. President
Bob Barr (L) (L) 2% (12)
Cynthia McKinney (G) 2% (16)
John McCain (R) 10% (62)
Barack Obama (D) 86% (606)

Do you support a constitutional amendment to ban abortion?
Yes – 31% (211)
No – 69% (463)

Should the voting age be lowered from 18 to 17?
No - 42% (288)
Yes 58% (390)

Should intelligent design be taught as well as evolution in UHS science classrooms?
No - 49% (325)
Yes - 51% (338)

Should the U.S. President be elected by popular vote rather than by the Electoral College?
No - 24% (166)
Yes - 74% (513)

9th grade turnout – 41% (143/342)
10th grade turnout – 57% (177/309)
12th grade turnout – 66% (151/230)
11th grade turnout – 68% (168/248) Class of 2010 Rules!
Faculty Turnout – 55% (57/104)

The intelligent design results are interesting, although I do have this anecdote that could suggest that many students were confused by the question: As I was "election judging" during my lunch hour, one of my students started to walk away saying, "I quit!" I asked him if he needed help, and started explaining step-by-step how to use the ballot. When I explained to him what that question was asking, he remarked, "Nah, that sounds like more work for me!"

Um, what.

WTF. Check out this story, which was the main focus of the front page of the Daily Illini today: Abnormal student behavior could lead to meetings for help.

According to James Finkle, junior in LAS, a student sitting eight rows back near the isle caused a commotion. He said the student was carrying on a conversation with his Teddy bear.

"Somebody shouted something like, 'Oh, I love you Mr. Bear. How are you Mr. Bear? You went and saw roses with another bear? I thought I was your bear,'" Finkle said.

Kathryn Clancy, professor of anthropology and leader of the lecture, confirmed this report.

"I started hearing a student clearly talking to a Teddy bear," Clancy said. She said she made her way down the stage towards the student to deal with the situation.

"I wanted to encourage his performance to end sooner," Clancy said. "Clearly there was some sort of tryst between the student and the bear."

Finkle said he agreed.

So, if it's a student joke, then why is this news? Why is this front-page news? We're electing a new president in five days. There's no way this could be considered a slow news week. UHS' student newspaper just put out an extra edition, for Chrissake. If it's a student joke, the prof deals with it in office hours. It doesn't get campus-wide media coverage. I mean, why would it?

If it's not a joke, then the student in question probably has some kind of mental illness. So why are we gossiping about it in the DI. And if the student is mentally ill, then why the jocular lead, "Teddy bears never felt so hurt." Mental illness isn't funny.

There's also a weak attempt to link the incident to the threatening note found in the undergrad library earlier this month. I can kinda make that connection, but if I do, I still don't see what's funny.

And I mean, look at this accompanying photo. A reenactment? Seriously? How is that not meant to be funny? In the print version of the paper, it was the largest element on the front page. What. the. hell.

divine intervention

This note was attached to some student work that was left in my school mailbox by a student who was out on suspension.

good taste

My grammar school crush (whom I hope does not read this blog because I'm still embarrassed about how much unwanted attention I sent in his direction as an eighth grader) sent me this link today: http://www.joe-biden.ytmnd.com/

Oh my gosh.

role models

I invited Idris Goodwin to speak to some of our kids today, as he is spending this week on campus hosting various events each evening. He was really exciting; the kids seemed really interested in what he had to say. I'm really looking forward to processing some of it with them tomorrow.



One thing I don't want to process them tomorrow is Goodwin's response to the question, "How do you make a living writing poetry?" He answered that in this capitalist society, everybody's gotta sell what they can. When people call Kanye West a sell-out, he went on, that's unfair. Everybody's selling something. He goes around selling his type of hip-hop at poetry slams and at schools. Ms. Dahlke, he continued, comes to school to sell herself.

Yeah, he said that. And yeah, the kids got it.