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Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

~ Communal Conversations for the Promotion of Active Critical Engagement

Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Tag Archives: Race

In Search of Leadership

06 Monday Apr 2020

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art, Culture, free form, Freewrite, Inequity, injustice, interpretive expression, leadership, Performance, poetry, Politics, power, Race, social awareness, social critique, society, Supreme Court

Imbalanced lives and circumstances
Adversarial communications based on fallacy laden rhetoric
To ridicule
To evade
To incense
To ostracize
A collectivized canon
Too familiar
Too historical
Too avoided
Are those words that current actions are challenging most to hear and discuss
Colin nor Jim nor Muhammad nor all of the others in sports should be viewed through a planter’s lens
As physical labor incapable of formulating coherent thoughts and meaningful actions
Yet, the lens that has framed how a nation sees one another remains avoided like the plague.
All of this frames the context for what is most needed and missing at present
In search of leadership
Cannot start from a position of myopia
Skewed by self-interest at the expense of common decency and compassion
In search of leadership
Cannot start with fragmented politics nor oligarchical capitalism
Unfortunately, our search for leadership ended with 44 and hopefully will be reinstated by 46…

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Assail

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Uncategorized

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Tags

Advocacy, Community, Culture, Discrimination, Diversity, expression, Florida, Freewrite, Gender, homosexuality, humanity, Identity, injustice, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, power, Race, racism, sexual orientation, social critique, social justice, Social norms, society, Streams of consciousness, violence, voice

A festive congregation of diverse forms
Gathered in joy and celebration
Unknowingly targeted for reasons
Subjectively debated and/or ignored
The setting places those who truly
Seek to be advocates and allies
In perilous conundrums
Scared hearts and bodies
Others cold and riddled
Propaganda is the last thing needed
Or wanted to be heard
By a family, lover, and/or friend of anyone
Who was assailed
Violated
Traumatized
Or even scapegoated
Identities fractured by incomplete
Or politicized objectives
The absolute truth may never truly be known
Yet we can concretely deduce
There are no true winners if all of us
Truly embrace our humanity
Advocacy means we share our voices with those
Who oppression continues to work to mute
Advocacy means not playing the victim-blaming game
That often becomes the means of historical erasure
With each last breath or aching wound
Whether physical or emotional
We have all lost and are under assail
Race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture among other aspects of our humanity
Have been further eroded
Orlando is just one of many examples of the
Detrimental effects of hate no matter the rationale
Love is not the solution when it is cloaked in complacency and inaction that shuns levels of sacrifice
Until each breath inhales this unalterable truth
There is no true we, yet the current national, societal, and political stances
Empower an assailant that has historically mutated
Each second, minute, hour, day, year, decade, and century
Known as the “American” F
Fear…

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Standing Alone

30 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Tags

Art, Culture, Discrimination, expression, free write, Freewrite, Identity, Inequity, oppression, Performance, poetry, Race, social critique, social justice, spontaneous thoughts, Streams of consciousness

Often the challenge faced requires one to go against the grain
The question of being a leader or follower is one that faces us time and time again
Society suggests a contradictory message in which we are both isolated but viewed as a collective
We are grouped and segregated by a host of descriptors that are now the norm
Normal for whom?
Normal for what?
Normal for the maintenance of a status quo that shames, demeans, and oppresses
Any who does not meet the “eye test”
The “actions test”
The “American Patriot test”
These are very challenging times where fear has a strong grasp on the lives and realities of so many
News features and calls for fear, resonating with a collection of persons who have been taught not to question or ask
but instead to accept
How did this happen you ask?
It actually has always been,
for this country
It just depended on who you were and how you were classified.
If you were female, patriarchy ruled your world
If you were African, Asian, Irish, Indigenous, and many other identities you were relegated to inferior status or worse
This is the context in which our realities have been shaped
Our worldviews are fortified with institutionalized oppression in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and the list continues to grow.
We are undoing our existence through the enabling and pacifying of our rights
Not the rights to oppress those who do not
Look like us
Love like us
Think like us
Speak like us
Pray like us
We are standing alone
because we are and have been taught
to be afraid to stand together…

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Sirens Blazing

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Racialization Impacts

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Tags

Art, blacklivesmatter, Blackness, blackwomenlivesmatter, citizens' rights, Culture, expression, Freewrite, humanity, Identity, in memoriam, injustice, law, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, policing, power, Race, sayhername, social critique, social justice, Streams of consciousness, underrepresented groups

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

A vicious cycle plaguing a nation full of rage
Rage that was neither emancipated in the age of Lincoln
Nor transcended with the election of Obama
In the spirit of bell hooks,
Black Looks and Killing Rage
Are still points of contingency for The Souls of Black Folk

Where are our Ida B. Wells or Sojourner Truths as the noose is replaced by the shield?
As the white sheets that supposedly aided The Birth of a Nation appear to be replaced by the “women and men in blue”
Is this a visceral reaction to a troubling time in this nation’s history?
For some, the answer will ultimately be “yes” but for others it will be more of the status quo.

A status quo response to the historic oppression and denigration of a collection of people who seem to have never received the promise of humanity
A collection of people whose bodies are riddled with emotional, physical, psychological, and visual assaults

Perceptions that continue for Africana women in the manner in which their bodies are assailed in a land of Patriarchy
Perceptions that continue as men of African descent no matter how well groomed or dressed still receive the “clench your purse” and/or “lock your door” treatment

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Bloody streets along dilapidated buildings
Underfunded communities make for easy targets
Not solely for the spectacle of media coverage but for the many corporate and venture capitalists who will undoubtedly swoop in for bargain prices to fulfill their duties of gentrification

Bye-bye Fourth Ward AKA Freedmen’s Town in Houston, TX
Bye-bye to as many indicators of the past that cannot be revised by our Educational Agencies and elected/appointed officials who wish to promote a particular narrative

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Are chickens coming home to roost?
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz once raised such a point
And we are still waiting for an explicit answer

Sirens
Shots
Lives
Tears…

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The Legacy of Forgiveness and Conviction (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela July 18, 1918-December 5, 2013)

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

activism, Art, Blackness, Conviction, Culture, expression, Forgiveness, Historical Figures, Identity, in memoriam, Inequity, Legacy, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Performance, poetry, Race, Reflective Practice, social critique, social justice, South Africa, Streams of consciousness, World

With the passing of yet another of our important historical figures
I am left to give both pause and thanks
Pause to remember a person who I never had the pleasure of meeting
yet feel as though their vision for social justice, equality, and freedom were envisioned for the journey that I’m currently engaged
Well before I was born,
the legacy against oppression was begun
The mantle has been passed amongst the worthiest candidates of all genders and abilities
Yet again, I am given pause to reflect on yet another figure whose life
as we currently conceive it on Earth has ended
Another figure who engaged in the good fight
Sacrificed and endured for all that he believed in beyond his own needs
Instead for those of his beloved people
Never to be placed on some iconic pedestal that allows for those who deem it necessary
to attempt to unseat him
He was in fact very human and had his flaws as all humans do
Yet I must give thanks
for what he has offered me
is another model
of why my journey is to be as challenging
as it has been
and will be
Yet I must endure
I must recognize that I may also exist in my own form of exile, for not as long, 27 years
Separated from my loved ones and community beyond the limitations of select and sanctioned visitations
The human memory
and the wishes of those who chose to enact revisionist history
should be called into question
as those who are viewed as deviant and/or misguided
are often those who we later realize
we were just unable to comprehend the beauty
of their gift, vision, and/or passion
at the time of our encounter
We must not let ourselves and others
off the hook
for our misguided and/or misplaced deeds and thoughts
We must also hold ourselves
as well as other
accountable
not in the current sense
but one of humanism
The legacy of forgiveness and conviction
calls us to task each and every day
we must consciously seek out our truths, passions, and obligatory destinies
Revelations don’t guarantee change
Our conscious and proactive actions regarding them do
Today, work to become better than you were yesterday
in order to build on that reality tomorrow
with a legacy of forgiveness and conviction as its essence…

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Victim Blaming Rationalization: Why Trayvon Martin is Symbolic for and of African American/Black Experiences in the United States.

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Blog, Racialization Impacts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blackness, Culture, Diversity, Education, expression, Florida, George Zimmerman, Identity, Inequity, Law(s), Race, Racial identity, racism, social critique, Trayvon Martin, victim blaming rationalization

Over the course of the many days, weeks, and months since the tragic death of a seventeen year old teen, much has been debated and said about what is justice in today’s United States. Color-lines have been drawn in many cases, as reactionary as they were during the Jim and Jane Crow Eras in this country. Sentiment remains mixed with an output of social consciousness and outrage. Protests in the streets and even a Presidential Address about race and its lingering effects on society have taken place. With all of this being said, there still seems to be something absent from the conversation. Something that is as systemic as the endemic racism that encapsulates this country even when many emphatically attempt to deny its existence.

“What is this item that I speak of?” you may now find yourself puzzlingly asking. It is the way that many of us have, due to the reality that “race” and “racism” are as “American” as “apple pie?” How dare I make such suggestions when we now have a “Black” president elected for not only one term, but two. Not when we post pictures of a “Black” First Lady and praise the couple’s two beautiful and charming “Black” daughters. We are in a post-racial society where we all need to be “color-blind” and just see each other as only human. Furthermore, we see only the “human race” as we are all “Americans,” so the story goes.

And let us not forget our Constitutional rights that are also at stake when we critically engage the tragedy that was not solely Trayvon Martin, but dare I say, George Zimmerman. For many who are of African descent and/or are starch allies, this utterance by one of their very own will seem outright blasphemous or a betrayal on the legacy of our shared struggle. Continuing to hide behind the scapegoat of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms as some continue to champion. Since and even before 9/11, we remain fed heavy doses of fear through all forms of media. A land built on propaganda continues to manufacture reasons to shape and craft the thoughts of a society and the globe. What is this fear that I am now speaking of? The same fear that endured the antebellum plantations, the uprising of darker-skinned property, for at the time still not viewed as human. That task is still a work in progress; if you look hard enough you’ll still see measures of hatred and thoughts of superiority for no other reason than social dogma propagated for generations.

As history has told us, as it has been crafted within our educational textbooks, that the legacy of wrongdoing is still not ready to be fully addressed. We’ve had apologies and offered reparations for instances for select members of our Union yet we still find ways to avoid fully addressing the wrongs done to our Native community members. They, as the rest of “the minorities” must have done something wrong, right? They must not want to be successful? They don’t care about education? Why don’t they want to learn to speak proper English? Why don’t they… (I’ll let you fill in the blank). In each instance, one thing remains clear. We often will acknowledge there is a problem but how we perceive it beyond that is what I really want to address.

We call it, “victim blaming rationalization. A response to a social problem—such as injustice toward a minority group—that identifies the problem as a deficiency in the minority group and not a societal problem, as in ‘If poor people want to escape poverty they just have to be willing to work harder” (Koppelman & Goodhart, p. 42). In a similar vein, this is what often happens when race and racism are at the center of public debate. We don’t want to acknowledge the legacy that has driven the nation’s politics and social norms. We have short-term memories on who were discriminated against based on existing notions of privilege and whiteness within the society. Because by doing, so this often causes us to have to challenge or relinquish our own interests.

In a nation that politically and morally does what is in the best interest of itself– well, actually in the best interests of the wealthy and/or powerbrokers–in most that it does, we are confounded with fundamental issues. So when we see poverty, we blame the poor. When we see ignorance, we blame the uneducated. Yet we rarely make headway when we blame the system in which all of the social malfunctions are perpetuated and maintained. Because it will cause us to have to own the possibility that we have to sacrifice, have to struggle, have to actively become a part of the larger community without guarantee that we will get everything that our hearts desire. Interest theory explains why we discriminate and/or justify not supporting our community in the ways that we want the community to support us.

Why does any of this matter when it comes to victim-blaming rationalization and the tragedy that are the circumstances that envelope the death of Trayvon Martin and the public outcry about George Zimmerman’s acquittal? Simple, it is indicative of the legacy that is seamlessly embedded within the laws that govern this country. It is born out of the enterprise of Capitalism and globalization that fosters the extension of a set of cultural norms and values that some say only sees green. We see it in the manner in which a hoodie has become a symbol that, for some, can be likened to sad a day back in Mississippi when a young teen was kidnapped and killed for whistling at Carolyn Bryant outside of the Bryant Grocery and Meat Market. We see it in other cases that have been highlighted since the verdict across the country. Culturally, instances like these resonate with the past and current experiences people of African descent have within the United States.

We, as we’ve been socialized through the prism of racism, tend to dichotomize things to the simplest way possible. What do I mean by this statement? Well if you’ve ever said, “It’s as simple as black and white” then you’ve done it. What many don’t really know is what they’re implying with this question is that they are acknowledging their own limitations in the situation. They are acknowledging that they are limited in their ability to see the complexity, which is at the heart of this tragedy. The intellectual prison is on display in the form of either/or mentalities that many of our public schools promote as part of the greater enterprise. The ignorance of this and other aspects of injustice are running prevalent in this country, some would expect to be said. Yet all of this is exactly why our society will continue to work in a disjointed fashion. We, as a society, are fragmented, splintered, lacking cohesion in the saddest of ways. We are apathetic unless, sheepishly, we are moved to action by our twitter, facebook, and/or other social media feeds. We click buttons as opposed to working to shape lives beyond our own doorsteps. We impatiently wait for the next person to do what we ourselves need to accomplish. We do what’s easiest and most natural– we yell, we talk, we pray, and then we ultimately forget. Until we all recognize that injustice to any one of us is injustice to all of us, we will continue to be reminded of inconsequence of being othered in this othering space known as the United States of America…

To be continued…

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Crush-Hopper Presentation Video (Jan. 17, 2013)

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Blog, Identity Politics, Racialization Impacts, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Blackness, Culture, Diversity, Education, expression, Florida, Higher Education, Multiracialism, Performance, Public Education, Race, Racial identity, social critique, South Africa, Streams of consciousness, Student Behavior, University of South Florida, World

Hello everyone,

I am including the video of both my lecture and the subsequent Question and Answer session with Ms. Mandisa Haarhoff about her one person play, Crush-Hopper. She was truly amazing as a performer but more importantly as a person.

De Walt Crush-Hopper Lecture

Crush-Hopper Question and Answer with Ms. Mandisa Haarhoff

Enjoy,

PSDW~

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Entitlement by “race”: What Abigail Fisher didn’t tell you…

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Blog

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Tags

Affirmative Action, Education, Educational Debate, Higher Education, Identity, Inequity, Policy, Politics & Education, Public Education, Race, Supreme Court

Entitlement by "race": What Abigail Fisher didn't tell you….

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Hip Hop’s Amnesia: From Blues and the Black Women’s Club Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Movement

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Culture & Music

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Tags

activism, Amnesia, Art, Blackness, Class, Culture, Education, Educational Debate, Gender, Hip Hop, History, Identity, Intellectual, K-12, Movements, Multiracialism, Music, Nationality, Race, Racial identity, Sexuality, social critique, Streams of consciousness

Hello All,

I’m honored to share this with you about one of my intellectual mentors, Dr. Reiland Rabaka.  reiland-rabaka Please access the link and check out the two podcasts at the bottom of the article.

Enjoy…

PSDW~

Hip Hops Amnesia

http://newbooksinpopmusic.com/2013/02/19/reiland-rabaka-hip-hops-amnesia-from-blues-and-the-black-womens-club-movement-to-rap-and-the-hip-hop-movement-lexington-books-2012/

 

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Teaching Who We Are: Seeing the Beauty in Student Engagement

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in PSDW Reflective Journal

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Tags

Culture, differentiated instruction, Diversity, Education, Florida, Higher Education, Identity, Inequity, K-12, pedagogy, Politics & Education, Public Education, Race, Racial identity, Reflective Practice, social critique, Streams of consciousness, student centered approaches, Teacher Education, underrepresented groups

One thing that I have come to embrace about myself, personally as well as professionally, is my passion for learning and seeing others excited and empowered within educational contexts. I often forget that the passion that I have is unique to me as other things are unique to others.

“We Teach Who We Are.”
—Parker Palmer–

The more that I write, the more that I reveal…

This statement is how I also think about teaching. The more I teach the more that I reveal about myself and sometimes discover about my students. After teaching for as long as I have now, whether it was as a first grade teaching in Houston or as a graduate student in Colorado, I have been one that gets a reaction out of my students. Sometimes that reaction is hostilely posted on faculty teaching evaluation sites (I still have not really reviewed them), university student evaluations and/or the responses of my students after they are no longer bound to my class and its rules.

The funny thing that I have found out about this process is that I am what I like to call, “An acquired taste.” Yes, this statement, as the previous journal entry laid out, positions itself as a dualistic perspective. But the data so far confirms it. My passion is one that propels me to want my students to excel and I push them to the point of discomfort. I challenge them even when I agree with what they may have said. I am and can be relentless in this regard, as many who have taken my course(s) might say. However, I know in my heart of hearts that I do all that I do for what I hope they will see in themselves one day–a promising teacher. Most teachers that I know have at some point in time referenced this saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” I struggled with this phenomenon so much as an instructor here in Florida, as I did while I was a graduate student in Colorado. I wanted all of my student to be nourished by the educational process that I so love in its non-conventional forms. I teach who I am and I push them to learn who they are, so that they can teach from those meaningful parts of who they are when engaging their students.

Food For Thought

I had a very interesting conversation with my graduate assistant today and much was revealed to me, both directly and indirectly, regarding how “Teaching Who [I am]” was/is my greatest strength.  Yet, it is also the most challenging aspect of my role as an educator. My passion and perceived intellect can be too much for others even while I know that I have so much more to learn; because, as I have shared with my students today, “The more I learned, the more I realized how much I really didn’t know.” I teach from my mind and heart each and every time I step into a learning environment. I don’t know any other way to be an educator.  And as a result of this way of being and knowing myself, whomever acquires an understanding of me and my pedagogy developed palates that allow she/he to engage in varied perspectives on a host of topics. They attain the ability to engage an eclectic personality and mind who only wishes to better himself and the community in which he is obligated to serve–our future generations of learners.

My graduate student, after a lengthy conversation about the course and our preparation for future course objectives, reiterated a perspective on my way of teaching and it humbled me. In the midst of all the chaos of our conversation, key elements of my and my teaching philosophy were articulated–the allure in learning. This phrase is something that has stuck with me since my graduate days. It written and introduced to me by one of my graduate school professors–Dr. Daniel P. Liston. It, in essence, is one of the staples of what I begin each semester with, challenging my students to connect with their internal capacities for becoming the best teachers that they can be by confronting, engaging and/or understanding themselves in more critical ways.

Engaging the Toxic Word “Race” in a Diversity Course

An example of this occurred today as my morning sections began to discuss chapter 5 PulseClicker2of our text. I asked my students to answer our “Clicker Questions”– Clicker is an interactive assessment tool that always for me ask students questions and get instant feedback– for the day. This question was a short essay that they were to answer about, “Is ‘race’ still in important part of U.S. society, yes or no?” As an introduction to this topic, I decided to not run from this feared word like many others do not only in our classrooms but in almost every other place in our society. This question also required that they expound on why they chose either yes or no. And I enjoyed hearing those who said “yes” explain their answers but I also enjoyed those who said “no” explain theirs. If you’ve read my previous post, there appeared to be a lot of Jekylls and Hydes in attendance during this topic. But I pushed and pushed the conversation and many of them took the risks of sharing their perspectives and why. I truly loved it! Because it was them engaging the tough topic wherever they were in their understandings within my classroom. These moments mean so much to me. To hear a student who has been positioned as a Jekyll turn out to be more of a Hyde.

Students gave ranges of responses that said, in a sense, while they didn’t want to use race they recognized that it was still impacting their lives. Others offered positions that promote ideas of humanism. I found all of the examples to be of significance and usable in this learning opportunity. So I took a few chances with them, I did an up down activity that I’ve done before with other classes. I had all of my students stand up and asked a series of questions (paraphrased and may not be out of sequence of how I did it in class, FYI): 1) If you are not male, please take your seat, 2) if you are not Protestant, please take your seat (ironically, after the completion of my lesson it later dawned on me that I misspoke), 3)If you do not own property (land), please take a seat, and 4) (what I would have concluded with had I needed it to) If you are not white, please take a seat. But in this case, there was no need to ask #4 because all of my 50+ students were already seated. In having my students participate in this kinesthetic exercise, I wanted them to think about how we, over time, have forgotten the sacrifices and injustices that have resulted from the application of race within this society.

Now we credit “the founding fathers” of this nation without holding their actions accountable to not only communities of color, but also non-land/property owners and women who lived during the era. WE, through our contemporary gaze at history, forget that women and people of color only within a short period of time have (re)gained the right to vote and other important aspects of citizenship in the United States of America. And more importantly, if our students have forgotten or have not been exposed to this valuable information during their own schooling process; what makes us think that the students who they will some day teach will have such opportunities to critically engage these such historical moments that shaped and continue to shape this nation?

Through this activity, my point was to get them to think about race and, more importantly, history within context. Instead of viewing historical moments through contemporary lenses. As many educators may now know, this is becoming a greater challenge with each passing year as history is becoming harder and harder to get students to engage in many instances. So I try to use these moments to provoke students’ thinking any way that I can if it aids them in developing their critical thinking skills as well as their, what I like to call, “their teacher identities.”

I have often told my students that education is a “social experiment” and all involved are a part of this dynamic process. Much of what I do within my classes requires that I take some level or risk. Yet, as what those who have taught me proved only a few years earlier, that the risks we take both as educators and learners have immense power to help redirect and inspire others to keep learning. I am reminded of the many teachers–Mrs. Boone, Ms. Sullivan, Mrs. Terry, Ms. Carson, Mrs. Gobert, Ms. May, Ms. Defibaugh, Mr. Lavergne, Dr. Sigren, Mr. Haynes, Mr. Knowles and the list could continue–who shaped a path for me that I could never have imagined, yet am proud to now travel….

As I conclude this entry, I am drawn to a quote from Palmer (1997),

Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror, and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge–and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject (p. 15)

So the question becomes for any other educator and/or learner who took the time to read this, “What does your mirror show?

Until the next time…

PSDW~

Parker J. Palmer (1997): The Heart of a Teacher Identity and Integrity in Teaching, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29:6, 14-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00091389709602343

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Image

Crush-Hopper: Exploring the Journey of Identity in Post-Apartheid, South Africa Update

03 Thursday Jan 2013

Tags

Art, Culture, Identity, Mandisa Roeleene Haarhoff, Nigrescence, Performance, Race, South Africa, University of South Florida

Hello All,

I wanted to share this speaking engagement with you. I have the honor and privilege to be a part of this one-person play performed by Ms. Mandisa Roeleene Haarhoff. I don’t want to give the play away but the message and richness of the performance is perfect for what I hope to engage with you, the community, here regarding notions of identity and culture. I will follow her amazing performance with a discussion on applications of Nigrescence, “the process of becoming black,” in which we will engage the complexities found within this process of self-identification and discovery.  It will be held in the Music Building’s Concert Hall on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. For more information, please see the attached flyer and link.

UPDATED Link

Crush-Hopper

I will update this post later with a clip or two of an earlier performance.

Enjoy…

UPDATE

This performance I found to be amazing. Ms. Haarhoff’s lived experience resonated with me in ways that I had forgotten from on identity journey. To be on the stage with her was truly an honor that I will never forget. Within the coming days, I will post links and/or footage from the event with more commentary.

PSD~

11X17_CrushHopper-page-001Crush-Hopper

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Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD | Filed under Blog, Identity Politics, Racialization Impacts

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Race and NCLB Waivers: Moving Around the Chairs?

25 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Educational Trenches

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Education, NCLB, Policy, POTUS Obama, Race

With high stakes testing further entrenching itself in our educational system, educators are faced with many stressful decisions and responsibilities in this growing age of accountability. With this being said, please take a look at this article and share your thoughts…

PSD~

Cloaking Inequity

In the recent vote for 2012 Educational Policy Turkey of the Year Award, the Florida SBOE race-based test score goals came in a close second to TFA for the prize. In fact, two of my Linkedin connections made the following comments in response the posting:

 I vote for ALL ESEA waivers that systematize the achievement gap in many, many states outside of Texas.

…I wonder if some of the waiver application approaches are bigger “turkeys”???

Their comments inspired this post.

In my Educational Foundations course that I teach each fall at UT-Austin, I have adapted the History of School Reform, one of my favorite graduate courses at SUSE formerly taught by David Tyack (and also Larry Cuban). Back in 2006, as a new professor, I approached Tyack and Cuban and they graciously helped develop my course with their syllabus and input —I am indebted to them. One of the…

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Supreme Court Hears Affirmative Action Case

15 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Blog

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Affirmative Action, Gender, Higher Education, Law(s), Policy, Politics & Education, Race, Reverse Racism, Supreme Court

The Juxtaposition of Race and Gender Within the Policy of Affirmative Action

The debate on affirmation action still continues and yet again, with the Supreme Court preparing to hear, in short, Abigail Noel Fisher, Petitioner vs. The University of Texas at Austin, et al.

What I find interesting about this case is that this time around, we see a juxtaposition between two of the central identities that are fought for in all affirmative action policy: gender and race. For now, I will just leave this video for you to begin drawing your own conclusions on this topic, if you haven’t already done so.

In the coming days, I will offer a more detailed post about three questions that come to my mind when engaging discussions on affirmative action in Higher Education: (1) What is affirmative action? (2) Who benefits from affirmative action? and (3) Why are these discussions on affirmative action viewing it solely on the basis of race?

So after watching the video, what are yours?

I look forward to reading your thoughts. More to follow…

PSD~

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