More Michelle Obama

Yes, Michelle is getting the love today, but this clip in particular talks about something that’s close to my heart: public education.

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Yes, to me Michelle Obama represents the American Dream, the one I envisioned as I was growing up during the Civil Rights Movement.

I also come from a working class family. I went to public school in NYC, and that public education was sufficient for me to go to college and eventually get a PhD. Yet this path is closed to my niece and nephew in the current economic and political environment.

I support Obama because I want the next generation to have the same opportunities that I had. Who better to do that than someone who experienced it for themselves?

Nothing like a Cold One

via Culture Kitchen:

Of course it was a non-alcoholic beer. And you missed the meetings the next morning because of a little upset tummy. Stomach bug, yeah, that’s it. And I should believe that because you’ve been so honest about everything else.

Ylizavision

As my 50th birthday approaches I find myself reflecting about what I’ve experienced and seen during the course of my life. I think it can safely be said that I’ve lived during interesting times. The Vietnam war marked my early years, now the Iraq war marks my later ones. I remember, among other things: the Civil Rights movement; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King; the Watergate scandal and the subsequent resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon; Jimmy Carter’s Playboy interview; the Oil Embargo of the 1970’s; the Iran Hostage Crisis; the Iran-Contra scandal…I lived through all of these events and have memories associated with them.

I grew up with a healthy respect for the working class. I received an excellent public education in a major American city, complete with art, music, gym and civics.

When I first graduated from high school, $12,000 a year was enough to maintain a family of four, complete with house, mortgage, dog. Ten years later, as a graduate student, I was struggling to survive on that much, as a single person with no dependents. Today, 30 years later, four times that much ($48,000) isn’t enough to sustain that family of four in many parts of the country.

I could go on, but I think this is enough to illustrate that I’ve seen much during my lifetime. It has shaped my perceptions, my values. This is the place from which I want to add my voice to the blogosphere. The opinions are mine, but hopefully they will be of some value to others.