August 2004 Archives

As many of you know, I started the Fall 2002 semester as a Chemistry UTeach student, meaning I was a chemistry student studying a particular course of study for secondary education as well as chemistry itself.

I spent a successful year in the program, complete with the "Step 1" (UTS 101) and "Step 2" (UTS 110) courses. Step 1 took me to Campbell Elementary School where I taught a little science to third graders, and Step 2 took me to Kealing Middle School where I taught a little science to a combined 7th and 8th grade class.

I enjoyed the classroom work; I enjoyed teaching and received glowing remarks on my evaluations. I felt at home in the classroom and it seemed to go pretty well. I was never big on working with younger students but it went well.

I left the program last year due to certain ideological differences between the UTeach Program rationale and my own. At the time, I felt certain that the program was to blame and of course, I could not be at fault.

During the time between then and now, I took classes unrelated to chemistry and education. In that time period, I realized that I did enjoy the concept of education and the conveying of information from myself to someone else.

With that in mind, I took a step forward and reflected upon my decision to leave. Perhaps, I thought, that I left in haste and that while the program may have flaws that I as well was flawed in my thinking. For me, it was a big step forward. When I am sure of something, I am sure of something and to admit that I was flawed before is something that I do not do often. If anything, I usually will admit to having new observations that would change my thinking- not that the original thinking in and of itself was flawed. That is neither here nor there however.

So, I revisited the UTeach-Natural Sciences advisor, re-applied to the program and signed up for Classroom Interactions (EDC 371:21). I've been to the class once and I have now come to a new conclusion: I want an exit strategy to leave The University as fast as possible with whatever degree will get me out. The College of Education and the UTeach-NS program is sucking the lifeblood out of me. I walked into my first class on Wednesday ready to tackle the world. I told myself that I could do anything, I could conquer any class. I walked into Organic Chemistry, Genetics, Calculus and Pseudoscience with academic vigor that I have not experienced in some time. I left with increased vigor- and some realization that some of the work will be stupid and mundane but nonetheless, with increased vigor. Thursday, I walked into Calculus discussion and Classroom Interactions. I felt lost in Calculus trying to recall things that I have not studied since my sophomore year of high school but knowing that I do somewhere have this knowledge somewhere in my mind. I left knowing that I can complete this class. I brought that vigor to Classroom Interactions. In the seventy-five minutes that followed, I lost all of that.

I am not sure if it was the professor confessing that she knows very little about Science Education. Maybe it was the concept maps that we had to draw; since after all, connecting the word "lab" to "science" is a deep concept that will really aid in my personal interaction with students. Connecting concepts is a beyond-fundamental concept in education, in my opinion. Someone who does not realize that concepts must connect and conveying that connection is important is aiding students in information retention should not be allowed anywhere close to a child.

What is the problem? Is there something wrong with me that would make me a poor candidate for teaching? Is there something wrong with me that would make me a poor candidate for teaching as defined by this program? Is there something wrong with the program? Is this one of the flaws of the educational system that we keep hearing about? Are they trying to fix those flaws using a method that does not sync with my desire to fix the flaws?

The College of Education and the UTeach-NS program gives me nothing but the desire to get as far away from education, academia, The University, the school, and the concept of anything of the above. Why is that? I really do not understand why this is happening. Why is an education program driving me away from education, even my own desire to further my own knowledge? The International Baccalaureate program, and the teachers who taught me within it, strengthen my foundational belief that education is for life and for the whole person. The whole person must be educated and that the pursuit of information, knowledge and new ideas never ends. Why is a program designed to help me instill that desire into others is leading me away from that very desire?

This story broke some time ago and I am a little behind the curve. For those who haven't heard, Crisis magazine's publisher- Deal Hudson- was involved in some sort of "inappropriate sexual relationship" with a freshman female student during his time at Fordham University; the relationship led to his resignation in 1994.

Deal Hudson, in addition to being the publisher of a conservative Catholic magazine, was, until his very recent resignation, also an advisor to George W. Bush on Catholic affairs. A liberal Catholic publication, the National Catholic Reporter broke the story.

There are many comments being said about the story. People are saying that this story is retribution for Hudson's part in getting a John Kerry supporter fired from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or that this is another attempt to force-fumble the Bush's moral high-road political angle.

First, one quick political point. Both parties sin. Sin is not Democratic nor Republican. We learned this during the Clinton scandel fallout- Republican Senators had their own little scandels pop up around the same time. On the same token, both parties can repent and start anew. Sexual sins are committed by man (mankind) and are not limited to only the immoral, poor, Democrat, Republican or whatever.

Virtually everyone has their weak point, their cross to bear so to speak. Sometimes we carry that cross in ways that would make everyone proud, if they knew of the true struggle. Sometimes, we fall. Sadly, we take others down in the process many times.

I am not attempting to defend Hudson. I've met him once and spoke with him for a couple of minutes after a lecture he gave at The University last year. He seems like nice enough of a guy that has a deep passion for orthodox (or conservative or what-have-you) Catholicity. I'm sure he probably is in many ways as well. What he did, however, was wrong and he acknowledges it. He repented and is trying to start anew. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that he is sincere in his repentence and his attempts to "go and sin no more."

The news media picking up the story and running with it is not surprising. For better or worse, it is news. What many people forget though that to sin is human. It is what seperates us from the divine and it is a seperation we must work to close.

Just because someone has a checkered past does not, by definition, make them a horrible person or makes them anything subhuman. However, those who fall the hardest and the furtherest have the most to gain from the experience.

Should someone who has committed that sin not be able to function as a moral advisor to the White House? If it is someone who saw no fault in the sin, he probably would not be the best candidate. If it is someone who knows it was wrong and acts in a positive fashion upon that regret, I cannot think of a reason that he is unable to perform.

I am no fan of the political process and so it makes no difference to me if Hudson remained an advisor to the White House or not. However, I think it would have been a good story to tell for him, or the White House, or whomever, to tell him to stay in that post and let people know that you can be more than your worst action. To sin is human, but to forgive is divine. I think it would have been a good story to hear of that- not just of another political operative shut down by a night of regret.

Today marks the first day of classes for The University of Texas at Austin. I was hoping to be full of interesting things to take note of and pass along to this weblog. After four classes and one discussion section, all of which lasted the entire hour, I have nothing.

For everyone at UT, you will appreciate this though. I was walking towards RAS for my BIO 325 discussion. Since I have never been to the RAS, I checked the campus map on the East Mall to double-check where it was. A small group of freshmen were huddled around it trying to figure out where MEZ is located. I overheard them and promptly reply "oh, it's at the southeast end of the Six Pack." They look at me, confused to no end and reply: "What's the Six Pack?"

This semester should include some interesting posts on genetics, pseudoscience, classroom interactions and whatever else comes across my desk in the next few months.

Lastly, to keep as many entries on here informational, Austrian researchers have teleported photons across the Danube River. The article says not to look for Star Trek to become a reality anytime soon; however, personally, I think it's pretty cool.

It's been a good period since last reflecting upon whatever I reflect upon on here. That has mostly been because there hasn't been much to discuss. The summer semester has come and gone with the fall approaching us on Wednesday.

I'm putting on hold the project to compare the current translation of the Missal to the draft copy leaked from the ICEL. All the places that had leaked copies have removed them and I would rather not republish it. Once a new translation comes out, perhaps then I will resume the task.

Even with that, the vacation is over and it's about to be time to get back to work.

As I mentioned yesterday, the City of Austin is closing a good portion of downtown for the Lance Armstrong parade today. When I rode the bus home yesterday, nothing seemed too distrupted.

Today, however, I really feel for Cap Metro drivers. As I was riding the bus from Oltorf to campus, the first sign of change was all the radio chatter. Usually, Cap Metro radios are usually pretty quiet. Today was non-stop. Detours here and there. A road closed early so drivers listen up. We pull up to 2nd at Congress where a supervisor steps on to make sure the driver caught all of the detours.

First, all routes will detour off of Congress at or before 6th street. Secondly, the Capitol Station at 11th and Congress that was supposed to be open until late tonight was already closed because 11th Street was closed. All routes highlighted in red were detoured. The Route 1 went right on 5th, left on Brazos and left again onto 6th so the big 6th and Congress on-street transfer point could remain open. People at 6th and Brazos, who thought the stop was tranferred there, ran after the bus. The driver stopped midblock on 6th to pick them up. At Congress, a few more people ran across the street to the new stop. Between Congress and Colorado, a lady is trying to figure out where the southbound Route 1 will be coming from. Cap Metro put out signs in advance for many of the detours, but if the radio chatter meant anything, it sounds like things were changing as much as they were staying the same.

Tonight should be pretty interesting for Cap Metro as well. All routes in both red and green will be closed tonight. That might actually be easier- everything shifts to South 1st, Guadalupe and Lavaca. Crosstown routes that are supposed to cross Congress- well, I'm glad I don't have to figure out where those detour to- 15th maybe?

Anyhow, it was an interesting ride this morning and I really feel for the drivers and the people who depend on the buses for transporation. What a headache!

I found old Zip disks from high school during my packing tonight. Although I shouldn't have, I went to the Welch lab and converted them over to a CD so I could access the files. After a time playing with formats (Mac-based graphics software from 1998 isn't quite as compatable with Windows XP as I would like), I figured out how to open most of the files.

The artwork at the right is a piece I submitted to an art show at Midwestern State University in 1998. After a couple of months in the multimedia program, I had a little fun and threw this together. Since it was done on the computer, it was submitted under the "Commercial Art" category where it won 3rd place for that year.

I did all of this while studying for a multimedia major, part of Hirschi's Magnet program. For the first two years of my studies, under Bill Mahoney, I expanded my artistic abilities. Mr. Mahoney retired and a new person took over the program. For the last two years of my studies, the focus was on more traditional graphics art- websites, web graphics, promotional material, etc.

Since heading off to college, I haven't worked with graphics at all. I think that is a mistake on my part; the problem now is I need better equipment to run the software. Until I find a large sum of cash on my doorstep, I think I'll see what the laptop can handle.

On Friday evening, there will be a parade celebrating Lance Armstrong's sixth Tour de France victory. The parade, being held on Congress Ave south of the Capitol, will tangle up downtown traffic for more than just Friday. Parking along Congress has been blocked north of Sixth Street since yesterday morning. Congress between 11th and 9th, with respective cross-streets, have been closed since yesterday evening. That closure will extend to 6th-8th Street today at 3:30 p.m. The remainder of Congress, and crossstreets, will close tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. to prepare for the 7 p.m. parade.

The early closure is to allow for the construction of a stage on Congress for preformances by the Steve Miller Band and Robert Earl Keen. With a backdrop of the Capitol, Austinites will do what Austinites do best: party.

The streets will reopen at various times through Saturday, according to a City of Austin press release.

As I rode by it today, I'm looking forward to the parade. I've been in parades in Wichita Falls, but nothing close to what Friday will be like. I haven't posted nearly as much lately because I'm being slammed by tests. Nonetheless, the itch to post still got to me.

I am a Catholic through-and-through. I believe in all the tenets of the Catholic Church and wished that all men would follow them as well. Equally so, I know that if all would follow Christ and His Church, peace would reign over the earth.

That being said, I have been thinking and reflecting a good amount on the political situation- gay union, abortion, school prayer and many other issues being discussed in this country, many with a religious voice. I do not like the idea of gay marriage; I abhor abortion- both the action and the mindset behind it; I think the day starts better with prayer. However, there is a separation of church and state in this country. Each has a specific function and responsibility in this regard.

This country's foundation is the premise of freedom. While being founded by men with Judeo-Christian beliefs, the foundation is the premise of freedom. It grants freedom for the Catholic Church, the Anabaptists, the Quakers, the un-churched, and even those who sacrifice at the altar of materialism. It granted rights to human persons, no matter who they were. We were slow on realizing that. It took us 144 years to allow women to vote; it took us 89 years to realize that black or white, we are all persons with value who deserve freedom. In the end, this country's foundation is on freedom that belongs to every person, no matter their creed, their age, their race, their opinion or their ancestry.

It is not the role of the State to define morality, or to tell us how to live it. The role of our churches and our religions define morality- whatever the church. I know that adultery is wrong because God said so and not because the Senate passed a resolution. Some people do not think adultery is wrong and I pity for it. I believe that their view on life, the sanctity of marriage and the context of the human condition is flawed and they will not reach the fullness of life they seek. However, there are free to do it.

Many moral issues are State issues as well. If you commit a crime against a person- assault, rape, murder- you are treading against both morality and the state. The State has a responsibility to safeguard its citizens and punish those who harm them.

There are some issues that are moral issues that simply can not be regulated by a free State.

Marriage is sacred and exists to unify a man and a woman. A gay marriage cannot exist. However, in the legal sense, a civil marriage is nothing more than a contract filed with the county clerk's office. In our country, we have that contract mean many things as far as Social Security payments, next-of-kin relations, etc. I do not like the idea of something as sacred as marriage transformed, at least on the civil level, into what it is becoming. However, I cannot argue against it while preaching this country's foundation of freedom.

I will work in whatever ways possible with my church, and other churches that agrees with the sanctity of marriage, to help strengthen marriage. I simply cannot legislate that.

I do think, however, that the State does due reason to interfere with gay couples who wish to raise children. I do not know enough about gender identity and how children come to understand it; although, with what I do know it is too sensitive of an issue for the state not to keep an eye on it. The same could be said of many single parents as well. In either case, I will be working with my church to help preserve the basic unit of society- a family with a mother and a father. My position is logically weaker on this point; it will take time to formulate it completely.

Abortion is wrong. It is immoral and it should be illegal. It is the death of a human person. It is scientific fact that the zygote is the start of human existence. In many cases, this existence is aborted naturally; just as our lives end naturally at many ages. A woman's choice be damned- it is not her right or choice to end the potential of life once gametes have been fused. If it happens naturally, so be it. By this, I object to some forms of birth control as well and I acknowledge this. On the same note, I do not find any form of birth control or regulation, short of abstinence, moral but it merges into the realm of things the government should not tell us to do or not to do. Again, I will be working with my church to help promote the sanctity of life, the position of life in the grand scheme of human existence and to help explain the connection between sexual relations, the union of matrimony and the creation of life.

Prayer in school is the easy one. We require kids to be there and we indoctrinate them. As a government, we are not allowed to indoctrinate them with religion. We can teach them about religion but not indoctrinate them with it. We allow private schools and if you want your child to pray at the start of the school day in a school building, send them there. Do you want to promote religion with the young? Help your church setup after school programs and convince parents that their children should go. Start pushing Hollywood to clean up what they put on TV and work on what your children are indoctrinated with at home. We simply cannot be allowed to do it at school.

What about prayer at football games? Or graduation? Honestly, I do not agree with that either. I can pray on my own accord, in an act between my God and me, for the safety of the players and in thanksgiving for allowing me to complete a course of study. The prayer at my high school graduation, while squeaking by as being Christian, prayed for things that I do not wish to be praying. It was obviously a Protestant prayer and I am not Protestant. I will ignore the situation of a Jewish student thanking Jesus Christ. I commend our institutions for acknowledging the Higher Being and bowing down to Him; however, it is not the place of an institution of the State to do in an official capacity.

Equally so, it should not inhibit students from exercising their own rights to pray together as long as it is done without interfering with the educational mission of our schools.

Now, I have just ranted about the separation of morality and law in this country. Should our politicians keep to this separation? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We live in Republic. We elect people to make decisions for us. It is hard to say where the divide should fall at times. If I was faced with voting for or against abortion- it is obvious how I would vote. When it comes to gay civil unions, it is hard to say where exactly I will fall. I think I would feel like a hypocrite either way. I would probably find some compromise that keeps it short of "marriage". God then Country, right?

In either case, we should remember that this country is founded on freedom. We cannot snub our noses at others for not having the same beliefs as us. It is our duty as Catholics to help evangelize all peoples; however, it is our duty as Americans to preserve freedom even when we disagree with it. There is a separation of responsibilities and duties in this country; our churches have been failing our society just as much as the country has been failing our society.

We have to take a two-tiered approach to the complex moral issues in this country. We must fight to protect freedom and promote tolerance while working to convince people that our way is the right way.

From an article about the Lakeway plane crash in the Austin American-Statesman:

He'd heard that Syler's childhood friend and former business partner, Curtis Treadwell, had died in a plane crash earlier Tuesday just outside Lakeway, along with Treadwell's wife, Jennifer, their two children and Jason Jones, a friend and business associate of both Treadwell and Syler.

Syler couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. Part of him still doesn't believe it.

"They're young; they've got families; they've got the money," he said.

And now they're gone.

For background, a small jet crashed in Lakeway, TX- a small luxury community outside of Austin. The jet took off from the privately-owned airpark in Lakeway and crashed into a home. No one on the ground was injured but all six occupants died.

Many people forget that not only do the poor and uneducated die young. Death is a reality for all of us now, no matter our age. The frailty of life is not strengthed by money or education. Just as college students are not invincible, neither are the weathy. They can escape some of death's methods by having access to health care, higher-quality foods, physical trainers and housing in environmentally better areas.

However, money is not a shield. It can only buy you material things that can not, would not and could not take away the simple fact that we are frail human beings.

I found this link via Dappled Things about Arizona's Stupid Motorist Law.

I like it :)

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