Kobe

A big thanks to the Metropolitician for recommending my blog to his readers. Those of you that have come here from his site will soon learn that I won't ever live up to his compliments. You'll notice that there's a consistent theme of weird bodily functions and frustration with my time here in Korea. Take my last post. Who wants to read my bitching about my job? That's no fun. I don't really like listening to other people talk about their jobs, so why do you want to read about mine?
I blame my last post, though, partly on the Metropolitician. I'm completely flattered and grateful that he took the time to direct attention to this website, but that also put pressure on me to write something new. Problem was, I had nothing to say two days ago. What is even worse is that I had just finished a long and frustrating day at school. A bad mood plus forced writing equals a crap post. I became every person that bothers me when they bitch about work. I do, however, think cultural differences in education is an interesting topic. It would just be more interesting in a different, more positive context. So I'm sorry for my negativity, and I'll try not to write when I'm in a bad mood.

While copying some stuff mid-class, my boss pulled me aside for a quick chat about beef. He's taking all of the faculty out for dinner tomorrow night and made a special point to tell me about the quality of the beef at the restaurant where we're going. He's a talker. I don't know how we got to this point in our conversation, but, apparently, Kobe Bryant's father named him Kobe because of the quality of kobe beef. He wanted his son to have a strong name that meant he was the best of the best. The beef at the restaurant isn't quite as good as kobe beef, and it probably isn't even as good at being meat as Kobe Bryant is at being a basketball player. All I know is that my boss couldn't stop telling me, a guy who has never eaten beef or pork, about how good it was going to be tomorrow night. Ten minutes after some beefy conversation, I reminded him that I was leaving students unsupervised in a classroom, and I don't eat beef. That didn't really stop him from making sure I knew how good the meat will be tomorrow night. It's going to be epic. All I'm going to think about while my coworkers are eating beef is how good Kobe Bryant is at basketball.

Rotating:

Mentira- Marcos Valle If you're into groovy Brazilian music, this is great stuff.

Ron's Tune- L.A. Carnival I love the horn melody on this song. It starts with almost a bossa feel but moves into a wild jam that's strong till the end.

All Night Long- The Mary Jane Girls It's playing while I write this. I like the vocal style that they had, and with production from Rick James, it's nice and funky.

Got 'Til It's Gone- Janet Jackson Yeah, that's right. I've been listening to Janet. You got a problem with that? This has nothing to do with any Korean influence of crap pop music and everything to do with the fact that it's a good tune. The sample is nice, the groove is set up so well, and Q-tip flows nicely over it all.

Fed Up

It's set. I just told my employer that I will not return for another year or just another month as they asked me to do. In three and a half months, I'm outta here. I don't want this to seem like I don't like Korea, but I can't wait till the end of July. I'll be on auto-pilot until then. There's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm a little upset, though, that I've come to feel this way. I really do wish I at least had bitter-sweet feelings about leaving. After the next few months, maybe I will. But as long as my work situation stays as it is, I don't see myself harboring any regret about leaving.

Things were completely different a few months ago. I wasn't working eight classes in a row three days a week, other teachers weren't working eleven classes a day, and none of us were teaching books way beyond the students' skill level. Morale was good, teachers were fresh, and breaks were common throughout the day. Now, my eight classes in a row seem like a treat compared to what some of the other teachers have to deal with. The owner of the school has gone crazy with adding classes, and has little to no concern for mental well-being or quality of teaching in his school. It's all about him paying off a loan he had to take out to keep the school going, and I'm all about getting out of his school.

It's really a shame because I was so happy at this school when I first got here. I've become so jaded, though, about the way education is handled. It seems as though providing students with any random, American text book is the answer to learning English. Even if the level of the book matches the ability of my students, the subjects and presentation are just too far beyond what they should be expected to know. In most places, presenting material in a context that is easily understood is, if not the norm, something to which teachers or anyone preparing curriculum pay special attention. Here, I'm teaching Korean third graders about Betsy Ross, asking fourth graders whether they live at home or have their own apartment (it was a question in the book), and fifth graders about either the hardships of slavery in America or about the angst that comes with being fourteen (they're 11 or 12). I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted me to teach my first graders with no English experience about The Great Depression. It just doesn't matter to them as long as the money is coming in and the parents are happy. The parents stay happy because a lot of them can't speak English and can only find comfort in the fact that their kids have troubles understanding why Frederick Douglas had a chip on his shoulder.

I wish I could just say 'fuck it' and handle my business without a care. That would make my life a lot easier, but I have the nasty disposition of taking pride in my work. It's too bad because caring about my work and showing a strong effort has just caused me more stress and headaches than I bargained for. Also, this frustration has robbed me of a lot of the comedy I used to find in life; thus, I write blogs like this one. Writing blogs like this just pisses me off even more. It's a vicious cycle. I'm sick of being so preoccupied with this crap that I complain about it. Arrgghh.

Enough of that. Here's what I'm listening to:

Getting Nasty- Ike Turner Ok, he beat Tina. I know. But this song is just a gem. A great funk nugget sampled on Jurassic 5's 'Concrete Streets.'

You Make Me Nervous- Ben McCormick It just came on my itunes while I was shuffling the other day. It had me weak. Funny stuff. Well done Ben.

I Want You- Marvin Gaye My favorite album from Marvin. The arrangements are spot on. The vocals are as good as anything else he did. The mood is set up with perfection.

Capricorn- Cannonball Adderley I love this tune. I'm assuming it's Joe Zawinul laying it down on the Rhodes. The rhythm section sets up a groove so sweet for a beautiful melody blown by Cannonball.

Race

I was listening to a podcast from Real Time With Bill Maher this morning. One of the featured guests was Tavis Smiley who wrote the New York Times best selling book, The Covenant With Black America. They were discussing some statistics showing that six out of ten black men who drop out of high school end up in jail. I don't know what the stats are for any other race, and my point really isn't to discuss this statistic. It's one of many numbers that exemplifies the inequalities in America.

What I do want to discuss is a point that Bill Maher brought up and the reaction to the interview with Smiley. Maher said, in a very similar way that I did in a college term paper, that a reason for alarming statistics like this one is that young black kids are only shown rappers and basketball players as role-models. These professions are made to seem attainable to kids, but we should really be telling them that they won't be NBA stars or a famous rappers. Smiley added that the reason these kids think they can attain these goals is that they don't see any other options in the media. He went on to say, "If we want to lead these kids, we gotta love them. If we want to save them, we gotta serve them." Wise words from a positive leader that is getting little to no major press coverage for his best selling book. Why? Because white America doesn't want to hear about it. As Smiley said, let's tell the American public that people are buying my book everyday and trying to find a plan and solution to make their communities better instead of just talking about the "crisis and pathology of black America."

After the interview with Smiley ended, Jason Alexander--George from Sienfeld--commented that "it's an unfortunate thing that his last name is Smiley. He's just not smiling a lot." This is where I have a problem. Whenever a black man in the media stands up for his beliefs, he is looked at as just another angry black person. I'm not saying that Alexander wanted to intentionally discredit Smiley with his comment. I'm sure he didn't. He was just looking for a cheap laugh at Smiley's expense. By making that joke, though, Alexander really is discrediting Smiley in the eyes of many people because he unintentionally labels him as just another angry black man. He doesn't smile. This illegitamizes (is that a word) Smiley's arguments and perpetuates stereotypes that keep race relations what they are in America, SHIT.

Some may say that it's just a harmless joke that no one will even pay attention, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm part of white America, and I've heard comments like this all the time behind closed doors and in public. We are just as quick to label the educated black man standing up for his beliefs as an angry black man as we are to label the athlete with his hat pulled to the side as a thug. Either way, we're discrediting the legitimacy of their message, profession, and struggle. "Pulling the race card" is a popular, negative phrase we use when a black person brings up race and we don't want to hear about it. We don't like to hear the truth and cannot deal with the guilt. Even as hip-hop has taken over suburban America, acting "black" still carries a stigma. Unless a black person acts in a way that we consider "white," they are not as easily, and often not, accepted into white America. We love watching the crazy, negative antics of black men and will saturate our media with those images, but this is similar to a minstrel show; we'll welcome it as entertainment but would never welcome it in our homes and communities.

A man like Smiley cannot get the attention of Oprah, The Today Show, and other major television shows because he is actually challenging the images and ideas that make us so much money in the media. Even when he is given a spot on cable, someone like George Costanza has to discredit his message by labeling him as the angry black man that never smiles. I'm not claiming to know what it's like to be black in America. I don't. But if I was black in America, I don't think I'd be smiling that much either.

One Shining Moment

I love the 'One Shining Moment' segment after the NCAA basketball championship game. There's nothing like watching a montage of the greatest annual tournament accompanied by a little Luther Vandross. It makes me think of my greatest sporting moments.

As an underrated athletic virtuoso, there are plenty of great days in my sporting history, but picking one is so difficult. Maybe something from my days as a star forward on the eighth grade, super B basketball team--that's right super B, better than regular B and just below A. Maybe something from my days playing the hot corner on the fifth grade 3 and 2 baseball team. Surely there were plenty of bone-crushing hits as a strong safety on the freshman football team or hooker on the club rugby team.

There is no doubt that the funniest thing I ever said during a game came during an intramural basketball game when I was a freshman at UVM. With my team losing by more than thirty points and less than a minute left on the clock, I yelled to the rest of my teammates, "after we make a shot, foul!"

My one shining moment though, came in my senior season at the University of Colorado. It was a crisp, Colorado spring day. There was a competitive spirit in the air, and more than pride was on the line on this fine day. The game was slow to start, but once things got a little close down the stretch, the tension mounted. The score was 18-20 and if I didn't come through with three points, the game would surely have been over. First team to 21 wins. I'd like to, at this time in the story, point out that I was up against two ROTC bozos that surely thought I was just another pansy college boy. I wasn't just playing a simple game of horseshoes, I was fighting for all of the 'liberal' college kids not in ROTC that majored in a useless thing like sociology. There was something to prove. I had two horseshoes to either get a leaner and one within six inches, two leaners, or one ringer. The first shoe had great trajectory, but fell a little short on its' approach. It wasn't close enough for a point. You just can't leave it short when the game's on the line. On my second and final shoe, I took a deep breath, focused on my target, and pitched a gem. It was as if time froze for those few seconds as the most beautifully thrown horseshoe glided through the thin, mountain air like a scud missile. And then...BAM!! Dead on ringer. 21-20. Game over.

I don't think I'll ever forget this one shining moment, and I'm sure it's haunting the ROTC fellows while they are probably fighting rebels in Iraq. That day, I got the best of some of America's finest, and it felt great.

In rotation:

Day Dreamin'- Aretha Franklin There's a little flute riff after the backup singers sing, "hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere, ah," that gets me every time.

One of These Things First- Nick Drake I can't listen to Nick Drake all the time, but every now and then, his music can set a perfect mood. This song is off Bryter Layter, a quality album.

Let's Straigten It Out- O.V. Wright This is soul music. It has a gritty feel with strings that could break your heart.

Land of Fruit and Honey- Roy Ayers You didn't think I'd go this long without another tune from my man Roy. I think this one was recorded when he was doing a lot of work with Fela Kuti. I love the background vocals on the chorus.

Logged On

Now I have more than this blog to inform people about all the insignificant things in my life. I just created a page on myspace.com. For those of you that can't figure out how to click on the "myspace.com" in the last sentence, you can type www.myspace.com/davebrick or just click on www.myspace.com/davebrick. Three options. I've known about myspace for a while but never wanted to create a page. I'm not extremely comfortable with socializing on websites where you post all of the books, picture, movies and music you listen to so people will think you're cool. As a musician, though, myspace seems like a nice place to network with other musicians and bands. Since the site is now over-saturated with various struggling musicians and it has been bought out by Rupert Murdoch, the benefits may not be what they could, but it's still a good way to network with local cats (that's a jazzy term). James Brown put up an ad on my site. I don't care if it was automated or not, the Godfather is on my web page.

This brings me to my top 8. On myspace, you have the opportunity to select eight people to display on your homepage. It's a way to show who wins your personal popularity contest and alienate all of your other friends. I'm not too keen on picking which one of my friends gets in the top 8, so I've chosen to include a bunch of dead folks or people who will never waste their time being my friend. God bless the web.

My job has caused me to do things I usually wouldn't. Because they have completely over extended themselves in the interest of profits, most teachers have ridiculous schedules that keep them working more hours than they should. One of the kindergarten teachers received a new schedule that would have had him working for seven hours without a significant break. That doesn't count the first hour of teaching in the day.

Now, there are only six hours of possible work for me. When the new schedule came out, nothing changed for me, leaving seven classes with one break. I'm not going to get into the crap that goes into making the schedule at work, but I will say that my friend working seven hours straight and me working six hours with a break is ridiculously unfair. Since the extra class that should have never been added in the first place falls during my break, I decided to take it from my work mate. When I told my boss that I'd take it, she asked if I really wanted the class. I told her absolutely not, but it made more sense for me to take it than him. They have no problem screwing him because he's the new guy, but I don't like the way they do business, and I'll do whatever I can to make things right. Even if it means doing uncharacteristically nice things. I'm not looking for any special thanks or bonus points from anyone; I just want to make things right when they're so painfully, obviously wrong.

Only four more months in this country. My head has already left.

In rotation:

She's Leaving Home- The Beatles I think this is my favorite Beatles tune. I can't decide, though, if I like Syreeta's version better or not. It's on her self-titled album. It's a heavy track, thick with excellent keyboard work and production by her ex-husband, Stevie Wonder.

I Can Sho' Give You Love- Willie Hutch This is one of those tunes that I first heard on a mixtape from a good friend. It's one that I can listen to everyday and not get sick of. A slick beat, soft strings, and great vocals make this one a winner.

Easin' In- Edwin Starr Before I knew the name of this tune, I sang something wrong along with the lyrics. I don't remember what it was, but it was in front of someone who knew the lyrics. One of those embarrassing moments. A great tune though.

Everything's Changed- The Matthew Herbert Big Band A great, creative band and such a pretty song. The horn arrangements really make the tune.