Recently at dinner a friend asked what I thought of Tim Wise. I knew he had gotten into trouble for his reaction to critics who questioned his speaking at a Teach for America event. The arguments he made pretty much sounded like he was saying, I'm on your side so I can do what I want.

After this dinner, another friend shared this: http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/09/no-more-allies/, a Black Girl Dangerous blog from September which mentions Tim Wise in an argument about "allies"...

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I have been in an ongoing discussion about artists and gentrification. Part of this discussion has stemmed from a piece of artwork by Olivia Robinson Are You There Lord Baltimore? It's Me Olivia Robinson, Citizen Journalist investigating many of the artist-centered developments happening in Station North an Arts and Entertainment District in Baltimore. The piece was on view in an exhibition I curated, Baltimore From Many Perspectives at D center Baltimore from June 15^th - July 21^st. ...

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I attended We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation, a panel discussion about a book of the same title moderated by Mike McGuire, with co-editor Kate Khatib. The panel featured contributors Lester Spence, John Duda, and Ryan Harvey as well as one other speaker whose name I did not catch. The book is a collection of reflections on the Occupy Movement. I have not had the opportunity to pick up the book yet, but the discussion that this panel sparked gave rise ...
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More inspiration from Warren Bennis. I will wax poetic on these thoughts and ideas that are taking root, growing in shape and providing inspiration as I read his words. It is about learning. "Learn what it takes to learn what you should learn - and learn it." These are the words of Aurelio Peccei. The urgency in the notes that I have written as I read confirms that this is something that I must and have and am learning. Always in a state of being open to those things that I need to become, to...
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Patience is something that I have not always found easy to maintain in my life. I tend to be a little impulsive, a little restless and have a hard time waiting. I have realized though that maybe the old adage is true and good things come to those who wait, but not those who wait and do nothing. Things will not happen if one does nothing, but if one knows what one wants and is willing to be open and honest about these things then eventually all the pieces seem to fall into place. I am not sayi...
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It is so funny how we must balance our lives by setting boundaries about what we want, but also being flexible for the right person, place or circumstance. I think of this today as I look for apartments because I was e-mailed by a landlord about a house who in her ad said NO PETS. I replied and told her I had a dog so it was probably not the right match, but she said for the right person and the right dog she would make an exception. It leaves me wondering what makes the "right" person.

I thin...
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"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness... Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."

This quote is by Derrick Jensen from his book Walking on Water. It has got me thinking about the word commitment and what it means. I feel like the idea of commitment in this society is often viewed as a negative thing, as something that weighs on a person rather than frees them. Many of the defini...
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Things that we do cause others pain. Sometimes this is done on purpose, other times we are unaware. The fact that people are often not honest with each other only adds to the amount of pain given and received. I read, "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead today, in the story the main character Miranda's mother tells her that people wear veils as a way to stay happy. This veil allows them to see only a part of what actually exists in reality, but that sometimes the wind blows this veil and they...
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I had a realization after teaching yesterday. My students cast me in their video and I was the first one to be filmed. They had joked about this the week before, but I thought one of them would eventually want to take the part. This week however, when it came to assigning roles, they said that I should be character one. We are making a promotion video for the Who Are You? Youth Media Festival. In the video character one asks, "Who are you?" to different young people and they respond with thei...
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Every time I go into Target or some other large store where it seems that one can buy anything, I have the compulsion to buy a snack. It seems that every aisle one walks down, one is bombarded with some sort of food like substance that would most likely taste good, but in no way shape or form is good for you. I was in Target yesterday trying to buy paper towels, but the store is being renovated and I couldn't find them anywhere. I was hungry, having come straight from work and I did want a sn...
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The title of today's blog is taken from a book by Walter Mosley called "The Right Mistake." The point in the story where I found the title is one in which Socrates Fortlow, a sixty-year-old ex-con has decided to start a school and has gathered a group of people around a table for food and then an intense discussion. Socrates gathers local people of all races and social statuses and then asks them to think about what they can do. He acknowledges that the world is messed up and that most of the...

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I saw Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctor's Without Borders while in New York this past weekend. The film follows four volunteer doctors during a tour with MSF (Médecines Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders). This wasn't a film about MSF however, it was a film about the individuals who have decided to serve with MSF. It investigates the reasons behind the decision to go, the pressure of having to practice medicine in extreme circumstances, and how these experiences affect each doctor...
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I started reading Jean-Luc Nancy's The Experience of Freedom on the beach yesterday. Here are some thoughts I had on the nature of freedom...

Freedom is the actualization of potential. It is not only having the power to act, but the power to represent the self in these actions. Nancy quotes Kant on the subject, "[freedom is] the power to be by means of one's representations the cause of the reality of these same representations." I agree with this statement and believe that our work toward fre...
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Life requires that we are brutal, but only when necessary. Unnecessary brutality is damaging. That said, I have recently decided that I need to go hunting, that there is something in the experience of killing what I am going to eat that is beneficial and that I need to do. I question whether this act would be unnecessary brutality however, when in fact, I can go to any of the grocery stores near me and eat something that is already dead. I don't know if these dead things have been killed with...
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Excellent article on www.counterpunch.org yesterday, April 19 The Diversity Dead End: Inclusiveness Without Accountability by Robert Jensen. Jensen's piece is a response to a comment he received after speaking at a diversity conference on racism and other illegitimate hierarchies. Someone asked him why he thought it was necessary to focus on the divisiveness of language instead of just accepting differences and asked if he wasn't being part of the problem instead of the solution of bringing p...
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but don't get in the cage in order to let them out.

Having made the decision to commit myself to working toward a more just and equitable world and a world in which I can achieve freedom, but not at the cost of others' freedom, I begin to realize the scope of how this commitment has changed my life. I realize the extent to which it causes me to reflect on my actions, both personal and professional. And also the extent to which it has made me realize, in working with people who have been oppres...
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Society does not support its artists. This leads many to stress, poverty, and the outskirts of society, which then seems to have created the myth that genius comes with madness, excess, and oddity. This myth is perpetuated by popular culture and the art world. And artists that challenge this myth are few and far between. Too many happily accept that to be a genius they must remove themselves from others, make themselves different, special somehow. Instead of nurturing their ties with the worl...
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I work mostly with middle schoolers. And I love my middle schoolers. For the most part I understand why they make the decisions they do, what drives their moods, and what things effect them. I remember very well being that age and being overly excited most of the time. A couple weeks ago one of my students said to me, "I'm shining Ms. Sarah, you can see that." And I could. A boy had just said something to her and she was visibly glowing. I asked her though - because at that point she was havi...
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Why do so many people only think about themselves? I understand the importance of needing to know what one wants and being able to articulate it, otherwise it will never be had, but at the same time, when what one wants will have an effect on another person, the other person's desires and needs should be taken into account before one acts. Relationships must be reciprocal in order to be healthy. This has much to do with the Walmart Remington debate. If Walmart was a person (which actually as ...
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There was an article on counterpunch yesterday about prosecuting George W. Bush for war crimes. The focus of the article was Charlotte Dennett and Vincent Bugliosi. Dennett who ran for attorney general in Vermont in 2008 made a campaign pledge to appoint Vincent Bugliosi as a special prosecutor to seek a murder indictment against George W. Bush for the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Dennett did not get elected, but she and Bugliosi are continuing to work to hold the former president account...
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I am again addicted to caffeine. I had kicked it and then during a trip to New York, I somehow fell into old habits again. I have only been drinking a half-caffeinated cup of coffee a day, but now I need it. Last week I didn't. Addictions are an interesting phenomenon. I am also currently addicted to sugar. I am glad I have never been addicted to anything stronger because I have a hard enough time with coffee and sweets. My lifestyle at the moment does not really support an addictionless life...
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Thank you Carl for responding to yesterday's entry with the following quote. I think it is excellent and inspired my topic for today.
 
"The word warrior, by itself, may mean a creator of war or a warmonger, but the warriors of Shambhala are the opposite. The Shambhala warrior does not create war, at all, but is somebody who creates peace. The warriors of Shambhala are those who are interested in subjugating their own desires for war and for aggression. The quality of sadness is precisely the h...

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