Spittin' Wicked Randomness Vol. 2
Went to Venice Beach over the weekend. It was the perfect temperature--you could lie in the sun without getting too hot, because there was a soft breeze cooling you down. There were two french girls sunbathing topless right next to us. Went swimming in the ocean, walking along the beach, and generally remembering how much fun it is to get some sun, fresh air and excercise.
People think of California as beach country, but I feel so removed from the beach here. Part of it may be the dry air. In Florida, you can feel, smell, taste the ocean in the air. Sometimes you feel like you're swimming down the street. Part of it is distance. In Eagle Rock, I'm miles away from the ocean. But most of it is convenience. In Florida, you can just go to the beach on a whim. You're on your way home from work, the idea crosses your mind, you head out there. Park the car in a dirt parking lot, walk the few yards over the dunes, take a swim. Everybody knows a good fishing beach, a good swimming beach, a good surfing beach, a beach where everyone hangs out, a beach that's always abandoned. Here, it's such a hassle. Drive across town, pay $15 to park, and you're still half a mile from the water's edge. The beach isn't a part of people's lives. Disneyland is probably a bigger part of people's day-to-day life out here than the beach.
Last week, I took the CBEST test, the last hurtle I have to jump to be certified for teaching ESL. There was so much bullshit involved at the test site. No cell phones, no labels on your water bottles, generally being treated like a child. Reminded me why I dropped out of high school in the first place. All this to make sure people weren't cheating on the test. Seriously, anyone who needed to cheat on that thing should go back to high school. It was 8th grade level stuff, at most. If I thought those kinds of book smarts were any kind of requirement for being a good teacher, I would be alarmed. There were two essay questions. The first one was something like "the local school board has adopted a policy of mandatory, random drug tests for all high school students. Write a letter to the editor attacking or defending this policy." Obviously, my letter was against it, but I took kind of a weird direction with it. My argument was that high school is a time to transition people from childhood to adulthood. This is accomplished through giving them increased responsibility. We grant them the responsibility of driving a car (certainly as dangerous as any drug), and if they prove themselves incapable of handling that responsibility, we revoke it. The random drug tests do the opposite--they take responsibility away from students (the most basic responsibility, that of their own body and mind), so that they enter adulthood untested.
The second essay was something like "tell about something you learned from a friend," so I wrote about guitar techniques I had picked up from Jason. At that point, I was pretty positive that I'd aced the test, so I just had fun writing the essay and not worrying about it.
Peter Bagge apparantly draws cartoons for Reason, the Libertarian magazine. This new one, concerning medical marijuana, is pretty great.
OK, I promise more posts this week, possibly to include musings on Old Boy, Kung Fu Hustle, Southern Comfort, and Nortec Collective. If I don't commit myself, I'll never get around to it.
People think of California as beach country, but I feel so removed from the beach here. Part of it may be the dry air. In Florida, you can feel, smell, taste the ocean in the air. Sometimes you feel like you're swimming down the street. Part of it is distance. In Eagle Rock, I'm miles away from the ocean. But most of it is convenience. In Florida, you can just go to the beach on a whim. You're on your way home from work, the idea crosses your mind, you head out there. Park the car in a dirt parking lot, walk the few yards over the dunes, take a swim. Everybody knows a good fishing beach, a good swimming beach, a good surfing beach, a beach where everyone hangs out, a beach that's always abandoned. Here, it's such a hassle. Drive across town, pay $15 to park, and you're still half a mile from the water's edge. The beach isn't a part of people's lives. Disneyland is probably a bigger part of people's day-to-day life out here than the beach.
Last week, I took the CBEST test, the last hurtle I have to jump to be certified for teaching ESL. There was so much bullshit involved at the test site. No cell phones, no labels on your water bottles, generally being treated like a child. Reminded me why I dropped out of high school in the first place. All this to make sure people weren't cheating on the test. Seriously, anyone who needed to cheat on that thing should go back to high school. It was 8th grade level stuff, at most. If I thought those kinds of book smarts were any kind of requirement for being a good teacher, I would be alarmed. There were two essay questions. The first one was something like "the local school board has adopted a policy of mandatory, random drug tests for all high school students. Write a letter to the editor attacking or defending this policy." Obviously, my letter was against it, but I took kind of a weird direction with it. My argument was that high school is a time to transition people from childhood to adulthood. This is accomplished through giving them increased responsibility. We grant them the responsibility of driving a car (certainly as dangerous as any drug), and if they prove themselves incapable of handling that responsibility, we revoke it. The random drug tests do the opposite--they take responsibility away from students (the most basic responsibility, that of their own body and mind), so that they enter adulthood untested.
The second essay was something like "tell about something you learned from a friend," so I wrote about guitar techniques I had picked up from Jason. At that point, I was pretty positive that I'd aced the test, so I just had fun writing the essay and not worrying about it.
Peter Bagge apparantly draws cartoons for Reason, the Libertarian magazine. This new one, concerning medical marijuana, is pretty great.
OK, I promise more posts this week, possibly to include musings on Old Boy, Kung Fu Hustle, Southern Comfort, and Nortec Collective. If I don't commit myself, I'll never get around to it.
posted by Chris Oliver at 1:54 PM
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