Another Man Shot in Inglewood by the Same Officer Who Shot the Teenager Earlier This Year

This is just plain out ridiculous. The uncle of one of my students was this man's best friend. The man has two daughters and works at the post office. The police went to the wrong house. Check out more at this link. This is highly upsetting. I will post more tomorrow when I have more time. 

Crazy As Usual

With starting up a new school, I am busy as ever. I can't even find time to sit down and relax (notice I am writing this at midnight!). I have had a chance to travel a little bit. I went to see some family in the Bay and then some peoples in New Orleans. All while my girlfriend is in Cuba for two weeks! Anyway, here is a quick breakdown of the highlights. 

• Went to the Bay and celebrate my 4 year anniversary with my girlfriend (soon to be wifey!) 
• Went to New Orleans - the people have severe post-traumatic stress syndrome - They are struggling, but have a beautiful and proud culture
• Came back to helicopters and arrests across the street. They are doing major sweeps across the area - These sweeps do absolutely nothing. 
• Another young Black man was shot by the cops in Inglewood and then another in Compton while I was gone. 
• On the positive, our school is coming together. I will post up our logo later. 
• At Locke, I was banged on by some South Los bangers. South Los is a Latino gang in the area - I am racially mixed and will often be perceived as many different ethnicities - including Latino. 
• I have so much work to do it is not even funny. I guess I should get to it. 

So here's what happened...

I have not updated this web site for a variety of reasons. I have been putting it up because I wanted to start writing essays on the site. However, I have had little to no time to actually write an essay. The topics were going to be problems of the Black Youth, causes of increase in homicides this year, and the elements of a good teacher. However, I have found myself unable to find the time to do this. I want to start using this site as a daily reflection of my teaching, supplemented with the neighborhood news (which I have not been keeping up with) and the essays. So, all said in done, expect more updates in the future! 

First NY, Now Inglewood

The cops have shot an innocent Black man in Inglewood. The man was with his friends trying to get away from gun shots, and the police start busting on him. He was unarmed, no criminal record, nothing. His crime was being a young Black man. 

Here is what the LA Times reported. 

I want to do something about this, but I don't know what. This is about 2-3 minutes from my house. 

Site Updates

I have added two things to my main blog page. The first is Google Street View. It is a view of my apartments. You can click on it and take a tour around my neighborhood. The second is a link to my ideology. It will gives you a breakdown of my values and how they relate to my actions. Check it out if you are interested! 

South LA to UC Santa Barbara

We had a great time at UC Santa Barbara! We checked out some classes, had a tour of the school with several current students, ate lunch, went to the admissions office for a presentation, went to the beach, and then all got jamba juice! All in all itwas a great trip! Thanks to everyone that participated!

It's Official

At the end of this year, I will stop teaching world history at my current school. This is only my third year of teaching, and it is very difficult to switch schools. I will be a founding teacher at one of the new Animo Locke schools. Locke High School is located about 5 mins further away from my house than my current school, thereby increasing my daily commute from 3 minutes to 8 minutes. On the real though, this was a very difficult decision. Two factors drove my decision: inadequate leadership at my current school, and the opportunity to teach a technology class with no standards. None at all! 

The new class will be a mix of technology, leadership, and ethnic studies. I will create the curriculum for it over the summer. This is where my real passion lies, and where I hope to have a greater impact on the youth than through world history. 

Greendot Schools (who I will heavily criticize later) took over Locke High School and will be converting it into six separate schools. Greendot definitely has flaws, but the quality of education will be better than it is right now, without a doubt. That is why I stay with them. 

The hardest part is facing the reality that I will be leaving my students. It has made this a very difficult decision.