We've taken on a lot, and somehow managed to stay in tact. Living life now as a family of 4!

I read this book last week. The author is local, lives in Winnipeg. He came to our school not long ago. He is also the author of several series of graphic novels that my students (and I) love. My vice principal left this in my mailbox and asked me to read it to see what I thought - if we could give it to kids. It's heavy. Well written, compelling, engaging, and heavy . The subject matter is raw and emotional, and whatever redemption there is comes in small steps that don't necessarily resolve the heaviness. Basically, it's real life in a book, and sometimes that is hard to take. I learn a lot reading books like that, and I value this book for that reason, but it is so much like real life that ... well.... sometimes you don't want real life in a book. You want the success story. But maybe my perception is coloured because life seems very heavy right now. Four of my closest friends/family are going through real, serious, life changing events righ...

I showed my grade 9 English class the Mclean's article cover today. We didn't read the whole thing - just showed them the cover, told them a bit about the story, and then asked them what they thought. When I released them to talk in groups (they aren't into whole class discussions, much to my annoyance, because I LOVE THEM), they quickly arranged themselves into groups of 4 or 3 or 2, and I wished wished wished that I could have filmed or even taken pictures to share with you. Every group had more than one 'race' or culture. Every group had a really good discussion (they will talk to me in that context, luckily). Almost every group thought people in other cities shouldn't judge Winnipeg, since racism is everywhere, and everyone wondered why people are still racist when everyone knows you don't judge a book by its cover. Not that some of them didn't have stories of racism; they did. But that wasn't a dominant theme in their lives, thank goodness! ...

The human brain is an amazing thing. It organizes information without consciously doing so. It sorts, finds patterns, predicts and reacts all without your aware self knowing what is going on. This is what leads to stereotyping and then acting on those stereotypes, which is what leads to all discrimination - including racism. I battle this impulse my brain engages in every day. Every time I am shocked when a Filipino student talks back. Every time I expect the girls in hijabs to be polite and express surprise when I hear one of them straddled and pummeled another student in the hallway. When I am surprised that teenage boys turned in the marijuana they found. I work really hard to quell this impulse I have (we all have) and check the unbidden thoughts that enter in my head. Without vigilance in this arena, it is way too easy to fall into a subtle racism that bases expectations of people's behavior on their culture. Yesterday McLean's published an article that really tak...