that picture is for the birds

only a mafia don byrd could enjoy it.

science mcas today. used to be that only math and english were required to pass high school, but now, the students need to take a science mcas and pass that too. a lot of long faces today.

the wonders of a good, public education.

saw a couple of good zones recently. pinko, you had mentioned "5 characters in search of an exit." i checked it out last night. awesome. it really spoke to the meaninglessness of much of what we call reality. it was also about the futility of change, but how the attempt must be made regardless. it also seemed to humanize suicide, and acknowledged, through the clown and the dancer, the importance of the arts in keeping us going. it pretty much touched on the whole thing.

also, i dug "long live walter jameson." if this one isn't clear to you, you should certainly see it.

every time i watch a zone, i am reminded of how great this show is. we should all have a steak in people watching serloin's show.

it is now wednesday the 4th of june, o. just trying to keep it reel. got caught in traffic this morning because of a crash. nothing movied for hours. sorry. the puns seem to have a mind of their own.

a student of ours wanted to go on a field trip today, but he had to take the mcas. the mom backed him! i can dig this, because are we stressing freedom and a good time or bullshit standards? well, of course we know what we are stressing, or better yet, what they are stressing, because what we want never seems to factor in to what ends up happening. as it often happens in these cases, the student/parent was black and the administrators/teachers were white. the student/parent is berated by the staff, mocked for not understanding the importance of the test, blah blah blah. but is the test important? important in what sense? the truth is, the test has no intrinsic importance. it is only important because the student needs to pass the exam in order to graduate. but why is that? because some ignorant administrators/bureaucrats decided that he had to. that is the important issue. it's really the only issue.

dig the symbolism. the student, in this case, a black student, attempts to walk away from this artificial world of importance. he longs to transcend this world and have fun, to actually act in a way consistent with his age. he is stopped in this attempt by mediocre whites in positions of authority, who belittle his request and mock the mother who has supported them. the child, according to them, "doesn't get it." doesn't get what? what is there to get? in fact, i believe he does get it. he gets that a 100 of his classmates are getting out of school for a day to go to an amusement park, and he wants to join them. he gets that having fun should trump having your day ruined by a banal, standardized test. he gets, at some level, that this educational world we have constructed, and forced him to be a part of, is unsatisfying.

what is "acting mature?" is taking 6 hours out of your day to answer questions that are completely cut off from your daily life "acting mature?" is administering an exam that you know to be foolish "acting mature?" and if so, what does this say about our modern understanding of maturity? there is nothing mature about the whole enterprise of standardized testing. we have invested the process with great importance, but that doesn't change its fundamental lack of importance.

perhaps there are things a student should know before graduating high school, but they are things that all people should know. they should know that governments lie, especially their own, that elections are rigged, that war is murder on a mass scale, that racism is still a compelling factor through out the world, that millions die of hunger and preventable disease while others get penis enhancement and botox. perhaps they should be taught to treat each other decently, to be exposed to other cultures, great art, the jazz masters, foreign film. perhaps they should explore nature, and be encouraged to get involved in social movements.

none of this will be required. none of it will be mandatory. we will go on as always, investing importance in false things.

and we will keep laughing at and berating those who want to play while the rest of us sweat it out for nothing.

because we have to, and because we have to, they do to. so hey, you're young? we are gonna make you old! you're black? we are gonna make you white! we are gonna make you care about that which we have put in place. we are going to force you to embrace the hurdles we have put in your path, because it is all for your own good.

we did it for you.

we gave you civilization and christianity, a little standardized testing shouldn't bother you.