I love college students. I love their energy and zest for life. I love watching them learn, mature, fall in and out of love, and seek solutions to problems. I love watching them stretch and begin to discover themselves. And I especially love helping them to see their role as leaders and change agents in an imperfect world. However, a new generation of students have arrived on campus who do not see themselves as change agents, but as entitled recipients of a safe space where they are shielded from bigotry. I discovered that this new generation of students was never prepared to survive and thrive in the unexpected age of Trump. Perhaps their parents let their guard down since we had a black president and gay marriage. They never expected that their children would need the resiliency they were armed with to deal with the pushback we are experiencing from white nationalist. We now have to enable and empower students to become activists on their own behalf. And I discovered that this notion is new to them.
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Self-determination
If a person wants to drive me crazy, all she has to do is espouse some version of fatalism. The notion that individuals are powerless and have little influence over the course of their lives or that of their community or country. The belief that circumstances are entirely up to fate and pre-determined by invisible forces drives me crazy. I come from an opposite perspective, believing in self-determination and that individuals and groups working together have the power to improve their lives, communities, the country and even the world.
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Relocation to the Midwest
After the 2016 election when Hillary won the popular vote by some 3 million votes but still lost the election, I suggested to one of my students that it would be helpful if we moved busloads of progressives to the Midwest because the problem that afflicts our nation is segregation.
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Determined White Men
This was a rough week. It was a tough politically charged and emotionally draining week surrounding the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. I spent almost every minute on the treadmill this week writing to senators from my cell phone, mostly venting about the ridiculously rushed process, the lack of documents shared, and the role alcohol often plays in sexual assault. I shared that I believe Ford was assaulted by Kavanaugh and I believe he has no memory of the assault. I also believe Kavanaugh lied, mislead, and misrepresented his past on several occasions. But none of that matters to these fearful and determined white men. Continue reading “Determined White Men”