Ten minute drawing. Rahm Emanuel’s teaching manual.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
Saturday coffee.
The Logan Square subway station on Labor Day morning. Red shirts heading down to the CTU rally.
It is a beautiful Fall-like morning in Chicago. A slight chill in the air, but the sky is cloudless and blue.
Last night we sat on the lawn at Ravinia and listened to Yo Yo Ma and The Knights play Schumann. The air was cool and damp last night too. But the sound of Yo You Ma’s cello was magical.
There is a guy on the Logan Square list serve who I have never met. He plays the role of the cranky old man chasing the kids off his lawn.
Yesterday he posted his take on the Chicago teachers contract negotiations:
I get it. To hell with the tax payers. What did the teachers do to earn 16% over
the last four years while our fire & police only got 2% a year? Hold the line
Old school.
The Persuasions.
Saturday coffee.
The Logan Square subway station on Labor Day morning. Red shirts heading down to the CTU rally. It is a beautiful Fall-like morning in Chicago. A slight chill in the air, but the sky is cloudless and blue. Last night we sat on the lawn at Ravinia and listened to Yo Yo Ma and The [...]
Tony at the Red Line Tap.
“Who’s the guy in the white shirt and tie,” I said to Tony as I grabbed my usual stool. Marty handed me a bottle of A Saison Darkly. “Reggie,” said Tony. “He’s my cousin. He works at the Board of Trade.” “You have a cousin who works at the Board of Trade?” “Didn’t I just [...]
Ten minute drawing. The Civil Rights issue of our time.
Click drawing to enlarge.
The Democratic Convention. Bull Connor at the mic. And by the way, the guy has a dream.
If education is the Civil Rights issue of our time, do you invite Bull Connor to the microphone? For the past four years I’ve listened to the Obama administration talk about education being the Civil Rights issue of our time. Here’s what President Obama [...]
The in box. Port Jefferson Station teachers from Long Island will wear red on Monday in solidarity.
Fred, The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, a membership of approximately 300 teachers located on Long Island, will be wearing red on Monday in support of our brothers and sisters in Chicago: http://thepjsta.org/2012/09/06/pjsta-members-please-wear-red-on-monday/ Additionally we are making a donation to their solidarity fund.
To those union leaders who seem at a loss as to how to extend support to the CTU.
To those union leaders who seem befuddled as to how to extend support to the Chicago Teachers Union, perhaps they can copy this. Sort of use it as a template. AFT Statement in Support of Chicago Teachers Union WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten in support of the Chicago Teachers Union. “Yesterday, on a call [...]
Fighting for social justice at Social Justice High School in Chicago.
My pal Matt Farmer interviews Katie Hogan. Hogan is a teacher at Social Justice High School in Chicago. Matt also interviews two of SJHS’s students, seniors Rocío Meza and Karen Canales. Katie was one of two teachers who were fired by CPS in order to destabilize the community and the school. The video is followed by [...]
Has Peet’s coffee Starbucked itself?
Those of you who are regular readers know that I am a loyal customer of Peet’s coffee. The coffee is good. But what has made me loyal are the employees. We have made friends, good friends, with many of them over many years. So I said I would be glad to share this with you. [...]
Ten minute drawing. Acceptable words.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
K-12 is missing in action at the Democratic National Convention.
If you were watching the convention, even the gavel to gavel coverage on CSPAN, you would be hard pressed to hear anything that referred to the last four years of education policy coming out of the Department of Education. Or plans for the next four years. The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss compares the 2008 Democratic Party [...]
In Chicago. Don’t miss an evening with Jonathan Kozol.
Activist author Jonathan Kozol will speak in Chicago – the epicenter the corporate-style “education reform” storm – on September 27 about his new book Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. Kozol argues that there is a profound connection between urban poverty, racism and educational neglect. Today, he says, the public schools [...]
Ten minute drawing. Democratic Party poster child.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
Hands around City Hall.
When Jackson Potter told me on Saturday night that we were going to join hands and encircle City Hall, I didn’t really believe it. Believe it.
Former Governor Edgar tells the state on pensions: “Pay up.”
Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar. “Pay what you owe.” Crain’s Greg Hinz reports on former GOP Governor Jim Edgar’s views on the pension issue. Edgar finds no common ground with today’s GOP, the Democrats or even the Civic Committee. Mr. Edgar said he wouldn’t have called that late-August special legislative session that Mr. Quinn called [...]
The in box. Chris Ludkowski takes on Representative Elaine Nekritz
Lill Ludkowski is a teacher in my old district. A union stalwart. Chris Ludkowski is her son. State Representative Elaine Nekritz is a chief sponsor of the pension cost shift that would move the state’s pension payment obligations to local school districts. She also backs benefit cuts to teacher retirees. Whether or not the pension [...]
A f—— conversation between Rahm and Axelrod.
“Hello, Rahm. This is David.” “Hey, Axe. How the f— are you? Good speech last night, huh?” “Yeh. Michelle was great. A home run.” “I meant f—— me.” “Oh. Right. You were good too. A little rough on the teleprompter reading. But good. Yes. Good.” “So, Axe. What the f— is up?” “Well, Rahm. I’ve [...]
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” at the IEA leadership.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” emailed a retired colleague. Last night a notice showed up on the IEA website. It was dated September 4th. The day AFTER Labor Day and the huge teacher support rally in Chicago. The Chicago Teachers Union is on the verge of a strike that could shut down [...]
The IEA’s response to being MIA on Labor Day.
Photo: Sarah Ji When retired teacher and IEA member Sig Lisowski emailed IEA President Cinda Klickna and asked her why the IEA was MIA at the huge Labor Day rally in support of Chicago teachers, she responded: Thank you for your email. I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I’m currently out of [...]
Thanks for dropping by. Three quarters of a million.
I want to thank readers of this blog, which have now passed the three quarters of a million site visits.
The in box. “Al Llorens was there.”
From: sig lisowski Date: September 3, 2012 9:59:38 PM EDT To: “Klickna, Cinda” Subject: Labor Day Why the MIA for the IEA in Chicago today? - Retired IEA member ============== Thank you for your email. I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I’m currently out of state at the Democratic Convention, [...]
Chicago’s a union town. It was Labor Day and not a Democratic Party politician in sight.
There were 20,000 union members in red gathered in the Loop yesterday for Labor Day. AFSCME, the SEIU, the Fraternal Order of Police and the Chicago Teachers Union. I even saw a guy with a t-shirt from the Sprinkler Fitters Local 281. There were two groups missing in action. I’ve already let my unhappiness with [...]
Ten minute drawing. Illinois Democrats and IEA bureaucrats.
Click on drawing to enlarge.
An injury to one is an injury to all. But not if you’re the IEA.
Check out this photo by Sarah Ji. Big Labor Day Rally in Chicago. Lots of unions turned out. Now go to the Illinois Education Association website. Notice anything? There is no mention of the huge Chicago Labor Day rally. In support of who? Right. Teachers. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union. Affiliated with the [...]
“Look up! Look down! Chicago is a union town!”
I heard everything from ten thousand to eighteen thousand. I say twenty. Matt Farmer half jokingly said that the Tribune is reporting 326. We filled Daley Plaza in a sea of red. We surrounded Rahm’s City Hall and poured from the sidewalk on to the street. We marched down Clark Street to the headquarters of [...]
The in box. From Tom Olson, former SFC member, on Jonah at the ASCD.
Fred, As a former high school and college political science teacher, I also agree with protecting the right of free speech. I, as you can see from the open letter to Edelman (below) have also seen him “up close and personal.” Given his adoption of the anti-teacher corporate agenda for education reform (read “deform”), I [...]
In box. Jonah Edelman at ASCD.
Fred, ASCD cancelled him has a speaker……I hope everyone is happy that FREE SPEECH is now the new “squeaky wheel”………..so much for a nonprofit being A-Political…….isn’t the choice of the educator to attend his speaking engagement …..not the choice of ASCD to not allow him to speak? Horrible times we live in now…….. - not [...]
Guest blog. I find myself unable to sit still.
By Jerry. On the eve of a historic battle between Chicago teachers and Rahm Emanuel, in what is to be the biggest fight for quality education in recent history, I find myself unable to sit still. I am in awe of the Chicago Teacher’s Union and their leadership and, at the same time, genuinely annoyed [...]
Ten minute drawing. Romney borrows slogan from the Ku Klux Klan.
Based on an article from Atlantic Magazine. The Trouble with Keeping America American.
Ryan and Scott Walker’s Janesville GM blooper revisited.
Back in January I posted a story of Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Blooper. Who knew the story would blow up again at last week’s Republican National Convention? In January Walker put up a giant billboard right in front of the shuttered Janesville General Motors plant. The billboard claimed that Walker Creates Jobs for Wisconsin. A claim [...]
Washington Post editorial: Illinois Dems are a problem for the national party on the eve of the DNC.
The Washington Post editorial today: The Democrats Pension Dilemma. For the party of activist government, the competing interests of their public-sector union backers and their other constituents spell trouble, in both political and policy terms. It’s a conflict that Democrats may be uniquely well positioned to resolve, given their close ties to unions — or [...]
The Sunday Mail.
. John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary: “Who’s on first?” The Springfield art of finger-pointing and double talk. My old Atlanta buddy Jim Skillman wrote an op-ed piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They wouldn’t print it. He wrote that all freedom loving people should celebrate Atlanta’s surrender to General Sherman. It is an event which took place [...]
Guest blogger: “Do they think WE’RE idiots.”
By guest blogger: MiC Shortly after a special session of the Illinois General Assembly ended a couple weeks ago, Representative Daniel Biss described the failure to enact pension “reform” by the politicians assembled in Springfield this way: “We all look like idiots.” This line, widely reported, pretty m