Proposition 19: "i was gonna go to church, but then i got hiiiiigh"

Yesterday, when I walked into school with my "I Voted" sticker, I saw one of my students in the main office, and he immediately said:

"Ms. Kiefer, did you vote for that marijuana thing???"

Many of y'all non-Californians know about the proposition on our ballots yesterday that would have legalized (an ounce or less) of marijuana in limited settings (in private homes, or in designated spots for marijuana, such as cannabis clubs).

from

Now, I don't smoke weed.  I hate the smell, I hate it when my students come in with glazed red eyes, and I hate smoking anything.  Ugh, just makes me cough and gives me a headache.  And I have to confess that I think stoners are kinda lame, especially when they're over the age of 17.  I mean come on, dude.  I have no problem with people who smoke weed occasionally (I do live in California after all), but I'm a little judgey about those whose lives revolve around the ganja.

That said, I voted for Prop 19, cause I figure, if people are gonna smoke it, we might as well regulate and tax it, cause Lord knows our state could use the money!  I mean, public schools have four furlough days this year.  WTF?!  

But it didn't pass.  In any case, I was talking to my 5th period about the issue yesterday, when GM said this:

"I was in this Big Brother Big Sister program & I had this white dude & I went through his stuff while he was in the shower, & I found some marijuana in this pill bottle up in his drawer.  And he try to tell me he use it for MEDICINE, he be lyin' like hell! I took a piece of it and I gave it to my brother!"

HA!  Tooooo funny.  I mean, it's not legalizing marijuana in limited forms would mean that the world would come to this:

from

Geez.

All-work-no-play

Y'all are gonna witness a very disciplined Claire this weekend.

♥

(Or rather, not witness, since I will hopefully be absent from the blog world).  As much as I'd love to spend the weekend playing around with my cronies, drinking outside in the sunshine, and taking a little beach trip, 'tis not gonna happen.  I'm gonna have my weary head in the books all weekend working on these two things:

1. Voice of Witness writing

You may remember the interviews I did in the South this summer.  I met with four amazing women who had recently been released from prison (and who were brave enough to share their stories with me).  Well, as you can imagine, those recorded interviews had to be transcribed into documents, and now they have to be whipped up into first person narratives.  Tonight is slated for continuing to immerse myself the writing styles of past Voice of Witness books, and tomorrow is all about putting pen to paper (i.e. fingertips to keyboard).  Suffice to say that Sunday I'll be taking a break for football!

2. Campaigning against this.

I don't talk about politics very often on my blog, because frankly, I hate arguing.  But fighting against the death penalty is in my blood--it's in my heart--and it's a big part of who I am.  (If the state doesn't stop the planned execution of Albert Brown, I will do a longer post on this next Tuesday, before heading to San Quentin for an evening vigil).

That said, it's Friday!  And today, my Friday loves are New Orleans themed:

Summergirl

1. Abita Purple Haze

my Whole Foods shopping cart

New Orleans-brewed Abita beer is hard to come by in San Francisco . . . which was why I was overjoyed when Summer told me I could find it at Whole Foods!  Needless to say, I picked up two 6-packs this week, and will be happily sipping away while watching the Saints/Falcons game on Sunday morning (big game for me: I grew up in Georgia, then moved to New Orleans at 18).  Have you had Purple Haze raspberry wheat beer??  If not, get yourself to a Whole Foods, stat.

2. Drew Brees

hi, I'm Drew Brees, and I'm sweet and precious and an amazing quarterback who's gonna lead the Saints in beating the Falcons this week

3.  This Louisiana girl 

is well on her way to makin' a baby!  Fingers & toes crossed, prayers sent up, chants repeated!

Happy Friday everyone--hope your weekends involve more fun than mine will!

p.s. Enter my adorable etsy giveaway!

p.p.s. Make the black bean chili I posted yesterday!

A very very good day.

Yesterday was a pretty magical day. This is how it went down:

*It started with my second acupuncture appointment with Thuy, which was even more amazing than my first. Pretty sure this is going to be an incredible addition to my routine.

*I came home relaxed from acupuncture, picked some tomatoes from the garden, and sat down with my computer and started filling out unemployment forms. I was in the midst of trying to figure them out, when . . . I got word that my job was saved! We got fully funded and I get to go back to Balboa next week!!

*I jetted across the street to get some celebratory champagne, and toasted with my roommate (and dear friend whom I LOVE) as soon as she got home.

*California lawmakers declared Prop 8, the highly controversial proposition declaring gay marriage illegal in California, unconstitutional! YAY FOR LOVE! This is such an amazing victory. I'm proud of my state.

In general good news . . .

1. I got an email from a former friend/boss at Tulane, inviting me to come to New Orleans in late October for a 5 Year Katrina Remembrance event! Dave Eggers is a keynote speaker, and there's going to be a panel about the Voice of Witness books on wrongful incarceration/exonerated people and women who've suffered abuse and neglect while in prison. I was invited to participate in the panel discussion, which includes flight/hotel/meals in New Orleans. I'm pretttttttty excited. Anyone wanna meet me here?

The Columns Hotel, aka my favorite place in New Orleans

Trying to convince Summer B to take a lil trip home and hang out with me in NOLA!

And speaking of Summer, go congratulate her on her daddy's cancer being in remission!

Lastly, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I made a damn good dinner last night to go with my celebratory champagne. You see, my mama's kinda famous for her squash casserole. Those of you who've had it know what I'm talking about it. I replicated it quite nicely, gotta say, and made a caprese salad with tomatoes from the garden. (But no, I can't take credit for growing them). Check it:

deeeeelish

nothin' like mama's squash casserole!

And lastly, I've developed an addiction, y'all. To Friday Night Lights. It's only been a few days, and I've already finished the first season, thanks to my friend Doro's Netflix Instant Watch, or whatever it's called. In particular, I've developed an addiction to the hunkiest man alive:

Tim Riggins, ladies and gentleman. Tim f'ing Riggins.

Inspired.

Yesterday I met some people I will never forget.

Some of you know about Voice of Witness, the book series spearheaded by Dave Eggers, which confronts contemporary human rights crises through oral history. There are currently four books in the series: one about people who were wrongfully convicted and exonerated from prison, one about those displaced during and after Hurricane Katrina, one about undocumented workers in the U.S., and one about Sudanese refugees. All of which are full of extremely powerful narratives from those most directly affected.

A few months ago, my friend Mimi (who is Executive Director of Voice of Witness) contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in helping work on their fifth book, which will hopefully come out next year, focusing on the abuse and neglect that many women suffer when they are incarcerated. Of course, I agreed.

Yesterday I got up at 5 am and drove to Montgomery, Alabama to meet with two women at the AIM (Aid for Inmate Mothers) center downtown. I prepared my (incredibly futuristic) audio recorder and sat down with the first woman I was to interview. To say that she silenced me with her strength, resilience, and grace would be a drastic understatement.

The same thing happened with the next woman I interviewed. And then I drove to Birmingham, and was once again stunned by the story that came forth from this woman. All three of them had spirits & bodies that had been crushed, and all three of them were humble, gracious, and so unbelievably brave.

After I left the last woman's hot, humid living room in Birmingham, where we sat together swatting flies and in the loud hum of her fan, I drove to a Cracker Barrel and had dinner by myself in rural Alabama (sweet tea, fried okra, macaroni & cheese, and red skin potatoes). How's that for country? I figured I could use the time to sit alone and think about my new heroes.

Man, are most of us so, so lucky.

If you feel so inclined . . .

As most of you know, the funding for my job has been cut entirely for next year. San Francisco's Department of Children, Youth, and Families--our primary funders--are currently revising their budget proposal, which means that they're literally in the process of deciding which programs to reconsider funding. So crucial!

The chairman of the Board of Supervisors is John Avalos, SF City Supervisor for District 11 (the district my high school's in!). Imagine my surprise when I walked into our graduation ceremony today and the program said:

Keynote Speaker: John Avalos

Avalos speaking at our graduation today

I immediately texted one of my 5th period rascals and asked if he was still in the neighborhood. When he confirmed that he was, I snuck him in the back door of graduation and we planned a sneak attack. When Avalos was done speaking, MP and I bombarded him on the way out the side door paparazzi-style. MP said "Can I please have five minutes of your time?" Avalos nodded and we gathered in the hall, where Matt and I serenaded him with all the reasons he needs to rally for funding for ROOTS! Avalos gave me a business card with two email addresses on it, and suggested I send another "mini proposal" to each of them.

My boss (who is working tirelessly to save ROOTS) says that what we need to be doing right now is overwhelming the Board of Supervisors and Maria Su--the head of DCYF (our funders!)--pleading that they add back our program. This means that we need to get in as many calls and emails as possible! Those of you know me or my students, and/or who have any personal connection with the effects of incarceration . . . if you have just two minutes to leave a message with Supervisor Avalos or Maria Su (the head honcho at DCYF), I'd be eternally grateful:

John Avalos

San Francisco City Supervisor, District 11

(415) 554-6975

john.avalos@sfgov.org

Maria Su

Director, Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)

(415) 554-3547

maria@dcyf.org

Here is the email I just sent off to John Avalos:

Hi Supervisor Avalos,

Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to talk to my student, MP, and me this afternoon at Balboa's graduation. I know that it's a frenzied time of year, and everyone's pressed for time (and money!), but it meant so much to us to have your ear for a few minutes to chat about Community Works' ROOTS program.

I've taught ROOTS, a program at Balboa High School for children of incarcerated parents, for the past four years. Honestly, there are far more students at Balboa who've been impacted by incarceration than I can serve. I've been so fortunate to teach as many of them as possible for the past four years, and I beg you to rally for Community Works to get the necessary funding to keep us going for another year.

Most of my students are classified Special Education, many have severe emotional disturbances, and all have been wrecked by the prison system (their family members have been incarcerated, and many of them have been incarcerated in juvenile hall themselves). I wish you could have seen them pile into the auditorium at CIIS last month, and read their brave, eloquent stories about witnessing their parents' arrest and incarceration in front of 200 people. It was moving, to say the least. They have such a capacity to shine; they just need individualized attention and special accommodations to access their feelings about incarceration. I believe with all my heart that programs like ROOTS are the most successful tools in interrupting the cycle of incarceration that plagues our society (and specifically, our young people in District 11).

Please encourage DCYF to fund Community Works' ROOTS program at Balboa High School. The amount of money we are requesting is marginal, comparatively, and it would earn four times its value in success and heart--I promise.

I will send a "mini proposal" to Peter Masiak and Raquel Redondiez, as you requested. Thank you again!

Claire Kiefer

Community Works ROOTS Teacher

Balboa High School

Please keep your fingers crossed that we get good news. I just can't bear the thought of not being here next year, teaching my little monsters. It's unimaginable. :(

Thank you!

Somebody get me some flats

cause it looks like I might be standing in the unemployment line come July. I've been teaching ROOTS, a class for kids who've been severely impacted by the prison system (they've been incarcerated and/or have incarcerated parents) for the past four years. I LOVE MY JOB SO MUCH. I teach two classes of ROOTS per day (plus a Study Hall), and the rest of the day have time to do things like develop an engaging curriculum, meet with students who are in trouble, intervention/a little counseling, things like that. It's tough, but it's pretty much a dream for me, as it combines everything I'm passionate about (underserved kids, the prison system, art, education, creative writing, social justice).

But as many of you know, California's in the midst of a budget crisis, and guess what gets cut first? Teachers, social programs, services for marginalized youth. WTF?! Last night I stood with some amazing allies & my die-hard boss & one rockstar student at San Francisco City Hall for five hours, pleading with the Board of Supervisors to reinstate funding for ROOTS at Balboa High School. My students are the most vulnerable, struggling kids in the school . . . and they need us! Cross your fingers that the Mayor's office musters up some empathy and solidarity and gives us the money that we need to make this happen for the kiddos! Otherwise I might be doing one of these two things:

fries

prossy

Ugh. But to change the subject to something much more awesome, check out my piece about preteen crushes on author Nina LaCour's amazing online "journal," Chelsea I Want My Flannel Back. It's called Edward I Want My Dignity Back, and it's an homage to my 7th grade crush . . . Edward Cauthorn. :) If you like Mortified and mix tapes and references to the 90's, Chelsea I Want My Flannel back will be right up your alley. :) Here's a preview:

Born Free

beagle puppy

baby Suri

dirty martini

These are just a few of the things I have to remind myself of in order not to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge after watching M.I.A's new video Born Free. We need to discuss this . . . have y'all seen it? I'm dying to know what other people think, as I've been obsessing over it since I watched it ( . . . okay, repeatedly) last night.

Typically, I'm a champion of anyone who is willing to talk frankly about the rampant racism and racial profiling in our country and/or confront genocide directly. Or anyone who addresses these things in his or her art. I think it takes a lot of bravery to talk about these toughest issues; issues that many people don't really like to think about. It's much less stressful to think about beagle puppies & the cutest baby ever & martinis, for sure.

M.I.A and director Romain Gavras hold nothing back in their new video. They create a dusty, violent world in which American soldiers wage a war on redheads--a seemingly arbitrary group of people based on a superficial characteristic--and transport them to a concentration-camp like desert, where several of them, including the 9 minute video's "main character," are viciously killed. Don't watch it if you don't want to be disturbed by these images . . . I kind of wanted to bleach my brain when the video ended. And then I watched it again. That's the kind of controversy this video summoned within me.

On one hand, this music video/short film seems over the top, excessively vulgar, and displays all of the wretched violence that so many of us complain exists within modern movies and video games. Upon first watching it, I thought "WTF?! This crosses every line I can think of! I'm preemptively mad at M.I.A for the nightmares I am sure to have tonight!" But then I slept on it, and I woke up this morning thinking, "How is it vulgar to showcase the kinds of violence that currently exist in our world, especially in our country, which has a history of things like the Native American slaughter, slave brutality, and the Japanese American Internment?" I mean seriously, it was only in 1942 that then President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering that all Japanese Americans be taken to internment camps.

So if you've seen the video, please vote! It might help settle me down a bit to hear what other people think:

a. M.I.A is a f'ing warrior! She's amazing for bringing these issues to light. So what if it makes people uncomfortable; we need to fight against racism and genocide!

b. This video is totally grotesque and disturbing and she's deranged for having made it.

c. I can't/don't want to watch it.

d. I'm torn! She's a deranged warrior. ;)

Tell me what you think tell me what you think tell me what you think!!! And then go back and look at the pics of the puppy and baby Suri. :)