Catching Up

 It has been a couple of weeks since last writing, and I need to do some catching up on myself as it is warranted.  Luckily today is a slow day at school, as my students are in what is called MAP testing for the majority of the day.  Therefore, there are a few things I wanted to catch up and reflect upon since opportunity allows.

To begin, the final part of my doctoral journey arrived Monday - I have a complete set of doctoral regalia now.  It feels good to have that, and now I feel like a Ph.D.   With the diploma, dissertation, and regalia, and almost a year to get it all, I feel complete.  I also was able to get my article submitted to the academic journal and it should be up for publication soon.  Having three published articles and a conference presentation will go far in my pursuits of opportunities.

The second thing to talk about is my music collection.  I have decided to include all the music I want to preserve on a very large flash drive - it has 124 gigs storage - and so far I have a MASSIVE collection that I have both gleaned from other drives as well as downloading from Internet Archive - there are several large collections of original recordings of many obscure dance orchestras on there, and I downloaded a significant number of them.  It doesn't totally replace my entire CD collection I lost, but it is a good start.  My plan with my music collection now is to just get CD reissues of some of my favorite original LPs that are not available as downloads, and this third incarnation of my music collection will be a lot smaller but still substantial.  I won't go through the extensive cataloging system I had before either, because frankly I don't need to now. I have literally shelves of original recordings now within a device that comfortably fits in the palm of my hand.  Technology advances, and I guess I need to keep up.

I also want to talk about dreams again.  I have done extensive discussions over the years about dream interpretation, as I believe that dreams are significant.  Unfortunately a huge number of resources on the market on this topic are often done by occult/New Age writers who get a lot wrong, and what I aim to do is develop a Christian understanding of dreams as they are also a prominent thing in Scripture as well.  Understanding and writing down dreams is something I feel is integral to one's emotional and spiritual health, as God uses dreams to talk to us sometimes.  That being said, I wanted to share a recent dream I had which really has stuck with me.

In the dream, I was in what looked like a facility with my house nearby, and a little girl of about 7 or 8 was up for adoption.  She was of Mongolian heritage in the dream, and she was such a tiny, dainty little thing and so beautiful.  I was ready to adopt her, and was in the process of doing so.  As I recall, in the story the little one was more or less abandoned by her parents, and she was somehow believing they were coming back for her.  However, in the dream I was talking to the office clerk who informed me her parents returning was something that wasn't going to happen, and she encouraged me to adopt the little one. The girl at first was hesitant, as she was still thinking her parents would miraculously show up, but in time my heart was warmed when she called me "Daddy."  I really felt connected to that little girl, and I felt a deep love for her as if she were my own.  There most certainly is something to a vivid dream like that, and upon researching it, I learned the following things:

1. New beginnings and change

2. A desire to nurture and care

3. Embracing the unknown

4. A strong desire for family or love

5. Expression of desires or needs I may not be consciously aware of

6. Assuming new responsibilities

In many of these instances, all of this has happened in the past 6 months or so as I have been forced for one thing to embrace the unknown and assume new responsibilities.  I also do want family, and I would love to have something to nurture as my own.  There are also things I know I am not aware of but my dreams bring that to the surface of my subconscious. And, the whole idea of new beginnings and change is something I have been forced to embrace over the past 5 years, as I have been in a constant state of flux.  There are some of these areas I am aware of but cannot discuss them as the time is not right for them here, but my goal is to reflect upon that when it comes to pass later and then share it.  However, these dreams are not an accident nor are they simply a reaction to the pizza I had for dinner yesterday. On the contrary, they both reflect real feelings but also may contain a message.  It is up to me to determine what that is now. 

This week's reflection is somewhat eclectic and brief, but it summarizes what has been going on.  I should be back again next week with further insights on things, so thanks for stopping by and will see you soon. 

Making Some Reflections

 I am writing twice this week as it is a slower week.  Today at school we are just having parent/teacher conferences virtually and we have a slow timeslot now.  But, that gave me some impetus for refleciton today so allow me to ramble as I share.  

From this fourth-floor vantage where my classroom window is, I have a panoramic view of everything.  If I look west, there is the skyline of downtown Baltimore.  If I look east, the glittering golden domes of St. Michael Church, a Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic parish, catch the rays of sunlight which intensify the golden splendor of the beautiful onion-shaped domes of the church.  Looking south, there is a nice view of the Inner Harbor, which if you go straight down Chester Street here will take you there.  A variety of boats of different sizes are hitched to docks down on the harbor, and in the distance the huge smokestacks of a factory can be seen.  While the weather is hazy this morning, it is the first day of Spring and thankfully the chilliness of the winter is a distant memory (at least for now - March can still have the potential of a big snow if one should come into the area).  Although I am battling a cold right now - my throat thankfully is not as scratchy but the stuffiness of my nose is still a thing and the unmistakeable histamine smell is lingering in my nostrils - I am able to function OK and the fact we have a relatively light day here helps a lot.  Let me now just vent a bit.

Teaching high schoolers is not for the faint of heart - while many of them are decent kids, there are disruptive troublemakers who can be a major headache for all of us as teachers. Having a break from some of them is a huge help for us, and it helps the teachers to refocus too.  While it is short-lived (Monday class is back in session) the breaks are refreshing and welcomed.  Many students get a skewered idea of what a teacher thinks - they seem to think we are just chomping at the bit to flunk them or write them up for bad conduct.  In reality, that is not the case.  We want all of our students we are challenged with educating to succeed, but when some slack off in their studies or act up like petulent children in class, they make things harder for themselves.  As I am on the verge of surviving my first year as a full-time educator, it has been a bit of hit-and-miss for me.  I know I am not perfect, and on occasion I may lose composure with students that push my buttons.  Also, given I was thrown into this in the middle of a quarter, I have had to wing the lesson plans somewhat and that has taken some adjustment as well.  However, it also is giving me some lessons to learn for next year too, and as I get ready to navigate the 79 high school juniors I teach in five classes to the finish line over the next couple of months, I am making mental notes of what I could do better, what I have done that is effective, and also I always keep an eye open for new ideas.  The classes I have next year will be different students, with completely different personalities, and it will take understanding them to deal with them as well.  But, at least this year I have managed to gain some insights and I can apply those to my next group in the coming academic year. 

Sitting in faculty meetings tends to be enlightening as well.   One very good idea this school has is that our grade-level and departmental faculty groups meet together fairly regularly, and they are often very productive meetings.  However, you notice things too from your fellow teachers.  Some teachers, for instance, are complaining about problem students in one class who in my classes are generally not an issue.  Likewise, I have problem students who do well conduct-wise with other teachers.  One unfortunate trap we as educators fall into though is not being able to recognize things such as learning disorders or other issues the students may face.  I know of at least one student I have who is autistic, and another one I am thinking struggles with dyslexia.  Both are Black kids, and I note similar issues with them that other teachers have too.  However, knowing the complexities of things like autism and dyslexia makes a teacher more effective at reaching those students, and while it is easy to dismiss these kids as lazy, apathetic, or something else, patterns should be noted and investigated, as there may be an underlying cause.  If a teacher can successfully identify that root issue, a plan can be formulated which will capitalize more on the student's strengths and less on their perceived complications.  A good guidance counselor at a school can be an asset in this area as well.  We as teachers don't have the capacity to diagnose learning disabilities, but we can raise awareness of the potential and work with school authorities and the parents to find ways to sort through the issue.  Therefore, if a student displays certain patterns, it should be documented and then recommended for further inquiry with the proper sources.  

As can be seen, we are in the process of developing a pedagogy or an educational philosophy.  An approach based on empathy balanced with discipline will definitely go a long way.  If the student don't appreciate the teacher at the time, they may later.  The biggest and most pleasant surprise is in the future when a former student approaches you and tells you what an impact you had on them, especially when you did not feel at the time you accomplished anything.  Thank you for allowing me to share. 

The Settling Into Routine

 I have done a fairly detailed chronicle of my journey since last October, and in all honesty, it is an adventure I overall do not care to repeat.  After almost 6 months of feeling very unsettled, similar to a fish out of water, I am finally in the vernacular "finding my groove" as it were.  A couple of trips to the storage facility Barbara and I share in West Virginia has reunited me with much of my personal paperwork and some other things I needed, and we are not quite done yet.  At the present time, the storage unit still holds about 50% of our stuff, so it will be some time yet before total restoration happens.  But, at least now it is feeling better than it did. 

As I mentioned as well, two weeks ago today Barbara moved into the room next to mine, and for the first time in several months we are again under the same roof.  While people may find the relationship Barbara and I have odd (it baffled the Dominican friar at the church when we told him of us last week), it works for us.  We are no longer married obviously, but we are still close and still good friends and that speaks much of a level of maturity on our part.  It is bad mythology to assume that a divorced couple has to hate each other's guts, and in all honesty it is something that society has bought into contributing to its own detriment.  Divorce is tragic in any circumstance admittedly, but life happens - and so does divorce.  Barbara and I thought years ago that we would be married no matter what, yet we ended up doing the unthinkable and divorcing after almost 28 years of marriage. We don't blame each other for it happening, as we were neither totally at fault nor were we totally perfect either.  In many cases, we were victims of circumstance - being pushed by a Pentecostal cult into a marriage when we were not ready for it, and then allowing divisive in-laws to get into our business and cause further trust issues.  When it was all said and done though, Barbara and I are much better friends than we ever were spouses, and we both see that now.  And, that bears further reflection.

Barbara and I are both feeling much better about being back under the same roof again - we both felt a loss and it was difficult for both of us over the past several months.  We are like a brother and sister, as we look out for each other, pool our resources, and generally what we have makes more practical sense given the circumstances.  Many people have applauded us for our state right now, and many are initially shocked but then see how good it works for us and then they are fully supportive.  And, it perhaps is saving both our lives on many levels.   Barbara has unfortunately faced some major health issues in the past several months, and perhaps my being close by may actually be a good thing for her.  Likewise, I am not getting any younger, and a little extra help benefits me as well.  As odd and unorthodox an arrangement that we have is, it works out beautifully, and we are doing better because of it.  For those who would seek to be condemnatory and judgmental, you already know what you can do with yourselves although I am too civil to say it here.  

Part of the resettling of our lives entails getting back some things we thought we had lost.  The crazy circumstances of our move from Hagerstown created a situation for us that tested every fiber of our beings, but we survived and prevailed.  We have had to adjust some things, but nothing too earthshaking.  The idea of surviving vs. thriving comes into consideration here, and I have to say that I have thrived against the odds.  There are days I still have to come to terms with things, but as life starts to fall into place, I must look at this as a new chapter God has opened in my life.  

I am uncertain where things will end up in the long term, but I at least have secure work, Barbara too now has a better home, and as the dust settles a new life is taking shape.  Perhaps when I write in a year I will have a new dimension to the story to share.  God's will and timing will tell. 

Thanks again for allowing me to share my thoughts this week, and I will be back soon. 

Settlement and Restoration

 The past week has had its challenges, but it also has been more satisfying.  Barbara has rented the vacant room in the house now, so she is back under the same roof.  It is actually quite refreshing to have her back in the house, as we are close friends and it gives a dimension of normalcy to what has been an otherwise upside-down several months.  As Barbara gets settled, new routines have been established, as well as bringing back some old ones that benefitted both of us in the past.  It has been wonderful, for instance, to not have to commute on that cursed #21 bus to work every morning.  I still have to take the bus home in the afternoon, but that is much more manageable.  It also means being able to sleep in a half hour later than I used to.  Some other restorative measures have happened as well that in reality have made me feel a little more whole again, so I will get into those now.

My music collection, as many of you who have been following me a long time know, is a very integral part of who I am.  I have collected vintage big band recordings for the better now of 43 years, and for a time I amassed what was perhaps the largest collection I could have dreamed of.  However, with the sudden move last October, I lost a considerable amount of my collection although I did maintain my more important LP sets, which are safe in a storage unit in Martinsburg at this point. However, due to the shock of losing so much, I haven't paid much attention to my music interest over the past few months, as it was a devastating loss to not have a huge majority of the impressive collection it had taken me the better of 30 years to accumulate.  However, thanks to new 21st century technology, I have discovered a new format that allows me to recoup a lot of the old collection in a compact form - the flash drive.  A couple of days ago, I received in the mail a small flash drive containing over 4800 recordings covering a 40-year period between 1900-1940, and much of it was material I had once had in my massive CD collection.  I am able to carry what once was half my library in the palm of my hand, so that was a revolutionary thing.  I have four more of those coming the next week which will add some vintage radio broadcasts (including "Spotlight Bands," "GI Jive," and "One-Night Stand") as well as complete libraries of both Harry James and Guy Lombardo.  I also managed to obtain at a good price two Time-Life CD collections - one is the vintage "Big Bands" series that had originally been released in the early 1980s (I had the Glenn Miller volume on LP back then) and the other is a large collection called "Your Hit Parade" which covers essentially every significant song between the years 1940 and the early 1960s.  Along with the LPs I have in storage (including the two HUGE Franklin Mint sets I was able to salvage), I have a good start to rebuilding what was once an impressive music collection.  I think this time though I will focus on things I really want and not be as comprehensive, except on the drives maybe (I can create my own flash drives too of a lot of original stuff, as it is readily available on both YouTube and Internet Archive).  I may get a few more CDs of things I want outside the genre (namely some classical collections like Igor Stravinsky, as well as some Gospel and liturgical recordings like those I once had), but we'll get to that later.   This new incarnation of my music collection - the third - will be smaller but more focused.  I don't think it is feasible to recover every recording I had before, as I invested many years and thousands of dollars getting those.  But, I can still have a collection I can enjoy for years to come. 

A couple of trips to storage in Martinsburg - one this Friday - have also been reuniting me with much of my personal papers and other things that are significant, and now that I have those back, the challenge is organization.  Due to my smaller living quarters, I do not have near the space I used to have so I have some logistical challenges to overcome.  But, I have managed before, so this is no different.  With Barbara being here now, it means a lot of new opportunities including being reunited with so much of our stuff which we have had to resort to storing in a facility almost 100 miles away.  

As I conclude this week's reflections, I am still in a state of transition, but I am also starting to see some positives as I begin to settle for the first time in a while.  That frankly feels good, and I am hoping to see more of that happen as time progresses.  Thank you for letting me share this week, and I will see you next time. 

New Horizons

 This is now March - the month came in like a wooly lion; cold in the morning but significantly warmer during the day.  And, with this being Ash Wednesday, it means Lent is upon us.  There is much to think about as we officially cross the first quarter of 2025, and I had a few things to reflect upon today.

To begin with, I mentioned that my ex-wife Barbara and I are still very close despite not being married any longer.  She made a good decision lately to move to Baltimore, as she has been facing some challenges and she needed something of a breakthrough.  Just keep her in your prayers.  

Secondly, last week was an exciting week too.  As I was walking over to the Royal Farms store across from the school one day to get my morning coffee and pastry, it was inescapable to see a huge dead rat, with a morbid grin on its face, lying right in the middle of the sidewalk.  And, as is the case with a liberal Democrat-run city like Baltimore, it has been two weeks now and that rat is still there.  You would think they would clean that stuff up due to disease and such, but they didn't.  Looking at that rat though made me think of something pretty profound, and I wanted to share that today.

Having gone through some profound changes over the past year in my own life, there are still lots of things to process.  While I am a lot more financially secure than I was, I still struggle with dealing with the changes that have taken place, as they were earth-shaking and rapid.  As much as I try though, some things are like that dead rat - they are now in the past, yet they are laying there on the path with a morbid grin staring at me.  What are those?  Reminders of things I have lost, but also the memories of the trauma that facilitated those losses.  At times it can be a lot to deal with.  So, how do I deal with these feelings?  I have to think two words - new horizons.  

I am at a crossroads in life I had not anticipated - a lot of my old life as I had known it over the past 20 or more years is now gone, and in its place is a new existence.  There are many positives about a new existence in this case - thanks to this new position teaching in the Jesuit school I work at, I am probably the most financially secure I have been in years.  That is perhaps the biggest positive.  There are days though I wonder if it was worth it - that is the dead rat staring up at me from the middle of my path forward.  Seeing the urban blight in some areas of Baltimore as I commute to work and home on the city bus, dealing with obstinate minority kids in some classes I teach, and even dealing with crazy people at bus stops (more on that shortly) serve to remind me that this change happened and there is no going back.  But, there are other positives too - Barbara is now closer to me, and we do have a wonderful "new" President who is making some dramatic changes that will ultimately be good for our nation.  Thanks to President Trump, I may actually get to visit a very special person in the Philippines this summer (Lord be in that please!).  As events unfold on that I will share details later.  Let me now divert this line of thought and tell you what happened to me last week. 

Thursday I left school in the afternoon to catch my usual bus home across the street.  Generally that stop at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Chester Street is nothing spectacular - it is in front of an old boarded-up former Burger King, and while the street is busy, it is not anything earth-shaking.  But, this is the city, and you learn to anticipate the unpredictable.  At the bus stop this day, there was a woman - she looked Hispanic and in her early 60s - who was obviously indigent.  She had long matted black hair with gray streaks, and a ratty-looking winter coat.  She was hollering and flailing her arms about in a weird manner though at the bus stop, and naturally I thought maybe she was on a phone call with a Bluetooth device, as that is a common thing now.  However, she didn't have a cell phone, and instead was haranguing a group of imaginary friends that were only visible in her ill mind, and she then proceeded to start begging for money or food - she was asking if I could buy her a pizza!  I told her no, and she went back to talking to her imaginary audience without missing a beat.  One of the things she was saying in a thick accent was she was cursing Satan for grabbing her lady parts - I was like "ooookayyy!!" when I heard that.  She also was claiming someone in a black car was following her and trying to cast a voodoo spell or something on her.  Anyway, the bus came, I got on, and she took a seat just across the aisle from me.  She continued her crazy talk, and within ten minutes I had gotten to my transfer stop at the coffee shop on East Avenue.  Not thinking any more of it, and having a long wait to make my bus connection, I went in and had my normal cherry Italian soda - that coffee shop makes the best!  A few minutes later, here comes the crazy lady, and she is trying to beg for food.  At that point, I saw this could be a potential issue, and when the counter person refused her, she left the store.  A little bit later, I saw it was almost time for my bus to get there, so I went out.  Guess who I saw at the bus stop - yes, the crazy woman.  Nuttier than a squirrel in a Snickers factory, she was still talking to a cadre of imaginary friends.  I didn't want to deal with this person any more, so I decided to catch the bus across the street instead.  The bus I usually take home goes to Canton Crossing first and then it turns around to come back.  For some idiotic reason, if you decide to ride it down there you have to get off and then re-board the damn bus just to get back.  I wasted no time getting across the street and waiting for the bus to come - it did shortly after.  As I was boarding, I warned the bus driver that a potentially mentally-disturbed woman may try to board, and wouldn't you know it, here she came!  She got on the bus, still doing her crazy talk, and when I got to Canton Crossing I ran to get away from her as at this point I felt like she was stalking me.  But, here she came, stopping first to beg at a sandwich shop down there, and then she boarded my bus home.  I was trying to think of a strategy to deal with her if she continued riding my transfers, and decided if she got off at my stop again I would call the police and have her dealt with.  Fortunately, she dozed off, and when my stop came up at the corner of 25th and Greenmount, two blocks from my house, I was able to get off and make a hasty retreat home.  The crazy lady was still snoozing and didn't know the difference.  God only knows where she went after all that, but thankfully I got away from her as I was really starting to feel concern.  She, like that dead rat in the middle of the sidewalk, was one of those things that confronts you, and you have to find a way to deal with that.  Thankfully God was with me and I did. 

The dead rat and the crazy woman on the bus reminded me of the same thing in different ways - some things from our past remained unresolved, and there are new challenges to face in a new life.  As you read this today, think of your own challenges, and how you deal with circumstances like that.   As you do, hopefully it will lead to a greater reliance on God's provision in all situations.  Thank you for allowing me to share today. 

Walking on Eggshells

 One of the major challenges of being a teacher - especially at the high school level - is trying to maintain order.  The kids in my classes are at that age where they think they have it all figured out, and they often try to manifest it in their behavior.  This can be challenging to deal with when you have a class of about 15 juniors who choose often to be loud, disruptive, and deliberately try to cause issues.  The student who asks to go to the bathroom and then is out for most of the class.  The other student who has a penchant for being the class clown and finds ways to derail the day's class discussion. Yet others think that the fundamental rules of classroom decorum somehow don't apply to them and they try to manipulate things to their advantage.  For anyone who has taught high school, you know exactly what I am talking about.  Generally, you learn how to deal with these issues as time goes on, but then a sponsorship committee for the school you teach at shows up and they sit in on your class.  Then, the particular students who are the "problem children" are not at their best, and it doesn't look good.  That was my week so far.  In many ways, I also understand that perhaps I read too much into it, and in reality it may not be as bad as I think.  But, the craziness of the situation does cause you some discomfort - you lose sleep over it, and you start having concerns about what will happen if you lose your contract over something like that.  In most cases, that probably will not happen, as at times we tend to mentally put ourselves through stress over things that are in reality trivial matters.  Once this is realized, the overwhelming relief one feels is a feeling that is indescribable at times - it is as if a huge weight has been lifted, or that you fell off a cliff and someone with the skill of a cowboy lassos you and pulls you back before you plummet to your death. Have any of you reading this felt that before?

I teach at a Jesuit high school in Baltimore, and as part of their compliance measures they have annual visits from a variety of committees - ones dealing with Jesuit schools in general, diocesan teams, educational network people, etc.  It is natural to seek to maintain standards, and understandable that these visits are accountability measures.  But, they can also be stressful as the future of your position as well as even the future of the school could depend on what they report later.  I have dealt with review committees before - my most recent experience was my dissertation committee when I was finishing up my Ph.D. last year.  On one hand, it is a milestone, and as my Research Director for my dissertation told me, we should not view it as an inquisition but rather as an opportunity to celebrate your achievement. Maybe school committees who visit and observe should be viewed in the same way, something easy to say in theory but then a bit challenging in practice, especially when you have some students that do not want to cooperate.  

One thing I have learned about committees as well.  In many cases, when these individuals visit and observe, interview, and present findings, they are doing so as teachers themselves in many cases.  They have been where you are, they understand the challenges, and they may not be as hard on you as you are on yourself.  But, honestly, it is still unnerving.  The idea here is in this case to try to see the bigger picture, and come to the realization that your worst moments will not necessarily seal a grim fate for your career.  After all, everyone has bad days, right?  Again, this can be easier said than done, but at the same time it also should be viewed in the context of similar situations.  Also, talking to your colleagues can relieve some worries as well, as many of them are facing the same situation you are.  Maybe they can offer some advice.  One very nice thing about this school where I teach is that we have support structures in place - our subject-area department has regular meetings, as does our grade-level instructor groups.  These meetings are generally weekly or monthly, and it is a chance to voice concerns and relate to your fellow instructors regarding things that come up.  Many of them also deal with the same group of students you do, so they understand the issues you may be facing.  Therefore, groups like that can be a valuable resource. 

Onto less onerous topics, I wanted to express my satisfaction at President Trump's progress at attempting to clean up things.  He has a job ahead of him, and already the culprits who are responsible for the issues are screaming, but they are also losing.  America has been in serious need of reform for a long time - in society and in government.  Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is headed by tycoon Elon Musk, and he has already rooted out a lot of waste in government spending as well as streamlining and correcting problems caused by that waste.  Why anyone in their right minds would oppose this escapes sound logic - regardless one's political persuasion, elevating the life of our citizens while holding bureaucrats accountable should be a rallying point for almost all of us.  Yet, it is not unfortunately, and there are some in this liberal bastion called Baltimore that are actually lamenting the rein-in of corruption.  What I have to say to them is this - if you like the old way so much, then go somewhere and build your little utopia where you can have the status quo, as corrupt as it is, continue. But, if you find your quality of life gets worse, remember you wanted this, so suck it up Buttercup.  And, that leads me to some other weekly observations I wanted to note.

One major thing in the news is Pope Francis and his health.  He was hospitalized last week with double pneumonia, and at almost 89 years old, this makes him highly vulnerable.  Now, last report is that he may be in the initial stages of kidney failure as well.  I wanted to reflect on this a moment.  First, I am no fan of Pope Francis - in all honesty, he has been one of the worst Pontiffs of the Church in centuries, and he has also inflicted much damage on good, orthodox clergy in order to advance his own agenda.  But, at the same time, no one wishes ill will to him healthwise - having a respiratory problem like that is no fun, believe me, so I empathize with Francis on that.  We should also definitely pray for the Pope - any person with a heart and soul, regardless of what they think of him otherwise, cannot deny the importance of this.  But, in praying for his health, let's also pray that this is a time of reflection for him, and that he can have a conversion of heart to rectify some bad decisions he has made.  Whether he survives this (and it is not looking good) or not is neither here nor there; the salvation of his soul is.  If he comes out of it, perhaps he can be a Pope with a changed heart.  If he doesn't, then maybe in his final moments he can find the grace he needs to end his life on a good note.  Ultimately, it's in God's hands, but let us continue to lift up Pope Francis in our prayers regardless. 

Thank you for allowing me to spill my proverbial guts again this week, and will see you again soon. 

Thoughts on Renewing Society

 At this point, I live in one of the biggest cities in the nation, Baltimore.  A few observations about living here have been going through my mind the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to just reflect on some of these thoughts today.  A couple of things led to me doing this, and I want to give a little background first on the topic.

I teach, as I have mentioned, at a Jesuit high school  As part of the Theology department at my school, I am aware that there are some of my colleagues who have more liberal outlooks than I do.  One of those is the 12th-grade Theology teacher, who is an older lady but she also for some reason does give me cause for concern based on some of her views.  She focuses a lot on race, "social justice," and other things, one of which is the whole discussion on what is called gentrification.  Gentrification is defined as "the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current residents in the process."  Gentrification has become a bogeyman of the political Left, and even this definition reflects some political bias in the way it is perceived.  There are several issues with how this is perceived, and I want to tackle those now.

Many of the opponents of gentrification are also the biggest whiners about so-called "climate change."  One would think that if someone is genuinely concerned about the environment, they might want to tackle urban blight.  However, in many cases that is not the case.  There is a real hypocrisy on the part of Leftists regarding these issues, and the appalling way they approach it reveals what their agenda is truly about.  While of course I would not advocate displacing anyone to make way for wealthier residents of a community, there are a couple of problems with the Leftist view.  For one, many of the Leftists who decry gentrification are themselve wealthy, often White, and they really have no concern for their fellow humanity.  Second, if they were really all that concerned about the environment, then urban blight would be a pivotal issue for them - it is not.  Third, the typical Leftist elitist has little concern about the plight of the lower-income citizenry of the city or about urban blight - their agenda dictates that people have to be divided, compartmentalized, and kept in squalor in order to make them dependent upon the "welfare state" so that they can maintain power.  This is why you don't see Leftists picking up trash in problem areas, and you don't really see any true charity on their part.  If they knew they could advance their own status, they would toss poor people out in a second, and in many cases, what is often called "gentrification" is exactly that - then, the same people use that BS to tell the rest of us that gentrification is somehow evil.  And, the way they do it, it is evil.  Let me go into more detail.

Urban blight is a big problem in Baltimore - there is trash strewn all over many neighborhoods in the city, and no one is attempting cleanup.  Even the "Adopt-a-Highway" programs of the 1980s and 1990s were killed by - wait for it - the Obama administration.  For all the fuss about so-called "climate change," I find it ironic that the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes, the Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrens, as well as countless other swamp creatures in positions of power, want to regulate cow flatuence but have no desire to pick up trash in areas they supposedly represent.  If climate change were truly an issue (and believe me, it is just rhetoric for the career bureaucrats and politicians), then there would be a concerted effort to clean up neighborhoods in these cities like Baltimore.  Even the 11th graders I teach - all practically minority students - understand this, as they all have identified excessive trash as a big issue in their communities.  During the mornings when I am walking to the bus stop to catch my ride to work, I walk past a rowhouse on a major thoroughfare in my neighborhood where the basement entrance has been converted into a makeshift dumpster, and no one attempts to clean the crap up - I have also seen huge rats in the overflowing trash receptacles in the same area, and that increases the probability of disease.  So, where are the politicians addressing this?  That is urban blight, and it is a scandal for our society.  The primary people who are cleaning up communities are by and large conservative or libertarian Republicans, not leftist Democrats.  The Leftists are elitists and do not give a crap about the poor minority households in Baltimore or any other city.  All they do is use rhetoric to tickle the ears of people and rile them up unnecessarily over stupid things.  Enough is enough.

So, is gentrification bad?  It depends on perspective.  If it means cleaning up the communities, repairing homes, and encouraging economic growth for neighborhoods, then there should be no issues.  I mean, everyone deserves the chance to improve their communities, and that should be a primary goal.  However, if it means that rich White yuppie Leftists displace lower-income families in those neighborhoods so they can have yoga studios, marijuana dispensaries, and terrible coffeehouses, then that should be discouraged.  People should not be forced to be displaced, and that aspect of false "gentrification" is immoral and wrong.  And, for other leftists - like my colleague here at the high school I teach at - are so against gentrification, maybe they should put their money where their mouths are and propose something better then.  Maybe, such people should take a trash bag in hand and start picking up the garbage in those neighborhoods if they really care.  I mean, seriously, making people live in squalor to fight the false facade of "gentrification" solves nothing for nobody.  And that is the inconsistency and hypocrisy of many Leftists in their talking points.  So, let me give my own modest proposal of what needs to happen.

For one thing, people in the communities have a certain amount of responsibility to improve where they live.  Especially if they are investing resources into their own homes, they need to show some pride in their neighborhoods.  That means that cleanup needs to take place at a grassroots level, and a measure of responsibility should be endowed upon those who actually live in those communities.  Secondly, I have seen some encouraging things in some areas here - I am seeing some encouraging things in many communities such as community gardens, painted murals on buildings, and those little free library boxes for people to access free books. Some other measures that could be taken is community neighborhood watches to discourage crime (the epidemic of "porch piracy" is rife in many communities, and that needs to be controlled), community assistance programs to assist people having some challenges in those communities, and an easier process for people in the community to start local businesses to stimulate the economy.  Many Leftists oppose stuff like this though because these types of programs encourage self-sufficiency, and God forbid that vulnerable demographics do that!  It would wrestle control from Leftist bureaucrats and place it back in the rightful hands of the local communities. And, that would take power and wealth away from crooked elitist bureaucrats.  Why do you think so many of those swamp creatures are riled up over Elon Musk and DOGE?  There has been a lot of taxpayer money wasted on stupid things, and I applaud Elon cleaning house.  If anything, we need more of that, and also a more urgent sense of accountability in our governing structures.  Hopefully, Elon and President Trump can start a revolution to overthrow rich elitist bureaucrats and restore order and democracy to our nation.  It is time to bring the American Dream back, but in order to do that, we need to eliminate the architects of the current nightmare we have been facing.  A challenge awaits us. 

Any rate, those are my thoughts this week, so will see you soon.