All Thumbs Dot Me

Earlier today, President Obama described a few details of his Education plan.  Towards the end, he responded to a DVD that several students from our school district produced and submitted to his administration describing the struggles their parents are experiencing during our economic situation.

Below is an excerpt from an email I received today that describes  this struggle and President Obama’s message to our nation.

March 10, 2009 – In his first major address regarding American education policy, President Obama today responded directly to Village Academy High School students who sent him a DVD they produced entitled, “Is Anybody Listening?” The video includes students talking frankly about how the economic crisis is affecting their families, and their own learning and future.

In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce today in Washington, D.C., the president said the following:

I want children like Yvonne Bojorquez to have that chance. Yvonne is a student at Village Academy High School in California. Now, Village Academy is a 21st century school where cutting edge technologies are used in the classroom, where college prep and career training are offered to all who seek it, and where the motto is “respect, responsibility, and results.”

Now, a couple of months ago, Yvonne and her class made a video talking about the impact that our struggling economy was having on their lives. And some of them spoke about their parents being laid off, or their homes facing foreclosure, or their inability to focus on school with everything that was happening at home. And when it was her turn to speak, Yvonne said: “We’ve all been affected by this economic crisis. [We] are all college bound students; we’re all businessmen, and doctors and lawyers and all this great stuff. And we have all this potential — but the way things are going, we’re not going to be able to [fulfill it].”

It was heartbreaking that a girl so full of promise was so full of worry that she and her class titled their video, “Is anybody listening?” So, today, there’s something I want to say to Yvonne and her class at Village Academy: I am listening. We are listening. America is listening.  And we will not rest until your parents can keep your jobs — we will not rest until your parents can keep their jobs and your families can keep their homes, and you can focus on what you should be focusing on — your own education; until you can become the businessmen, doctors, and lawyers of tomorrow, until you can reach out and grasp your dreams for the future.

For in the end, Yvonne’s dream is a dream shared by all Americans. It’s the founding promise of our nation: That we can make of our lives what we will; that all things are possible for all people; and that here in America, our best days lie ahead. I believe that. I truly believe if I do my part, and you, the American people, do yours, then we will emerge from this crisis a stronger nation, and pass the dream of our founding on to posterity, ever safer than before.

Past:

My food limitation as a result of my gum surgery was lifted as of yesterday!!!  I got the go ahead to eat anything to my hearts content from my dentist.  She said everything looks perfect and she even took pictures of my new gumline for her records.  Maybe I can persuade her to give me a copy of it to post here on my site, including the before shots, too… In addition, I can brush and floss normally as I once did, too!  Oh, happy days!

Present:

The Anaheim Ducks traded one of my favorite players, forward Chris Kunitz to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ryan Whitney (defense).  Is this writing on the wall that Chris Pronger could be traded to another team as we seem to be pretty “fat” in the defensive category?  Only time will tell as we close in on the trade deadline on March 5th.  Stay tuned…

Future:

Hmmm, this is a toughy…  I’m hoping that the economy stablizes sooner than later as we see many more of our friends and colleagues losing their jobs over something that wasn’t their fault.  In my opinion, I feel that corporate greed went too far and the ones that are suffering are the honest workers that are trying to live the “American” dream.

Welcome back!

For my first PPF post, I’m still debating on how I should introduce it.  Should I write a brief introduction or should I jump right into it?  For the sake of my personality, I’m thinking the latter.  The short and direct route seems to fit me better.  Plus, it’s more efficient.  As a disclaimer, I really don’t consider myself a serious writer so my novice skills will certainly show itself as you read this and future posts.  So, cut me a break, thanks.

Past:

Recently, I underwent gum replacement surgery for some receding gum in my lower front.  This was an experience that I honestly wouldn’t want to go through again.  I’m not sure if I’m getting whimpier as I get older but the though of taking donor tissue from my upper palette and sewing it into another part of my mouth sounds pretty gross in itself.

What really made it difficult was eating.  Since the surgery (roughly four weeks ago), I’ve lost five pounds and for those of you who know me, I’m not a large person and didn’t really need to lose the weight in the first place.  Because I was limited to a soft food diet during recovery, I couldn’t eat the foods that I enjoyed like steak, corn on the cob, etc.  Suffice it to say, I purchased all kinds of protein replacement drinks, powders, etc. in the hopes that I’d minimize my losses.  I guess it could have been worse, huh?

Although, the donor area and graft have almost healed, it’s still not a hundred percent.  I’d say 90% is more like it. I still can’t tear into the foods I want but I’m sure that day will come in the next week or two!  I’m hopeful and optimistic.

Present:

Currently, I’m having a pretty good year at school as I have a student teacher to help out in the classroom, but I am more concerned for the many teachers in our school district that will not be coming back next year.  Our district has decided to give pink slips to roughly 640 teachers as a result of the economic situation that we’re facing  worldwide.  I’m blessed to not have received one, but do continue to worry about the many colleagues of mine who won’t be back next year.

On a potential good note, some of these teachers will probably return as these notices are preliminary until our district passes their annual budget for next year.  All this was hinged on the fact that the state of California didn’t pass their budget until a week ago.  So, we’ll see.  I’m praying very hard on this one that more will return.

Future:

As for what’s coming up, I’m thinking that the Anaheim Ducks may not make the playoffs this year as they haven’t had an outstanding year so far.  We still are experiencing the inconsistencies of too many penalties and lack of offensive production that we once had when the team won the Stanley Cup a couple years ago.  We are certainly a weaker team than years past.  But, who knows, we could still pull off a playoff spot.  If we do, however, we’ll be eliminated early on as we did last year when we didn’t make it past the first round against Dallas.  Looks like an early golf season for the Ducks this year!

Conclusion:

Well, I think that wasn’t too bad for a first shot in resurrecting my blog.  I hope you enjoyed a few of my thoughts and happenings in my life.  There are certainly more to come.

Feel free to leave a comment and subscribe to the rss feed located on the top-right corner of the page.  Until next time, take care and aloha!

Dwayne