This Isn't What We Had in Mind When We Chanted the Words, "Yes We Can"

It's really too bad that many of the people who are elected into congress are people who clearly lack and most important qualities that a political leader should possess. This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue; it's an issue about respect. Never once, during George W. Bush's reign of stupidity and mistakes, did a member of congress heckle our nation's President during a speech. Last night, when President Obama tried speaking to both sides of congress, it became clear that some members of congress simply shouldn't be. Yelling out that the President is a liar and wearing signs of protest around their person is not a way for a government leader to behave on Capitol Hill. These men belong out on the streets with the rest of the protesters. This overt disrespect shown to the President bastardizes our entire system of government, and should result in whatever the D.C. equivalent is of a black list.

A Thought On My Chosen Profession

Teaching is changing in front of our eyes. During a time in which vast amounts of free information can be exchanged instantly around the world, the U.S. still struggles to raise literacy rates in its schools. This doesn’t seem right, and it’s clear that the educational system is undergoing a massive overhaul in standards, expectations and accountability. As I enter into the profession, I am drilled with information about the change of demographics, the complexities and different types of learners, and the seemingly endless list of standards that are expected to be met. I consider this, and realize that much like my career, education itself, since the dawn of education, has gone through a long- and i suppose infinite -journey towards what is the perfect formula for educational success. It's a little scary to think about my carrer as an endless journey, but i suppose that's why I want to teach in the first place. I'd rather live in the mystery than to live in the know.

Pretty Basic

This Cartoon Pretty Much Sums it Up

Ten Commandments for the Twenty First Century

In his latest book, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins presents his own Alternative Ten Commandments. I enjoyed the list so much I wanted to share it here. [Edit: it has been pointed out that this list was not written by Dawkins, but only offered in his book. Whoever wrote it, I think it is a great list of principles.]

1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you

2. In all things, strive to cause no harm

3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.

4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.

5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder

6. Always seek to be learning something new

7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.

8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.

9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.

10. Question everything

Being Loud & Being Wrong

I need a new moleskin, and I haven't written anything in this for awhile. What the hell, right?


I talk too much. At times, my inner monologue is next to non existent. I suppose I've always been this way. I'm pretty vocal about things, I enjoy debate, and I oftentimes speak before thinking. Most people are guilty of the same things, so I am comfortable in the resolution that, on a good day, my diarrhea of the mouth is luckily passable by the standards of modern society. For example: when I am in class, I like to ask questions. I ask questions to accommodate a few of my many needs. One of those needs is obviously the need to learn. Another need is the need to understand. Another need, though, is the need for action. If I am not intellectually stimulated, then I will daydream, fidgit, and doodle in my notebook. Plain and simple: I learn through motion. Many people are like me, but a small percentage of those people take class participation to the extent that I sometimes do. People like me are more commonly frowned upon by their classmates for our dictatorial presence in class. We tend to monopolize class time with our own questions, we feel the need to include our two cents in every conversation, and we oftentimes bring pointless personal anecdotes into otherwise productive class discussions. I know it's annoying, and I am sorry. At the end of the day, though, my needs, like most people's, are usually going to outweigh the needs of others. I know that sounds selfish, but the malady of which I speak is more or less involuntary. For the same reason mean people are inherently mean, and for the same reason my cat instinctively begs for food even on a full stomache, people like me are going to piss a few people off by being annoying. It is, quite simply, a part of our nature. We cannot do anything about it. For us, sitting still and shutting up is just too painful to stand.

I write this because I do not want people to go on assuming that I think I know everything. In fact, I'm really wrong more times than I'm not. Being wrong can be really beneficial, though. When I'm wrong, people usually catch me on it. They then tell me why I'm wrong, which allows me the opportunity to look at something with a different perspective (I stress the word opportunity, mind you, because although people may be offered another viewpoint, this does not mean they take that opportunity. Now that I think of it, this thought actually touches on the bane of our world's existence.... but I digress). I don't always make the most of those opportunities, but I often feel better about myself when I do. Therefore, by acknowledging to myself and to you that I realize that I am not always going to be right, and by admitting that I even like to be wrong at times, I reason it to be only moderately selfish to, in advance, spare myself the foregone humiliation of being so.

The Beast That Swallows Its Young

The Beast That Swallows Its Young from Matt Kresling on Vimeo.


I just received the promissory note for my second student loan. The loan is meant to pay for the first semester of my graduate school to become a high school teacher. The one preexisting loan I have from my undergraduate career, about 2,500 dollars, is the foundation of what's probably going to amount to about 25,000 dollars worth of student loans.

I'm getting off light.

I was fortunate in an unfortunate situation. When my mother died, I was left an inheritance that was meant solely for the purpose of paying for my higher education. Refusing to allow her single-parent status from taking away the possibility of a better future for my sister and I, my mother made paying for college the most important thing in life. The amount she left us was enough to put my sister through Xavier University in Cincinnati, and myself through Fordham in New York City. My mother's dedication to her work is what allowed me to be able to go to college and give myself a chance at giving my children an even better life that I have.... or so it's supposed to go, I guess.

Then the well... it went dry. No more inheritance. Bye bye. Four years at a University, a car, studying abroad and an all expenses paid tour of Europe. It was all paid for by my mother's inheritance. I've used a slew of justifying reasons why it was okay for me to spend it rather than save it, but there's always been that other part of me that knows that I'm terrible with money. Having it was great. Didn't really have to work. Didn't worry about it. Just called up the bank when the money ran out, gave 'em some bullshit reason for why I needed it, and then spent it on something completely different. I had no one telling me what to do, and I knew it. I figured I had enough to get me to through college. Go through four years at a Jesuit University, and come out on the other debt free on the other side? Are you kidding? And so it started. No work ethic.

I have a friend that so pointedly said to me right around the time of graduation, "You could get a drunk monkey through undergrad". She's right. The system of higher education really doesn't make it difficult for people to get a degree. This has caused the market to become flooded with millions of "bachelor" students with the same degree fighting for a limited number of jobs. The parity is suffocating. Wages go down because we're all replaceable, and as a result, it takes people ten years just to earn enough to cancel out what they spent on their seemingly useless undergraduate degree.

Graduate school, though, is a different story. See, when you decide to go to graduate school, you're telling employers that you're really committed. You dedicate just a couple more years to hone the skills you want to offer employers, and the employees reward you by paying you more money to pay off school even faster. It all seems really great, right?

As a prospective teacher, I'm not supposed to gripe about the educational system. I'm supposed to tell all my students how great and important college is supposed to be, which I truly believe it is. However, in the age we live in, it has become impossible t teach each other. We do a good enough job at failing to teach ourselves, but when it comes to educating our children, in a world where two thirds of the technology that they learn today will become obsolete in two years, we are failing.

I'm joining the teaching profession already understanding that I will be fighting in a losing battle. I'm not a defeatist. I'm a realist. I believe that, when used correctly, America's concept of an "educational system" actually works. It's designed to accelerate learning, and when students apply themselves and teachers do their jobs, practical and theoretical progress is made. The problem is the lack of family structure in the country. Education, whether it's obsolete or unattainable, simply isn't considered to be very important in a lot of areas in the country. When families are broken, pressure gets put on on young people to fend for themselves, and it puts pressure on teachers to compensate for that lack of home support. Meanwhile, society will accept nothing less than No Child Left Behind. Teachers fight in a losing battle: constant pressure from above with no support from below.

So we know that we can't blame the kids. We can't really blame the teachers because they're not the ones making the decisions. I supposed we could blame the administrators, but that would cost us our jobs... how about Washington. Yes, it's Obama's fault. Or how about we do everyone's favorite by copping out and blaming "parents". Personally, I'm not in the blaming business. The failure of America's educational system is symptomatic of democracy and humankind. All there's left to do is handle education the way we feel is best... sort of like changing the tires on a totaled car and sell it for half the retail value. I'm gonna be a warrior in an endless battle. I'm gonna be a teacher.

My reasons for teacher are far reaching and too extensive to add to an already ranting spiel about education. I don't really know if I've come to any conclusion about my own beliefs regarding education. I'm twenty three, so my beliefs are naturally limited. I believe that an education is important, but I don't believe it's everything, and I certainly don't believe it's the only thing. Lots of smart people can learn everything they need to know without needing instruction; they're called "enlightened". For the rest of us, we are left to our own devices. The system can be better. I know it can. I just can't come up with any answers at the moment.

Frost Nixon Interview,

I didn't know much about The Watergate Scandal before watching the 2009 film. After watching the film, I went ahead and saw this version. Aside from the acting being proven spot-on, the telling close-ups of Nixon were even more compelling... chilling. Looking at his eyes while Frost quotes line after line of incriminating evidence. The interview is the unofficial admittance of wrongdoing on behalf of Nixon. His humanity came out in his confessions. I have so much to say, but I think it'd be best for people to just watch the interview in its entirety. A true landmark of investigatory journalism.

"It Is Time."

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Barack Obama's address to the United States Congress on 2.24.09.

There is hope in this message. For the first time in my young adult life, I can fit my head around a solution to the problems that my country faces. Tears of hope and joy came to my eyes at so many points during this speech. As a teacher in training, it gave me a sense of excitement and anticipation to get started in improving the education for children in this country. My mind is racing with the possibility that this country, along with the world that looks up to us, will once again flourish.