Yes, Curious Tribe is taking a break this Thanksgiving, but we will be back with a vengence next week. We’re ready to take things up a notch. Be on the lookout.

What am I thankful for? Well… honestly, you guys. Thanks for reading. I mean that.

——-

Artwork designed by Ashley Segari — http://www.ashleysegari.com/�

[Read more →]

You ever wonder why you find yourself singing along with songs you don’t even remember learning? Ever ask yourself why is it that you always think of a specific time and place every time you hear a certain song? Do you sometimes try to figure out why even the most mundane tasks are livened up when music is involved?

In his new book Musicophilia, author and neurologist Oliver Sacks helps us to understand these basic musical questions in addition to exploring the many complex and very powerful ways in which music acts in and around us all. Music as a healer. Music as a wealth of creativity. Music as a nuisance.

From Oliver Sacks’ website:
“Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does–humans are a musical species.

Oliver Sacks’s compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people–from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome who are hypermusical from birth; from people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds–for everything but music.

Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson’s disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer’s or amnesia.
Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.”

Check out http://musicophilia.com/ for audio excerpts, video commentary from the author, and some fresh links.

[Read more →]

With the upcoming presidential elections around the corner, the candidates seem to have begun campaigning extra-early this year. And I’ll be honest here, I’m not a very good voter. I run on rumors and popularity stats, but this year I’m doing my homework. The issue most important to me is, of course, education. I work in an inner city high school. I teach freshmen. Security is programmed into my cell phone. I am cussed out at least weekly. I am IN the trenches, on the front line.

Way back in October 2005, Barack Obama made a speech. It is perhaps the most encouraging inspiring speech since I Have a Dream. He gives us some pretty un-surprising statistics: “Almost 60% of African-American fourth-graders can’t read at even the basic level, and by 8th grade, nearly nine in ten African-American and Latino students are not proficient in math.” Did I say un-surprising? Let me clarify:

The statistic itself is a bit alarming. 60% and 9 in ten is pretty damn high. But think about it for a second. It is totally not a surprise if you consider that minorities are coddled to the extent that they are ultimately crippled. I see this alive and kicking in my own school. Today I received a list in my mailbox to release certain students to the auditorium for a “study group.” While trying to figure out who is going to miss my class, I realized something: every kid on the list was Black. The goal is to “teach the test” to this population because in the past, it has been the “downfall” of our school. As if the REST of the school is performing at peak levels. The rest of the school is BARELY making it in their scores.

News flash: 70% is not good.

Another excellent Barack quote: “We need to transform our educational culture, from one of complacency to one that constantly strives for excellence.

“The students of today are so concerned with just PASSING their classes. Not whether or not they are doing their absolute, dead-level best. This is the ultimate manifestation of the sheer laziness in our society. Having nice clothes is more of a priority than sweating to get the degree to be able to afford those nice clothes. Now, don’t get me wrong, if you’ve earned your bullshit, by all means, flaunt it! But know that there are impressionable minds watching.

I tell my students this all the time: If I see you at Wendy’s and you mess up my order, I will get your ass FIRED.

Read Barack’s speech here: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/051025-teaching_our_ki/

Watch it here: http://streaming.americanprogress.org/events/2005/2005_10_25_Teaching_Our_Kids/Obama-Speech.320.240.mov.html

The Barack Obama official site: http://www.barackobama.com

[Read more →]

I was highly inspired by joy’s movie post… in particular this quote…

[Read more →]

The shouts of Bronx high school students penetrated a driving rain as several hundred borough residents joined them in a boisterous rally recently at the Kingsbridge Armory. The crowd’s demand was not what one expects from teenagers: “What do we want?” bellowed the members of Sistas and Brothas United, a local teen organization that wants the armory used for education. “Schools!” their fellow demonstrators shouted back. “When do we want them? Now!” As energetic as the rally at the hulking…

To view the rest of the article, click here.

[Read more →]